Professional Growth & Development 03/23/09

You are encouraged to register for the inservice program on April 9 at Four Points Sheration. The focus of the day is   “What The Best CollegeTeachers Do” – the title of a book written by Kenneth Bain, our keynote speaker. HACC’s own faculty award winners will be sharing their tips. There will be a video with some of our students’ thoughts on what makes a good instructor. Deadline for registration is April 1.

Submitted by Carol Martin

Faculty Council Meeting – 3/23/09

The Council met as scheduled.

• All items on the Consent Agenda were approved.
• Minutes of previous meeting were approved as corrected.
• The following Administrative Procedures (APs) were approved with amendments:
  • AP 513 – Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (FASAP) and Appeals Policy
  • AP 521 – Access and Support for Students with Disabilities
  • AP 138 – College Archives
• The following APs were postponed due to time constraints:
  • AP 374 – Events Service of Alcohol on Campus
  • AP 382 – Administrative Procedure Related to the Use of Alcohol and Other Drugs

Concern was expressed regarding the status and potential outcome of the next year’s budget as it pertains to salaries. Budget Advisory Committee faculty members present expressed great frustration regarding the process and outcome of this year’s committee work product.

All faculty should be alert to final approval of AP 766 – Syllabi. Previously passed with amendments by Council, when approved by the College President, this AP will give increased freedom and responsibility to faculty in the preparation and content of their syllabi. All faculty should obtain and retain a copy of this AP when it is made available in its final form; expected in the near future.

All are reminded that the Faculty Organization is schedule to hold its Annual Meeting next Monday, March 30, at 3:00 pm in the campus compressed video rooms. Adjunct faculty are members with voice but not vote, and are welcome to attend.

Dan Moseler

Town Hall Meeting

President Baehre recently held a Town Hall meeting to review the current HACC financial status and the planned reorganization. The President addressed the financial status, including the budget development process, and VP Meredith Tulli addressed reorganization. You can view a video copy of the presentations and copies of the briefing materials, including the narrative script, on HACC Web. One of our adjunct faculty members from the York Campus, Matthew Seibert, provided his impressions from the meeting:

According to the President there were fears about the financial condition of the college. The way the budget is constructed, not all of its elements are assembled simultaneously. The preliminary budget does not contain all of the money that the school will receive for the subsequent operating year. This initial budget was released early, leading to misinformation floating around the various Campuses. And this was combined with worries that the state budget would not include monetary provisions for the college.

However, the college is financially sound and nothing will change, but there has been a reduction in proposed expenditures. The search for new faculty and staff has been temporarily halted. Any wish list materials for the next have been cut. It was not made clear if this will freeze salaries and wages, but no positions will be cut.

We are running at a deficit, but we will return to a profitable stage as conditions improve. Regardless of this, we will not raise tuition rates or cap student growth. However, more mission-specific policies will be taken by the college and we will become more frugal with our spending.

I encourage each of you who may not have been able to attend to review the materials on HACC Web. I was out-of-town and unable to attend, and found these materials very helpful in subsequent discussions.

Dan Moseler

Faculty Council – 3/16/09

Council met to consider a backlog of APs. Considered, amended, and passed today were:

AP 145,  College Compensation Committee – This is a rewrite and expanded description of the duties and responsibilities of what is presently the Budget Advisory Committee. This Joint Committee deals with all aspects of compensation for all HACC employee classifications, including adjunct faculty. Faculty representation in this proposed revision includes a new one-year appointment for an adjunct faculty member. If this position remains in the final document, and you have professional experience with compensation and benefit issues, and would be interested in serving, contact Terri Marquis.

AP 454, Salary Survey – This is closely coupled with AP 145, describing the methodology and data sources to be used by the Compensation Committee and the Administration in developing the salary and benefits portion of the annual budget. As presently proposed, this document specifies that adjunct faculty pay raises will be at the same percentage as full-time faculty. While this equity issue has been the informal practice in recent years, this is the first time this coupling has been specified in a formal document.

The remaining APs on the agenda were postponed until our next meeting due to time constraints. This will be the regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, March 23, at 3:15 pm.

The College Faculty Organization is scheduled to hold their annual meeting on Monday, March 30. Adjunct faculty are non-voting members of the organization and are welcome to attend.

Dan Moseler

FPPC Meetings

The FPPC met on February 23 and on March 4.  The following items were discussed on February 23:

     – Faculty Template for HR Application Page There was no report on this item.

     – AP 864 (Tuition Aid for Employees and Their Dependents Taking HACC Courses) The statement “Enrollment shall be limited to space available after the first day of class in a given semester” was removed, minor editing was done, and after a brief discussion, AP 864 was approved as revised.

     – AP 862 (Sick Leave)  The subcommittee working on this AP was awaiting information from Human Resources.  Discussion ensued, and the subcommittee agreed to consider the suggestions as they continue their review.

     – AP 852 (Transitional Retirement for Tenured Faculty)  The subcommittee reviewing this AP will be meeting shortly for discussion and reporting back to the Committee.  Apparently numerous faculty will be entering transitional retirement soon, and the need to review process and procedure is important.  Also, the role of Department Chairs is to be included.

     – AP 812 (Promotion of Faculty) This AP has been returned to FPPC for review, with suggestions included regarding issues of years of experience and errors made in determining rank.  The AP was is to be reviewed by the Committee.

The FPPC also met on March 4.  As I was not able to attend, the responses to the agenda items are not available at this time.  I hope to provide them after our next meeting.  The following items were to be discussed:

     – The Faculty Template for HR Application Page

     – AP 864 (Tuition Aid or Employees and Their Dependents Taking HACC Courses.

     – AP 862 (Sick Leave-draft of 1/12/09)

     – AP 852 (Transitional Retirement)

     – AP 812 (Promotion of Faculty)

Professional Growth & Development 3/4/09

1. David Bailey reported on the Steering Committee meeting, at which  he voiced faculty concerns about hiring an outside contractor to teach Office 2007 when we have competent instructors here on campus that are already doing workshops on this topic.

2. Fall 2009 Faculty In-Service

Focus will be on the at-risk student. Matt Braswell will be presenting workshops that day on this topic. The in-service will be held at the Gettysburg Campus. David Bailey will be the point person for this event.

3. Spring 2009 In-Service

Invitations to the Spring In-Service will be going out tomorrow. We are asking for volunteers to present a 5-minute blurb on best practices in teaching. Your presentation can be live or taped. Please e-mail Judi Ungar-jaungar@hacc.edu if you are interested.

4. Carol Martin and Alyse Shaffer are once again taking their Office 2007 Tips and Tricks presentation on the road to Penn Center on Thursday, March 19.

5. Reminder FERPA presentation Wednesday, March 18 via compressed video.

6. quote of the day-

“We’ve got to educate the students we have, not the students we used to have, or the students we wish we had”- David Thornburg

Judi Ungar

Faculty Council – 3/4/09

Council met in an added session to address a backlog of business. College Administrative Policies (APs) considered and passed were:

• AP 828, Moving Assistance for New Employees
• AP 571, Children on Campus – intended to provide guidance for children age 14-and-under who may be on campus without proper supervision.
• AP 381, Communicable Disease Infection Control for Employees and Students – provides detailed policies and guidance regarding infection control.
• AP 766, Course Syllabi – provides detailed guidance regarding preparation and control of course syllabi. Key is the emphasis that these documents are the intellectual property of the instructor, and that a copy of the AP must be provided to all instructors upon final action, and be provided to all newly-hired faculty.

Action was postponed on AP 145, College Compensation Committee (intended to replace the Budget Advisory Committee), and AP 454, Salary Survey.

Emphasis was placed upon the importance for all faculty to RSVP to today’s Everybody E-mail announcing the Spring In-service at the Harrisburg 4-Points Sheraton. The E-mail contains the details.

Our next Council meeting is Monday, March 16 at 3:30 pm.

Have a safe and happy Spring Break!

Dan Moseler