Foothill College Academic Senate Minutes
April 12, 2004; 2:30 – 4:30 pm, Room 6712

Called to order at 2:40

Minutes for the March 22, 2004 meeting received minor edits and were approved with one abstention.

Action and Information Items:

Full-time obligation.  Paul Starer presented a request that the Board would approve a tentative plan to suspend the full time to Part-time faculty ratio in order to approve the Golden Handshake agreement.  There would then be a delay in hiring for the Fall of 2005, and then hiring would resume.  The De Anza senate has requested a memo from Jane Enright to firm up the language on the deferral.  The De Anza senate wants to ensure that there will be a commitment to meet the full-time obligation once the deferral ran its course in case there was a reduction in penalties for loss of FT:PT ratio compliance.  The De Anza senate will meet next week, and this item will go before the Board on the 19th pending faculty agreement through FA, and then will require senate approval.  In discussion within the Foothill senate, and in light of all the pending meetings and concerns, the item was moved from an action item to an information item.  The item will be addressed at the April 26th meeting of the Foothill senate.  

Division Elections:  New senators are needed, and usually there are two persons per division.  Each division determines their own election procedures and term limits.

Senate Elections:  The President and Vice President positions are open.  The Secretary Treasurer will serve out her term, to end at the end of the Spring, 2005 quarter.  The election committee needs to announce these open positions, when to hold the elections, and if contested, a forum to meet the candidates.  The Committee consists of Patrick Morriss, Bob Cormia and Lauren Popell Velasco.  Voting on Senate Constitution changes will occur at the same time as the senate position elections.  Paul will get the meeting place and contact Patrick.  The elections will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 11 and May 12, 2004, the sixth week of the quarter.  

SOFIA project:  Vivian Sinou presented on the Sofia project where community colleges can create and share free course materials.  The goal of the project is to establish an environment where faculty can exchange and build on a body of work.  The project would benefit at least three groups of individuals:  1)students, serving as a rich resource of information and viewpoints, 2) self-learners, including individuals from developing countries, and 3) faculty, to promote sharing and building.  The sponsoring foundation wanted to see a proof-of-concept for one year for CA only.  All FHDA faculty as well as faculty from other community colleges are invited to contribute.  In addition to contributors, peer reviewers are needed.  Finalists will receive a $1,000.00 honorarium.  A creative commons license will be created rather than a strict copywrite to allow for proper credit, allowance for modification, but with restriction on public use.  

Final Exam Schedule:  Andy Fraknoi could not attend the meeting, so this item will be reported at the April 26th meeting.

Senate Constitution:  Dolores presented the proposed changes to the Constitution.  Much discussion was initiated, and further discussion is needed before formal presentation.  This item will be continued at the April 26th meeting.  

Plus / Minus Grading:  The board will address the item at the April 19th meeting.

Committee Members needed:  ETAC needs a representative for the spam committee.  


The meeting adjourned at 4:28

Respectfully submitted:
Maureen Mac Dougall
Secretary/Treasurer