HBC 410

President Stacey Thompson opened the meeting, and the agenda was adjusted to allow the report from the Policy and Procedures committee to follow the President's report, which included the following information:

Faculty Senate Officers' meeting with the administration March 31 Presented the Senate's resolution of March 28 regarding faculty development. We stressed that we value faculty development, but feel some changes need to be made. In response to our resolution an ad hoc committee has been formed to study our request. Mariano Diaz-Miranda, James Heath, Nick Sarantakes, Linda Copenhaver, and Red Wassenich will serve on this committee. We also discussed our Senate ad hoc committee on Planning and reminded the administration that under no circumstances should instruction or student services be reduced in response to possible budget cuts.

Board of Trustees meetings March 31 and April 21 Presented our resolutions and concerns about faculty development. The Board passed a policy regarding Shared Governance, and an Administrative Rule is being written to implement the policy. The Board discussed and agreed at the April 21st meeting to remove professional development from policy F-10.

Administrative Services Council, April 11, 2003
Approved the Task Force Election rule and discussed safety procedures and drills for each campus. This committee is still working on the distance learning AR and will consider changes to the flexibility in office hours for those who teach distance learning courses. Professional Development and an on-line poll from this spring were also discussed. A member of that committee, Ron Johns, full time faculty member will come to the Senate to discuss the poll and the work of the Professional Development Committee.

The Policy and Procedures committee presented recent revisions to several administrative rules. Chair, Cary Sowell reminded us that we are able to view these rules as they are proposed by looking on the web. The Senate approved all of the recommendations that this committee brought. The Senate also discussed the AR concerning Faculty Workload. A lengthy discussion followed concerning the AR for Shared Governance.

Ron Johns presented a report from the Professional Development Committee, which is considering changes in the current system. This effort is an attempt to make the process more effective. Many of the revisions are largely based on a survey conducted this past spring. The committee continues to seek input, as the changes will not go into effect until '05. The Senate discussed some of the changes and feels very strongly that the College must completely separate this issue of salary and professional development. Professional development must have a measurable outcome. The Senate would also like a clear distinction between professional development and faculty development.

The faculty is a very different group from other employment groups. We should be responsible for our own development. We feel that a major question has not been answered: What is the problem that we are trying to solve with a professional development committee? The department should have the final say in what faculty members need to complete in terms of professional development. Ron agreed to return to the Senate at a later date with updates from the Professional Development Committee.

The Senate next discussed its resolution (concerning the office of faculty development) which was passed at the meeting of March 28, 2003. Several faculty members were present to discuss the problems that they had with the resolution and with the lack of information about our Senate discussions and communication in general. Many ideas were discussed about how to improve the communication between the Senators and the rest of the full time faculty. The full time faculty members are always invited to the Senate meeting, but other ideas of communication were discussed. President Stacey Thompson appointed an ad hoc committee to study the issue of communication. Janet Bickham will chair the committee with Diane Kramer, Julie Wauchope, Regina Swearengin, and David Lydic as members.

The Senate ad hoc committee on Planning gave its report which included the three following recommendations

The Senate voted unanimously to accept these recommendations and to forward them to the Board of Trustees and the administration.

The report for the Minority Recruitment committee encouraged faculty members to hold one office hour a week at the nearest learning lab. This change in the physical position of the faculty members should result in more accessibility for the students. Please check with the lab manager on each campus for space accommodations. The committee is looking for others strategies as well and welcomes input. The Senate discussed the issue and acknowledged that one thing that we could do would be to hire more minority faculty. The Senate unanimously passed the following resolution:

ACC should start the hiring process for faculty as soon as possible in the school year in order to recruit minority faculty.

Terry Thomas substituted for Sean Murray.