Members Present: P. Anderson, G. Avent, P. Bagley, R. Barton, S. Bentley, T. Crum, F. Daniels, X. Du, D. Ellefsen, P. Fox, B. Holfand, C. Hyslop, L. Hyslop, D. Jones, R. Kampf, J. King, P. Klem, M. Kuhl, J. Larson, J. Licht, K. Martin, K. Miller, E. Nickel, M. Ports, C. Pyatt, J. Rice, J. Rosenthal, S. Sanders, K. Schwandt, G. Smith, P. Smith, G. Tenney, L. Uhlenkott, B. Wallace, P. Warren

1. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 1:20 p.m. Chair Schwandt declared a quorum present. Five proxy votes were noted.
2. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS: Chair Schwandt welcomed everyone to Senate.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the February 18, 2005, meetings were unanimously approved with the following clarification:
   1. Although the item was corrected prior to the vote, copies of the minutes distributed to Senate via email accompanying the meeting agenda earlier in the week were incorrect. Administrative Assistant Chris Mitchell informed Senate that in constructing the minutes the Curriculum and Articulation Report from January was incorrectly noted. The error was caught and the copies distributed for vote at Senate indicated the correct February committee report.
4. SENATE CHAIR REPORT: Chair Schwandt provided a written report to Senate with attachments.
   1. Academic Affairs Restructuring – Following the open discussion forums pertaining to a Division Chair structure, it was decided that any division formation would be premature. Senate will continue to consider the change in structure; however, the subject has been tabled until at least next academic year.
   2. Spring Break Reschedule – The Elko County School District determined that their spring break for 2006 will be held March 27 – 31. GBC will adjust their spring break to coordinate with these dates.
   3. Final Exam Schedule – A copy of the Final Exam Schedule was provided to Faculty for information so that students may be made adequately aware. Faculty questioned the feasibility of the schedule's use during the spring semester where it conflicts with graduation exercises. The issue was remanded to the Academic Standards Committee for review.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
   1. Academic Standards – Written report; approved. The committee brought forward a revised final exam schedule for Fall 2005 which addresses courses which meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The committee will devise an alternate schedule for spring semester to address conflicts with graduation.
   2. Adjunct Faculty – Verbal report; information only.
      1. Vice President Carl Diekhans addressed the committee on the adjunct faculty pay scale.
      2. Residential Officer Julie Byrnes gave an update on measures undertaken to better serve our students with disabilities. Julie Brynes will be addressing Faculty Senate in April.
      3. English Faculty member Susanne Bentley addressed the committee on a possible mentoring program for adjunct faculty.
      4. Twenty-six respondents (12%) to a survey distributed to 200 adjunct faculty indicated that the preferable method of information sharing is through email although multiple means of communication are preferable. Services available to adjunct faculty, i.e., mailboxes and on-campus email, will become more widely used once adjuncts are aware they are available.
   3. Assessment – No report. The committee will pursue an email vote on business regarding INT objectives and outcomes. (This vote was subsequently dropped by the decision of the committee.)
   4. Budget and Facilities – Verbal report; information only.
      1. Departments are reminded that monies allotted from the equipment monies must be spent as soon as possible.
      2. The committee reported that the Elko campus is at 100% capacity for faculty offices. Initiatives to utilize space at the television station are being negotiated.
   5. Bylaws – No report.
   6. Compensation and Benefits – Written report; unanimously approved. The latest copy of the workload policy as negotiated with the VPAA was circulated to faculty. The committee initiates approval of the current draft with willingness to continue discussion on items in which agreements were not yet reached including course caps and distance education. Approval would place successfully negotiated compensation in place to benefit faculty. Faculty voiced concerned caution with the even preliminary acceptance of the policy due to the outcomes of discussions which have been held with the VPAA surrounding adequate compensation for such items as distance education pedagogy, and oversight of student teaching, nursing clinicals and theatre productions. Faculty is strong in their stance for a fairly compensated policy which adequately reflects the work produced. A positive motion was made and unanimously approved to accept the policy with the following amendments with a rider that authorizes administration to implement this semester any changes to the workload policy to which there was previous agreement with faculty:
      1. Part II. Contract Definitions; “B+” Contract – Revise sentence pertaining to plus days to read: “”Plus” days may be granted for attendance of professional meetings, seminars, workshops, judging and similar activities outside of the academic calendar.”
      2. Part III. Core Workload Components; “B+”; Sub-part C. “B+” Contract; Sub-sub-part c. – Revise sentence pertaining to plus days to read: “”Plus” days may be given for attendance at professional meetings, conferences, seminars, judging, or similar events.”
      3. Part IV. Guidelines for Determining Faculty Workload Equivalencies, A. Instructional Duties; Part 1. Workload units based directly on instructional credits; Sub-part d. Distance Education – Add sentence with reads “All distance education courses (IAV, online, etc.), 1 credit = 1.1 workload unit up to 20 students.” Adjunct faculty requested that the stipulations agreed to surrounding distance education be considered for application to adjunct faculty workload.
      4. Part IV. Guidelines for Determining Faculty Workload Equivalencies, A. Instructional Duties; Part 1. Workload units based directly on instructional credits; Sub-part d. Distance Education; Sub-sub-part (2) Online Courses – Revise the first two sentences of the third paragraph to read: “Online and interactive video courses shall have workload units given equal to 1.1 times the number of credits given for the class unless the class had more than 20 students enrolled. With 21 or more students in a class, the instructor will be given workload unites 1.25 times the number of credits for that class, but only if the class is given a maximum enrollment cap of 30 or more, or 4 or more interactive video sites.”
      5. Part IV. Guidelines for Determining Faculty Workload Equivalencies, A. Instructional Duties; Part 1. Workload units based directly on instructional credits; Sub-part f. Oversight of Student Teachingm – Remove the last sentence of the paragraph in accordance with a verbal agreement with the VPAA.
      6. Part IV. Guidelines for Determining Faculty Workload Equivalencies, A. Instructional Duties; Part 2. Contact Hours – Revise sub-heading to read: “Clinical, Laboratory and Performance/Production Settings. Revise the first sentence to read: For laboratory, health science clinical an performance/production courses which do not follow the standard lecture credit-hour model, workload units may be calculated using student contact hours. Add to the paragraph: “Nursing Clinical = 15 hours = 1.1 workload units.
      7. Part IV. Guidelines for Determining Faculty Workload Equivalencies; B. Workload Unites for Non-instructional Assignments; Sub-part 6. Workload for Non-instructional Faculty – Revise last statement of paragraph to read: “That faculty member shall be given time reassigned from regular functions in this ratio to accommodate alternate duties or shall be compensated at the adjunct faculty rate.
   7. Curriculum and Articulation –Written report; unanimously approved.
      1. FIN 405, CIT 217B, GRC 301, GRC 383, NURS 303, NURS 434 were unanimously approved as recommended by the committee.
      2. EDU 230, EDU 410, EDU 414, EDU 423, EDU 424, EDU 427, EDU 429, EDU 430, EDU 431, EDU 447, EDU 448, EDU 485, EDU 487 and the Special Education Endorsement were unanimously approved with incorporation of recommended changes by the committee.
      3. Early Childhood Education Endorsement Program and ESL Endorsement Program were unanimously approved as recommended by the committee.
      4. INT 301, INT 339, INT 349, INT 359 and INT 369 were remanded to the BAIPS program for further discussion. Following the BAIPS Program Committee meeting it was determined that each INT course would have a prerequisite which reads: “40 or more total credits, and ENG 102 (or ENG 333), and MATH 120 (or any MATH course numbered 126 or above, including AMS 310).” Curriculum and Articulation agreed to this provision and recommended approval by Senate. Senate unanimously approved the prerequisite as stated.
   8. Department Chairs – Written report; information only. Minutes of the committee meeting were provided.
      1. The committee recommends that Department Chairs be the future forum where the discussion for reorganization of Academic Affairs take place in lieu of scheduled open faculty forums facilitated through Senate. Senate questioned if consideration of a subject affecting faculty as a whole should be basically confined to one representative entity. The number of teaching faculty for the institution is manageable. Senate agreed to improve the scheduling of meetings to allow greater faculty involvement. The committee's recommendation was tabled.
      2. The committee recommends the possibility of establishing lecture series under the jurisdiction of the Student Relations committee. The recommendation is an effort to provide better advertising and coordination of this ever increasing mode of community education efforts during the academic year.
   9. Distance Education – No report.
   10. Faculty and Administrative Evaluations – Written report; information only. The committee is working on a new evaluation form for the evaluation of faculty by students. The form will be a bubble-sheet format which will be given at the end of each semester. The Vice President for Academic Affairs is considering funding the purchase of a Scan-Tron reader to collate the responses. The committee is also developing a short form which can be used voluntarily at mid-semester. The new forms should be in use by Fall 2005.
   11. Library – Written report; information only.
       1. The committee discussed the possibility of an additional Classified position to support the circulation department. The request has been submitted to the Vice President for Academic Affairs for consideration.
       2. The library will begin distribution of a survey to be used to determine student and faculty needs.
       3. The library has implemented a new student procedures manual.
   12. Personnel – Written report; information only. The committee provided a brief update on the faculty searches currently underway.
   13. Student Relations – Verbal report; information only. The committee continues to discuss its duties in order to separate from the awarding of scholarships. The committee met on March 3 to re-award scholarships 30 scholarships. Senate recommends that the awards be placed in the College News if doing such complies with FERPA regulations.
6. FOUR YEAR COMMITTEE REPORTS:
   1. BAS – No report.
   2. BAIPS – Verbal report; information only.
      1. One new student was admitted to the program.
      2. The committee discussed prerequisites for INT 301, INT 339, INT 349, INT 359 and INT 369 and agreed that all would have a prerequisite which reads: “40 or more total credits, and ENG 102 (or ENG 333), and MATH 120 (or any MATH course numbered 126 or above, including AMS 310).” Due to limitations of coding the database, Student Information System (SIS) will note a 30 credit prerequisite.
   3. BSN – Written report; information only. Applications for the 2005-2006 academic year are being accepted. Interviews for the full-time BSN nursing faculty position will begin at the end of March.
   4. BSW – Written report; information only.
      1. A meeting with UNR was held on March 4 at GBC with Dr. Mary Hylton, Director of the UNR School of Social Work, which formalized the chain of communication regarding the program.
      2. Of the twelve GBC students applying to the program, 10 were accepted; letters were mailed.
      3. BSW Student Carol Snyder attended the Grassroots Day at the Legislature March 6-8. Carol was able to meet with Assemblyman John Carpenter to lobby for mental health services in Elko County.
      4. There are 40 students currently enrolled in social work classes at GBC.
   5. Education – No report.
7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: No unfinished business was brought forward.
8. NEW BUSINESS: No new business was brought forward.
9. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS:
   1. Foundation – Report withdrawn.
   2. Teaching Seminar – The National Great Teachers Seminar will be held in Hawaii. Interested faculty should contact Dr. Frank Daniels for details.
   3. Refreshments in April – English Department agreed to provide refreshments for the April full Senate meeting.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT:
    1. Big Ben Community College – Prof. Mariliee Kuhl attended an accreditation visit at Big Ben Community College where former GBC Vice President Bill Bonadi is employed as President. Bonadi sends his regards stating that he misses the college but not the Board of Regents. The college's jump start programs for high school students in the area are a success allowing high school seniors to graduate with two years of community college credit.
11. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 2:59 p.m. Senate will convene on Friday, April 22, 2005, at 1:15 p.m. in GTA 130.