FACULTY SENATE COUNCIL MINUTES
January 13, 2010
Advising and Counseling
Maria Tungol
Business/Intra-American Studies/Social Sciences
Amelia Acosta
Betsey Barnett
Terry Taylor
Hope
Sharon Stewart
Georgia Pierce
Humanities
Keith Takechi
Mimi Harvey
Dutch Henry
Library/Media Services
Science
Stephen Bogart
Leoned Gines
Guy Hamilton
Amar Yahiaoui
FACTC Rep
Amy Kinsel
Guests
Brooke Zimmers
Jeanette Idiart
The meeting was opened by Guy Hamilton, Chair. Due to time constraints, Guy asked Lee to begin prior to other items on the agenda.
4. Hiring of Exec. Director of College Advancement
Lee stated that with the predicted cuts to student aid, our FTE’s may drop through the roof due to lack of support to the students. This necessitates our doing something in the next six months to offset these cuts. He determined that Judith Hanson had the area of strength to work the external environment to help expand the support of the college through the Foundation. Judith has helped us turn around our grant efforts to help maximize revenue efforts. Raising money for scholarships is one of the pieces of this position. Contracted activities through the Foundation would give us flexibility for other services. The position is an Interim one with a maximum of three years.
Lee has been having conversations with Lake Washington Technical College about combining foundations, cont. Ed, research, etc. That is why this position isn’t a permanent commitment. Eventually this position should be a self-support position. 51% of the position would stay with the college with the goal of going beyond raising funds for themselves. Continuing education should also be self support. Maybe some of our management people could be self-support positions as well, if areas have the ability to raise funding. Betsey indicated an interest in having a Summer Institute for multicultural understanding, sustainability and technology. Lee is going to go to the board for reserve funds to fund this position which is an investment that should have a return. The funding for this position won’t come out of the existing college budget. What are her duties? Grants, oversight of Foundation and PIO areas, working with community members and other components. Judith led the effort in writing a Waiver to Title 3. If we get the waiver, it will allow us to apply for a capacity building grant. She is very aggressive and works to find ways to make grants a yes rather than a no. A Title 3 Waiver is a way to build up our capacity.
Lee was asked to explain the rational of working with Lake Washington Technical College. He indicated that there are some natural synergies which could allow us to build on our combined strengths. For example in the Prof/tech areas like automotive. Their collision program could strengthen our automotive program and vice versa. Perhaps in the fund raising area, it would open up the territory of the whole geographic area of North King County. We could end up with a shared foundation, or keep them separate and collaborate more. It could give us strong leadership in international programming through recruiting together and increasing our visibility. Both Everett and Cascadia have also entered into discussions of collaboration. Technical colleges have been directed to offer more transfer programs.
Lee was asked to share what is happening in the area of housing. He indicated that the City of Shoreline is working on a master plan that could potentially develop housing on the DOT parking lot. They are working with a developer and they are looking for a location. They realize that the college is a big part of the economy in Shoreline. They are seeing the advantage of housing near the college. There is also talk about renaming the streets so that College Way would lead people to the college and give us a better presence from Highway 99. We would lease the beds and work with international programs to fill the beds as well as the general population who would be interested in residence housing. The predicted time frame would be about 2 years. The city is exploring the possibility of a meeting facility as well as residential space with about 550 bed units. They are exploring turning the Sears area into kind of a Kent station model. The City is helping to facilitate this development idea.
Will the state board step in at some point and force the shared districts? If the State Board gets the full authority rather than the legislature, this is a possibility. We don’t want the legislature to muddle in our business. Who comes to the table for the discussion will be important. Shoreline has the most efficient system in the state and we are very effective, but we keep taking it in terms of cuts.
Guy thanked Lee for coming and talking with the Faculty Senate.
- Minutes - The minutes were corrected to add Amy Kinsel as FACTA Rep attending the last meeting and deleting the first sentence in paragraph six under the Gates Foundation discussion. It was moved to accept minutes as corrected. Terry/ Jo MSP 2 abstentions
- Agenda – no additions were made to the agenda.
- Open Comment - skipped due to length of agenda.
- Communication DTA – Brooke Zimmers and Jeanette Idiart
Brooke and Jeanette were introduced. They explained that the math and communication requirements are being looked at for the DTA. They are part of GenEd requirements. Currently there is a requirement by the ICRC to have 6 cr. of composition courses as part of Gen Ed. On our campus, because we have only two composition courses (ENGL& 101 and ENGL& 102) which are both 5 credits. This means that students don’t take communication classes to meet this Gen Ed requirement. The proposal being explored is to look at the credits of composition classes. Students can graduate without taking a face to face communications class. Is it okay to change the six credits of composition to 10 credits of communication made up of two courses of composition? The DTA requirement indicated communication but in reality it allows only courses in composition. Expectation is that our students are getting skills in oral communication and human interaction. Interpersonal skills are what people want when they say good communication skills. We are asking the state to discuss the issue of taking a class in human interaction. Rather than raise the credits to degree, they are looking at perhaps having pathways and planning sheets require a communication class as part of the degree. This is going to the Articulation and Transfer council and then ICRC. They will be looking for an up/down vote at the next meeting.
Steve indicated that the Math Gen Ed requirement is much more controversial. Currently they must demonstrate proficiency in intermediate algebra and a college 100 level quantitative reasoning class. The proposal is to get rid in algebra requirement and to change the 100 level classes to requiring a math class specifically. It would get rid of Philosophy, Economics, etc. as meeting the QR requirement. Some colleges want to change their developmental math programs. Our Math department is not in favor of the proposed change to the QR requirement.
- Gates Initiative – Amy Kinsel
Amy has put several messages and links about how to participate on the faculty listserv. There is now a $300 stipend for selection committee team members. If you wish to apply for a grant, this information is online as well. A couple of people have indicated interest in putting in a grant proposal. The funding will come to the college (Faculty to receive $5,000 summer, $5000 fall and teach in Spring, and $5000 in summer to tweak the class) but each college can determine how the faculty member will be compensated.
Amy also reported that there is a bill in house and senate that calls for studying ways of consolidating and merging districts. If the determination of the district would be by rule and then the state board who have a say. There is a move among a couple of people in the legislature to force consolidation of districts. At College Council, Darryl said that the other institutions that are not in the discussions about consolidation were chastised. It is happening through political and personal relationships.
- Advising – Guy and Betsey
Guy indicated that he has looked at the information provided by Betsey from the many Advising Task Forces over the last 10+ years. The same issues seemed to be discussed, but there haven’t been any real solutions. It is hoped that the Faculty Senate can work to improve this area. With the potential of losing 30-40 positions this year, good advising will be critical for retention of students. Academic Advising is what needs to be strengthened and made better for students. It needs to be more available, efficient and effective. The advising website is the tangible outcome of the last task force. Peter, Aura and Ali developed it but there is no funding to maintain it. The task force recommendation is to assign 50 students to each faculty member. Advising and Counseling think that the rank and file faculty do not have the skills to advise students, referring to career type of advising. Undecided students do need some additional support such as career counseling, testing skills, etc., so currently undecided students are assigned to Advising and Counseling. There is a lack of visibility of services offered by Advising and Counseling. It was suggested that the faculty senate look at other advising models and see if they would be feasible for us to use. We need to look at how can we help or make it better. It is proven that retention is a matter of personal relationships with faculty. A student mentor program was also suggested. Perhaps an interest based questionnaire could be added to orientation sessions to help get students connected with faculty in specific interest areas. This could also potentially be integrated into the College 101 course proposal as it is developed. Guy will send out an email to discuss models.
Announcement: All Federation Meeting – Friday afternoon 3-5 in quiet dining room.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:05p.