Faculty Meeting Minutes- September 23, 2014
Jessica Hogan began the meeting by discussing the possibility of using Frank Warren’s book “The World of Post Secret” for the CVCC common book project this year. Also discussed was the possibility of having Warren come to CVCC as a guest speaker and the need to find some funds to provide him with an honorarium should this occur. Several faculty seemed enthusiastic about making the text a part of CVCC’s campus culture, pointing out that having students participate in the art project from which the book originated would go along with our current QEP “Building Better Writers.” Several faculty agreed to help with the project. Changes to the coordinator rotation policy will be postponed until after the SACS visit in October, possibly until next year.
The topic of syllabus templates was discussed and it was pointed out that HSS’s current stance on the issue is that they are available for adjuncts that need them but they are not a necessity. It was stated that perhaps other deans will follow this general policy.
The SACS visit of October 21-23 was discussed briefly and it was noted that the agenda is very structured for this visit.
The issue of a formal mechanism with which to evaluate deans and supervisors was discussed and it was stated that since there had been no news on this from the VCCS, CVCC will draft our own plan.
There was a lengthy discussion on the need to formalize a system wide policy on relationships between faculty and students as well as familial relationships with students (i.e. should professors have family members in their classes). Everyone was immediately in favor of a policy concerning professors dating students but there were many concerns about the scope and nature of the idea of formalizing a policy about family members. The CFAC meeting isn’t until November, so faculty has some time to mull the issue.
There was a lengthy discussion about the change of pre-recs. for sociology and psychology which Tom Sparhawk had not been made aware of. Some faculty present felt that the pre-rec. of English 111 is useful as it insures that students will be at least minimally equipped to write a paper, etc. Tom stated that he hadn’t seen any evidence that this actually improved the learning process. Mark Zoccola stated that councilors had been operating under the assumption that as long as you were eligible to take English 111, then you could take psychology, sociology, etc.
Peter made note that he would check up on what to do about this at the president’s cabinet meeting.
Marc Zoccola stated that he will be distributing a survey about the Reward policy before Christmas and requested faculty respond. The monthly Faculty award program was slated to begin this fall but is on hold pending the naming of a new