Faculty Council Minutes for October 21, 1997

The meeting was called to order at 3:45 by John Kolena. There were 31 faculty in attendance: Guest included Peggy Manring, Steve Warshaw, Joan Barber, Doug Gray, Jeff Bray, Jeff Tyson, Roxanne Reid, and Sandy Rothschild.

Announcements:

John Goebel announced that a Web Site has been established for Faculty Council business. Minutes, important documents, committee assignments are currently on the site and other timely information will also be posted on this site. The address is 192.154.43.167/goebel/fc-coun/fc-toc.htm.

John Kolena announced the next Beautification Day and passed around a sheet for volunteers to sign up for helping with some of the projects around campus for that day.

Business Items:

Minutes:

Dot Doyle moved and Jo Ann Lutz seconded the motion that the minutes from August 26th, September 9th and September 26th be approved as submitted. The motion passed.

Meeting Days:

John Kolena opened a discussion concerning the meeting days for second semester. A motion was made and seconded that Monday and Tuesday should be the only days considered and that we vote on which day we preferred. A vote was take with Monday receiving 14 votes, Tuesday 15, and 2 abstentions. John

Kolena will bring a schedule of the second semester meetings to the next Council meeting.

Faculty Council Attendance:

President Kolena asked if anyone had any suggestions of things that might be done to encourage more faculty to attend meetings. Joe Liles mentioned that the attendance as reported in the minutes of the September 26th meeting might help to motivate people to attend. It was noted that SLI are expected as a part of their job responsibilities to be an every SLI meeting, and while we are not specifically required to attend the Faculty Council meetings, it would be the "professional" thing to do. Jim Litle questioned whether all that we do here is truly professional. John Kolena suggested that perhaps attendance at meetings should be required and failure to attend would result in a reprimand in our individual performance folder. The reception to this suggestion was very cool.

Marilyn Link and Chuck Rosier mentioned that this meeting conflicts with some of our other duties, particularly to students and outreach. Mary Roberts suggested that we meet less frequently and conduct more business by email. Myra Halpin indicated that we have had indications in the past from the Director that input from the Faculty Council was not important. Jo Ann Lutz pointed out that Steve Warshaw has given us indications that he does feel like our meetings are important and the input from them is important to the Administration. Dot Doyle countered that while Faculty Council is often used to pass information down to us, she feels that the Director does not see this body as a viable body for passing information up.

Alternatives to Committee Work:

Joe Liles, reporting for the Faculty Welfare Committee, asked the faculty to consider accepting alternatives to regular committee work. This issue came up previously when Andres Manring requested that he be released from committee work because of extra work he was doing for distance learning. Joe Liles mentioned that he too had asked for and been denied relief from committee work in return for the time spend on the various slide productions that he puts together.

Andres Manring suggested that since we really do not have a sabbatical program, that relief from committee might be something that we could do in lieu of sabbatical. He also suggested that some committees are "too fat" and could be trimmed. Hugh Haskell stated that volunteering to do something extra is not sufficient reason to be released from committee work. He continued that serving on committees is one of the responsibilities of being on the faculty. Chuck Briton pointed out that some projects do get released time, time off campus, and that with such released time faculty may not be required to serve on committees. However, for faculty that are full-time on campus, working on committees is a part of our job. Joe Liles reminded us that faculty have been relieved from some duties in the past for personal reasons.

Anita McCoy moved that we should put the question to a vote in the form of a ballot to be place in all faculty mailboxes. The ballot should ask if we should have any additional discussion on this issue. Tyjuanna LeBennett seconded the motion which then passed. The officers will prepare a ballot and place one in each Faculty Council member's box.

EFC Lab Update:

Peggy Manring, Jeff Tyson, and Roxanne Reid reported that the EFC is open for business. The lab was funded by a $390,000 grant from Burroughs/Wellcome to NCSSM. Faculty can schedule use of the lab via email to EFCLAB. Guidelines for use of the EFC are in their first iteration and faculty input is welcomed. Jeff reported that there are 21 computers that classes can use and 3 will be left open for faculty to use. All are multimedia computers on their own network which will eventually be connected to the school network. Jeff urged faculty to use the EFC and to make suggestions for software applications. The lab is currently open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. After hours faculty can access the EFC by getting the key from the checkout desk in the Library.

John Kolena urged faculty to think of ways to use the EFC and to be thinking about the impact that the new ETC will have on the residential program.

The meeting adjourned at 4:58

Submitted by John Goebel,

Faculty Council Secretary