FULL-TIME FACULTY SENATE
Minutes of May 29, 2009
HBC 407 1:00 p.m.

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President Dan Dydek called the meeting to order

Agenda
Professor Domingo Alba moved that the agenda be approved. Motion passed.

Minutes
Professor Al Purcell moved the minutes be accepted. Motion passed.

President’s Report
President Dydek stated the Senate Officers met with President Kinslow and the PLT on May 26, 2009.

• The Professional Development Draft Rule (100% professional development carry over above the required amount to the following year) was approved.
• The Employee Complaint Rule had been approved by the Administrative Services Council and signed by President Kinslow. It had been re-edited and the Faculty Senate was asked to review the new form and provide comments.
• The ADA Administrative Rule is still in the Administrative Services Council.
• The search for the new EVP is “on hold” at this point in time.

Salary & Benefits Committee
Professors Cam Addis, Domingo Alba, and Traci Nobles reported:

• At this time there was no final word on compensation from the Administration.
• The Committee had researched the salary scales of ACC and its  Texas CC Metro peer institutions and found that the “fact” is #1 in some areas is deceiving because ACC faculty have a greater percentage of Ph.D.’s and years of experience than peer institution faculty.
• Statistics indicate that at the MA, MA+24, MA+48, & PhD sectors at the minimum experience level plus the MA+48 sector in mid experience level are not in compliance with F-10.
• TCCTA data is improving in quality.

IT Issues
AVP Stan Gunn addressed the Senate concerning IT issues, particularly the SPAM problem. He said:

• At present ACC controls SPAM by Greylisting, Clam AV an anti-virus program, and SPAM Assassin.
• In 2-3 months ACC will have a new server which will attempt to stop SPAM by using authentication, encryption, and Iron Port.
• Other improvements expected in the next 2-3 months include 100 MB storage on server for each faculty member (up from 20MB), 10 MB attachments possible (up from 4 MB), and some directory support (up from none.)
• Within one year ACC is expected to switch to a new integrated solutions mail system including a calendar, documents, e-mail and messaging.
• A draft policy concerning student e-mails will go to the ACAC on June 5, 2009.

Upward Evaluations
Dr. Martha Perez and Dr. Terry Stewart Mouchayleh addressed the issue and answered questions concerning upward evaluations. They said:

• The inconsistency in upward evaluation wherein some people were able to evaluate two levels upward and other were able to evaluate one step upward was due to Datatel problems.
• Datatel information is kept on five different lists and three data sets so it is a programming problem to determine who reports to whom.
• It is the intention of faculty Evaluation that every faculty member should be able to evaluate two levels upward, e.g. librarians to evaluate Head librarian & Dean of Library Services and counselors to evaluate Dean of Student Services and VP for Student Services.
• Senators requested that they be allowed to see the results of the upward evaluation.
• Senators also stated that each faculty member should receive an e-mail stating they are able to evaluate two levels upward and receive the appropriate passwords.

Freedom of Expression
Senator Ann Palmer presented a Resolution on Freedom of Expression. A previous resolution sent to the Administrative Service Council had been tabled there. The Senate voted to table this Resolution for further discussion.

Trustees’ Visit
Trustee John-Michael Cortez and Trustee Veronica Rivera arrived to speak to and answer questions from the Senate. The Trustees mentioned;

• They were very impressed by the accomplishments of Acc and the wonderful things that were accomplished.
• They agreed on the “big picture” issue that ACC should be in the top three in the Texas Metro Community Colleges for faculty compensation.
• There was concern about the financial outlook for the next year or so due to the possible decline in property tax revenue, especially from commercial property. No firm numbers are available yet.
• The property tax cap made it impossible to increase the tax rate.
• They did not want to increase tuition rates within the district.
• The budget decision would be made at the BOT July meeting.
• There was a possibility that San Marcos might hold an annexation election in November 2010.
• Growth is expected to continue to meet student demand.

Recycling & Sustainability
Mr. Austin Gadd and Arnold Perez, ACC students, addressed the Senate on the recycling & sustainability efforts underway at ACC. They thanked the faculty for their support. A Carbon Assessment was undertaken at SAC. Potential steps to increase recycling and sustainability include:

• Establishing a goal to reduce electricity use 15%
• Beginning community gardens
• Appointing a sustainability coordinator for ACC

Deans’ Accountability
This item was postponed for the next meeting.

Adjourn
Professor Domingo Alba made the motion to adjourn. The motion passed.

Senators Present:
Domingo Alba, Ron Bass, Don Becker, Steven Bradley, Mariano Diaz-Miranda, Dan Dydek, Karry Evans, Devorah Feldman, Alicia Garza, Theresa Glenn, Tracie Nobles, Sylvia Owens, Ann Palmer, and Al Purcell.

Visitors:
Professor Cam Addis, Trustee John-Michael Cortez, Mr. Justin Gadd, AVP Stan Gunn, Dr. Terry S. Mouchayleh, Mr. Arnold Perez, Dr. Martha Perez, and Trustee Veronica Rivera

Submitted by Al Purcell, temporary Acting Secretary, Full-Time Faculty Senate

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