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Meeting Minutes

Faculty Association Regular Meeting

September 8, 2006

C104, SCC

I. Call to Order

President Amina El-Ashmawy called the regular FA meeting to order at 1:32 pm

II. Secretary’s Report

Motion to approve of the Minutes from May, August, and two Forum Summaries made by David Garrison, Barbara Lusk second.

There was an approval of all minutes and summaries with one correction of a typo in May minutes for acclimation vs. acclamation.

Acclamation: all

Against: none

III. Treasurer’s Report

$ 2207.16 total as of 9/1/06, the start of the fiscal year.

Current outstanding expenses:

Flowers: $154.73

Luncheon: $1306.25

End: ~ 800.00 left over

Other expenses not yet processed by the business office include the monies for the paper products for the luncheon at ~ $66.00 and the Past President Gift at $100.00

IV. Vice President’s Report

VP is out of town dealing with urgent family business. Nothing to report.

V. President’s Report

Informational item regarding the textbook issue: the Board of Trustees (BOT) has a subcommittee that is looking into high textbook cost. Cary is assembling a task force to research and recommend solutions to this problem. President El-Ashmawy will give a status update at the October meeting.

VI. New Business

The FA president called for a motion to designate current Ex Committee as the transitional leadership team so that election results could be announced.

Motion by EJ Hanford, Mary Milford second.

All except one were in favor of the motion. Motion passes.

Election Results: Of the 105 ballots received there were 67 valid ballots, 38 invalid since they were not signed. Of the 67 valid ballots there were 19 against the motion and 48 for the motion, with a ~72% approval rating from the faculty.

Since we are no longer collecting dues, we will be passing the hat for private donations for the student scholarship and the sunshine fund at each meeting.

Ted McFerrin is in the hospital and is very sick and not doing well. We will send flowers and a card in the upcoming weeks on the faculty’s behalf.

Announcements

COE: Dan Lipscomb, chair

The travel budget has been slightly increased from last year. The current COE travel budget is $155,000. The limit per faculty this year will be $1200 or $1500 if presenting.

In regards to TCCTA funding and the budget change, there was a survey and committee discussion about how to handle these funds. It was decided after much discussion and input that TCCTA will be treated as a regular conference, and, therefore, will be part of the $1200 limit.

Amina El-Ashmawy announced the new Faculty Council committees. Standing and ad hoc committees for the Faculty Council are:

Committee on College Policy

Committee on the Faculty Council Policy & Procedures (P&P)

Committee on Teaching and Learning

Committee on the Collin Community

Committee on Technology

ad hoc Honor Code Committee

Honor Code committee is in need of readers and feedback. Sign up sheets were provided for those interested in participating.

The floor was opened for questions. Questions received pertained to the details of the transition that will happen to complete the establishment of the Faculty Council. Topics discussed included length of transition period, format of the P&P, membership of the Faculty Council, and process for selecting officers.

Important points made:

Now that the Faculty Council is a body that represents all full-time faculty there is no membership.
The transition will happen this year. It will include getting the P&P finalized and on the college website. It will also involve getting the Faculty Council written into College policy as the faculty shared governance body.
Rationale for committees was to have broad scope so that when things come up they can easily fit under and be dealt with by a designated committee. For example, the Committee on Teaching and Learning (CTL) would address the textbook issue. The Committee on the Collin Community (CCC) could address BOT elections as well as having more participation in local community events.

In the past, the FA executive committee president attended the TCCTA leadership meeting and travel was sponsored by the president.

As a reminder, our next regular meeting will be October 13 @ 1:30 pm and it is listed on master calendar, unless there is a reason to call a special meeting.

Campus / Room TBA

1:30pm start time frame is to accommodate other faculty from other campuses.

Motion to adjourn. All except one were in favor of the motion.

Meeting ended at 2:05pm