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   Meeting Minutes

   Collin Faculty Council

   October 19, 2007

I.       Call to Order

President Cathy Donald-Whitney called to order the rescheduled regular meeting of the CCCCD Faculty Council at 1:16 pm on October 19^th, 2007 held in B409/B411/B423 at the Court Yard Center.

II.    Roll Call

Vice President Paula Miller called the council representative roll

A.      Absent: None

B.      Substitutes: Dawn Richardson for Debra St. John.

III. Approval of September 2007 Minutes

A)      Cathy Whitney asked for a motion to approve the minutes.

B)       Amina El Ashmawy moved to dispense the reading of the minutes and accept the minutes as distributed. A second to the motion was made by Kyle Wilkison.

C)      Motion passed.

IV   Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer John Glass sent a report on the Sunshine and Scholarship fund            and the amounts were reported by the FC secretary.

            A) Sunshine fund still has a balance of $184.04 from last year.

            B) Faculty Scholarship fund has a balance of $1342.00.

            C) We have enough money to sponsor the scholarship this year.

            D) Any extra monies can be used for next year’s scholarship.

V.                  VP’s Report

Paula Miller reported that the retention subcommittee is focusing on the faculty’s role as it relates to advising. In a report from the subcommittee, a pilot program for BIET division was recommended. If approved by the Leadership Team, faculty in this area will do voluntary advising in the spring.  In addition, the math department has planned a spring pilot program on assessment. A pre-test will be given the first day of classes in order to place students in the appropriate math class. The leadership team had a meeting about retention issues, but no additional information regarding further discussions was available at the time of the FC meeting.

VI. President’s Report

·         Dr. Chesney’s visit/recap summary

A summary was sent out to the faculty. Please read the summary and address any issues that you have.  The FC president reiterated that faculty need to follow up on situations that arise so that the FC can be effective in her discussions with the VPAA.

·         TCCTA Leadership Conference

This conference was held in Austin on October 5^th and 6^th.  To find out more information from this conference, a link is now active under useful links on the FC website. HB01 and the High School (HS) requirement for dual credit need to be addressed.  Lateral transfer issues also affect HS students in dual credit classes. THECB is creating courses that will improve retention at developmental and entry-level academics. The FC Academic Freedom group has looked at this and will address issues that arise. A response is being formulated and will be ready by the November FC meeting. There is also a focus on cheaper delivery of education through technology via online courses while still keeping the same quality of content as traditional courses. THECB has a list of funded projects that are designated to help with delivery of courses via distance learning means.  TCCTA has not yet taken a stance on the issue of academic freedom.  Initiatives are all in the research stage. At the Austin conference, the coordinating board made a presentation on the programs that they are developing.

·         ORP:  FC president will continue to follow up on issues related to ORP

ü       Provider list has been posted under useful links on the FC website.

ü       Note from Kim:  We will be working on new forms, a plan document that complies with the new rules, and information sharing agreements with each of our approved vendors.  We are still researching and learning about these issues (and our vendors are sending us information), but there is the potential for tax liabilities if employees transfer funds that don't comply with the rules.  We will keep you posted as we learn more. 

ü       The transfer rules are in effect for transfers made after 9/24/2007; but, the plan documents must be in place by 1/1/2009.

ü       Previously, the 403B loophole allowed the movement of funds between any vendors, even if not approved by the school. The IRS has now closed the loophole so that participants must have their money deposited with a vendor listed by the school. Most vendors have high cost options and schools do not traditionally tend to have ORP vendors with low cost options. Yield is a difference between cost and return. We need a summary document from HR-benefits section that lists the potential costs from each of the vendors. TCCTA does a comparison of vendors and the SEC allows the publication of this information.

·         Improving Faculty Evaluation Systems Task Force update: 

ü       The faculty on this task force were chosen was based on dean recommendations and the VPAA has sent out official list for the faculty on this task force.  The VPAA will oversee the task force group.

ü       Current plans include the following:

o        DVDs have been ordered so that the group can view the presentation from the webinar.

o        The VPAA will choose the administrators for this task force.

o        The primary focus is for multi-year contract issues

o        COE is also in the process of determining updates to the self evaluation form for the multi-year process.

·         Adopt-A- Highway, at SCC only:

ü       Paper work is in and is being processed.

ü       Cost to change the sign has yet to be determined.

ü       David Garrison will continue to coordinate Adopt-A-Highway.

·         November Faculty Council meeting will be on November 16, 2007 at Central Park Campus in Pike Hall, D101. The start time will be at 1:20 pm.

·         Chili Cook-Off will be on November 16^th

ü       Advanced tickets are $4.00 and available at various locations.

ü       At the door tickets will be $5.00.

ü       Pottery bowls made by students will be $15.00.  Purchase of a pottery bowl will include all you can eat chili and a contribution to the charity Hope’s Door.

ü       NOTE: FC will not purchase chili tickets this year.  Each faculty member will need to purchase advanced tickets or tickets at the door!

ü       The chili cook off task force will need FC help cleaning up at 1:00 p.m. before the FC meeting.

ü       If you are interested in entering a crock pot of chili contact Leslie Thetford.

ü       There is also a need for people to bring regular chili for the general public. Let Larry Collins know if you can bring chili.

·         CPC Construction.

A clarification email was sent to the faculty at CPC. The BOT will vote next week on the guaranteed maximum price. The higher estimate for the renovation was given due to the condition of the building. Consultants have a report regarding what a fair cost would be to renovate CPC.

·         Collin Higher Education Center:

ü       Forums/questionnaire

·         Feedback from the faculty is being gathered. As a reminder, the BOT has already voted on having this center.

·         A special session has been called and Brenda Kihl will give a presentation on CHEC. A Nov 6-9 time frame is being discussed and FC reps have been asked what day/time would work with their schedules.

ü       FC CHEC Task Force

          *Members

                  a) FC representative volunteers are Amina El-Ashmawy (SCC),                    Sonja Andrus (CPC), and Jon Hardesty (PRC).

      b) FC executive committee

      c) 3 at large members from faculty volunteers to be selected at                   the end of the business meeting.

·         This faculty task force will review campus feedback and forward suggestions as needed.

·         Brenda has a set of questions that the CHEC task force will be addressing.

·         CWID

Note from Kim:  There is a CWID for faculty in the Student Information System (SIS).  That number is created in SIS when a faculty member is first assigned a class in SIS.  However, those numbers do not feed back in the Human Resources System.  This will be resolved when we move to Banner in January.  At that time, the CWID will be common between all of the systems, including HR, Business Office, and Student Development.

·         An email from Shane Ammons was sent out regarding the password change that will be effective in mid November. FC rep discussion followed. Changing passwords on a regular basis causes people to write down passwords, so be careful as security is the main issue. Currently, the SIS-VAX changes passwords every 90 days. The technology committee will address this issue again. David Hoyt will be invited to a future FC technology meeting to discuss password and security as well as other issues. State regulations dictate the 90 day password change and this issue came up in our last audit. We need to get the state mandate changed as it is based on a 10 year old study. New studies show that changing passwords every 90 days is not an effective security measure. However, password security is important as access to WBA information has happened. Confidential information was then posted on the WWW by students.

VIII.             Committee reports: Please send a synopsis to post on the FC website.

Committee on College Policy:  

            Co-chairs:  Barbara Lusk & Mary Milford

                        Nothing to report

Committee on Faculty Council Procedures and Nominations

Co-chairs:  David Garrison & Loren Miller

                        Cleaned up the lettering of the procedures manual

                        Addition of the Academic Freedom committee to the manual

                        Nomination process will be addressed and clarified

      Committee on Teaching and Learning: Chair: Sonja Andrus
                  This committee met recently and looked at defining a scholarly community. The decision was that we are a scholarly community but that there is a need for better PR.  The committee is working on a guide to planning and hosting events.

Committee on Technology:  Chair: George Jackson
                  * There will be a meeting next week and Sherry Schumann, Dean of Distance Learning, will be the guest speaker to address issues in her area.
                  * The first technology meeting identified the issues to address for the year. These include WebCT, GroupWise, E-schedule, Web line, H:/ drive lack of space issues, software issues, CWID issues, and password issues.
                  * David Hoyt will be the next invited speaker. He is tentatively scheduled for the November technology meeting and will address current technology issues and concerns as identified by the committee.

Committee on the Collin Community:  Co-Chairs: John Glass & Donna White
                  This committee is currently identifying projects.
                  The Counseling department asked for FC support for the Walk a Mile in her shoes event to bring awareness of domestic abuse. There was a need for gently worn shoes, primarily high heel shoes that men could wear.  Due to the time constraints, a Payless shoe store purchase of men’s size shoes was done and the cost totaled about $40.00. A more organized effort will be made next year to solicit donations from each campus.

Committee on Academic Freedom:  Chair: Kyle Wilkison
                  Academic Freedom is more of a movement than a legal definition. The limits of academic freedom need to be defined. This committee is also monitoring issues as warranted.

IX.                COE and ACC updates:

·         Council on Excellence - Dan Lipscomb.  COE is drafting an update to the self-evaluation form. The focus will be on increasing the integrity of the review process to make it more objective and fair. Dan is working with the VPAA and HR to define what will happen after the 3 year roll over for midyear process in regards to faculty notification, dean recommendation dates, etc. Also, COE has a proposed project to allow a faculty member to sit in on another faculty member’s class. This cannot be an audit as it involves contact hours but it will be a part of professional development. This observation class will have free tuition and no other fees with the exception for art class supplies.

·         All College Council - Dawn Richardson.
      * Changes to the ACC committee:

                    a) Resignations : G’Anna Saunders, Terrence Brennan, and Kemal Moula

b) Election Results:  Dede Day is the new ACC Chair-Elect, Stephanie Hanson has been appointed the Election Secretary, and Ruth Payton will serve as the new Recorder.

*The Employee Recognition Committee will be head up by Dede Day.  Other members of the committee include Pam Gaiter, Brenda McNease and Francis Choy.

 

                    *Bake Sale/Chili Cook-off update:

            The event will be Nov.16^th.  Everyone is asked to contribute baked goods. Proceeds of the sale will be used towards the Holiday Wish List fund.  Stephanie Hanson from CYC is chairing the committee; other campus members include Jill Brazil (PRC), Ruth Payton (SCC), and Peggy Akers (CPC).

            *The ACC discussed the previous Holiday and Back to School Drive Funds.  It    was noted that there has been fewer nominees over the recent years.  The ACC discussed the likelihood and methods of raising funds for both of these funds and the ACC Scholarship in the future.

            *Ginny Topfer (PRC Counselor) did a guest appearance at the meeting and proposed two possible Collin County Meals on Wheels service projects; Secret Santa for Seniors and Thanksgiving Boxes.  The committee chose to commit 10 donation boxes to the Thanksgiving project.  Peggy Browning and Dede Day are heading this effort.  Each division (district wide) will be asked to prepare one box. The approximate cost of the box donation is $40.00 and should be filled around October 31^st. 

X.         Announcements:  MLK Day

·         Scheduled for Monday, January 21, 2008. The administration would like more faculty presence at this event.

·         Collin’s MLK chair is Vernon Hadnot. Amina El-Ashmawy will also serve on the committee.  Vernon is co-chairing with the community representative.

·         Seminar: How self-harm issues impact campus safety, such as suicide tendencies, and self-injury. Friday, November 2^nd 2007, 12:00-2:30 p.m. at the PRC Event Center, lunch will be served

·         Final item of business, to choose faculty volunteers for the CHEC Faculty Task Force.  The list of volunteer names was read. Names were chosen at random based on campus. Faculty at large members to serve on the CHEC faculty task force are as follows:

o        CPC: Elaine Fanini

o        SCC: Jerry Smith

o        PRC: Jerry Sullivan

XI.                Adjourn

·         Movement to adjourn was made by Loren Miller.

·         Second to the motion was made by Peggy Breedlove.

·         Motion passed with one opposition by Kyle Wilkison.

·         Cathy Donald Whitney adjourned the FC meeting at 2:10pm.

Minutes submitted by:  Mary Weis
Preliminary approval of the minutes by: Cathy Donald-Whitney
Final approval of the minutes by: Faculty Council, November 16^th 2007

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