May 20, 2015 Meeting

Agenda

 

Minutes

Taft College Academic Senate Minutes

Monday, May 20, 2015

Cougar Conference Room

Members Present: President Tony Thompson, Vice President Vicki Jacobi, Jennifer Altenhofel, Kanoe Bandy, Adam Bledsoe, Joe’ll Chaidez, Bill Devine, Candace Duron, Geoffrey Dyer, Juana Escobedo, Sharyn Eveland, Shelley Getty, Jessica Grimes, Dan Hall, Michael Jiles, Diane Jones, Danielle Kerr, Kelly Kulzer-­‐Reyes, David Layne, Steve Lytle, Julian Martinez, Mariza Martinez, Janis Mendenhall, Michelle Oja, Robin Polski, Stacie Rancano, Joy Reynolds, Terri Smith, Sonja Swenson, and Susan Vaughan

The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m.

Public Commentary

Bill Devine presented a resolution to honor Tony Thompson and his service to the senate as president.

Review of May 4, 2015 Senate Minutes

  • Corrections to May’s minutes:
    1. David Morse, the president of the Academic Senate was incorrectly identified as David Morris
    2. The second bullet in page 2 should read: A handbook for local AS constitutions has been created and will be available soon for review.
    3. Sharyn Eveland reported that she was not in attendance at the May 4th meeting and

      her name should therefore not be included in the members present list.

  • Sharyn made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. Mike Jiles seconded and the motion passed.

    Commentary from Tony

    In serving on the newly formed Taft College Hall of Fame committee, Tony has been able to read several bios of Taft College alumni. Tony asked us to keep in mind the amazing things our Taft College students have accomplished.

    Regular Effective Contact Policy Procedure Discussion

  • Joy Reynolds, Mike Jiles, Jennifer Altenhofel, Kelly Kulzer, and Dan were the REC taskforce members.
  • There was discussion about whether this REC policy is a policy or a procedure. This is an Administrative Procedure and does not need to receive board approval.
  • Sharyn recommended that a board policy on Distance Education be created. It would be Board Policy 4105 and state something like, “We will meet the requirements of offering distance education options at Taft College.”
  • The issue of “Student Contact Hours” was discussed.
  • The first sentence of procedure #2 was revised to read: “A statement describing the frequency and timeliness of instructor feedback will be posted in the syllabus and/or other course documents that are made available for students when the course officially opens each semester.”
  • Procedure #2 will now include a reference to the Office of Instruction as being the responsible party who will notify the students if the instructor must be out of contact for an unexpected reason.
  • Michelle moved to accept the procedure as amended. The motion was seconded by (?). The motion passed.
  • The senate voted to approve the Regular Effective Contact Procedure.

Self-­‐Evaluation Report

Sharyn and Mike reminded faculty to read the draft Self-­‐Evaluation Report and respond with any comments or corrections. This report needs to go to the board in June and the senate needs to approve it before it can go to the board. Several editing suggestions were made and Sharyn made note of those suggestions. Sharyn said that the accreditors are looking for accuracy and an honest self-­‐evaluation of what we are doing.

The senate voted to approve the amended Self-­‐Evaluation Report. Three faculty abstained, Michelle, Steve, and Stacie.

Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by Dan Hall

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