HCC FACULTY SENATE

January 17, 2020 @ 1:00 pm; Central College LH-100

  1. Call to Order: Desmond Lewis
    1. The meeting is called to order at 1:00pm
      1. As of yesterday, enrollment is up 9%. 
  2. Guest: Dr. Kurt Ewen, Vice Chancellor for Strategy, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness
    1. Discusses the current state of the strategic plan and overviews a proposed revision to the current vision statement 
    2. Overviews five priorities
      1. Student Success
      2. Community Engagement
        1. Still in development
      3. Financial Stewardship
        1. Reorganizing the planning cycle around the budget year: the budget should be a statement of our values.
      4. Sustainability 
        1. Enrollment is a priority, a byproduct of strategy. 
        2. Sustainable enrollment patterns for our programs that go along with consistent expectations for students
      5. Facilities Alignment 
        1. This relates to all of HCC’ s facilities. Ad Astra Platinum offers a predictive analytic.
    3. Kathy Najafi asks that the PPT presentation from today’s meeting go to Desmond Lewis so he can send it out to the Senate.
  3. Approval of December 2019 Minutes. 
    1. Tod Bisch makes a motion to approve the minutes, and it is seconded. The minutes pass as-is.
  4. Standing Committee Reports:
  1. Compensation, Benefits, & Workload: Tod Bisch
    1. Last meeting was on Wednesday, January 15.
    2. Gladys Bel presented the preliminary TCCTA salary survey 
      1. Full-time pay
        1. Ranked #4 in TUCC8 
        2. For the most part, at market 
      2. Adjunct faculty 
        1. At market 
      3. Continue to filter results to bring in February—along with other goals. Voting in March. 
      4. Next meeting: Friday, February 7 at 1pm in SJAC 140
  2. Finance & Treasurer’s Report: Mary Lawson
    1. Numbers for January 2020 remain the same. Except:
      1. The Bedichek-Orman Professional Development Operating Account went down slightly. (re: Adjunct faculty travel requests)
  3. Professional Development: Mia Taylor 
    1. Meetings on first Thursdays 
    2. Chancellor’s Excellence Award went to Richard Gosselin. A new Faculty  Teaching Excellence chair is needed to replace him. 
    3. Faculty Conference and Retreat 
  4. Educational Affairs: Nikky Boutte-Heiniluoma, Antrece Baggett reporting
    1. Morale survey is forthcoming.
    2. Discussion about Adjunct faculty and mandatory meetings: this report initially came from Adjunct Caucus.
      1. Documenting meeting attendance is part of compliance for SACSCOC and others.  
    3. Maxient
      1. Use for Title IX and plagiarism, too.
  5. Policies and Procedures: Laurel Lacroix 
    1. No meeting yet / Nothing to report
  6. Student Success: Kathy Najafi
    1. No meeting yet, but there will be a further report in February.
  7. Graduation: Darin Baskin
    1. The May graduation ceremony will resemble the format of the one in December.  
      1. December numbers noted 2100 students are eligible for May graduation.
      2. Date is after grades are due — will be announced soon.
    2. Ceremonial mace is in production; hopefully, there will be pictures of it at the February meeting. 
    3. Regalia  
      1. Some faculty ordered regalia, but never picked up items and showed up to the December ceremony without anything.
        1. Pick up regalia as soon as possible. 
      2. Others refused to wear regalia to the ceremony because wearing such was not stated in the faculty contract. 
        1. Mohamad Tlass asks the Senate take a stand on this issue. 
        2. Tod Bisch states information about wearing regalia could be placed into in the Faculty Handbook. 
    4. Date of May ceremony to be announced
  8. Instructional Technology: Stacey Higdon 
    1. No meeting yet / Nothing to report 
  9. Diversity and Inclusion: Helen Graham
    1. Nothing to report
  1. Special Reports, Committees and Caucuses:
  1. Past Presidents: Darin Baskin
    1. Trustee Meet-and-Greet and greet: February 6, 5:30-8:30pm at Nuksy’s Fine Catering, 1926 West Dallas
      1. Please attend as the Faculty Senate should represent faculty. 
      2. Outlook invitation to follow 
  2. Chair Caucus: Nikky Boutte-Heiniluoma, Antrece Baggett reporting
    1. Current scheduling and cancelling classes 
      1. The Senate is reminded that Department Chairs are not allowed to cancel classes (regardless of student count) without permission from the campus president(s).
    2. Ad Astra and room assignments
    3. EGLS3
  3. Adjunct Caucus: Charles LaMendola
  1. Meetings will be held at usual times (before Senate), starting in February 
  2. On January 14 and 16, the Caucus held focus groups at the adjunct meetings for qualitative survey data. Some preliminary findings:
    1. Professional development problems with accessibility 
      1. Saturday meeting time as an option
    2. Adjunct Academy stipend
    3. Onboarding issues
    4. Adjunct meetings viewed as mandatory
      1. This mandatory status will be proposed to Educational Affairs under New Business.
      2. Currently, the only required meeting is the Dual-Credit Rigor Institute and this is in the design of the school districts / P-16.
  3. A report about the fall 2019 survey data will be delivered to Compensation committee in February.
  1. Bedichek-Orman Auction: Linda Graham and Sheryl Ballard
    1. Linda Graham: donations are needed for the auction. New and gently-used items are needed for the rummage sale.
  2. Faculty Conference: Debra Schultz and Keitha Robinson
    1. Debra Schultz: there is now a signed contract for the venue. Registration and call for proposals will go out shortly. 
      1. Only one registration is allowed. There will be an auto-generated confirmation. 
      2. There will not be an auto-confirmation for proposals, but Schultz will send out confirmation after receipt.
  3. All-Faculty Retreat: Helen Graham, Mia Taylor reporting 
    1. Nothing to report
  4. HCC Foundation: Antrece Baggett & Mary Lawson
    1. Nothing major to report; the Foundation is in the initial steps for 50th anniversary gala planning.
  5. President’s Report: Desmond Lewis
    1. Parking and Police from last meeting
      1. Met with Police Chief, Greg Cunningham
        1. Cunningham agreed to two faculty advocates, Jaime Hernandez and Bryant Evans. 
        2. Event(s) on campus: call HCC police beforehand to get visitor  passes, or schedule them to be present at the event.
        3. Traffic officers will be coming inside buildings—not just patrolling parking lots 
        4. More refinements are in the works; overall, crime is down. 
    2. ID badges
      1. HCC Police will be coming out to campuses to take pictures for faculty badging. 
        1. Question: how will the badges act as safety measures?  
          1. These will allow for better visual identification.
          2. The plan moving forward is for keyless entry; this is part of the overall strategic plan. 
        2. Question: is there a timeline for the badges, and how do we know where and when to go?
          1. Emails and more information will be forthcoming. HCC is easing into this; it does not need to be done immediately.
        3. Question: is there a plan to stop people not wearing badges? 
          1. This is why the faculty liaisons are in place: this question is tabled, and the liaisons will continue that discussion in their meetings. 
        4. Those who had photos taken at Convocation will either receive the new badges by inter-office mail or will get an email about pick-up.
  1. Old (unfinished) Business: 
    1. Tod Bisch asks if there is any movement on the ORP resolution.
      1. None yet.
  2. New Business:
    1. Robin Raborn: no traction with the ad-hoc committee to look into Maria Straus’ termination; however, there is a new resolution to show support for Straus.  
      1. Straus will be at the February Board meeting; she will be presenting and appealing to the Board to be reinstated as the Chancellor denied her first appeal. 
        1. The meeting will be Wednesday, February 5 at 4pm at 3100 Main.
      2. David Ross asks Raborn to read the resolution for the Senate: the resolution is a show of our support and wishes her the best in future endeavors. After Raborn reads the text, David White assists with editing the text on screen.
        1. Ross: if there is no further discussion—call the question and proceed to a vote. White seconds this; there is a vote on the floor, and the resolution passes. 
    2. Charles LaMendola requests that the Senate address the issue of mandatory attendance at Adjunct meetings and that this be referred to either Chair Caucus or Educational Affairs.
      1. Daniel Dylla recommends that this issue go to Educational Affairs for investigation. Desmond Lewis agrees with Dylla. While Lewis will also work on this issue, he asks that LaMendola take it forward to the committee.
  3. Announcements:
    1. HCC is participating in a parade on Monday; the MLK parade starts at 10am on 1/20. If interested in participating, please be at the San Jacinto building at 8:30am. 
  4. Adjournment (no “second” required)
    1. The meeting is adjourned at 2:35pm.

NEXT MEETING: February 14, 2020

1PM at Central’s Learning Hub, Room 100