FACULTY COUNCIL

MINUTES

NOVEMBER 9, 2006

Present:  Joan Coffin (Division A Rep), M. Sheileen Corbett (at-large), Howard Fedrick (Council Chair), Dan Ghezzi (A&P Chair-elect), Claire Gilmore (Division D Rep), Jayne Klenner-Moore (A&P Chair), Jennifer McClinton-Temple (C&T Chair), Brian Pavlac (C&T Chair-elect), Regan Reitsma (Division C Rep), Fr. Tom Looney (AVPAA), Nicholas Holodick (IVPAA)

The meeting was called to order in the Fitzgerald Room of SFCC at 2:06 PM.

Report – Nicholas Holodick (IVPAA)

            Nicholas Holodick, IVPAA, advised Council of a number of items currently requiring review by Academic Affairs.  The first item concerned whether or not there was a need to reconvene the Assessment Committee.  Nick reported there was currently no particular problem, but felt the need to be proactive.  King’s had dodged a bullet with the Spellings Commission Report on higher education and the No Child Left Behind Act. (The commission reported that "higher education must change from a system primarily based on reputation to one based on performance."[1]) Council was requested to provide feedback regarding formation of this committee as Nick felt the team necessitated faculty ownership and faculty involvement from the beginning.  Council discussed the previous dissolution/morphing of the Assessment Committee into the CELT Advisory Board in an effort to reduce the number of committees and further addressed the issue of providing ongoing assessment control, as well as, maintaining balance between Faculty and Administration.

            Secondly, Academic Affairs is currently reviewing the Faculty Handbook and various problems associated therewith.  At present, it is felt that some of the policies as listed are vague and misunderstood and therefore, require major revisions.  Case in point is the current Full Professor promotion problem (as reported at the previous Council meeting) due to the issue of quotas as delineated in the Handbook.  Nick indicated that Academic Affairs is required to follow policy in a fair, equitable, and consistent manner, and again would like to involve faculty in the revision process.

            With regard to quotas, Nick advised Council that after this academic year the College would not be able to offer tenure track positions to new faculty – a problem that could exist for a number of years.  A meeting of the academic team is scheduled for November 20, 2006, in an effort to address the problem, and in preparation to present to the Board the need to eliminate quotas for tenure. Faculty Council Chair will participate in that meeting. Reassurance was provided that existing tenure track positions would not be affected for the next six years.

            The last two issues:

               The appointment of Barry Williams as Faculty Benefits Chair to sit on IPARC;

               The need to increase the budget for Faculty Development to provide for traditional conference attendance/presentations and for faculty leadership development.

Report of the Chair

            Howard Fedrick, Faculty Council Chair, provided copies of the pre-2005 Constitution, as found in the Faculty Handbook, in relevance to the A&P report discussed at the previous meeting.

            Howard also distributed copies of an article authored by Michael Lind entitled Why the Liberal Arts Still Matter, as printed in the Autumn 2006 issue of Wilson Quarterly.

            In follow-up to Nick’s report of Brian Williams sitting on IPARC, Howard reported that as a result of his discussions with Fr. O’Hara and O’Hara’s consultation with Nick and Lisa McCauley there is now a direct link between the Faculty Benefits Committee and IPARC, something he felt was necessary as many faculty benefit questions require direct input/answers from IPARC.  In the event that the FB Chair is unable to attend, the FB ChairElect may. At present, faculty has four seats at IPARC: FC Chair Howard Fedrick, FB Chair Brian Williams, Charles Brooks, and Amy Parsons.

Standing Committee Reports

A&P Report

            Dr. Jayne Klenner-Moore, Chair of A&P, stated the committee is presently completing a Faculty Travel Document for review.  She further advised that the Summer Research Grant Committee was almost complete, but was awaiting affirmative responses from requested A&P members. 

            Dan Ghezzi, Chair-Elect, reported that his subcommittee has completed a questionnaire for distribution to department chairs regarding the present criteria concerning tenure and promotion as found in the Faculty Handbook.  Department Chairs should receive the document today which included a letter of explanation and attachment of relevant pages from the current Handbook.  The questionnaire addresses issues of balance between scholarship, teaching,  and service.

C&T Report

            Jennifer McClinton-Temple, Chair of C&T, reported C&T at its upcoming meeting intends to review the discussions held at the Faculty Meeting, the results of the survey distributed at the Faculty Meeting, and two proposals regarding the fine arts and foreign language requirements.  Four items for consideration were also presented to C&T by Division D for review.  Jennifer further advised that survey results would be forwarded to all faculty. 

Special Committee Reports – Social Affairs Committee

            Sheileen Corbett reported that the committee recently reviewed issues concerning declining attendance for the Patron’s Day celebration.  The committee provided suggestions to President O’Hara and Faculty Council Chair which were under review.  Upcoming events promoting faculty unity include a Roving Social scheduled for November 20, 2006 from 4 to 6 pm in the Millie Lawson Women’s Resource Room, (Hafey-Marian 108), hosted by the Women’s Studies Committee, and an end of semester Decompression Session scheduled for December 19, 2006 at Via Del Lago (31 Lake Street, Dallas) from 4:30 to 8:00 pm, hosted by SAC.  

Old Business

            Howard noted minor modifications of the Faculty Meeting minutes of October 27, 2006 were made per requests of FC members.

New Business

            Brian Williams, Faculty Benefits Chair, will provide a report to Council at the next meeting. 

            Jayne Klenner-Moore and Dan Ghezzi volunteered to assist Howard Fedrick with counting the results of the election votes for the Promotion and Tenure Committee. This will be done on November 10, 2006.

            The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

M. Sheileen Corbett, At-Large Representative