Wednesday, April 26, 2017, RH 245, 3:00PM
In attendance:
Meg Allan, Ann Barnes, Gregg Corley, Penny Edwards, Stacey Frank, Justin
Herndon, Bill Leverette, Laura McClain, Mourning Pace, Matthew Simon, and Debbie
Vance.
Not in attendance. Ed Eudy, Tonia Faulling, Tom Hiebel, Timeko
McFadden, Mary Orem, Richard Reeves, Renee Turner, Julia B. Seligson, and Paula
Scales Whitmire.
Guests: Mia Tensley, Sue Andrus representing Mary Orem,
Richard Smith, Galen DeHay,
Welcome and Agenda
Stacey Frank called the meeting to order at 3:01 PM
and welcomed the guests.
Minutes of the March 27, 2017 meeting were distributed
and approved electronically prior to this meeting and have been posted eTC.
Galen DeHay discussed the new strategic plan,
indicating that as was the case last year, faculty and staff will be solicited
to express an interest in joining a strategic team for fiscal year 2018. A question was asked if adjuncts are able to
participate. Galen responded that
adjunct faculty will not be solicited primarily because the time commitment
could be prohibitive. Galen reported that the institution made a considerable
financial investment in adjunct faculty with the creation of the new adjunct
compensation model implemented fall 2016, a commitment estimated at $300,000. Additional
investment in our adjunct faculty is the creation and continuation of the
Adjunct Expo offering professional development for our adjuncts. Galen also
provided the following information:
- TCTC continues to invest in staff and faculty,
- The faculty loading template will is still under review and may be tested beginning fall 2017 (This model was designed to provide a mechanism for creating work load equity).
- According to the latest numbers, 65% of credit hours were taught by full time faculty.
Galen indicated that more will be discussed at
Convocation.
Old Business
Safe-Assign Delays.
Richard Smith reported that he has had conversations with Blackboard,
which now owns the Safe-Assign product. Representatives indicated that the
delays are a result of heavy volumes being processed during semester peak
times. Richard asked if they would devote more server space; however the
company was reluctant to commit to this.
Richard also reported that response times had been improving so perhaps
the company did devote additional space.
There was a general discussion about possible alternatives to
Safe-Assign such as drop box. Richard indicated that cost could be an issue but
he is willing to look at alternatives should the results of continued
monitoring of response times deem it necessary.
Faculty Senate Elections. Results of the elections for
faculty senate president, full time division representatives, and member-at-large
member were circulated prior to this meeting.
Stacey Frank will remain as president for the 2017/2018 academic year. Meg
as secretary, reported that the term of the new senate begins June 1, 2017 and
ends May 31, 2018. The next steps are to (1) elect a vice president and
secretary at a meeting to be held and June and, (2) conduct elections for
adjunct and lecturer representatives no later than September 10, 2017.
Starfish.
Stacey circulated data related to changes in student success rate post
the implementation of Starfish. Although data suggest that improvements have
been made, the information was not sufficient to determine direct cause and
effect. More analysis will be
necessary.
The proactive academic advising team will have
divisions determine how each can best use the features of Starfish in the
division advising process.
New Business
No new business was brought forth at this meeting.
Additional Reports and Committee Updates
AACC Faculty Council. Penny Edwards reported that she recently
returned from the AACC National convention. Penny facilitated one of the
workgroup teams which is exploring how to define “faculty leadership” and
identify associated traits and competencies. The Council is working on a number
of initiatives which are in preliminary stages that will ultimately evolve into
professional development opportunities.
Penny will keep the senate updated on future activities.
Service Excellence Team. Links will soon be available for staff and
faculty to order logo shirts.
New Portal.
There will be a delay in implementing a replacement to eTC. The contract
lapsed and the current vendor has decided not to renew.
SCWHE. South Carolina Women in Higher Education
organization has started a “Career Closet” and is looking for donations of
gently used, wearable ready (i.e., dry cleaned) professional clothing for men
and women. People who need professional wear for job interviews will be able to
select from the closet.
Stacey reported that at the next meeting, she would
like to work on “beefing-up” the senate by-laws and constitution. She requested
that all Senators research and review in order to make recommendations at our
June meeting.
The next meeting will be held in June, invitations
will be sent at a later date. In the interim, Stacey will distribute her all
faculty memorandum announcing the representatives of the 2017/2018 Faculty
Senate.
The meeting adjourned at 4:14 PM
