RSCC Faculty
Senate Meeting
Friday,
November 20, 2009, 2:10p
Room H-236,
I. Attendance
President: Bill Schramm
Vice-President: Lauri Sammartano
Past
President: Pat Wurth
Allied
Health: Teri Gergen
Humanities: Curtis Currie, Ralph Monday, Sarah Thomason
Library: Ollie Nolan
Mathematics
and Sciences: Jill Denton, Saeed
Rahmanian, Steve Ward
Nursing: Pat Jenkins, Marcia Shloush
Social
Sciences, Business and
Education: Casey Cobb, Don Lanza, Diane
Ward
II. Faculty Senate President’s Report:
A. The
Vice President for Student Learning Search
Three candidates were brought to campus to
complete the interview process for the Vice President for Student Learning
position. Dr. Goff has taken input from
the faculty forum comments and hopes to make his final decision before the Thanksgiving
break. Dr Goff wants to have the new
Vice President for Student Learning in place by Spring In-service.
B. Dr.
Goff’s response to Faculty Senate’s Concerns on College Restructuring
Dr.
Goff replied to Bill Schramm’s e-mail that addressed faculty’s concerns about
the current model for a proposed restructuring/reorganization plan for the
college. Dr. Goff does not want to begin
working on models until the new Vice President for Student Learning is in place
and has had time to gain an understanding of
academic operations from the VP standpoint.
However, Dr. Goff sent his assurance
that he is open to more models and plans than have been put forward to
date. He wants faculty to develop
additional approaches and make recommendations.
Dr. Goff wants the faculty to take a look at cost efficiency while
maintaining academic rigor. Dr. Goff
hopes to decrease the administration load in an effort to "flatten the
organization.”
C. The
TBR Faculty Senate Presidents at Community Colleges submitted a letter
regarding system reorganization that was well-received. As a continuation of the process this group
would like to open a discussion about dual enrollment courses in community
colleges across TN. The hope is that a
policy regarding dual enrollment courses could be developed and implemented.
D. Items from Meeting between Dr. Goff and Senate
Officers
1. Budget
Issues
a. The State may require a return of previously
allocated funds once again during Spring 2010 potentially
by another 6 – 9%. TBR institutions may
be exempt because of rules that govern the State's acceptance
of stimulus funds. However, it is not
known what will happen once the stimulus funds are no longer available. Dr. Goff discussed budget issues with the
Faculty Senate officers at a lunch meeting in Harriman.
b. Dr. Goff assured officers that there are no hiring
freezes and as an example reported two new hires in financial aid to handle the
increased student load.
c. When asked about the salary equity plan, Dr.
Goff said that phase 1 was implemented to bring nine people up to a minimum living
wage level. In addition he reported that
he increased the wage of nursing faculty in order to increase faculty retention
rates. He does not have enough information
to address questions on the possibility of pay raises or bonuses for faculty. However, Dr. Goff
did indicate that the current salary equity plan is adjusted each year to
reflect inflation and, thus, changes in the cost of living.
2. Governor’s Panel of Higher Education in
a. A report from a meeting of the Governor’s
Panel of Higher Education indicates that there will be a push to increase dual
enrollment courses to reach a broader population. The prerequisite of a GED or High school
diploma may be removed as a prerequisite to enter a TBR institution.
b. The Governor’s Panel of Higher Education is
no longer considering the merger of the
3. Miscellaneous Issues
a. Some community colleges may be building
residential housing on their campuses.
RSCC is not considering this option.
b. Dr. Goff does not want class size to be
greater than 30 students per class.
c. RSCC's request for a new building on the Oak
Ridge Campus was not considered in the current TBR capital budgeting plan.
d. The lack of food service on the ORBC has not
been resolved.
III. Sub-Council
Report
Bill Schramm reported
(for Bruce Fisher) that at the last TBR sub-council meeting a letter regarding the
reorganization of higher education institutions in Tennessee [that was prepared
by Community College Faculty Senate Presidents and unanimously adopted by the
Faculty Senates of the 13 Community Colleges in Tennessee] was voted on by the sub-council. With unanimous agreement, the sub-council voted
to send the letter on.
IV. Minutes of the October 2009, Faculty Senate
Meeting
The minutes from the
last meeting were approved as written with one change that would correct the spelling
of Ollie Nolan’s last name (from North to Nolan).
V. Old
Business
A.
Report
from Faculty Office Hours Committee
A
great deal of time was spent discussing a document submitted by the Faculty
Office Hours sub-committee (Senators S. Ward, Monday, Cobb). A formal motion was made, seconded, and
approved to accept the revised faculty office hour policy with
language modification:
“The Faculty Senate of Roane State move to include revised language
in the proposed policy to redefine faculty office hours” as discussed.”
The
revised language will be sent out for consideration by the Faculty Senate and a
vote by email. The Faculty Senate
officers will work to find out what the proper procedure to pass the document
forward should be.
B.
Identity
Theft
There
is no new information about the theft of a flash drive containing financial
information of students and faculty at this time.
C.
Report
from Interactive Room sub-committee
Jill
Denton reported that the sub-committee to investigate Interactive Room issues
has polled faculty and are in the process of collating and processing the information. Senator Denton will present the sub
committee’s findings at the December meeting.
VI. New
Business
A. Academic Dishonesty policy
Senators discussed issue of blatant plagiarism or cheating
in which the involved faculty gave the students an F for the course, as per the
RSCC handbook. However, if the
cheating/plagiarism event happens before the drop date some students have had
the option of withdrawing from the course rather than having an F appear on the
transcripts. The faculty
want the Faculty Senate to look into removing the withdrawal option so
that the faculty can make the F grade stay on the student’s transcripts. Bill Schramm will look into the current TBR
and RSCC withdrawal policies to see what direction needs to be taken.
B. Dual Enrollment
Previously
discussed.
C. Administrative attention on the ORBC
The ORBC site
coordinator has been out for a long period of time with an illness.
VII. Adjournment: the meeting was adjourned at 3:36pm.
Respectfully
submitted,
Lauri J. Sammartano
Vice President of
Faculty Senate