RSCC Faculty Senate Minutes

Friday, February 24, 1:30 p.m.

Walden Dining Room, Harriman

 

1.         Attendance:

            President:                               Safdie, Robert

            Vice President:                       Lanza, Don

            Secretary:                               Crotty, Pat

            Sub Council Rep:                   Denison, Betty

            Past President:                       Alfonso, Robert

            Parliamentarian:                    Windham, Don

            Business/Technology:            Meghabghab, George; Rath, Dave;

                                                            Trentham, Jean;                                                 

            Health Science/Nursing:        Young, Marty; Andreaco, Jane

            Humanities:                            Thomason, Sarah; Currie, Curtis; Hillard, Peggy; Knox, Jim                 

            Library:                                  Ellis, Rosemary

            Math/Science:                        Bailey, Pat; Denton, Jill; Roberson,

                                                            Carolyn;

            Social/Behavioral Science:    Doyle, Jim; Gomezdelcampo, Lil;

            Guests:                                   Benson, Robert; Roberson-Scott, Kristi;

                                                            Michael Curran

 

2.         Michael Curran requested Faculty Senate endorsement of Roane State Community College Student American Dental Hygienist Associations’ (SADHA)

            college-wide fundraising effort to collect donations for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. The Fallen Heroes Fund was established in 2003 as a 501(C)

            not-for-profit organization to support American military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The Fallen Heroes

            Fund is constructing a new rehabilitation center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, with monies coming from the private sector only. 

            The $35 million facility is under construction, and when completed will be presented to the military to be run by the Veteran’s Administration.  This new

            state-of-the-art facility is desperately needed to care for our wounded.  More information may be obtained by visiting their website at:

            www.fallenheroesfund.org.  

            Endorsement has been received from the following:

            Dr. Gary Goff, Roane State Community College President

            Dr. Adolf King, Roane State Community College Vice President

            Lesha Hill, Health Sciences Division Interim Dean

            RSCC Support Staff Council

            RSCC Student Government Association

            RSCC Social Awareness Committee

            RSCC Student Optical Society

            RSCC Students for Free Enterprise

            A motion to endorse was approved.

3.         Motion to Approve Agenda- approved.

4.         Motion to Approve Minutes for January 26, 2006 – approved without changes.

5.         Treasury Report: # 2-61920 January Balance $685.65 Current Balance $532.93. Accepted.

6.         Committee Reports

A. Faculty Evaluation Committee -   Kristi Roberson-Scott discussed online

faculty evaluation and pros and cons of different systems evaluated. The

committee determined there is a need for another pilot this spring. Faculty were

asked to volunteer for this pilot. Ms. Roberson-Scott volunteered to return and

discuss the results at the April Faculty Senate meeting.

B. Curriculum and Academic Council meeting – no report. Next meeting scheduled for March 17, 2006.

C. Faculty Sub-council – Betty Denison stated the report from the State of Tennessee, Special Education Certificate has not been decided. An update will

be given at the next Faculty Senate Meeting.

7.         Benroth Update – Committee has been formed. Letter with list of possible

            candidates will be sent to division secretaries.

8.         Promotion and Tenure Committee Proposed Policy: Moderator- Sarah Thomason (Summary submitted by S. Thomason)

Summary of Promotion Draft Policy Changes

I.                    Original policy contained faculty evaluation, too. We have shifted much of that to the tenure policy.

II.                 We also have proposed a Faculty Evaluation Draft Policy that can perhaps be a starting point for the Faculty Evaluation Committee. 

III.               Roman numeral 1--Introduction:  closely parallels the new TBR policy

IV.              Addition of rectangles to highlight important information and to keep from having to repeat the info in numerous places

V.                 Roman numeral 2—we eliminated Attachment A by inserting the information into the draft document.

VI.              Roman numeral 2.a.—For the minimum rank criteria, we have rearranged the sub points.  The current policy was divided by Academic Subject Area, Career Education Subject Area, Public Service, and Other Criteria.  The draft categories are equivalent to ability, educational attainment, and character/professionalism although Educational Attainment is the only actual heading used.

VII.            We really don’t understand the Public Service (including Applied Research) category.

VIII.         Under Assistant Professor, note these changes (1) TBR-recognized terminal degree has been added plus the asterisk alerts the reader to what they are.  (2)We’ve used semicolons and the words “and” & “plus” to clarify the separation of related info.  (3) Big improvement—Adding sentence under c that says, “Faculty member is eligible to apply after completion of first year in rank as an instructor.”

IX.              Roman numeral 2.b.—Performance Criteria mimics but is not exactly like what is in the tenure policy.  The language is not exactly the same because of the differences in the wording of the two TBR policies.

X.                 Also under Performance Criteria, the draft policy reflects the new categories of Service/Outreach and Scholarship/Creative Activities/Research.

XI.              Roman numeral 3.a.—Process Review:  The draft policy requires the VPAS to notify faculty who meet the minimum number of years in rank of their potential eligibility for promotion.

XII.            Roman numeral 3.b.—Tenure/Portfolio Guidelines.  The guidelines have been included in the draft policy rather than being an attachment.

XIII.         Roman numeral 3.c.—Promotion Timeline.  The timeline is very detailed in an effort to clearly identify who is responsible for what and by when.

 

In addition Thomason  presented a summary of miscellaneous work of the Promotion and Tenure Policy Review Committee. This work was presented to Dr. King.

a)      Recommendations:  This is a listing of actions that the committee believes will be necessary to jumpstart the new policies if they are approved in addition to areas that we believe should be addressed in a timely manner in order to bring about further clarity and improvements to promotion/tenure issues.

b)      Forms:  We created a new form and improved the old forms that have been used in the P/T process (Forms A, B, C, and D—with Form E being new)

c)      Duties Sheets:  We have created duties sheets that can be used to guide the persons responsible for carrying out the P/T process annually.

d)      Faculty Evaluation Draft Policy that can be used by the Faculty Evaluation Committee.  We had cut so much from the current Faculty Evaluation and Promotion Policy that we felt duty-bound to recreate some of it.  In addition, the draft policy corresponds with the draft promotion and tenure policies.

e)      Academic Freedom Draft Policy:  Because TBR now has a separate academic freedom policy, we believe this is the logical time to separate Roane State’s academic freedom information from the tenure policy.

f)        Split out Types of Appointments (section III. D. in current tenure policy) and reconcile with TBR Policy 5:02:07:00.  Also make it part of a new faculty hiring policy.

9.         Issues and Concerns with Distant Learning – Tabled until next meeting

10.       Next Meeting: Thursday, March 23, 2:30 Oak Ridge, H-238

11.       Adjournment – 3pm

 

Minutes submitted March 13, 2006

Minutes approved March 23, 2006

Pat Crotty, MSN RN

Associate Professor

Faculty Senate Secretary 2005-06