Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

February 6, 2008

Senate members present:  Ruth Frickle, Glen Avantaggio, Gloria Rose Koepping, Chris Gan, Rosemary Adang, Jack Harton, Darryl Brice, Eena Hibbs, Jin Do, John Dunn,  Michael Armstrong, Sherri Chun, John Pfeffer and Aaron Warnock,.

Guests:  Barbara Clinton, Gwen Spencer

The meeting was called to order at 3:03 in room 411 of the Library.

As we had a quorum, the minutes from 1/16/08 were approved as amended.

Old Business

Highest Scholastic Achievement Award

Ruth related that this award is given at graduation to the student (s) with a 4.0 G.P.A. and who finishes all their requirements by spring quarter.  If no student gets a 4.0 that year, the award is given to the student with the highest G.P.A. closest to a 4.0.

Formalizing PR&R procedures

Jack Harton volunteered to research PR&R procedures.  The research resulted in a lack of any clean procedures for us to follow.  In many colleges these kind of problems are resolved through the usual chain of command lines, beginning with the department chair, then on to the Dean, and lastly to an informal hearing.  Some colleges have a Faculty Committee on Ethics which handles Faculty-Faculty complaints.    At our school, we have no formal mediation options in place, although in his (Jack’s) research, Cesar Portillo volunteered to mediate any potential conflicts, as he has had training and experience in this area.  Jack made a recommendation that whatever we come up with, the goal should be to keep it informal, as it can get difficult after that level of intervention.  We could look to the Faculty-Student or Faculty-Administrator complaint mechanisms we already have in place for models.

The question came up again about what kinds of conflict could it possibly be that would come to the committee.  One Senator said that it was usually a lack of civility, personal attacks on another faculty member made in front of students, faculty not talking with each other that negatively impacted departmental business, or faculty being critical of other faculty.  Another Senator said that he was called upon once, as part of the committee, to determine if one faculty member’s negative relationship was adversely impacting a probationary faculty member’s chances for tenure or whether it had no bearing on their performance.

It was mentioned that this committee has no enforcement powers, except to put a letter in a Faculty member’s personnel file stating the outcome of a complaint. 

Senators were asked again if they favored making a change in the constitution or if they wanted to let it ride.

A Senator commented that if we were to act in a consulting role with Faculty, they may not listen, and it may not work.  Mediation, Binding Arbitration, or sending Faculty somewhere else to get relief were also discussed as possibilities.  Are we better off being just an advisory committee that gives recommendations?

Ruth commented that it appeared the current vagueness is serving us.   The Senate then agreed to just leave it as is for the time being.

College 100 requirement query

Ruth reported that she had spoken with Susan Landgraf, who is working with Tanya to get some data and she will get back to us.  Gwen Spencer said that she had some data on this topic and she would talk to Susan.

New Business

Honors Program

Barbara Clinton, Head of the Honors Department, that houses our Honors Program, attended the meeting to brief us on her area.  To begin with, Barbara explained the various kinds of “honors” a student might earn.  She mentioned “Highest Scholastic Achievement” which is listed on the student’s transcript and has been previously noted above.  Those that graduate “with Honors” at graduation have a 3.5 G.P.A. or higher in their coursework.  Members of Phi Theta Kappa graduate with a gold cord and have at least a 3.5 G.P.A. in their coursework.

 Honors Scholars are students that take 35 hours of honors work and have at least a 3.5 G.P.A.  Students in the Honors Program take 30 credits or six 5 credit classes for Honors credit.  They additionally take 5 credits of courses from the Honors department;  a two credit portfolio class, a one credit speaker series called “Opening Doors,” and a two credit class that includes a capstone project in their chosen field which also incorporates a service learning connection.

Students can also take a course for “Honors” even if they are not in the Honors Program.  Taking a class for “Honors” credit changes the title of the course and having several courses like “Psychology Honors” on your transcript helps in transferring and securing scholarships.

Barbara mentioned that the two biggest predictors of college graduation success are still a parent’s income and the degrees parents have.  Her Honors program seeks to give opportunities to students who may not have those advantages, but are academically highly capable students.

Barbara reported growing numbers of students of color and immigrant students in her program.  There are higher numbers of transfer students than professional technical students in honors classes.  However, this may be due to the fact that students self-select to the program, they are not invited to apply as in other schools.  She said she could use more professional technical students.  Many of our students don’t know the academic culture and they don’t view education as a ticket that represents something- what you know.

Contracts for Honors options in courses, as well as instructions for Faculty are on the Honors website.  The main guideline is that it must be a university level project.  Faculty can help out by putting the Honors option on their syllabus and delineating what Honors project options there might be.  Students don’t pay extra for the Honors option, so it is a great deal.

Barbara ended by reminding us that when you mix potential with opportunity, it can become a great force to move our students ahead .

Our next meeting is February 20th, 2008.

Meeting Adjourned at 4:03 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Gloria Rose Koepping, Faculty Senate Secretary