Mesa Community College Faculty Senate

Approved Minutes

Meeting highlights on this page, details given below.

Date: 11/6/2003

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Location: Kirk Student Center, Maricopa Room

I.          Call to Order

II.        Agenda Approval

The proposed agenda was unanimously approved.

III.      Approval of Minutes

Because the Secretary had not prepared them, approval of the Minutes was tabled.

IV.      Treasurerıs Report

Phil Waclawski reported that the MCC Faculty Association membership stands at 2251/2.

V.        Old Business

A.    Constitution: The Senate completed the amendment and approval of its revised Constitution. The revised document will be released to Faculty Association members for ratification.

B.    Strategic Issues: President Lewis shared his vision of a process to identify MCC strategic issues. He hopes we can establish/codify a process for focusing the Senate and DCA on long-range issues for conversation & communication with the Administration.

VI.      New Business

VII.    Information & Announcements

A.    Presidentıs report

B.    President-electıs report

C.   Secretaryıs report

D.   Department Chair Association liaison report

E.    Active retiree representative report

F.    Senate membersı reports

1.     At-large members

2.     Zone representatives

Mesa Community College Faculty Senate

Approved Minutes

Outline agenda on previous page, details given below.

Date: 11/6/2003

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Location: Kirk Student Center, Maricopa Room

 

I.          Call to Order

   President Charles Lewis called the meeting to order at 3:11 p.m.

Members:

Representing/Office

Present:

Absent:

Phillip Carrillo

At-large

X

 

Harold Cranswick

Zone 5, DCA liaison

X

 

Lyn Dutson

Zone 1

X

 

Charles Horn

Active Retirees Rep.

X

 

Mehrzad Khorsandi

At-large

X

 

Charles Lewis

President

X

 

David Nachman

Zone 8, Secretary

X

 

Gregg Pratt

At-large

X

 

Erin Rawson

At-large

X

 

Janice Reilly

President-elect

X

 

Mona Scott

At-large

X

 

John Seims

Zone 4

X

 

Ann Stine

At-large

X

 

Naomi Story

Zone 7

X

 

Barry Vaughan

Zone 3

X

 

Niccole Villa Cerveny

At-large

X

 

Phillip Waclawski

Zone 2, Treasurer

X

 

Maureen Zimmerman

Zone 6

 

X

II.        Agenda Approval

         The agenda was approved unanimously, as proposed

III.      Minutes Approval

The Minutes of our previous meeting were not available. Approval of Minutes was tabled.

IV.      Treasurerıs Report

A.    Membership: Phil Waclawski, Treasurer, reported that we currently have 2251/2 Faculty Association members, and that he will soon have an e-mail distribution list prepared. Charles Lewis distributed a list of faculty who are not yet Association members.

B.    Finances: Phil read a report on the current financial position of the MCC Faculty Association.

V.        Committees & Project Reports

VI.      Old Business

A.    Constitution: Senate completed the amendment and approval of its proposed Constitution. The amended Constitution was unanimously approved in toto for release to members of the Faculty Association for their ratification. Charles Lewis described a proposed procedure for distributing the new Constitution for a ratification vote.

B.    Strategic Issues: Charles presented his vision of a process for the identification of MCC strategic issues. He hopes we can establish and codify a process for focusing the Senate and DCA on long-range issues. This focus will inform our conversation and communication with the Administration.

The Senateıs ability to carry through from year to year was questioned. The desirability of planning ahead (not simply reacting to crises), the desirability of having the immediate past President sit in Senate meetings, the parallel with the strategic focus of the department chairs, and the hope that advance planning will reduce the likelihood of conflict between the interests of faculty and the college administration were all raised for consideration. Charles hopes to pilot the process by approaching the DCA leadership to plan a retreat focusing on a single (mutually agreed) strategic issue and on the design of a process and timeline for linking faculty senate with DCA and Administration.

The Senate unanimously approved a resolution of support for our President and President-elect in their efforts to establish a process and timeline for a joint meeting of the Senate with the Department Chair Association and college administration, to initiate a discussion of strategic issues.

C.   ITAC: Janice Reilly reported that at their Tucson retreat, the Department Chair Association (DCA) held a vote concerning the information technology problems on the MCC campuses. The DCA wants Senate reaffirmation of our 2002-03 ITAC resolution. Is it reasonable for us to go back and try to resurrect the entire Sims report, or to follow the resolution as passed at last yearıs retreat (for the establishing a college-wide advisory committee on information technology and for the hiring of a Dean of Information Technology)?

By general acclamation, the Senate directs the President and President-elect to meet with the DCA leaders and reach a consensus on improving the planning and implementation of the information technology infrastructure at Mesa Community College.

VII.    New Business

A.    Bond Promotion Participation

Barry Vaughan reported on his recent conversation with Gene Fazio considering how and whether members of the faculty will be active in the community to help promote the passage of the expected bond issue. Charles Lewis informed us that the MCCD Faculty Executive Council is working (through its public-relations firm) on a plan for faculty involvement in promoting the bond to voters, and he will bring back a summary of their recommendations.

VIII. Information & Announcements

         President                              Charles Lewis and Janice Reilly have succeeded in scheduling a regular meeting with the Dean of Instruction. Their first conversation was unexpectedly pleasant.

         President-elect                      Janice Reilly reported that because the Governing Board has not decided when they will present the bond proposal to the voters, the FEC has not spent significant effort to date in considering the facultyıs role in the bond campaign.

                                                      The Faculty Executive Council forwarded a unanimous recommendation to the Governing Board that the active retirement program be maintained as a District-mandated program, funded and administered by each of the colleges.

         Secretary                              David Nachman apologized for the lack of minutes and a printed agenda.

         Others                                  The DCA Liaison has not yet been appointed.

                                                      How to deal with the increase of workload for most department secretaries (leading in some cases to loss of experienced clerical staff to smaller campuses where the workload is lighter and the pay is sometimes higher).

                                                      President Christiansen is trying to rally support for the notion for slowing down the reclassification of deans, senior associate deans, associate deans.

                                                      Although a math faculty line exists at RM, it is believed that a current S&D faculty member in the same department now has to interview with the DI for transfer (almost as if from another college). Who (DI or Dt. Chair).gets to decide?

                                                      In conversation with Pres. Christiansen, the issue of speed bumps was raised yet again. Janet Felton made a note of it.

VIII.       Adjournment

Adjournment was called at 5:10 p.m., the Senate to reconvene on 11/20/2003 at 3 p.m.