TSTC at Waco/Marshall Faculty Senate Executive Board Meeting
September 20, 1996
The Waco-Marshall Faculty Senate Executive Board met in the IDEAS center
on Friday, September 20, 1996. President Barbara Lease called the meeting
to order at approximately 10:10. Among those present were the following
Executive Board members:
- President--Barbara Lease
- Communications Chair--Terry Conroy
- Academics Chair--Fred Kilozein
- Secretary--Brenda Cornell
- Scholarship Chair--Dave Day
- Personnel Chair--Mike Combs
- Committee on Committees Chair--George Loffert
- Ombudsman--Jim Lillie.
Also in attendance was Sam Cryan, SGA President.
Minutes of the September 13 meeting were approved as read. According to
the agenda formulated by President Lease, the following topics were discussed:
Minnie Piper Stevens Faculty Award:
President Lease stated that Dr. Robert Kinney, Assistant to the President,
had asked her to discuss the importance of this award, which rewards nationwide
excellence in teaching. According to Barbara, the question of procedure
is a crucial one in order to ensure fairness in the nomination process,
and we now have the time to make a detailed plan. Barbara stated that she
would like to see at least a $2500. stipend. Various Executive Board members
mentioned several campus forerunners of the Piper Award, three of which
were the Outstanding Faculty Member Award, the Golden Apple Awards (from
Senate President Norma Sisemore's 1992-93 administration, which featured
several awards under the heading, "Good Guy Awards"), and most
recently, the Instructor of the Year Award, bestowed upon Walter Salter
(English Department) at the Annual Employees Barbecue and Picnic in May
of 1996. Fred Kilozein noted that specific criteria for selection should
be an important phase of this process.
Jim Lillie stated that one selection committee for the Faculty Forum's [TSTI
Faculty Forum, precursor of the TSTC Faculty Senate] Outstanding Faculty
Award used interviews as the basis for selectibn. There followed a lengthy
discussion concerning the high degree of teaching excellence on TSTC\Waco's
campus and the fact that such quality is so often unrecognized. Dave Day
stated that an instructor from each department should be awarded. Terry
Conroy agreed, pointing out that the best judges of instruction are the
instructors' students, whose opinions should figure in the evaluations.
Some discussion was given to the matter of the number of nominees each department
should be allowed: one from each department (the one who best meets the
criteria of a "point system"); an unlimited number of nominees
(suppose half of a department meets the required criteria); or allowing
faculty members to announce the intent to "run" for an award or
honor. In conclusion of this discussion, Dave Day reiterated that there
should be some system of faculty recognition and that specific criteria
should be established. Jim Lillie then moved that someone be appointed to
work on the proposed system. The motion was seconded and passed, and Fred
Khozein, Academics Chair, was appointed to work on the system of faculty
recognition
TCCTA (formerly TJCTA) Leadership Conference.
There are materials and money for those who would like to attend
this conference; however, because of attitudes expressed by community college
leaders at last year's conference and perceived by TSTC's faculty leaders
as openly negative toward TSTC, this year's Faculty Senate Executive Board
officers have decided not to support this year's leadership conference.
Following a motion made by Dave Day that TSTC's dissatisfactio~n be communicated
to TCCTA as a whole, Mike Combs moved to amend Dave's motion by suggesting
that the Faculty Senate Executive Board send a letter to the faculty e~iaining
the actions of the board. Terry Conroy added that the letter to the faculty
should be very short, simple, and to the point ("Here's what happened
last year, and as a result. . ."). The motion by Mike Combs passed.
After a request by Barbara for a motion to table Dave's original motion,
Jim so moved. This motion was seconded and passed. As soon as possible,
President Lease plans to draft the letter and to solicit feedback from TSTCIWaco
faculty [the letter is forthcoming].
Communications:
1. Memo from Sam Cryan, complimenting all persons connected with
the Fall Quarter registration process. Sam stated that organization was
much improved, and the degree of student confusion was greatly reduced.
2. Copies of lists of all existing campus committees
3. Packet of documented materials for Mark Sanders (OSH)--Senior Instructor
ranking
4. Hard copy of e-mail request from Andre Rusetsky [Russia?] to Ron Pursley
(CSN); expressed interest in Internet courses
5. Richard Moore--memo delineating 1996-97 department trends
Student Center Renovation Plans:
These floor plans were passed around amongst the board members.
Sam Cryan noted that although these drawings seemed to depict total change,
the Cafeteria, at least, will remain intact.
Enrollment Numbers
The efficiency of the add-drop process still leaves much to be
desired. Also, according to Judy Pursche, there were fewer new students
to register for fall than last year at this time.
Committee Appointments:
Barbara Lease encouraged committee chairs to inform George Loffert
(Committee on Committees Chair) of any prospects wanted/needed to serve
on various campus committees. Recently, Rush Hathi (CST) has been recommended
for the Scholarship Committee. Mike Combs added that Gary Page (CST) had
expressed interest in the Personnel Committee, but that his [Gary's] time
is extremely limited.
Other Committee Reports:
Brenda Cornell, representing John Hendry, Salary Committee Chair,
stated that the committee is still searching for a meeting time that is
convenient for all members. Stressing the desirability of finalizing this
issue, Barbara suggested the two-hour block between 11:00 and 1:00 on Friday
at FST, an arrangement that worked well with one of the committees on which
she serves. She also stated her intention of contacting John soon, with
regard to this matter.
Terry Conroy, Communications Chair, presented the new Internet address for
the TSTC Faculty Senate and urged everyone to try it out:
- http://www.tstc.edu/~1tconroy/fasenate
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