April 06, 2015 Meeting

Agenda

Academic Senate Meeting

Taft College

Monday, April 6, 2015

12:10 – 1:00

Cougar Room

Call to Order Public Commentary

Approval of Minutes, March 2, 2015

Agenda

  1. Standing Committee Updates – Provided electronically prior to meeting – 5 minutes-­‐ Questions?
  2. Request for approval of Curriculum & General Education Charter – Vicki Jacobi – 5 minutes
  3. CTE Grant –Paul Blake/Greg Golling – 5 minutes
  4. Professor Emeritus for Sonja Swenson – Bill Devine – 5 minutes
  5. Professor Emeritus for Harold Pease – Sharyn Eveland – 5 minutes
  6. Art faculty position – Bill Devine – 5 minutes
  7. AP3270 Discussion – Brian Jean –15 minutes
  8. Professor Emeritus Criteria for faculty – Brian Jean – 5 minutes

Other President’s Report

Next Meeting, Monday, May 4, 2015

Minutes

Taft College Academic Senate Minutes

Monday, April 6, 2015

Cougar Conference Room

Members Present: President Tony Thompson, Vice President Vicki Jacobi, Jennifer Altenhofel, Megan Andrews, Eric Bérubé, Adam Bledsoe, Jill Brown, Joe’ll Chaidez, Bill Devine, Candace Duron, John Eigenauer, Juana Escobedo, Sharyn Eveland, Tori Furman, Shelley Getty, Greg Golling, Lourdes Gonzalez, Gary Graupman, Craig Johnson, Diane Jones, Kelly Kulzer-­‐Reyes, David Layne, Steve Lytle, Mike Mayfield, Janis Mendenhall, Michelle Oja, Ruby Payne, Joseph Polizzotto, Robin Polski, Stacie Rancano, , Joy Reynolds, Kristi Richards, Stefanie Walsh, Susan Vaugh, and Karen Ziegler.

The meeting was called to order at 12:15 p.m.

Public Commentary

None.

Review of March 2, 2015 Senate Minutes

  • Tony recalled that there was mention in the March 2015 meeting about the AB3270 issue. The March minutes do not reflect this issue, nor does the secretary recall the issue being brought forward.
  • A motion was made by Sharyn Eveland and seconded by Jennifer Altenhofel to approve the March 2015 minutes. The motion carried.

    Senate Rostrum

  • Tony distributed the most recent Senate Rostrum issue.

    Standing Committee Updates

  • The Academic Development Committee completed their Program Review and their goals sheets have been submitted.
  • Other standing committee updates were distributed electronically.

    Approval Request: Charter for Curriculum & GE Committee Vicki Jacobi

    Vicki re-­‐visited the charter proposed for the Curriculum Committee with a few changes.

    • The VP of Student Services will be a non-­‐voting member.
    • The length of time of the meetings will be determined by the committee.
    • Return the committee to SLO Steering Committee
    • The flowchart in the charter comes from board procedures, so if the board approves the charter, the procedural changes will be automatic.
    • Michelle motioned to approve the charter. Sharyn seconded the motion. Motion passed.

      CEED Grant Update

      Greg Golling gave an update on the Engineering Program.

  • 104 students designated Engineering as their major.
  • 40 students are enrolled in the Intro to Engineering class.
  • 7 courses have been designed. They are working on the development of 3 or 4 of the courses. They are hoping to add 1 new course every semester.
  • The building for the Energy and Energy Tech program has been approved by the board. Construction on it should begin soon. It’s possible that the building could be occupied by the fall.
  • The CEED grant is funding is ending next summer. They will be looking into getting a 1-­‐year extension.
  • They will looking to hire an additional engineering faculty to start in the fall. This new faculty member would be developing courses in the fall and start teaching in the spring.
  • Paul, Greg and Mark have been having weekly discussions with the Engineering program in finding ways to make this program sustainable after the grant runs out.

    Presentation of Emeritus Status

    Tony reported that the presentation of the Emeritus status to Craig, Sonja, and Harold will be done at Graduation.

  • Bill Devine read the resolution for Emeritus status to Sonja Swenson. Vicki Jacobi motioned to approve Emeritus status for Sonja. Sharyn seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
  • Sharyn Eveland read the resolution for Emeritus status to Harold Pease. Jennifer motioned to approve Emeritus status for Harold. Sonja seconded the motion. Motion passed with one abstention – Candace Duron.

Item #8 on the agenda was tabled.

Full-­‐Time Studio Arts Professor

Bill reported that the Liberal Arts division is recommending that the new faculty position to replace Sonja should be a full-­‐time studio art professor. Sharyn motioned to approve this recommendation. Michelle seconded. Motioned carried with one abstention – Paul Blake.

AP 3270 Discussion

Brian Jean brought up AP 3270, the technology use policy. Brian first thanked Vicki and Tony for their retraction of the “professionalism” comment made in an email discussion with the senate. Brian then offered two possible options for the senate to consider about this matter. Brian is not questioning Dena’s ability to make this decision on her own without faculty approval. The question is -­‐ why she is not listening to the concerns of the faculty? The faculty have had many discussions on this matter, including wording suggestions, via meetings and email. At this point, the senate can choose to:

  1. Forget the matter and accept the decision.
  2. Make our voice heard even stronger with a possible resolution, which would go to the board.

Tony then read a letter from Dr. Maloney, dated March 5th, stating that the consultation process followed for this matter was consistent with our policies in providing opportunities for discussion and input. This policy was reviewed and discussed at 4 ITC Committee meetings, with the Governance

Council, and with the Academic Senate on January 15th. Dr. Maloney consulted with legal counsel regarding questions and wording concerns about the policy on multiple occasions. Our legal counsel did modify some of the language of the policy based on initial discussions with the ITC Committee.

However, our legal counsel advised against any further changes to the policy requested by faculty following the January Academic Senate meeting.

Bill made the point that Internet access is an integral aspect of education and we should be able to use that tool without fear. Bill sees three issues regarding this topic: 1) There does not seem to be any established need or cause to investigate a faculty member; 2) Having access to home computers and technology at home because of their association with college technology is a concern; 3) Having to sign the document.

-­‐Tony mentioned that Dena is willing to take the policy back to the IT Committee and “pull” the signature off of it.

Eric offered that a strict reading of the document is that an employee can be terminated for any transgression without recourse. In the example Eric gave, could an employee who inadvertently caused a computer virus to be transferred to the college computers or network be terminated?

Diane said that the district cannot terminate an employee without cause. Diane ran the document by our union rep and she said that it was pretty standard.

Tony reported that Dena is willing to meet with faculty and staff and have question and answer sessions.

Brian stated that he would like to hear the legal counsel’s reasoning as to why doesn’t the language suggested by the faculty work?

Vicki suggested that Dena invite our legal counsel to come to the campus and answer questions. Greg mentioned that our legal counsel would already have answers to our questions and wondered if they could just write down their responses.

Jennifer offered that this is an employer/employee contract and there is little we can do about it. The policy has been cleared by several lawyers and is almost identical with other college policies about this issue.

Bill made a motion that we take our issues back to Dena and give her an opportunity to again explain why our suggestions were not appropriate. Robin seconded. Motion carried with Sharyn, Jennifer, and Stacy opposing.

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