Faculty Council – 9/28/09

Council met and received a report from the Student Government Association (SGA)and the College Compensation Advisory Committee (CCAC).

• SGA – Continues to work with the Allison Hill Community Center. Also, elections are underway this week (Tuesday – Thursday); instructors are requested to encourage their students to participate.
• CCAC – Weekly meeting are underway with the Administration and Classified Staff representatives. A faculty representative, Debbie Morris, reported excellent communication in this process to-date.

A resolution was adopted requesting that the Administration develop health care option(s) that would permit part-time employees, including adjunct faculty, to buy-in at their expense, if they so choose. The resolution read as follows:

Faculty Council endorses the recommendation of the Adjunct Faculty Organization (AFO) that the Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) develop healthcare options that allow part-time employees, including adjunct faculty, to buy into the health care system at HACC. The option(s) provided to part-time employees should contain provisions which provide portability and coverage for periods where the employees may not be on the payroll (i.e., off-semesters, family leave, etc.) but are reasonably expected to return.

The audited enrollment report was summarized, with the following highlights noted:

• Enrollment was up 13.2% college-wide. More-importantly, credit hours were up 14.6%. All campuses reported increases, with York up 30% before they had to cut-off registrations due to facility constraints; Harrisburg was up 10% after several years of level growth.
• Difficulty was noted in identifying sufficient adjunct faculty to cover increased demand. Particularly severe shortfalls were noted in developmental programs, with all available slots for students filled by early July and many wait-listed for the next semester. These courses, along with the growing programs in Franklin and Juniata Counties, present particular opportunities for adjunct faculty who may be available and seeking increased teaching options.

Dan Moseler

FPPC Meetings, Fall Semester

The FPPC has met twice this semester and is examining the following APS:

AP 831 Affirmative Action and Recruitment Processing
     – Human Resources recommended elimination of this AP. After
      discussion, the Committee unanimously approved its elimination.

The following APS are still in subcommittees and will be discussed by the full committee as reports become available :

- AP 463 Compensation for Adjunct Faculty and Part-Time Employees

- AP 871 Separation from Employment

- AP 841 Personnel Files–Maintenance and Availability

- AP 816 and CP 876 Faculty Furloughs

- AP 898 Emeritus Rank for Faculty and Staff

- AP 842 Attendance Reporting and Recording

Faculty Council – 9/14/09

Council passed with amendments two APs of interest to adjunct faculty who may seek full-time positions:

• AP 813 – Assignment of Initial Academic Rank and Salary to Faculty. This AP provides for consideration of prior academic and/or industry experience in the initial assignment of rank and salary.
• AP 812 – Promotion of Faculty. This AP makes provision for accelerated promotion for faculty who attain specified experience after their hire date that could potentially qualify them for a higher rank assignment.

Both APs give consideration for prior experience, consideration that did not exist when I began teaching at HACC in 1999, but which has begun to be recognized both formally and informally. Please be certain to review the final versions when they complete their review and approval process.

Additionally, a resolution was proposed and accepted that urged the administration to:

• provide access to Google Docs to anyone holding HawkMail accounts. This option is presently blocked.
• make HawkMail accounts available to faculty who so choose.

For those unfamiliar, Google Docs is an option presently available free to those holding Gmail accounts. It provides a variety of features, including online file storage, creation of shared workspaces, and various online applications that include word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet functionality. Microsoft has a similar functionality available free online in Office Live that integrates with MS Office. Both represent differing approaches to what is presently called Cloud Technology, which seeks to push application and storage online and independent of the user operating system. I believe faculty members should become familiar with both, as our students are already beginning to use either or both, including on their netbooks and smart phones.

Dan Moseler

PG&D 08/31/09

Our committee would like to provide training to meet your needs.For example, if you want to learn how to use a blog in your course, or need a refresher in where to send a student for a specific issue, we’re here to help. As an adjunct, you may want to be more informed in relation to current college policies. Please contact Carol Martin at clmarti2@hacc.edu if you have any suggestions.

Carol Martin

Faculty Council Notes – 8/31/09

Council held it’s initial meeting of the academic year.  We received reports from Student Government, from Pauline Chow on the status of the Developmental Education initiative, and Kathy Lencioni on the streamlined process for Course and Program approvals. Developmental Education is particularly important to be aware of, as this semester 1-in-4 new students are in developmental math; 1-in-10 in developmental reading; 1-in-11 in developmental writing. When you couple this with record enrollments (21,794 as of Monday; up 13%), you can imagine the load placed upon these programs. Adjuncts with experience in developmental education may wish to explore options in these programs.

One of the action items approved was the membership of a committee formed at the direction of the college President to merge adjuncts as full members in the Faculty Organization. Adjuncts currently have membership with voice but not vote in this organization; hence the creation of the Adjunct Faculty Organization in the 1990s. A similar merger effort was passed by Faculty Council but defeated by the fulltime faculty a couple years ago. The adjunct representative on this committee is our AFO President, Terri Marquis; the alternate is our Vice President, Cecelia Fox. The objective is to have a revised constitution ready for review by December 1, 2009. Watch for feedback requests from Terri or Cecelia as the semester progresses.

Adjunct faculty may look for expanded teaching opportunities in two new areas: Franklin County, managed by Gettysburg Campus; Mifflin and Juniata Counties, managed by the Virtual Campus. There is more information linked on the HACC Home page.

Dan Moseler