Members Present: Richard Burton (2019-20), Deborah DeMino, Meredith
Dickens, Penny Edwards, Corey Evans (2019-20), Stacey Frank, Pam Goodman, Tracy
Kilgore, Eleanor Leverette, Som Linthicum, Gerald Maxie (2019-20), Jeremy
McCracken, Robin McFall, Julia Seligson, Debbie Vance (2019-20), James Walker,
Gregg Westmoreland, Rhonda Whitten (2019-20), Derek Williams
Members Absent: Susan Curtis, Mary Gibson, Justin Herndon, Malisa
Looney, Michael Oates, Cynthia Swaney
Guests: Lynn Lewis, Debbie Nelms,
Grayson Kelly, Adam Ghiloni, Scott Jaeschke
Presider: Mia Tensley
Welcome and Agenda: Mia called the meeting
to order at 10:30 am and directed all in attendance to the agenda for the
meeting.
Standing Items:
1. Approval of minutes from April 19, 2019 – Robin
McFall
Robin referred everyone to the
minutes from the April 19 meeting and displayed the minutes for senators to review.
These minutes have been posted in the Teams folder for all to read and submit
changes. No changes had been recommended. The minutes were approved as posted.
Action to be taken as a result of
discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline: Robin will submit the approved
minutes to the committee blogspot for posting and will upload the approved
minutes in the Faculty Senate Teams folder.
2.
Introduction on New Senators – Mia Tensley
Mia introduced new senators for 2019-20: Richard Burton (I&ET), Corey
Evans (CT), Gerald Maxie (I&ET), Debbie Vance (at-large), and Rhonda
Whitten (at-large). She reminded everyone that Julia Seligson had been elected
as president for 2019-20.
Action to be taken as a result of
discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline: Mia will update the Teams
Faculty Senate folder with the new members and turn over the management of
Teams to Julia.
3.
Meeting dates for 2019-2020 – Mia Tensley
Mia directed everyone to the handout with the meeting dates for next
year's Faculty Senate.
Action to be taken as a result of
discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline: Julia will ensure these
dates are posted in teams and a location is secured for the meetings.
4.
Committee Updates – various senators
Mia asked for all senators who are members of other committees across
campus to give reports to keep everyone informed of happenings across the
College.
A.
AACC – Penny stated she would save her report to give
as part of another agenda item.
B.
Academic Calendar Committee – This committee has not
met since the last Faculty Senate meeting.
C.
Curriculum Committee – This committee has not met since
the last Faculty Senate meeting.
D.
Placement Committee – This committee has not met since
the last Faculty Senate meeting.
E.
21st Century Skills – Penny stated the
committee is waiting to hear about adding links in eTC to the committee
information and to the College-wide assessment rubrics.
F.
Physical Learning Environment Team—Stacey Frank reported
this team is working on an infographic and will be gathering more input
concerning it.
G.
Common Blackboard Shells – Arts and Sciences is
completing work for summer implementation in online and hybrid sections taught
by full-time faculty.
H.
President's Advisory Council – This committee has not
met since the last Faculty Senate meeting.
I.
Academic
Leadership – Mia and Penny reported this group focused on
prioritization/ranking of FTE requests at its last meeting. That information
will soon be distributed so that hiring processes can begin.
Action to be taken as
a result of discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline: All Senators
who are members of other committees will give updates at each Faculty Senate
meeting and will also share information from these committee reports with their
constituents.
5.
Division Updates – various senators
Mia asked senators from each division to provide any relevant updates for
Faculty Senate.
A.
Arts and Sciences – No updates
B.
Business and Public Services – Meredith shared that the
Jackye Kiser Murphy scholarship for Early Care and Education had reached an
endowment level ($25,000).
C.
College Transitions – No updates
D.
Engineering and Industrial Technology – No updates
E.
Health Education – Since the two senators were in
another meeting, Dr. Lynn Lewis stated that she is retiring on May 6. She
stated that a new dean had not yet been hired to allow a transition process, so
Galen Dehay has announced that he will serve as the interim dean until someone
is hired.
F.
Learning Commons – Som Linthicum stated that the summer
hours for the Learning Commons will be 8-5. However, if an instructor needs to
make arrangements for services for an evening class, that instructor just needs
to call.
Action
to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline: Senators
from each division will give updates at each Faculty Senate meeting. Senators
should share the information from each division with constituents.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Faculty Choice Scholarship
Mia
reminded everyone of the details she had shared information about this
scholarship via email and at the last meeting.
She
reminded Faculty Senate of the options developed during the last meeting from
the small groups:
Group
1:
·
Have
a push every fall for advertising and fundraising (many faculty today know
nothing about this scholarship)
·
Faculty
Senate would determine the recipient. However, some of the criteria could be
automated to simplify selection process.
·
Criteria
o
Automated
|
o Must have completed a minimum of 12
hours at TCTC
o Must be enrolled in at least 6
hours to receive the scholarship
o Must submit letter or essay
concerning need (could be tied to FAFSA)
o Must participate in a face-to-face
or Skype interview
Group
2:
·
Focus
needs to be on student retention
·
Should
be awarded to a promising student, not an elite student
·
Faculty
will nominate promising students who have struggled and may need extra classes
to recover but is unable to pay for those classes
·
Each
division will submit one nominee. Then Faculty Senate decides which student.
Could possibly have several scholarships to award, not just one.
·
Offer
fund for summer term, but could also offer for spring
·
Market
heavily at the start of fall term through Senate President welcome newsletter,
LC 101, adjunct orientation, etc. Send reminders throughout the year. Include
link for making donations.
Group
3:
·
Advertise
in the fall at PD Day; have paper forms available for donations; have automated
deductions from payroll, lump sum payments, and more
·
Faculty
Senate would determine the recipient. However, some of the criteria could be
automated to simplify the selection process.
·
Criteria
o Must have 3.0 GPA minimum
o
Automated
|
o Must be a full-time student
o Must live in the tri-county areas
(Anderson, Pickens, Oconee counties)
o Must submit an essay stating
educational and career goals and how scholarship will be beneficial—more than
just "I need the money"
She
then asked our visitors from the Foundation Office and Financial Aid to share
their thoughts to more fully inform the Senate as we try to make a decision.
Grayson
Kelly stated that the Foundation is simply the custodian of the fund while
Financial Aid makes the awards. He stated there are challenges with all three
of the options listed. He suggested our biggest focus should be on fundraising
and setting a goal to reach an endowment level of $25,000. When that happens,
the interest generated funds the scholarship. Debbie Nelms noted that once we
hit $25,000, it will take about three years to grow to be able to award $1,500
per year on interest alone. The maximum
amount of such a scholarship is $1,500 per year ($750 per semester, fall and
spring). We could also maintain a specified amount (such as $22,500) and award
$1500 per year while continuing to raise funds. Meredith made suggestions of
partnering with the Foundation to raise money and perhaps working with the
administration to auction off a parking place for a year. Adam Ghiloni stated
he also recommends trying to reach an endowment level. He said while this
scholarship has traditionally been considered elite, he likes the idea of
helping a student who is struggling. He noted we might have issues with faculty
nominations. We must have a strong commitment from faculty. Adam also shared
that financial need is different from qualifying for Pell, so we need to take
that into consideration as we create any criteria. He stated the amount awarded
could potentially impact a student's ability to get federal funding, so we need
to keep that possibility in mind.
Senators
discussed other options/criteria for this scholarship, including having each
division nominate 3-4 students. Then Financial Aid would examine financial need
if we have set that as a criterion. Need could be tied to SAP status because
students who are not in satisfactory status do not qualify for federal aid.
Grayson
also stated that he likes the idea of helping a student who is struggling. As
we reviewed the recommendations from the groups, Debbie Nelms stated that she
would recommend an interview, not an essay or letter. She stated that
scholarships requiring an essay often had no applicants. She also recommended
staying away from requiring a full-time student status. If we are looking at
summer, most students attend part-time due to other responsibilities. Gerald
Maxey stated he likes the idea of helping a student who cannot afford to come
during the summer but would like to be able to do so.
Theoretically,
we could have two possible options for now: 1. awarding $1,500 for a
scholarship or a smaller amount for several students and 2. building toward the
endowment. Debbie Nelms stated the Foundation office is willing to work with us
for a fundraising push.
Adam
suggested that we create some guidelines for what faculty should look
for/include when nominating a student. That way, we will have more equitable
nominations.
Grayson,
Debbie, and Adam all stated that they are willing to continue to answer
questions as Faculty Senate works to revamp this scholarship. They then left
the meeting. All senators were in agreement that we need to work toward the
endowed scholarship. Debbie Vance also suggested having an "emergency
fund" that we could use to help students with an immediate need (such as
paying for a summer class when the student would otherwise be unable to afford
it).
Mia
refocused our discussion to ask which of the proposed scholarship options we
wished to pursue. Penny made a motion that Faculty Senate follow the proposal
from Group 2 as a starting point for the Faculty Choice Scholarship. Robin
seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Penny
made another motion that Faculty Senate form a scholarship subcommittee for the
2019-20 academic year. This group would begin work this summer to determine
initial criteria, create a marketing and fundraising plan, and work with Senate
leadership and senators to drive the whole process. This group will also
communicate with the Foundation, Financial Aid, and Marketing. Som seconded the
motion. Scott made a friendly amendment that we specify this group will start
during the summer and continue work under the 2019-20 Senate. Penny accepted
the amendment to her motion. The motion passed unanimously. Julia stated she
would send an email about this group.
Action
to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline: Julia
will send an email to 2019-20 senators about the subcommittee.
New
Business:
1. AACC Competencies and Faculty Leadership at
TCTC – Penny Edwards
Penny directed everyone to
the AACC document posted in the Teams folder. She also presented a summary of
the document explaining Faculty Leadership Competencies. She stated that at the
AACC conference, one part of the discussion involved how these competencies are
demonstrated at community colleges.
She noted the eleven (11)
content areas for each level of leadership at an institution. She asked that we
each look at the competencies specifically for faculty leadership. Are these
already demonstrated at TCTC? She stated she is meeting with Galen on Friday
and wanted to gather input from us on these to share with him. The summary she
created was displayed for senators to review. She noted the document in its
entirety is aspirational. Som asked if this could be adaptable to meet needs.
Penny stated it would be indeed.
She asked us to think about
three questions: 1. Are these
competencies applicable to our institution? 2. Are these competencies relevant
to us as leaders at TCTC? 3. Does Senate wish to investigate how these
competencies are demonstrated at TCTC? If so, is there an interest in taking
these to a broader group?
Som asked about the ultimate
goal. Penny stated she is just having a conversation. She is not asking for a
resolution or anything from Senate. If there is no interest, then she will
pursue no further.
She directed us to the
competencies themselves to begin reading the summary she created. Stacey asked
if a leader is defined as anyone in any kind of leadership role at the College.
Penny said yes.
Julia asked if these
competencies would need to be assessable. Penny said these were created by a
national organization that is looking at what it means to be an effective
leader in a community college situation. Penny said she is not suggesting that
we adopt these. Julia stated her concerns are item such as "not having a
hidden agenda." How would anyone know? Derek asked her to clarify that these are
aspirational. She stated absolutely—no one would be expected to have all of
these at one time.
She said she has simply been
asked to present this information to us and gather input. She thinks most of
these are already in existence, and many are already in our faculty
competencies and in the managerial characteristics of FPMS. She said if we feel
these are already in existence, then there is no need to continue.
Robin suggested Penny send
the summary to us. Penny noted the three questions she asked are at the end of
her summary. Penny stated she had her own personal opinion about these
competencies but did not feel comfortable sharing those right now.
Action to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible,
and timeline: Penny will send her summary to all senators via email.
Senators will share their input on these competencies with her via email.
2. Essential Takeaways
Senators determined there
were four keys items:
1.
New senators have been elected for 2019-2020. They were
introduced at the meeting.
2.
We agreed to change the focus of the FS scholarship to
promising students (potentially at-risk), not elite, to help with retention.
3.
We approved a motion to create a subcommittee to focus
on this scholarship—will start in the summer and continue into next year.
4.
Faculty Leadership from AACC—Penny will send to
Senators requesting input. The document is in Teams, but she is also emailing.
Focus on the three questions and respond to her.
Action
to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline: Senators
will share these items with their constituents.
3. Passing of the Gavel – Mia
Tensley
Mia announced that her last
official duty as Faculty Senate president would be at graduation on May 6. She
brought Julia Seligson up front for a ceremonial "passing of the
gavel" since Julia has been elected as the president for 2019-20.
Action to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible,
and timeline: Julia will begin her term as president at the start of the
summer term.
Adjournment
With no further business, Julia made
a motion to adjourn, and Derek seconded. All approved. The meeting was
adjourned at 11:58.
Respectfully submitted by Robin McFall
Next Meeting: Friday,
August 30 at 12:30 in SSC 205
