Officers attending: Cindy Beckett, President; Jackie Myers, Vice President; Fred Thomas, Secretary
Senators attending: Derek Allen, James Brooks, Susan Callender, Myra Grinner, Ryan Murphy, Amanda Romero, Tom Singer, Charles C. Williams, Marti Shapiro
Senators not attending: Frank Clay, Ellen Rosengarten, Marsha Wamsley
Others attending: Dona Fletcher, Ann Hall, Bill LeJeune, Laurel Mayer
Cindy called the meeting to order at 2:36 in Room 6142.
1. Approval of Minutes
Jackie moved to approve the minutes from Oct. 20 and Nov. 10 with minor corrections. The motion passed.
2. Officer’s Report
2.1.
Instructional Council Meeting (Nov. 5)
Cindy reported that discussions in Instructional Council had included planned
revisions to the processes for registration and grade reporting. Changes will
include the option for faculty to submit grades electronically.
2.2.
Board of Trustees Meeting (Nov. 9)
Cindy reported that the Board of Trustees passed a second resolution charging
the President to explore and develop partnerships
and education centers in locations throughout the region. The Board also
discussed the relationship between its broad policies and the more specific
policies developed at other levels within Sinclair.
2.3.
Faculty Ratio Committee (Nov.1 5)
Cindy reported that during Fall 2004 61.8% of Sinclair’s instruction was
provided by full-time faculty. The figure includes in-load and overload
teaching by both tenure-track and ACFs as “full-time.” Special Adjuncts are
counted as “part-time.” Broken out by division, the portion of teaching by
full-time faculty was:
| Fine and Performing Arts | 54.0% |
| Liberal Arts and Sciences | 62.4% |
| Business Technologies | 61.8% |
| Engineering Technologies | 65.8% |
| Allied Health Technologies | 68.1% |
| Extended Learning & Human Services | 55.2% |
Dan Brazelton has noted that the utilization of part-time faculty seems low
when compared to the number of officially approved part-time faculty. Amanda
is a member of the Part-Time Faculty Committee and reported that they are working
to clean up the official list. Chairs need to use the process for removing
inactive faculty from the list.
2.4.
FITs Meeting (Nov. 16)
Cindy reported that the FITs team has met with Michele Johnson, a consultant
who is working on a benchmark model to compare Sinclair with other Ohio and
League colleges and to consider alternative models of faculty performance management.
Sinclair is one of relatively few colleges with a merit system and some schools
completely separate faculty evaluation from pay raises. Ms Johnson is to submit
a report in February.
Also, Tom McMullen of the Hayes Group is working on the issue of parity. He was
part of the consulting team that established Sinclair’s current parity plan and
is to submit a report by mid-April. Ann asked about possible difficulties in
applying a non-academic model to Sinclair. Cindy replied that the Hayes Group
now has more experience working in higher education than before. Mr. McMullen
will be taking a broad look, to include benefits and range closure.
The FITs team has agreed that this year’s discussions will not include major
changes to the benchmark system, since major changes would require more time.
Cindy reported that Jeff Boudouris is providing statistics on range closure
that will soon be distributed to all full professors. There seems to be good
progress on range closure. The breakout of PACE data by faculty rank was being
done by Linda Rhoades and will not be available in the immediate future.
The ad hoc team reviewing merit (George Sehi, Al Giambrone, Cindy
and Jackie) met over the summer to consider ways in which the merit process can
be decentralized. At present, merit is limited to 55% of the tenure-track
faculty, with 10% awarded at the division level and 45% at the college level.
The team agreed to propose that 45% should be awarded at the division level and
10% at the college level. Under the proposal, division merit would be more
standardized and broader in scope than at present and college-wide merit would
still provide a “second chance” for faculty denied merit at the division level.
The number of merit awards possible within each division would be proportional
to the number of faculty. Jim, Amanda and Ryan asked if the 55% limit was on
the table. Cindy replied that it was not discussed within the ad hoc
team but that an increase could be considered under FITs. Fred asked about the
time line for changes to the merit system. Cindy replied that it will not be
implemented during 2004-05.
The merit proposal and range closure will be discussed at the Winter
Faculty Assembly meeting, January 26th.
2.5.
Leadership Team (Nov. 17)
Cindy reported that the Leadership Team is working on a new organizational
chart for Sinclair, including changes needed to handle likely expansion. Issues
being considered include (1) a desire for more merging of academics and student
services, perhaps under a Provost or Executive Vice President and (2) a need
for more support in Human Resources, including more legal presence. President
Johnson commented that for a college Sinclair’s size the administration is
about one-third the usual size. Other ideas discussed at the leadership meeting
included the possible replacement of department chairs with associate deans
and/or program directors. Dona asked if the team also discussed possible
increases in the number of faculty. Cindy answered that this was not part of
the team’s agenda for the Nov. 17th meeting, but she also noted that
replacing the current chairs with associate deans would free the current chairs
for increased teaching.
3. Committee Reports
None
4. Special Orders
None
5. Unfinished Business
5.1.
Office hours
Jim moved to approve the recommendation distributed earlier (attachment
FSMA20041115-01) to revise the office hour policy (Handbook section 2.4.4). Tom
seconded the motion. Jim reminded Senators of the discussion on this topic
during the Senate meetings on May 19th and May 26th. Two
goals of the proposed change are to expand the use of modern technology as an
option for communicating with students during office hours and to make Sinclair
a more attractive place to work, particularly for faculty who live at some
distance from the campus. There was discussion about the verifiability of
non-traditional office hours, and Tom described his experience in holding
virtual office hours that are verifiable. After further discussion, Marti moved
to table the motion until the next Senate meeting and Charlie seconded. The
motion to table passed.
5.2. Motion to contact an Attorney concerning handbook / faculty contracts
Fred suggested that the best time to consult an attorney would be after Senate receives Dr. Schuster’s report regarding possible changes to the handbook and contract procedures. Senate agreed to delay consideration of the pending motion until that time.
5.3. Health Care Committee Nominees
Cindy asked Senators if they have identified candidates for service on the Health Care Committee. Cindy will send a notice to the faculty seeking additional volunteers.
6. New Business
6.1.
Faculty Workload Proposal
In light of the time, Jim moved to table the Faculty Workload Proposal
distributed earlier (attachment FSMA20041117-02). Marti seconded and the motion
to table passed.
6.2.
Discussion of meeting with Dr. Schuster
Tabled.
6.3.
Comprehensive FPR Committee Membership
Cindy reported that the committee to review the faculty performance review
system has not yet been fully formed. Current members include Charles Williams,
Frieda Bennett, Barb Wallace and Kathleen Cleary. Tenure-track faculty
representatives are still needed from LAS and EGR.
7. Announcements
7.1.
Senate Schedule
Cindy said that Senate will meet on Jan. 12th and Jan. 19th
and the Winter Faculty Assembly meeting will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 26th.
She will post additional Senate meetings on alternate Wednesdays for the
remainder of the quarter.
7.2.
President’s Open Meetings
Cindy encouraged Senators and other faculty to participate in the open meetings
scheduled by President Johnson.
The meeting adjourned at 4:02.
Submitted by Fred Thomas
Approved by Senate, Jan. 12, 2005