HCC FACULTY SENATE

May 12 —Central College LHSB 100

 

  1. Call to Order – Melissa Miller-Waters (MMW)
    1. Meeting called to order at 1:01pm

 

  1. Approval of April 2017 Minutes – Scotty Moore (SM)
    1. Corrected revenue from Table rentals at Faculty Conference

 

  • Treasurer’s Report – Ritu Raju (RR)
    1. Earned $0.35 in interest last month
    2. Total value of investments has reached the $500,000 mark. Thank you to all faculty for supporting the auction.

 

  1. Standing Committee Reports
  2. Compensation, Benefits, Workload
    1. Gladys Bel (GB) – The committee held a discussion of the proposed language for the revised workload document. Although this revised language has passed through the VCIS’ office, the language observed in the recent “letters of intent” remains unchanged.
      1. Problem with the way that 10.5-month contracts are set up is that you are paid for 6 weeks of work while being forced to work 8 weeks. We have long known that this existed. This to the fact that faculty are expected to work the last two weeks of May but are not paid for it.
      2. The proposal outlines 256 total work hours for the 6 contact hours in the summer
  • Some workload elements may need to be concentrated to specific times of the summer term.
  1. Questions
    1. Nathan Smith (NS): I don’t understand why this doesn’t allow affect the 12-month faculty? GB: the 10.5-month people should not be working the last two weeks of May but they are. Twelve-month faculty are getting paid for this time already.
    2. David Wilcox: where are we on final revisions? Melissa Miller-Waters: we are waiting on Dr. Terry Kidd to approve a different part of the contract language and then it will go to Dr. Beatty.
    3. NS: I am in favor of the proposal in general; does your calculation inflate the numbers though? A different way to calculate faculty workload would be to do it by week; this would create different numbers. G: Talk to me about this later and I will adjust it.
    4. Should we sign letters of intent? MMW: yes, sign it immediately and send it in.
  2. MMW: spoke to Norma Perez about co-op pay. GB: There is a big variation in pay for co-op courses vs practicum courses when the student enrollment is below 10 and the pay is prorated. We will work with Norma to finalize the formula.
  3. David Wilcox – Point of personal privilege: I would like to make a statement. I’ve been a member of this organization since 1978. It has evolved over the years; we were not recognized as the voice of the faculty until the 1990s. I am happy as I am ready to retire to say that this is the voice of the faculty. This is a great organization; you all need to be involved in it. It is now built into the structure of the college. Upper-level administrators want to hear about our data. The more you work, the greater your role in the process.
  4. Adjunct Affairs
    1. Group did not meet today but next meeting will be held sometime before the end of the month. Will have a report by the end of the summer.
    2. MMW: this group has been looking at the letter-of-intent letter that will go out to adjuncts. As soon as it is ready it will be shared with the group at large.
  5. Finance –Ritu Raju
    1. Very impressed with the perspective that Bob King (Interim Executive Director – HCC Foundation) brings to fund raising. We clarified:
      1. A form that professors / chairs could quickly fill out to allow students to quickly assess emergency money. The form will be ready Wednesday (5/17).
      2. List of students who got scholarships through our endowments was provided. Four students were awarded scholarships from Senate endowments.
  • Made a point to say that our organization has one of the largest endowments and we would like to be allowed to send representatives to the scholarship luncheon. We want to know the students that get money from our endowments and to be able to recognize them at a senate meeting.
  1. We have been talking for a year about emergency situations for adjunct faculty. We have proposed an amendment to the Bedichek-Orman language allowing for a provision to provide emergency funding for adjuncts. Will present this under new business.
  2. Management of endowment funds was discussed.
  3. Questions:
    1. Nicole Zaza – what is the likelihood of getting a faculty-member on the HCC Foundation Board? MMW: this is a good point; we should advocate for this.
  4. David Ross – years ago a scholarship was set up for ESOL at SW college; this was one of the few scholarships available to international students. Last year I learned that the recipient of the previous year’s award was neither an ESOL student nor a non-native English speaker. Shouldn’t the endowment owner have some veto power over who is selected? RR: it must have been an oversight, because the board picks students under established criteria. David Ross: We should discuss the possibility of some endowment oversight with the Board.
  1. Professional Development –Helen Graham (HG)
    1. HG: Met with the HCC Foundation yesterday. Meeting set up for the 23rd to find out how they can better assist the Bedicheck Orman auction.
    2. BO Auction (Linda Graham): The next Auction is October, Friday the 13th; the theme is the 1970s. Information is on the WordPress page. We are looking for gently-used items (not garage sale rejects). You could help by talking to local businesses to see if they want to donate.
      1. HG: We are hoping that the Chancellor will play his guitar at the event!
    3. Richard Gosselin – Faculty Excellence Awards. We had over 600 nominations of 320 faculty. That alone is very heartwarming. Judging was completed by 11 faculty volunteers. The final round of judging will be done by Memorial Day.
    4. HG: Faculty Retreat in Galveston: 120 applicants, many of whom were adjuncts. There will be 38 participants next week. At the next faculty senate meeting we will have an update.
  2. Educational Affairs – no report
  3. Policies and Procedures – no report
  4. Student Success – Scotty Moore
    1. Testing Centers – We did a review of testing centers at community colleges around the state in anticipation of developing a proposal to send up to administration. Highlights: we are one of only two major two-year colleges in the state that does not allow make-up tests to be conducted in their testing centers. We hope to develop a proposal to send to administration to improve testing.
      1. Dan Flores – There is not enough space to give make-up exams; we would need to expand.
      2. David White: if we have to step up proctoring live exams for DE, we don’t have the facilities (spaces, devices, etc.) to conduct this. We would need a considerable number of new computers, for example.
    2. Helen Graham – Increasingly we have students that cannot understand English in courses. How do they end up in my courses?
      1. Student success will look at placement issues
    3. Graduation – Darin Baskin
      1. First two graduations have gone off pretty well; the ceremonies were excellent and ran smoothly.
      2. Graduation rehearsal:
        1. You are required to attend either the 4:00 or 6:00pm rehearsal
        2. Rod McBane – The email said that it was optional
  • MMW – if you can’t make it, don’t worry about it! The senate cabinet will take responsibility.
  1. At graduation
    1. Announcers have parking passes available to them
    2. There will be breakfast for morning faculty and lunch for afternoon faculty
  2. Questions
    1. Mohammad Tlass (MT) – all volunteers must go to rehearsal.
    2. Stacey Higdon – If I went to GED graduation, am I done? DB: yes
  3. Instructional Technology –Stacey Higdon
    1. Phase I of the online grade change is live. You have 72 hours from the end of session to change a grade. After that, you will have to use the old paper form. In Phase 2 of this change, it will become completely online.

 

  1. Special Committees and Caucuses
  2. Past Presidents – no report
  3. Chair Caucus—Nathan Smith
    1. Proposal out of Deans and Directors group for associate chair overload rules. We are reviewing it and making recommendations.
    2. Beatty has floated the idea that departments will nominate 2 finalists for chair positions that will be interviewed by the Deans and then hired. We discussed an alternative; we do not want to compromise on this issue.
    3. Questions
      1. Would chairs be administration? NS: not at this point; at other institutions chairs are administrators
      2. Why is this an issue? NS: Dr. Beatty believes that elected chairs cannot be expected to administer those faculty who elected them. Second, there are specific cases where chair performance is low.
  • Dan Flores – the current system has worked for a long time, so why does it need to be changed? NS: good point
  1. Who would supervise chairs? NS: it would still be deans. It is “challenging” for deans to supervise popularly elected chairs (according to Dr. Beatty).
  2. David Ross: Prior to the elected chair system, academic faculty were supervised by “academic coordinators”, who were entry-level administrators. Supervision was a closed loop; the faculty had no say in things. Dr. Ruth Burgos–Sasser recognized that front-line supervision of faculty should be conducted by faculty. We have been flourishing as a system since creating the elected-chair system. If there is a move to remove this model by administration, the faculty senate should respond. Anyone who proposes this change will be widely regarded as anti-faculty.
  3. David White: I was one of the people charged with updating the instructional leaders’ guidelines. Are the deans aware that there are procedures to put ineffective chairs on a “personal improvement plan”? Have any chairs been put on an improvement plant? (No clear answer to this)
  • MT: Are you developing a plan B to proactively recommend to administrators? Perhaps we should develop a compromise. NS: part of what was presented yesterday was a comprise, but this was overwhelmingly rejected; the chairs do not want to compromise.
  • Linda Comte – there are already departments that have credentialing requirements for chairs and yet they are still elected. MMW: we may need a different process for faculty
  1. GB: what about associate chair guidelines? NS: we are going to look at the formula for determining the number of associate chairs and then re-run it in case we need to re-apportion associate chairs if necessary. MMW: We will talk further about guidelines in New Business
  1. Faculty Conference—Linda Comte
    1. All back-end payments and remunerations are in good order. $36,983 spent on Faculty Conference (about $5000 under budget). I want to thank everyone for their participation and attendance.

 

  1. Delegation Reports
  2. Central Locations – Leslie Comfort and Genny Stevens
    1. Had Rodney Nathan (Talent Engagement) address our meeting on April 21st
      1. He is very new as is most of his team
      2. Discussed Taleo system problems; Nathan said that the system is fine but HCC processes are not correct.
  • Hiring holdups – the major obstacle is employment verification, which can take 2-3 weeks. He suggested hiring an outside vendor to does this verification
  1. Fingerprinting holdup – This is the fault of the candidates who do not make appointments in a reasonable time frame (in his opinion).
  2. Applicant communication – His goal is to notify people within 48 hours of a status change; we aren’t there yet. Same is true for current employees that move to a different part of HCC.
  3. For questions about Talent Engagement
  1. Next meeting June 2, 10:00am in EDC 116
  2. Questions
    1. HR is more than just talent acquisition. LC: HR is Talent Engagement
    2. Bennie Ables – the fingerprinting company is not conveniently located
  • Melba Martin – fingerprinting issues are not the applicants fault
  1. Fingerprinting appointments are often after the deadline. Bill Hord: they will make exceptions.
  2. Genny Stevens – we should send feedback to him from this meeting.
  3. Dan Flores – who decided to change the name to Talent Engagement? Tod Bisch: this was a recommendation from outside consultants.
  4. Coleman – none
  5. Southeast Locations – none
  6. Southwest Locations–none
  7. Northeast Locations – none
  8. Northwest Locations — none

 

  • President’s Report – MMW
  1. Updates from Chancellor and Board
    1. Spring Transformation tour. Chancellor brought numerous administrators out to talk. Information is available on the HCC website.
      1. Dr. Kurt Ewan is now the official SACCS liaison; he will work with Judy Cantwell
      2. Three new vice-chancellors on the Student Services side.
  • Organizational chart for Information Technology and Instructional Technology is available on the website. Two of the key positions have been filled.
    1. DR: Isn’t Dr. Beatty taking over another area? Linda Comte: she is taking over Educational Technology.
  1. Chief Cunningham said that they are hiring two new captains and many more officers. So there should be a larger police presence in the fall.
  1. Budget
    1. This is worked on until August
    2. Top three priorities relate to faculty: 1) enact third year of compensation study recommendation; 2) 2% salary step increase; 3) hire 14 new full-time faculty. They also intend to revisit faculty compensation again in the immediate future. This is a good thing!
  2. Updates from VC Dr. Beatty
    1. Sabbatical selection committee has met; people who have been selected will be notified next week. I believe that I will spend some time setting aspirational goals for sabbaticals (MMW). According to Board policies, no more than 5% of faculty can be on sabbaticals, but we are nowhere near 1%. We should advocate for the Board to allow us to reach a 1% goal. Mohammad and I also advocate for a larger submission period.
    2. Letters of Intent
      1. Calendar: it does not include information about report dates. I want to encourage Dr. Beatty to send out the report date calendar from her office. That information should come out with the letter of intent.
        1. Eva Foster – I’ve already gotten confirmation; this is true of many people but not all.
      2. Innovative Classrooms – there are some in almost every building. Faculty members must be trained through D-Sets (sp?) in order to get access to this room. Linda Comte: training is pretty easy.
      3. NISOD award winners should be announced very soon.
      4. Summer goals:
        1. Travel process (with David White) – I have heard positive response to the idea stopping the signature process with the Deans and to automate it.
        2. Comprehensive handbook – goal is to get it posted by Fall 2017.
        3. Diversity & Inclusion committee. David Cross is looking at how Diversity and Inclusion looks like at other schools.
        4. Would be great to have universal copy code and building access by Fall.
      5. David Ross – When I was faculty senate president, I became aware of the Minnie Piper Stevens Fellowship. This is a state-wide fellowship for teaching excellence. HCC has never awarded a faculty member this fellowship. College presidents must nominate faculty and they never do. Please consider advocating for an annual submission from administration.

 

  • Unfinished Business
    1. None

 

  1. New Business
  2. Report from Deans’ Council Associate Chair Workgroup Recommendation for Associate Chair workload (MMW). Document runs through duties and the three goals for the associate chair position:
    • 1)  Ensuring a significant Associate Chair presence at the AC’s assigned location while institutionalizing a fair review of needed adjustments to the location assignments of all ACs.
    • 2)  Allow greater AC focus on assisting with the management of departmental business.
    • 3)  Set boundaries for Overloads consistent with the primary focus of an Associate which is working 
with other instructional leaders to assist in the management of their department/division/CoE.
  1. Discussion:
    1. GB: what was the old formula for associate chair? Nathan Smith: (18 hours were meant for associate chair resposibilities). GB: the new proposal seems gives more work for associate chairs. NS: my understanding is that many faculty duties (advising, institutional support, etc) are lumped into associate chair duties. Assoc. chair is a 60% release, so 60% of your other duties are lumped into the associate chair position. GB: I think we could accomplish the same thing but keep the wording for work responsibility and numbers the same to ensure the work that we have done in the past.
    2. Rod McBane – the position requires a lot of work. Moving hours out of professional development is not a good idea.
  • GB: if I was to rewrite it, it would be 1 course = 6 hours instead of 12. This would put them on par with regular faculty.
  1. MMW: We will work on the formula. Does everyone agree on the overload decision?
    1. Rod McBane – as soon as you tell people that they will make less money, you will get fewer people to apply for the job.
  2. NS: different programs have different types of overload; we had recommended 6 contact hours of overload for chairs and associate chairs. But why do we need so much bureaucracy? Why can’t the deans just make individual judgments? Deans manage schedules so why can’t they make these decisions.
  3. MMW: Every three years you look at where associate chairs are distributed across the system.
  • Eva Foster: we would like to remove the “after 5:00 pm” or “only on the weekend” restriction, especially since chairs often have to take classes that become unstaffed and need to be filled.
  • Bennie Ables: these decisions should be made by chairs and not by deans. There is too much variability to use a cookie cutter approach.

 

  1. Alan Ainsworth – Notice of intent: in Finance committee, we changed the agreement with the Foundation to add a provision to have subset of funds for emergency use by adjuncts. Will have exact language at next meeting.
    1. Dan Flores: who else does this? AA: Lonestar definitely does; otherwise unknown.
  2. Genny Stevens – in the past those faculty who taught May mini-mesters had the option of being fronted their pay in May. Now the decision has been made to hold off on payments for May term until Summer; this seems to be an unnecessary penalization of faculty.
  3. David Ross – Resolution in admiration of Prof. David Wilcox due to his service to the Faculty Senate (language will be developed), service as 3-time faculty president, steadfast leadership of compensation committee in securing raises, innovator of faculty activities, and role model to faculty leaders – we resolve to honor his massive contribution to the faculty senate and wish him happiness in retirement.
    1. Moved for acceptance, seconded, passes unanimously.
  4. Announcements
    1. Faculty senate elections are complete. All names are on the website.
    2. Ritu chose as Ace Fellow
    3. Linda Compte named as TCCTA secretary
    4. Helen Graham named to TCCTA professional development committee
    5. Retirement celebration next Wed 2-4 in LHSB 100 for David Wilcox
    6. TCCTA “Leading from the Middle” seminar will be held this summer. Information will be sent our through Melissa. MMW: we should send Mohammad.
    7. David White: if you are attending graduation, don’t forget to bring cash $6 (with voucher) to get into parking at Reliant for graduation.
  5. Adjournment (no “second” required) at 2:48 pm.

 

NEXT MEETING:  June 9, 2017 @ 1:00 pm—Central College LHSB 100