HCC FACULTY SENATE

July 14 @ 1:00 pm—Central College LHSB 100

 

  1. Call to Order – Mohamad Tlass, President-Elect (MT)
    1. Melissa Miller-Waters (MMW) is at another meeting
    2. Meeting is called to order at 1:06pm – short delay due to quorum size

 

  1. Approval of May 2017 Minutes – Mohamad Tlass / Stacey Higdon, acting Secretary
    1. Corrected the spelling of Dr. Ewen’s name

 

  • Treasurer’s Report – Ritu Raju
    1. Waiting for Faculty Retreat money – had expenses
    2. Total overall value exceeded half a million in the last 11 months

 

  1. Standing Committee Reports
  2. Compensation, Benefits, Workload – David Wilcox (DW) and Andre Hermann
    1. The committee met last Friday to focus on annual goals
    2. The board approved the final 3% plus 2% annual step increase in pay; this completes the current 3-year plan; next year’s committee will need to devise a new 3-year plan
    3. One of the biggest areas of continued concern involves transparency; the committee is still not satisfied with HR/TE’s stance: step and grade must be available to the public in order to help with recruitment
    4. The Comprehensive Faculty Handbook: MMW reported that this continues to progress with a current focus on Faculty Workload
    5. Deborah Hardwick of Tutoring discussed Tutor 3 (T3) pay grade: the current rate of $21.50 has not been raised in 12 years. We looked at the numbers to note that a part-time teaching contract would make $20.75 so while those have not increased to that of T3, perhaps the rationale is because they make more than adjuncts: the committee will review this equity issue in next academic year.
    6. Question: Dan Flores – at our last meeting, Chancellor said he’d look into starting a new salary study; is this reassured?
      1. DW: informally; regardless, we plan to do our own.
    7. Question: Genny Stevens asked for clarification on the 3 + 2 increase
      1. DW: also looked at how this contributes to market
    8. Adjunct Affairs—Scott Whitebird
      1. Nothing to report
    9. Finance –Ritu Raju (RR)
      1. There is a new Executive director of the Foundation, so we will need to wait for a meeting before we can move forward
      2. Question: are they monitoring the scholarship awards/payouts?
        1. RR: yes; we have received a list of students awarded our endowments
      3. Professional Development –Helen Graham
        1. Nothing to report

 

  1. Educational Affairs – Antrece Baggett (AB)
    1. The definition of Rigor has been paused; revisions are waiting on Beatty: with her leaving, we will also need to make contact with Norma Perez for the Fall. We hope to continue the Rigor definition by September.
    2. The Chair Caucus wants us to look at DE testing and the number of proctors for needed for face-to-face exams –
    3. We also wanted to look at testing center(s) or other spaces because adjuncts do not have space for makeups; this, however, is a no-go.
    4. Question: Grade appeals – does this belong to EA or Policy and Procedures?
      1. AB: Policy & Procedures
    5. There have been mixed feelings across departments regarding the latest FT hiring process; this will be something to discuss with Norma Perez
  2. Policies and Procedures—Laurel Lacroix
    1. Nothing to report
  3. Student Success – Scotty Moore
    1. Nothing to report
  4. Graduation – Darin Baskin
    1. Nothing to report
  5. Instructional Technology –Stacey Higdon (SH)
    1. We are not meeting during the summer
    2. Working with IT in 3100 regarding Phase II of the online grade change: because of PULSE and Campus Solutions upgrade, the earliest we can begin will be mid-October. We are looking at a pilot for phase 2 for Fall 2017
    3. We will meet in August to begin drafting agenda items, and our meeting in September will set goals with our new members, and elect officers.
    4. Question: Nora Jo Sherman asked for clarity about online grade change
      1. SH: explained differences between Phases I and II, and what both will offer
    5. Diversity and Inclusion
      1. Mohammed Tlass reported about the inaugural meeting from June 13th
      2. Cephas Archie proposed a faculty certificate for Diversity and Inclusion that would stretch go over 12 months; this would be handled by David Diehl’s office: more details will follow regarding this opportunity
    6. Special Committees and Caucuses
    7. Past Presidents – David White
      1. Nothing to report
    8. Chair Caucus—Nathan Smith
      1. Nothing to report
    9. Bedichek-Orman Auction—Linda Graham and Sheryl Ballard
      1. We met to take stock of leftover auction items over at West Loop
    10. Delegation Reports
    11. Central Locations – Leslie Comfort and Genny Stevens
      1. Nothing to report
    12. Coleman – Cyndi Lundgren
      1. Nothing to report
    13. Southeast Locations – James Battieste
      1. Nothing to report
    14. Southwest Locations–Stafford Rep: Helen Graham/ Karen Overton (alternate);West Loop Rep: Sean Otmishi/ Andre Hermann (alternate); Gulfton: David Ross
      1. Nothing to report
    15. Northeast Locations
      1. Nothing to report
    16. Northwest Locations — Alief-Hayes Rep: Laura Ayers; Spring Branch Rep: Dan Flores; Katy Rep: Bennie Ables and Elaine Tarhini
      1. Northwest wants a new Katy campus building: there are ideas about this—it could be on-site at existing location or connecting with a new University of Houston site
      2. Question regarding grade appeal committee at Northwest: how do we procure the active student leader from SGA?
        1. MT said this is the responsibility of the chair of appeal committee.
        2. A delegate from Central commented it can be any student because all student organization members are also on SGA; there are also Faculty advisors are for each organization for more help.
  • MT followed up with advice to go through Student Life coordinator; however, the issue is the summer months – no real club activity
  1. Dan Flores: go through SGA President if they won’t help
  2. David Ross: adding students to the grade change appeal will always be a difficult issue because students can’t be made to participate; every appeal committee will face uncertainty: this needs to be something for Policy & Procedures
  3. There is also a potential FERPA issue because of student grades // ex. A student filed appeal because they did not know student on committee

 

  • President’s Report – Melissa Miller-Waters
    1. MT went to Education institute at Berkley with MMW: Dr. Ewen will have a report for Chancellor regarding the experience
    2. David White: motion for brief recess while we wait for MMW; seconded—voted—recess at 1:36pm
  • MMW arrived at 1:48pm: President’s Report at 1:49pm
  1. Updates from Chancellor and Board
    1. The Chancellor: we remain focused on student success
    2. There will be a Cabinet retreat/strategic planning in early August
    3. Innovative leadership email from Chancellor — we did get the deadline for application extended, so please apply if interested.
      1. Some confusion remains about who can apply: any FT Faculty that has been here for a year in addition to E20 or above: if MMW finds out differently, she will let us know
    4. Updates on VCIS
      1. New VCIS is Norma Perez: because of Interim position, we will likely have a good working relationship with her for the next 6-8 months.
      2. MMW will meet with Dr. Beatty on Monday morning regarding nepotism policy that will adjust to shared governance model.
        1. Focus on industry standards and other school policies
        2. Frame for discussion: Department Chair positons are a service
  • Possible answer by Monday afternoon
  • Unfinished Business
    1. Benefits switch to Blue Cross/Blue Shield
      1. MMW contacted people in HR regarding benefits: no reply yet.
      2. Email from HealthSelect stated Kelsey-Seybold will participate.
  • Open enrollment ends tomorrow (7-15)
  1. Genny Stevens commented BCBS told her that there will be a grace period until December for doctors not in network. Please confirm by calling BCBS first.
  1. Innovative classroom (Vanguard) training
    1. Contact list of those who could train will go out in mid-August
    2. Charlotte Hamilton and Linda Comte asked for clarification on who will do this training, because there are assumptions regarding it.
  • Question: what is the type of training?
    1. MMW: technology
  1. Travel processes
    1. We’re working weekly, and the hope is that this system will be up by Jan 1st – This will create reservations, etc.
    2. DW: we want this all electronic because the system needs to be accessible for others than faculty
  • Requests for international travel still need to be a minimum of 40 days in advance, but we want to cut the days needed for domestic
  1. Comprehensive Handbook –
    1. Meeting with Norma Perez to see what we can agree on by Fall semester and we will leave the parts that are not ready under construction (Workload co-op / document that addresses CE WL distribution)
  2. Access to rooms and copy codes
    1. Recognition that the difficulty comes from varying college policies that are still in play
    2. hope that Norma Perez will be very conducive to cleaning up these processes MW and M will be conducive to cleaning up these processes

 

  1. New Business
    1. Instructional Day – Monday 8/17 at Stafford
      1. Agenda in same order as previous year with a focus on procedure and policies and hands-on items
      2. Wi-fi availability will be in individual rooms for meetings but the main code will not be released by Stafford center
  • In the rooms at the Center, there should be a laptop that will connect to wi-fi
  1. Question: does the current schedule reflect the group room assignments?
    1. MMW: will encourage the release of this information before the date
  2. With Dr. Beatty leaving, planning has been assigned to Betty Fortune
    1. Fortune wants more faculty involvement in planning. It’s commented from the floor that Faculty once planned the entire thing.
    2. Question: would senators support annual convocation? A bifurcation of instructional day into annual meeting at Stafford – start of academic year could be open for priorities and planning; in January, we would have traditional instructional day of program meetings
      1. If this is the consensus of the Senate, then it could happen. MMW recognizes the schedule of events and that instructional leaders are already spread thin that week
    3. Announcements
      1. Potential book club for gender and LGBT issues that would meet once a month: the goal is to get a variety of disciplines involved. Interested? Email [email protected]
      2. Start Date for contracts is August 16th
      3. Bedichek-Orman auction theme is 70s: would like for departments and campuses to donate baskets; these are accepted at the libraries

 

  1. Adjournment (no “second” required)

 

NEXT MEETING:  August 25, 1:00 at Central’s Learning Hub, Room 100