Summary of Faculty Assembly and Faculty Senate Activity

To: Dr. Helen Grove, Provost and Senior Vice-President

From: Nick Reeder, President of Faculty Assembly

Date: November 30, 2006

Re: Summary of Faculty Assembly and Faculty Senate Activity for Fall 2006

During this quarter the Faculty Assembly has taken the following actions:

Authorized Faculty Senate to approve the minutes of Assembly meetings.
Adopted a standing rule that schedules Assembly meetings at 3:00 pm on Wednesday in the fifth week of Winter and Spring quarters.
Amended its bylaws to establish online election of officers.
Amended its constitution to establish online voting on future constitution/bylaw amendments.
Directed the Faculty Senate’s Resource Committee to recommend improvements to the College’s practices in hiring and supporting new full-time faculty.

During this quarter the Faculty Senate has taken the following actions:

Created a Website to provide Assembly members with information on topics of current interest, and to solicit Assembly members’ input on these topics via online surveys and discussion forums. Topics discussed include program alignment and the academic calendar.
Conducted a survey of Assembly members to determine priorities for the coming academic year. Topping the list of priorities are:

Make recommendations concerning the administration’s proposal for reorganizing the Instruction Division, and work on implementation details after a reorganization plan is adopted.
Monitor and make recommendations concerning the college’s efforts to ensure alignment of Sinclair’s programs with community needs and to restore a net operating margin of 3% to 5%.
Recommend a faculty retrenchment policy.
Working with Sinclair’s legal counsel, thoroughly review the Faculty Handbook, recommending changes to make it more consistent and more useful.

Adopted a special rule of order that voting on new resolutions and recommendations will be postponed to the next meeting after the one at which they are introduced.
Requested representation on the Operations Council, which will forward recommendations regarding program alignment to the College’s President. This request was denied by the Operations Council.
Recommended a group of faculty members for appointment to the Comprehensive Faculty Evaluation Committee.
Recommended a group of faculty members for appointment to the Program-Alignment Cross-Functional Team.
Charged its ad hoc Committee on Faculty Retrenchment to draft by February 1 a faculty retrenchment policy based on AAUP and other national guidelines.

Minutes of the Assembly’s and Senate’s meetings, online at http://www.sinclair.edu/organizations/fac_sen/minutes/sm06/index.cfm, further describe these activities and other activities currently underway.