Minutes,
Harbor College Academic Senate
Regular Meeting,
1:00, Thursday, May 5, 2005
LRC 125
Officers present: Susan McMurray [presiding], Brenda Guertin, Jim Stanbery [recording], June Smith, Len Glover, Mark Wood
Senators present: Bruce Lemon [Behavioral Sciences], Pam Watkins, Kate
Campbell [Communications]; , Mike Hiscocks [Humanities]; Kathleen Keller [Math/Physical Sciences]; Nabeel Barakat [Phys Ed]; Tissa Munasinghe, Joyce Parker [Science/ FCS]; Brad Young [Social Sciences]; Elizabeth Colocho, Linda Hannon [Counseling]; Jonathan Lee [Library]
Members excused:
Members absent: Adell Shay [Business]; Wendy Hollis, Arlene Smith [Health Sciences]; Lauren McKenzie [Math/Physical Sciences]
Guests: Sally Fasteau, William Loiterman, Stacey McMullen, Luis Rosas,
Linda Spink, Debbie Tull
OPENING PROCEDURES
Approval of Agenda
Unanimous consent to approve the agenda with the adjustments shown herein.
Treasurer’s Report
Mr. Glover reported that the current balance is $1929.
Approval of Minutes
Unanimous consent to approve the minutes of April 21 with two technical adjustments.
Public Comment
After commending the Board of Trustees for reaffirming established benefits for the student trustee, Ms. McMurray introduced Ms. McMullen, former ASO president and student trustee who serves now on the state board of governors, for an update on state concerns. She emphasized recommendations now circulating to raise community college tuition further, to equal the national average ($33 per unit) even though state funding per student falls far short of the national average. There have also been suggestions to link increased tuition to health care access for students.
Administrative Report
Dr. Spink announced the appointment of Vice Chancellor Young
to the district chancellorship. She also explained that pro-rata distributions of funds such as VTEA monies violate the whole idea of prioritizations and planning.
Division representation for 2005-6
Ms. McMurray recommended that divisions make their selections for Senate and committee representation for next year in the next few weeks.
ITEMS/MOTIONS NOTICED FOR ACTION MAY 5
Motions from the April 21 Committee of the Whole
Unanimous consent to request that Dr. Tomlinson run an analysis of the successful completion rates of students by entry placement level and across disciplines.
Unanimous consent to encourage senators to see that all disciplines in each division address the basic skills needs of students in unit plans and program reviews.
Unanimous consent to gather ‘best practices’ data on programs such as Chaffee College addressing student needs and report the findings to the Senate.
Unanimous consent to request the Budget Committee to recommend adequate funding for the Learning Assistance and Literacy Centers as specific line-items.
Unanimous consent to request all divisions to review their prerequisite requirements.
Filling of Faculty Position Vacancies
The motion as noticed was adopted (15,0,1):
Whereas, the FHPC has authenticated that Harbor College faculty has been reduced by 18 full-time positions over the past three years; and
Whereas, the full-time faculty at Harbor College are now too few to effectively carry out its full-time responsibilities to meet the academic and professional requirements of the college; and
Whereas the 2005 Nursing accreditation team has noted that the nursing faculty is deficient in full-time faculty,
Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Academic Senate of Harbor College recommend to the President that all future faculty positions vacated through retirement be retained in the budget and that faculty be replaced on a one-to-one basis with full time faculty appointments as recommended through the Faculty Hiring Priorities Committee and Academic Senate.
Course Approvals recommended by the Curriculum Committee
The Senate approved the following course approvals as previously noticed (15, 0, 1):
Speech 102 - Oral Communication II (addition of a district course)
Theatre 130 - Playwriting (addition of a district course)
ART 642 - Video/Audio Post Production (addition of a district course)
Service Learning 099 - Introduction to Service Learning (new course)
COMMENTS ON DISTRIBUTED REPORTS/NOTICES/COMMITTEE
MINUTES
Curriculum
Ms. Fasteau noticed the following courses for possible Senate approval at the next meeting:
Art 101 (on-line)
Psychology 1 (on-line)
Biology 102 and Biology 103
APPC
Ms. McMurray suggested that the committee see to the activation
of the Voctional Education and Student Concerns Committee provided for in the Senate Constitution. Questions were raised as to the practical feasibility of activating more committees requiring divisional representation. The essentiality of a Senate role in these areas was stressed.
Accreditation
The Implementation Team met this past Friday and forwarded certain recommendations to the Academic Affairs Committee. The introduction to the self-study and the upgrade of the Standard 1A report were distributed and discussed.
Program Review
Mr. Stanbery reported that the relevant essentials will be included in the Academic Affairs Committee report.
Elections
Ms. Keller thanked everyone involved in the conduct of the elections. She inquired whether an election could constitutionally be held in the absence of at least one candidate for each office as the Constitution requires. Unanimous consent to confirm the results of the election: for President, Susan McMurray (31), Tom Bottone (1); for Vice President, June Smith (29), Carmen Carrillo (1), Mark Wood (1); for Recording Secretary, Jim Stanbery (31), Kate Campbell (1); for Corresponding Secretary, Brenda Guertin (31); for Treasurer, Len Glover (30), Art Wakita (1). Ms. Smith affirmed that she would be serving only pending the recruitment of a successor, as she made clear when first nominated, and would be resigning at the end of the coming academic year.
Academic Affairs Committee
Mr. Barakat reported that the committee had taken action in several important respects as summarized in the committee minutes he distributed (see attachment). A motion (Wood/Stanbery) was noticed for the next Senate meeting endorsing these actions.
Student Services Committee
Ms. Tull drew the Senate’s attention to the minutes of the committee she had distributed (see attachment), highlighting the committee’s emphasis on position prioritizations. Ms. Tull suggested the formation of a Senate committee to promote grant proposals generally. MSU (Stanbery/ Smith) to ask Ms. Tull and Mr. Young to develop a proposal for such a committee. Bobby McNeel, Ms. Parker, Bonnie Easley, Ms. Hollis, and John Sparks were suggested as additional members.
Facilities Committee
Ms. McMurray asked Mr. Young if he could schedule a highway safety officer to address the committee on transportation concerns.
Staffing Committee
Mr. Wood reported that the committee had referred several new position recommendations for action by their respective cluster committees and had also endorsed replacing the foreman position that is being vacated.
Prop A/AA
Ms. McMurray drew the Senate’s attention to the Core Committee report she had distributed and responded to several inquiries about it. Mr. Wood alerted affected divisions to the meetings about faculty relocations that have been scheduled for next week.
Staff Development
Mr. Wood announced that the whole May 25 Division Council meeting will be devoted to a workshop on program review for division chairs preparatory to a college-wide all-day workshop on SLOs and related issues on June 7.
District Curriculum Committee
Ms. Watkins reviwed her written summary of the April 22 meeting as distributed, and responded to several resulting inquiries.
President’s Announcements
Ms. McMurray commended the faculty who have been attending IMPAC meetings and invited senators to the DAS meeting taking place here next Thursday.
ADJOURNMENT