The agenda was approved as written.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes were approved as written.

Discussion of Faculty Evaluation

Boyd Bush distributed a report and presented an update on the Faculty Evaluation process. Highlights include elimination of bubbling problems on student evaluation forms, Faculty Input Forms no longer being online, a three-year portfolio process with faculty members submitting documents for at most four classes, and use of grade distributions to be determined by Task Forces and Programs. Faculty members were asked to e-mail suggestions, especially for distance learning courses including recommendations for incentives to motivate open campus students to participate in evaluations, to Boyd Bush at bbush@austincc.edu.

President's Report

Senate President Laura Ore reported on the following:

• ACC Board of Trustees, June 1, 2002-President Ore discussed problems with the lack of communication, lack of an opportunity for an upward evaluation, and interference with scheduling procedures and the faculty's cooperation with the Comptroller. She also reminded the Board of the faculty's desire to be paid a fair wage.
• Senate Officers' Meeting, June 3, 2002-The Officers tried to explain difficulties with an Administration that continues to change class schedules that have been carefully constructed. President Fonte explained why he thinks classes should be moved from Northridge to Cypress Creek campus. The Administration agreed to look at the process of schedule building. Dr. Fonte indicated that EVP Kinslow will attend to upward evaluations when he is better. Dr. Fonte was disappointed that the Senate did not accept his offer for a facilitated meeting and said that he will hold meetings in the coming months with selected invited faculty. The Senate Officers made a counter offer that he meet with the new Senate early in the fall. Dr. Fonte stated that his focus is on the tax referendum until it passes. He also said that if Task Forces or Programs want help at the campus level, they should make their case to Dr. Kinslow. Dr. Fonte agreed with John Cise that the Senate's and Human Resources' full-time faculty salary increase numbers were very comparable and reasonable.
• Comptroller's Forum, June 4, 2002-President Ore presented a written report of the manifold problems of ACC.
• Meeting with Comptroller's Consultants, June 5, 2002-Ms. Ore discussed the same problems with the consultants and repeated the Senate's plea for a complete investigation into the most serious violations of management.
• Administrative Services Council, June 12, 2002-The new Vice President of Business Services, Ben Ferrell, was introduced. President Ore told him that the full-time faculty would continue to press to be at least average in salary with the other metro colleges. She also was handed 15 administrative rules for the Policies and Procedures committee to review.
• ACC Internal Communications Structure Meeting, June 14, 2002-EVP Kinslow gathered ACC representatives of employee groups to discuss ACC's committee and council structure. The meeting became another reminder of the lack of shared governance at ACC. Attendees expressed dismay that employees' input is often sought and then frequently ignored by the Administration. They also surmised that decisions have already been made before input is requested. It was decided that this discussion on shared governance would be continued at the meeting on June 18.
• ACC Board of Trustees Work Session, June 17, 2002-New members of the Board were sworn in, and the upcoming budget was discussed. John Cise and Terry Perrin made a presentation to the Board about the need for $2.4 million to bring full-time faculty salaries back up to average.
• Shared Governance Meeting, June 18, 2002-The large group of attendees discussed the need for shared governance at the College. Many ideas were discussed. Matthew Daude presented a possible model for a council that would make decisions regarding shared governance issues. The Senate needs to make recommendations about the structure of such a body. Further meetings will be held.
• The Senate agreed to thank Liz Serrano for five years of creating and maintaining Senate web pages.

Discussion of Lack of Shared Governance

The Senate once again discussed the lack of shared governance at ACC and expressed concerns about problems arising from this deficit. Much of the discussion focused on a unique process being used to hire an instructor at ACC. Since this process is different from that utilized in hiring other instructors at ACC, the Senate agreed that the Officers would present this matter at their next meeting with the Administration and that President Ore would present the matter to the Board of Trustees at the next Board meeting. Problems resulting from two vacancies in Counseling at the Northridge campus were also discussed. The Senate expressed concerns that by eliminating these counseling positions, ACC is not serving the needs of its students and faculty.

Discussion of Faculty Overloads

The Senate discussed at length full-time faculty overloads and passed the following resolution:

The Full-time Faculty Senate reaffirms its position that:

• The term "overload" be changed to "extended teaching opportunities"
• The hours possible for an extended teaching opportunity be 21 (instead of the current 20) for fall and spring semesters
• The hours possible in the summer be raised to 16 (currently 14) and
• The full-time faculty continues to have the first option of selecting all their courses, regardless of the number of LEH being taught.

The result will be more full-time faculty in the classrooms.

Discussion of Faculty Development Process

Matthew Daude distributed a summary of a Faculty Development Committee proposal and outcome. The committee was asked to create a faculty development plan that included number of required training hours per faculty member per year, types of acceptable development activities, and a method of tracking, documenting, and reviewing the process. The committee recommended that ACC distinguish between "faculty development" and "professional development" and rejected the idea that ACC should track "professional development" of its faculty. The Committee also found that four hours of required training per faculty member per year is sufficient to meet the needs of the College. The Senate discussed the recommendations of the committee as well as the faculty development process actually implemented by ACC. The implemented process departed greatly from the plan created by the committee. The Senate expressed concerns that the requested input was ignored.

The Senate agreed to investigate the decision-making process and formed an Ad Hoc Investigative Committee:

• Shannon Bailey
• Larry Willoughby
• Sean Murray, and
• Chair Mariano Diaz-Miranda.

Faculty members were asked to e-mail concerns to Shannon Bailey at sbailey@austincc.edu.

Discussion of Fall Convocation/Faculty Awards

The Senate agreed that its Officers would request that presentation of Teaching Excellence awards be returned to ACC's Graduation Ceremony.

Report from Policies and Procedures Committee

On behalf of the committee, Chair Constance Elko distributed a report of recommendations regarding ten administrative rules: (1) Employment Verification, (2) Leave, (3) College Vehicle Use and Upkeep, (4) Furniture & Equipment Acquisition, (5) Hazardous Communications Program, (6) Keys & Access Control Cards, (7) Use of Personal Electrical Devices, (8) Alterations to ACC Property, (9) Indoor Air Quality, and (10) Task Force Chair Elections. The Senate discussed and approved the committee's recommendations on the first nine of these with a few minor corrections. Regarding the Administrative Rule on Task Force Chair Elections, the Senate approved the committee's previous revision that had elections being held in Task Force meetings but also provided for absentee ballots.

Report from Salary and Benefits Committee

The committee distributed a report of suggestions made by full-time faculty for decreasing expenditures in the FY 2002-2003 budget. After much discussion, the Senate agreed to have Terry Perrin submit this report, with a few minor changes, to the Board of Trustees on behalf of the Senate at their meeting on July 1, 2002.

Report from the Budget Committee

John Cise presented a report on full-time faculty salary needs including methodology, a comparison of Senate recommendations versus Human Resources recommendations on increases in faculty pay for FY 2002-2003, and budget implications. It was reported that Dr. Fonte had agreed that the Senate recommendations on salary increases were reasonable. The Senate agreed that John Cise would present the information to the Board of Trustees at their meeting on July 1, 2002. The Senate also agreed that ACC should target 9-month salaries (the usual and standard practice) instead of targeting 10.5-month salaries, as ACC currently does.

Announcements

The following announcement was made:

Unless special circumstances arise, there will be no Senate meeting in August.

The meeting was adjourned.

The following faculty members substituted for Senators who were unable to attend the meeting: Terry Perrin for Linda Caplin, Mary Leonard for Patti Dungan, and Al Purcell for Steve Kirschner. The following Senators were absent: Susan Hord and John Maynard.