Date: 2-15-05 Location: Giles 107

Minutes Approved: _x__Yes ___No (Changes: )


Visit the College Senate website at http://inside.cpcc.edu/FSenate/default.htm for the College Senate minutes, SharePoints (items for open discussion), and information about NCCCFA, Senate bylaws, Senate membership, committees, forms, etc.

President’s Report (Amy Ma):
1. Did not meet with VPI in February. Richard Zollinger met with us; he had the agenda but did not have any feedback as to the outstanding issues and/or action items carried over from the January meeting. He did indicate that he will be able to help us resolve a number of items on the agenda.

Did not meet with the President in February but met with Kathy Drumm, who did not have the agenda or knowledge of ongoing Senate issues but agreed to assist in a number raised at this meeting. This is the third month that Senate has not had its monthly meeting with the President due to his sabbatical and then due to his illness.

As result, we have not been able to resolve as many issues as usual. Rather than trying to give my usual verbal report with so many items to cover, the following include the items discussed during the February meetings with administration.

a. Regarding Adopted Tiger Tutor Proposal
Inquiry into status of implementation.
Result: No new information. Awaiting response from VPI.

b. Regarding Adopted Smartboard/Sympodium proposal.
Discussion regarding Promethean system. Inquiry as to status of implementation of this proposal be it with the Smartboard or Promethean systems. Is this to be a standard component for any new smart classroom? Are current smart classrooms to be upgraded to include this component?
Result: Richard will look into this.

c. Regarding Adopted Computer Skills Assessment Test Proposal
Discussion regarding alternatives to allow us to less expensively meet the goals of this proposal. Could testing be implemented so students will be aware of skills deficiencies without requiring a class to address those deficiencies? Could instead have a recommended, single class, computer orientation.
Results: Acknowledging that this addresses an important need, Richard suggested presenting this as a “best practice”. Still awaiting input and response from VPI.

d. Remaining Salary questions after Seigel.
Inquiry into likelihood of funding next year. Inquiry into Seigel implementation in conjunction with certain already in-place incentive policies.
Results: Letters were sent and those increases were funded. Next year depends upon availability of funds. Richard is aware of situations, like the one Brenda raised at the last meeting, where educational-advancement pay granted for having completed 30 hours towards a higher degree was lost after Seigel. He indicated that such issues arise with each pay adjustment implemented. Senate requested that policies regarding incentive pay and how it will be treated in conjunction with Seigel be written and made available to faculty and staff. Richard indicated Michael Moss and Fran Lilly are looking into this.

e. Office hours policy.
Janet previously indicated that there was no intent to change the five hour per week policy and that any policy should be implemented college-wide. Janet was going to address this at the Dean’s meeting in January. Inquiry into status.
Result: Richard indicates there is no intent of changing this policy. This will be discussed at the next Deans’ meeting as their January meeting was cancelled.

f. Time sheet process for all faculty and staff (to track vacation and sick leave).
Inquiry as to status of improvements.
Result: Discussed concerns with Kathy Drumm. She agreed this should be online.

g. Syllabus system.
Inquiry as to steps taken to improve the system and time table for implementation.
Result: Richard is working on this. Amy has met with him on this issue and will be meeting with the team working on this again shortly.

h. Details as to the internet/phone/email monitoring policy.
Inquiry into exactly what data is being collected, who is collecting it and for what purpose. Request that monitoring be eliminated.
Result: Still do not have a complete answer. Kathy Drumm indicates the only sites monitoring are those visited which have inappropriate trigger words. (Amy has the list of trigger words and will forward it to anyone who emails her requesting it.) If an employee and there are sufficient site visits to create concern the individual is contacted and asked to discontinue use. She does not believe there is any email monitoring or other monitoring. I asked about if highest bandwidth usage is still being monitored. She does not know if that information is being collected.

Rita Rodabaugh questioned the notation on the VPI agenda that it was Senate’s request that there be no monitoring of email/telephones and websites visited by CPCC employees. She said that this was not voted on this year and said that she believed that every item that taken to Janet Chernega and/or Dr. Zeiss as a Senate request should be voted on by the Senate before being presented to them. Amy responded that this item had been voted on by the Senate in the past and Fred Tone (past president) concurred with Amy. Amy indicated that Senate needs the ability to carry items over from the prior years without requiring a new vote by the current Senate. She gave the example of the Tiger Tutor and indicated that it would not be appropriate to have to vote on that proposal again next year.

Rita Rodabaugh also stated her opinion that Senate can not request that there be no monitoring because it’s a state law that the monitoring can occur. Amy indicated that the fact that a right to monitor exists does not make it a requirement that the college monitor and that we can request that there be no monitoring.

The message from both Kathy and Richard is that there are insufficient personnel available to look at computer or internet usage even if it is collected. Kathy noted that all employee activities online are subject to being monitored. Senate’s request is that there be no monitoring, but if any is to take place that we be informed as to exactly what is being monitored and, if trigger words are used, what those words are. Kathy did not object to providing that information.

i. Faculty/Staff parking.
Janet indicated decisions likely to be made by campus Deans. Senate requested a uniform, equitable policy, while acknowledging differences between campuses and need for temporary adjustments during construction. Status check.
Result: Awaiting a response from the VPI.

j. Counseling.
Serious errors in counseling are having significant impact on students. Senate has recommended that counselors again be assigned to specific programs, but if that solution is not adopted, some immediate solution is urgently needed. Inquire into any such efforts and request that this issue be addressed by Cabinet.
Results: Presented this issue to Kathy, who will bring it forward.
Follow up: Senate’s Executive Board recommends that an ad hoc committee, including faculty, counselors and graduation staff, be formed to address this issue. If anyone is interested in serving on or chairing this committee, please contact Amy.

Friendly amendment: It is the Senate's intention to study the issue and help work towards a method that ensures that students are given accurate information as is appropriate in a Learning Centered College; not to assign blame or fault for the current situation. It was thought that having counselors specifically assigned to programs would assist, since student complaints about having received misinformation seem to have increased since the change in the assignment of counselors. This is just one of the possible solutions to consider in addressing the issue as is improving training and/or communication to ensure that faculty advising is also accurate. Another issue would be how to reach students who are currently not benefiting from either counseling or advising.

k. Adopted Professional Staff Salary Proposal:
Provided administration with a copy of the adopted proposal.
Result: Diane and Debbie are already working on this and will be bring their suggestions to Cabinet.

l. Senate President/President-Elect’s role in Graduation
Discussion regarding current procedure of having the Senate President and President-elect read the names of graduates at graduation. Catherine Felton, President-elect, and Brenda Armentrout, Instructor of the Year, will read the names.

m. PayforPrint for Faculty.
Requested that procedures not be put in place that makes it more difficult for faculty to make copies needed to teach. Further requested that Senate be allowed to give input into the procedure and decision making process should a version of PayforPrint be implements for faculty or staff.

n. Policy with Regards to Programs assigned to specific campuses.
Addressed concerns that the Paralegal Program will still be on two campuses due to inadequate resources at NE due to changes made to NE II during the planning and bidding process. Inquired about college policy with regard to having programs at outlying campuses.
Result: The goal is to have all of a program’s classes at its designated campus.

Additional Items from the Executive Senate meeting:

Wireless sites on campus, Communité, communication with ITS
Jimmy Livornese presented to the Executive Board about the wireless sites on campus- the Quad, LRC and IT building. Indicated more sites to be made available on other campuses in August. Also discussed Communite which will allow voice mail to be received as email and is a step towards the goal of having all voice mail, faxes and email etc. on one resource.
The Executive Board commended ITS for the increasing involvement of faculty and staff in decisions about services to be offered, but noted that this was not the case with Communite. Jimmy acknowledged this and indicated it was part of the reason for his visit. He indicated that any tech issue questions could be sent to him. Rick Lee agreed to assist in and coordinate this effort, so any Senate member with ITS technical issues should communicate with Rick Lee who will be the point person for addressing such issues with Jimmy.

We still have time left this year to work on additional issues. Among those discussed were:
• Efforts we can make to ensure greater faculty and professional staff input into facility services decisions, particularly relating to new campuses.
• Addressing the decision to no longer provide video taping assistance to faculty
• Concern about a growing focus on “profit centers” rather than “learning centers”
• How to best use Senate to accomplish our goals. We are an advisory group and need to put forth ideas.
• Encouraging qualified Senators or former Senators to run for President Elect.

Committee Reports:

1. President-elect (Catherine Felton): Catherine is on the Rewards and Recognition Committee which is responsible for developing ways to make employees feel recognized and appreciated for their efforts. The committee has recommended several types of “awards” that can be provided for faculty and staff. These recommendations will be publicized once they are approved.

A suggestion was made to publicize the names of people who receive merit awards and Teaching Excellence awards. This has been brought up several times in the past and it has always been decided by the Senate not to request publication because of the hard feelings it might create among co-workers.

2. Academic Policies (Kent Rittenhouse): Committee reviewed and approved the current plagiarism policy, but is concerned that the policy is not widely known. The Committee request that a link to the policy be added to the VPI’s website.

3. Credentials (Farhad Javidi Namin): New Senators: Pat Brown has replaced Chris Haley. Helen Kolman has replaced Laura Tucker.
Faculty or professional staff who are among those represented by Senate are welcome to attend any meetings, but chairs should be sure that non-Senators do not vote.


4. Curriculum (Rita Rodabaugh): A new program in Baking and Pastry Arts to begin at West Campus in Fall ’05. The proposal deletes the certificate program in favor of the 2yr degree program. Proposal was approved.

Changes in which courses are required in the Hotel Restaurant Management program. Proposal was approved.

The addition of JOU 217- Feature & Editorial Writing to CPCC’s offerings. Negotiations have been completed with UNCC to take this and CPCC’S other journalism course as 1 to 1 transfer credit. Proposal was approved.

Suzanne Williams proposed the addition of MAT141 & MAT141A to CPCC’s curriculum. These courses could be added to AAS pick list general education core options. Action tabled pending Dean’s approval of likely start up costs.

A proposal from Dance department was incomplete and was tabled until next meeting.

Proposal for a new series of 1hr applied offerings in the Music Department specifically designed for non-music majors. The department foresees this as being a Humanities & Fine Arts Elective, and is asking for the State to approve 4 progressive sequences (levels) of applied music courses. The first level was approved as presented.

Rita requested that all Committee members review the Program of Study Matrix with the following issues in mind: currently no action is required by the Committee for changes in prerequisites and should this issue go to Senate Executive Committee; do current listed activities reflect Committee activities; the original document did not take into account issues of accountability and student success; is this document in line with Learning College concepts? The document will be discussed with the College Senate and discussed at the next Curriculum Committee meeting.

Ellanor informed the Committee that all 17 Committee actions from this past Fall have been approved and will be implemented. April 25 is deadline for inclusion of any additional changes for the Fall catalog.

Rita will put something in the Communicator about the process for changes in programs of study.

It has been determined that changes or additions to course prerequisites do not have to be approved by the Curriculum Committee. They can be determined at the division level.

Rita announced that she would like for the Curriculum Committee to have the responsibility of approving new diploma programs. If you have any feedback about this issue, forward it to Rita and she will create a proposal.

5. Educational Resources (Joel Moore):
Has awarded $15,000. to date.
New awards since the last report include:
Karin Guardalabene and Jorge 'Cogui' Koochoi to attend the Southern conference on language teaching
Adrienne Phillips to presenting a paper at the Conference on College Composition & Communication
Rita Rodabaugh to present a paper at the League for Innovation conference
Laura Goppold to present at the 2005 Master Student Conference
Linda Dunham to attend the Master Student conference
Harry Phillips to attend the College Composition & Communication conference
Cynthia Smith to attend the National Wellness Institute
Marcia Addison to attend Book Expo America


6. Faculty Welfare (Fred Tone): The recommended pay scale that further details years of service with pay ranges was distributed to the senators. The College currently uses 15th, 30th, and 45th percentiles. This committee re-defined the scale to include 12-15 years = 60th percentile, 15-20 years = 75th percentile, and 20+ years = 90th percentile. (See chart on the last page of these minutes.) Send questions/comments to Fred who will develop a proposal to bring to next month’s meeting.

This committee is suggesting that the College have workshops on “reasonable accommodations” for faculty and staff.

They are working on getting retirement workshops offered on Central Campus and also on the sick- leave policy.

7. Professional Staff Welfare (Denise Wells and Chris Emery):
Issues that need to be addressed:

Re-classification –
Because of the recent Fair Labors Standard Act passed in the Fall some professional staff have been reclassified to Classified staff.
No written notice has been given to these employees
Supervisors seem to have inaccurate information about changes
Professional Staff Welfare Committee has not been apprised of any changes being made to their constituency

Segal Report –
Is there a process in place for an employee to inquire about whether or not they qualify for the increase (or if not, why)? Has HR developed a process if someone has not received a letter and believes they fall within the criteria? Amy will take this forward.

Housekeeping –
Central High continues to have problems with litter in hallways, septic system overflows and malfunctioning fire alarms. This is a problem at all campuses (except Levine) and parking decks. It got better for a while but is bad again. Also, some people have had equipment stolen.

Amy suggested taking photos and emailing them to her. She will forward them to Jeff Friar and Wanda Towler.

8. Student Welfare (Jennifer Conway):
Student Welfare Committee is currently following up on a few leads in regards to Computer Assessment Testing.
--following up with Janet to see which costs she is concerned with
--calling some contacts at Rowan-Cabarrus CC to find out about their CAT model
--following up again with Don Belle
--looking into the publishers of the CIS070 textbook to see if they have a test (on the suggestion of the CIS070 instructor)
- Considering and planning for effects of allowing students to pay for courses in three installments as well as the effects on financial aid and bookstore, for example.

9. Technology (Rick Lee):
Current issues include:
-Testing Security.
- Pay for print and need to appropriate training for students.
- Pay for print at the faculty level
- WIFI implementation
- Need for College Technology Teams to meet so as to obtain faculty/professional staff input prior to selection of and implementation of new programs.
- Desire for sufficient high usage testing of Moodle to insure no recurrence of the issues faced with Blackboard.
- Blackboard hosting of Blackboard system.
- Automating attendance
- Automating reporting of VA/FA participation and status.
- Obtaining full instruction for faculty for mainframe access, udrive access, software upgrades etc.
- Instituting an automated Individualized Learning Plan to further student retention and success.

Additional concerns:
1. Denise Wells announced that she needs recommendations for Employee Recognition by Feb. 20 (part-time faculty, full-time faculty, administrator, classified staff).
2. A question was raised about a policy on cell phones in the classroom. It was determined that this is up to individual instructors for how to handle the situation in their classes.

There being no further business, a motion was made, seconded, and carried to adjourn.


Next Meeting Time: Due to spring break, the College Senate will meet one week later in March: at 2:30 on Tuesday, March 22.
Location: Giles 107

Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Whitt, Secretary