Faculty Senate Minutes October 16, PM

Transcription

1 1 Faculty Senate Minutes October 16, PM The third meeting of Lone Star College North Harris Faculty Senate for the school year was called and held on October 16, 2018 in LIB 103 from 3 4 PM. Faculty Senate President Devethia Guillory convened the meeting and Secretary Alana Aleman recorded the minutes. 1. Guest Speakers a. Presentation by Saira Rab from AFT i. AFT is looking to increase membership at all campuses 1. Ms. Rab explained briefly what the AFT does and what they have recently been working on: adjunct pay, campus safety, shared governance and fairness policies ii. Membership dues and information are available at iii. Provides legal services to members, as well as assistance in addressing other faculty concerns iv. For more information, reach out to Saira at saira.rab@gmail.com b. Presentation by Megan Johnson, NH TCCTA Representative i. Texas Community College Teachers Association represents about 6000 members every year ii. Not a union, but works in a similar capacity; has a lobbyist who works for the association to influence the state legislature iii. Offers networking opportunities through conferences and professional development iv. Full-time membership dues are a one-time payment of $45

2 2 v. Upcoming TCCTA conference to be held at the Galleria February 28- March 2 vi. Reach out to Megan Johnson for more information: Megan.F.Johnson@lonestar.edu c. Presentation by Jennifer Travis for TAA i. Faculty Senate has fully or partially funding the Texas Academic Authors Association chapter at NH in the past ii. Seeking members to join; $10 membership dues due to Jennifer Travis the week of October 22 iii. Members receive writing books and the chance to participate in a writing workshop in the spring iv. Jennifer Travis for more information or visit her office in Winship 115K; Jennifer.Travis@lonestar.edu 2. Updates a. Food Pantry (Alana Aleman) i. We are currently waiting on confirmation for the proposed space (Winship 166). The proposal we submitted to administration included an Executive Board that would be responsible for the stability and success of the pantry. Once we receive confirmation on the space, we will proceed with submitting a formal proposal to the Houston Food Bank, who will then come out to begin designing the space. For further information or to participate in the ongoing process, please Ms. Aleman at Alana.Aleman@lonestar.edu.

3 3 b. System Updates (Devethia Guillory) i. FERPA: Reminder that the system policy dictates faculty should not talk to parents, even if there already is a FERPA form on file for that student. General Counsel is working on a statement for faculty to add to syllabi. In the meantime, faculty should refrain from talking to parents, even for dual credit students. Professor Guillory will look into whether the same rule applies to spouses and what the requirement is for health occupations students. ii. Phishing issues: Individuals within the system were victims of a phishing scheme and had their payroll information stolen. Typically, there is a system check that is supposed to flag an employee s account if direct deposit information is changed. The System is adopting even more stringent security measures to be in place in the next few months. Faculty should be aware that this particular breach was not wide spread. 3. Current Business a. Staff/Adjunct Status i. A staff member who serves as an adjunct reached out to FS leadership expressing concern over the recent constitutional amendment clarifying membership in FS. That section explicitly states that individuals whose primary job at NH is in a staff or administrative capacity cannot be members of FS, even though they also teach. There was consensus within FS that the amendment is correct and that we want FS to be a safe space for faculty to discuss issues without fear of information getting to

4 4 administration. Staff already have PSSA as their primary vehicle and although the vote on the amendment last year was close, members at this FS gathering agreed it was the right decision. b. Faculty Emergency Fund Chair Vote i. Motion to vote on Kimberlee Ball as chair passes unanimously. ii. Update (Kimberlee Ball): Still clarifying who all is interested in the committee. Last year, the committee talked about putting together a fundraiser and began work on a final procedure for application. The committee has looked at the Foundation to see what all is available outside of the FS Emergency Scholarship Program. There is not an existing adjunct or emergency faculty fund, so we will need enough seed money to get it started at NH. Cy-Fair and UP already have faculty senate endowments, so that might be an option for us. Have discussed using the model of the Student Emergency Committee for the faculty application. Those interested should contact Kimberlee: Kimberlee.H.Ball@lonestar.edu c. Faculty Excellence Committee Update (Janet Hartgrove-Freile) i. Trying to get the Faculty Excellence process going. Applications will be going out soon. d. Employee Giving Donation (Devethia Guillory) i. The Employee Giving Committee reached out to FS leadership to ask if we might make a donation for their campaign. Looking for feedback from

5 5 FS. FS agreed to send out an announcement to faculty to try to get contributions that way, rather than through a direct FS contribution. 4. Upcoming Events a. General Education Core i. Committee will be meeting October 19 th to look at rubrics and to review what is going on with the pilot of general education core curriculum objectives assessments. They are trying to tweak rubrics, but also come up with ideas about how to effectively assess the core courses that we teach. The committee hopes to finalize that and roll out the overall general education core curriculum assessments in Fall, Core Curriculum Committee will also review applications for which classes can be added to the core. b. Dates to Remember i. Next Board Meeting will be held on November 1 st at the UP campus. ii. Next Faculty Senate Meeting will be held on November 13 from 3-4 PM in LIB 103. iii. Upcoming Faculty Senate Meetings for spring (tentative schedule): 1. January 22, February 19, March 19, April 9, Motion to Adjourn a. Motion passes. Meeting ended at approximately 4:04 PM.