Minutes from Clerk’s Committee meeting on December 2, 2016

by Dave Dobsonin Clerk's Committeeon Posted on

Clerk’s Committee Meeting

Friday, December 2, 2016 11:30 a.m.

Attending were Dave Dobson (Clerk), Alfonso Abad Mancheno, Leanna Kantt, Beth Rushing, Jeffrey Ray, Kathryn Shields, Don Smith, and Eva Lawrence (minute taker).

  1. The committee gathered with a moment of silence.
  2. Approval of Minutes: Minutes from 11/11 were approved with minor edits.
  3. Approval of Faculty Development Associate: Michele Malotky was approved as Faculty Development Associate for Inclusive Pedagogy.
  4. Discussion of 11/30 faculty meeting:

There have been some issues with the new printer installation and some concerns about how information was distributed. We agreed to encourage IT to distribute important information more widely, perhaps via email.

During the faculty meeting, several faculty members raised questions about how we evaluate the success of new majors and minors. Clerk’s committee agreed to schedule a forum in the spring about how to evaluate both new and existing majors and minors, and how to determine when a major or minor should be laid down.

Nominating committee will nominate faculty members for the ad hoc learning technologies committee that was approved during the faculty meeting.

There appeared to be a lot of interest in attending the Arts and Science presentation next Friday, and to consider how their findings should impact the revision of the general education curriculum.  

  1. PECS nomenclature:

We discussed whether the search for a tenure-track PECS faculty member should advertise PECs as a department or program. We currently have no clear distinction between what the definition of a department is and what a program is. Because the new hire would be the only tenure-track faculty member in PECs, members of Clerk’s thought the term program would better reflect the institutional reality. We agreed that calling PECS a program would not affect its status as a stand-alone major or its budget structure.  

  1. Compensation plan:

We discussed the compensation plan and how it might be implemented. Compensation committee will meet later today and as of the time of the Clerk’s Committee meeting, we have no clarity on how raises might be allocated. If Compensation committee reaches consensus on a recommendation, we will have a forum on Monday 12/2 at 3:45 so that faculty understand the process and have an opportunity to voice their support or concerns.

  1. General education revision:

We agreed to hold forums in January about the general education revision. Dates and times will be determined.  

  1. Administrative structure:

We briefly discussed potential changes to our departmental/program/division administrative structure, including the potential benefits of reducing redundancy. We agreed to take this up in the spring.

  1. The committee closed at 1pm.