April 12th, 2006

Attended by:  Phil Droke, Gloria Rose Koepping, Dee Skinner, Buzz Wheeler, Tony Wilson, John Lindsay, Keith Paton, Bob Baugher, Rolita Flores Ezeonu, Gwen Spencer, and Jeff Wagnitz. 

Meeting began at 3:00 p.m. in room 411 of the Library.

The Minutes from the February 15th, 2006 meeting were approved.

Old Business

Chair Phil Droke began by reporting in about the executive staff meeting with Dr. Bermingham regarding the possible dissolution of the PR and R committee.  After hearing both sides of the issue conveyed by Vice Chair Glen Avantaggio and Secretary Gloria Rose Koepping, Dr. Bermingham asked us for some additional time to consult with the Instuctional Cabinet before we bring this issue to the faculty for a vote.  He will get back to us after he consults with the Cabinet.

Common course numbering was also brought up in this meeting as a concern that Dr. Bermingham feels strongly about and thinks the Senate may devote more time to in the future.

New Business

Chair Phil Droke then noted that it was time to conduct the Spring Senate elections. Secretary Gloria Rose Koepping volunteered to notify Senators Katie Gulliford and Igor Glozman that they can begin recruiting and running the election.

Gwen Spencer brought up two concerns of hers, the increased number of students on Probationary status and the disproportionate number of Running Start students in academic difficulty compared to students at large.

In this time of under enrollment, we have seen a 35% increase in the number of Probation I and Probation II students to 328 and 130 respectively.  There were  458 students on Probation I and II this last quarter.  The Educational Planning Center is looking at student transcripts and what classes these students have taken to try and generate some strategies for intervention.

Students in the Running Start Program are also at increased risk of ending up on Probation than students at large.  Discussion centered on why that might be so.  Perhaps Running start students are not disciplined enough, or mature enough, even though they have college level academic skills.

Senator Bob Baugher, who is on the Scholastic Review Committee, said that they are seeing increasing numbers of Running Start students there as well.  Gwen shared that GRCC is allowing RS students to remain on probation for 2 quarters instead of 3, then they are dismissed.

Gwen shared that as a group Running Start students tend to be some of our highest achievers but that a disproportionate percentage are struggling academically.  We may need to look at early intervention programs or alerts with all of our students, but most importantly with the Running Start population.  Other ideas that were discussed included making sure they were signed up and meeting with a Faculty advisor in their major program and had not changed majors without getting a new advisor. 

There was some concern about our struggling students being in denial or unaware of where they are academically.  Dean Wagnitz said they may want to know where they are academically, but not know how to find that out.  Some students don’t ever check their grades at the end of the quarter, so the first they know about any trouble is that Probation letter that comes in the mail.

Gwen will be letting the Faculty advisors know which advisees are on probation so we can work with them more intensely.

One suggestion Gwen had was that the Faculty may want to review the academic status of students before overriding our own prerequisites or signing up students for more than 15 credits.  These two practices may be contributing to student’s academic troubles.

Meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m.

Next meeting is May 3rd, 2006.

Minutes submitted by Gloria Rose Koepping, Faculty Senate Secretary