Guest: Dr. Anna Solley – Year Round Curriculum Pilot
Dr. Anna Solley was invited to speak to Council regarding the District
Curriculum Committee
working year round. Dr. Solley stated that the intention for
working year round was to support the
colleges year round as well as to reduce bureaucracy and streamline
the process. She distributed
copies of a revised mission and purpose statement for the District
Curriculum Committee and a
Powerpoint presentation and reviewed the information in both for Council.
Dr. Solley stated that
there is a feeling at the colleges that year round support is not needed
now but there may be a need
in the future. Council was assured that year round curriculum
processing would not occur in the next
year since there is no consensus on the issue at this time. Dr.
Solley and Council discussed the
instructional councils involvement with the curriculum process and
timeline. Dr. Solley stated that
most curriculum is processed ten months out of the year already and
she is only asking for two more
months, July and August. She said that some curriculum is processed
year round already such as
experimental courses and IND(industry-requested) courses. Council
discussed the compensation
for working the extra two months. A point was made that issues
related to faculty should come to
Council as it is the representative body of the residential faculty.
Dr. Solley stated that she would
come back to Council to share information about this issue. Council
and Dr. Solley discussed the
instructional councils and the need to ensure that all instructional
councils are functioning. Council
thanked Dr. Solley for holding meetings for all of the instructional
councils in Spring 2001 and last
fall. A suggestion was made to hold a retreat on instructional
councils issues.
Business Meeting
I. General
A. Call to Order
Janice Reilly called the meeting to order at 2:35 p.m.
Members Present: Carmela Arnoldt, Karen Chalmers, Joanna Chamberlain,
Hazel Davis, Bill
Farrar, Amy Goff, Mark Gooding, Alan Haffa, Karen Hardin, Rosemary
Kesler, Sharon Luczu,
Hank Mancini, Jane Marks, Larry Miller, Saundra Minckley, Ricardo Provencio,
Jim Reed, Janice
Reilly, Laura Ruiz-Scott, Karen Schmidt, Dennis Shaw, Gail Shay, Linda
Smith, Vernon Smith and
Barry Vaughan.
Carrie Taylor took the minutes.
B. Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved as written.
C. Approval of January 8, 2002 and January 22, 2002 Minutes
The January 8, 2002 minutes were approved as written. Corrections
were made in the attendance,
FIPP and Forty-Nine Percent sections of the January 22, 2002 minutes.
The January 22, 2002
minutes were approved as amended.
D. Treasurer’s Report – January 2002 and Year-To-Date
Council received copies of the January 2002 and Year-To-Date Treasurer’s
reports. Dennis Shaw
reviewed the report. Council briefly discussed options for the
money in the saving accounts.
Council next discussed extra costs incurred in the past year. A question
was raised about the new
programs added; were they effective, how much were they used.
Council will discuss the budget
further in Old Business-Dues.
E. Reports
1. Meet and Confer
Linda Larson, Meet and Confer Team co-chair, reviewed for Council a
summary of the current
Meet and Confer proposals. Linda informed Council of the current
status of many of the
proposals. Council discussed with Linda Larson how the process
was working this year and
discussed a few proposals. Linda suggested that the Meet and
Confer process for next year needs
to be reviewed before a team for next year is solicited. A request
was made to include a column in
the proposal summary showing when Council reviewed the proposal language.
2. Professional Growth
Linda Larson, FPG Steering Committee Chair, reminded Council that Professional
Growth dollars
are now fungible and can be rolled over from one year to the next.
Linda told Council that she had
asked Debbie Thompson about the process for returning unused travel
money from the campuses to
the District Professional Growth account. Any unused travel money
will be transferred back to the
District on June 15, 2002. Sylvia Enriquez will track the transfer
and may need help from the
Faculty Association President to ensure that the money is returned
to the appropriate account.
Council was assured that the same formula for travel allocations would
be used next year and no
campus would be penalized for not using all allocated travel money.
A request was made that the
unused travel money from a campus one year be returned to the same
campus the following year.
Janice Reilly stated that the FPG Steering Committee could review that
request. Linda Larson
informed Council that she had sent to faculty an e-mail encouraging
them to apply for Summer
Projects money including travel funds. Linda distributed a report
from the FPG Steering Committee
for Council to review for discussion at another time.
3. EBAC
Regi Munro, EBAC representative for faculty, reported that EBAC was
asked by Human
Resources to look for ways to cut the costs of health care benefits.
Regi stated that the projected
cost increase was between thirty to forty percent for the next time
the health benefits contract was
renewed. She explained how Arizona Blue Cross/Blue Shield (AZ
BC/BS) calculates the rates for
the coming year. Council discussed the rate calculations and
various options for cutting costs such
as a higher co-pays or higher deductibles. A suggestion was made
to spread the increases around
for the lower cost items in the plan. Council discussed the options
of a catastrophic health care plan,
a preventative health care plan, and a self-insured or brokering-out
health care plan. Regi Munro
stated that she would relay all of Council’s ideas to EBAC. Council
discussed the last bidding
process. Council asked Regi Munro to tell EBAC that Council does
not support any added costs
this year and when the next renewal process take place to review other
options for health care such
as self-insurance or aligning with other groups to help influence the
cost of a health care plan.
4. FAC
Karen Hardin, a FAC representative for faculty, stated that the District
has not heard a final answer
on how much money is coming from the State of Arizona. Karen
reported that the allocations
subcommittee tried to prioritize all of the requests to send to CEC.
Council discussed the potential
four and one half percent cut in the money coming from the state.
A point was made that the state
money only makes up fifteen percent of the District’s budget so the
four and one half percent is from
only that fifteen percent and does not mean four and one half percent
of the entire District budget.
Concerns were expressed that some would use this argument to say that
the District has no money
for raises and health care increases. Council discussed the disconnect
between the Meet and
Confer process and FAC. Another point was raised that property
tax revenues comprise
sixty-seven percent of the District’s budget and it was asked why the
recent property assessment
increases have not been discussed at FAC. Karen Hardin was asked
to take that issue to FAC and
find out what is happening with the money from the property assessment
increases. Council briefly
discussed concerns about the faculty allocations for next year.
5. Legislative
Alan Haffa informed Council that the Legislative Committee had met with
Janet Regner from
Jamieson Gutierrez and had reviewed many legislative bills that would
affect faculty. Alan stated that
the Legislative Committee discussed which bills should be lobbied for
and which ones just to track
their movement in the Legislature. Alan Haffa reviewed for Council
four specific bills as well as a
number of retirement bills of which the Legislative Committee will
keep a close watch. Council was
told that the Legislative Committee might have a meeting with the District
Government Relations staff
regarding mutual interests.
6. Intellectual Property Rights
Rosemary Kesler reported that the Intellectual Property Rights Committee
has reviewed the
textbook policy issue. Rosemary said that the committee is concerned
about textbooks being
published. The thought is that if a faculty member publishes
a textbook with a recognized publisher
then that publisher protects the system and the faculty member from
copyright fraud and also edits
and markets the textbook. It was felt that this course is safer
than having a textbook printed by a
vantage printer who only reproduces the text written by the faculty
member. The committee is
rewriting the policy and Council will be given the amended draft when
finished. Council discussed
who approves the textbooks for use in the classroom. A suggestion
was made that the instructional
councils should approve the textbooks since in many cases they have
more knowledge of the
subject areas in the discipline.
7. Common Pages
Council received copies of a recommendation regarding disciplinary removal
of a student from the
classroom that would be presented to the Common Pages Committee at
their next meeting. Joanna
Chamberlain stated that more research was done regarding the issue
of academic renewal and the
committee was more receptive to the idea of reviewing a Maricopa policy
that may be viewed
differently by a receiving institution. Joanna said that the
Common Pages Committee wants to have
a numbering system for the Common Pages like the RFP so that people
from different campuses can
communicate. Also, a numbering system would be helpful when cross checking
student handbooks.
An issue was mentioned about the colleges in Maricopa accepting “D”
grades from other colleges
within Maricopa. Joanna Chamberlain was asked if there was any
language in the Common Pages
stating that “D” grades from outside institutions are not accepted
and if not, language should be
written stating this. Joanna responded that ideas needed to be
presented in November and language
for that idea could be drafted and presented next year. Council
discussed the grades for
prerequisites and concerns that those required passing grades are being
eliminated.
8. Peerpoint!
Carmela Arnoldt stated that the February 2002 Peerpoint! was ready for
distribution and thanked
Carrie Taylor for her help. Carmela reviewed possible topics
for articles in the next two issues of
Peerpoint!
II. Old Business
A. FIPP
Council was informed of a meeting held with the Chancellor regarding
FIPP. Council received
copies of the drafted FIPP guidelines and discussed concerns with those
drafted guidelines and its
timeline. Janice Reilly requested that Council read the drafted
FIPP guidelines carefully and send
comments to her via MEMO as soon as possible due to the short timeline.
Janice stated that the
five Council members who attended the meeting with the Chancellor will
be on the Faculty
Recruitment Commission and other faculty can sit on the Faculty Recruitment
Commission as well if
Council approves. Council discussed the FIPP program further
and reviewed previous concerns
with the program. New concerns were voiced as well. A great
concern was how concerns were
relayed to the Faculty Recruitment Commission last year but the commission
did not address those
concerns. Council discussed faculty serving on District committees
and the need for good
communication with those faculty representatives.
B. Dues
Dennis Shaw reviewed the recent history of expenditures as well as the
projected increases for
2002-2003. Council received copies of different budget scenarios.
Council discussed the large
expense items currently in the budget. It was suggested that
Council review what services are given
by each of the large expense items. Council was asked to review
the budget scenarios and to
prepare comments/recommendations for the next Council meeting.
C. State Board Certification
Council was informed that a committee chaired by Anna Solley was reviewing
this issue. There is a
meeting next week and Council will be informed of the discussion at
that meeting.
D. Forty-Nine Percent Program
Council was told that the faculty at one campus had inquired if a committee
would be formed to
review concerns about the forty-nine percent program. Ricardo
Provencio responded yes, a
committee had been formed.
E. Faculty Transfer Procedures
Janice Reilly reviewed a previous discussion at Council regarding hiring
committees screening and
interviewing internal applicants before externals applicants.
Janice informed Council that now MAT
and PSA internal applicants will roll over into the external pool of
applicants if the committee did not
want to choose an internal applicant before screening the external
applicants. Council was asked if
faculty transfers should be handled in the same manner where internal
applicants could roll over into
the external applicant pool. Council discussed this issue and
the point was made that Council should
provide maximum protection for faculty. Janice Reilly told Council
that a committee has been
created to review this issue.
F. Chair Compensation
Council received copies of a MEMO sent to the members of the Chair Compensation
Committee
by the chair, Mark Gooding. Mark asked Council for clarification
of the work to be done by the
committee since a few issues and questions have been raised.
Council discussed the questions
raised. It was stated that Council must approve any drafted language.
Council agreed that the
committee should work on the language of RFP Section D.1.4.2.
If other issues need addressing
after that, Council will discuss those issues at that time.
G. Travel Money
Janice Reilly reminded Council that she had asked the Faculty Senate
Presidents to inform her by
April 15, 2002, of the amount of any unencumbered travel funds that
can be returned to the District
Faculty Professional Growth account on June 15, 2002.
III. New Business
There was no new business.
IV. Information
A. FAC Budget – Non-Faculty
This discussion item was tabled until the next meeting.
B. Other
Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Hiring Process
Janice Reilly informed Council that an Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Hiring
was formed by the
Chancellor to review the issues and concerns raised at the Board’s
Strategic Conversation on
faculty hiring. Janice told Council that she forwarded a MEMO
to them regarding the committee’s
work. The committee is looking at moving up the hiring process.
Council members were surveyed
to see which campuses had started staffing committees this spring for
hiring for Fall 2003-2004.
Council was informed that College Presidents would forward their requests
for faculty lines for
2003-2004 on May 1, 2002 so the staffing committees need to start meeting
immediately in order to
make recommendations to the College Presidents in time. A point
was made that Council needs to
get credit for the idea of moving up the hiring process. Council
was told that on page four of the
MEMO that they received shows the key operational change of staffing
committees meeting in the
spring to give Presidents and Deans sufficient time to review and make
requests for faculty lines.
V. Significant Happenings/Presidents’ Reports
CGCC
The last day of screening for the presidential search is Friday, February
15, 2002.
EMCC
The self-study is complete and the NCA will visit EMCC on February
26, 2002.
GCC
Despite District's recent inappropriate assignment of 25 new faculty
positions, GCC will
continue to maintain a lean administration and to honor the RFP's 90/10
policy.
GWCC
No report.
MCC
No report.
PC
No report.
PVCC
PVCC has a partnership with the Autonomous University of Guadalajara,
Mexico in
which they will accept students in their medical school who complete
a 6 semester (97 credits)
PVCC program. A similar agreement is being worked on with other
medical
schools including a medical school in St. Petersburg, Russia.
RIO
RIO completed its self-study and the report can be viewed on the web.
The NCA is
coming for a consultative visit to let RIO know how it can improve.
SCC
All is well.
SMCC
No report.
VI. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 7:00pm.
VII. Executive Session
The Executive Committee met to discuss personnel issues.
** The next Council meeting is February 26, 2002. * *