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[office hour requirements, implementing a
college-wide attendance policy]
[Success rates have become an important part
of step increases, promotion, and continuing contract. A course withdraw is
counted as equal to a course failure. However, a success rate should not
include withdraws for non-academic reasons. Currently, faculty are not
informed of the reasons for a withdraw, just that
the student has withdrawn. The student does fill out a survey in which they
indicate the reasons for their withdraw from the
course. If faculty can have access to this information, he or she could
better calculate their success rates. Only withdraws for course related issues..course performance,
instructor conflict, etc...would then be counted
into the success rate. Excuses for health reasons, work reasons, personal
reasons would be eliminated from the calculation. I suggest putting the
survey results online for us to access or getting carbon copy forms and
giving the instructors a copy of the survey in addition to a copy of the
withdraw form.]
[No.]
[Can we revise the Witdrawal
process in hopes of helping retention.]
[#2, 3, and 4 are leading questions. It
appears the Senate has an agenda! With the new evaluation instrument, we have
to serve on committees or we will not be rated high enough. Of course, this
will affect our time to prepare for our classes and therefore will also
affect our student evaluations...maybe even our morale. What faculty members
did you poll? I doubt if a traffic light at our entrance is a possibility
since there are guidelines the city and county follow regarding distance
between traffic lights. In my opinion, standardizing class sizes will either impact
the number of students we can serve. Some classes, such as labs, have to be
small. Some, such as classes that require a lot of writing or problem
solving, need to be restricted or the teachers will be spending an enormous
amount of time grading, while others can be larger since teh
exams and assignments are graded by scantron. There
are a lot of factors to consider. Too large is a relative term.]
[If we are to have collegiate governance,
service on committees is essential. Department chairs and administrators
should be careful to parcel out committee responsibilities, but it has been
my experience over 20 years at MCC, that those individuals who are most
interested in influencing college governance and have the strongest opinions
about such governance tend be the ones who serve on the most committees.
Those who could care less either do not volunteer, are not asked to serve, or
don't show up when committees meet.]
[I'm still uncertain why only certain
community service items "count" toward step increase/promotion.
Items related to our specific teaching discipline does
nothing to encourage faculty members to explore and grow while being involved
in many wonderful causes available in the community.]
[Each department should have a department
head that is independent--rather than what we have now are basically pupets for administration and their control. We need
department heads to represent and stick up for the departments and faculty.
Also, there should be no additional office hours required when we teach online
classes.]
[Distance Learning faculty should be able to
teach from anywhere and not be obligated to be on campus. We work nights and
weekends to accomodate our students availability
and should not be required to also put in office hours. It is as if we are
being penalized for teaching in this format, instead of being rewarded for
being responsive instructors, sensitive to our students needs.]
[Lots!]
[discriminatory attitudes among some
administrators toward disabled faculty]
[I have a "conduct" policy on my
syllabus, as many of us do, summarized from the Lancer Handbook which
reinforces appropriate student conduct in my classroom. When it has been
violated, I sought immediate disciplinary action to remove the student from
class but encountered great resistance from administration. This means that
administration is not backing up our syllabus policies -- namely appropriate
student conduct in class. Please can we do something about this very serious
issue? In one case, my student filed a police report against a fellow
classmate aggressor so it was THAT serious -- but administration downplayed
it (they tried to convince my student NOT to file the report) and
subsequently gave two of the agressors JOBS here on
campus to "learn social skills." So not only did students commit
violent transgressions, but then they were given jobs and paid to remain
here. There is really something very wrong with this!!!]
[increasing course spd to $1200-$1500.
Tuition and books have increased, this amount has
been the same for many years.]
[Just wanted to say that I've only taught
here for a year, and have yet to serve on a committee. I don't necessarily
feel that my responses to those particular questions should be counted.]
[NO]
[with the gas crises, price of gas, time, and bad traffic
conditions. We should not be forcing the Bradenton
campus faculty to drive to Lakewood Ranch and Venice for faculty meetings, in service,
committee, or any kind of whole school event.]
[NO]
[Expected to teach more students and take on
more secretarial skills without increased pay. Campus food is good--just tooooooooo
expensive ]
[Can we lobby for a better vision plan?]
[To clarify: I am not forced to teach
overloads but am asked to and (I think)expected to
say yes(which I do). I was recomended for a
committee which definitly adds to my load. As far
as standardized class size, perhaps some type of compensation could be
awarded if yu have over the normal class size.
There is a vast difference in teaching 25 students and a class of 60!
Orienting adjuncts is part of my job and that adds to the load also.]
[We should negotiate the required number of
office hours hours faculty
are expected to serve. Of the 28 community colleges, MCC is definitely on the
high end. Most community college faculty are required to serve only 10 office
hours each week -- and these schools often have higher starting salaries than
we do. In the absence of significant raises (i.e 5%
or more in addition to the step increase), reducing the office hour
requirement is something that that administration could offer with no impact
on the financial bottom line. The evaluation and promotion system that is
currently in place ensures that such a reduction would not negatively impact
service. Furthermore, I know of not one faculty member who doesn't work at 5,
10, or more hours a week on their own time to prepare for class, grade
assignments, etc. Also about the cafeteria. The SERVICE is fine. The staff is
friendly and on top of things. It's the food that isn't appealing. While some
of what we have is okay, we need to supplement with vendors such as Subway,
pizza hut, etc. It would also be preferable to have coke products instead of
Pepsi products.]
[Ratio of FT to PT at MCC as compared to the
rest of Florida]
[Not at present, no.]
[poor maintenance of some buildings]
[I've never been forced but i often feel pressured to teach an overload. The Venice cafeteria has
made improvements but it's still expensive. I'm not sure how many committees
I'm expected to serve on but serving on more than 2 in a semester would too
much.]
[The evauative
instrument for Faculty needs to be revisited. The "W's" should not
count in Success Rates! Most of us do everything that we can to assist
students, but most of the time, have no way to keep a student in a class, who
wants to get out. This should not be held against the Faculty member. Merit
pay should be given for above and beyond accomplishments, in addition to the
annual step. There is too much ambiguity in the "A, B, C"
activities. Faculty who are willing, but not elected
to certain committees and/or appointments are discriminated against when it
comes to meeting these critieria. This entire
procedure favors the Faculty member who is "climbing" and
attempting to satisfy promotion guidelines. There is little respect for the
Senior Faculty member on this campus. We hire Faculty to "teach",
but force them to do so much other stuff that sometimes the
"teaching" suffers. This makes no sense. Obligated hours on campus
for Faculty ought to adhere to state guidelines -- MCC Faculty are required in excess of these -- this is not necessary
nor right. Faculty have very little, if any,
secretarial assistance; they should be able to utilize "work study
students"; currently all are assigned to administrative staff
assistants. Faculty should be able to develop their class skills, research,
and use their on campus time to create for their discipline, not do
secretarial tasks. More and more is loaded on the Faculty each year. It is
too convenient for the Administration to just say, " that is why you
need to be on campus all of the designated hours"! We are teachers, not
staff assistants. Sometimes when there is training it leaves a lot to be
desired; it is too brief and incomplete with no reference for future or
effective participation. There is too much emphasis on "numbers"
and not enough effort extended to morale and really appreciating people on
our campus. While this may exist in "little clicks" and or with
certain people, the vast majority of people on campus have a pretty low morale
and attitude toward this place. What happened to appreciation and trust on
our campus?]
[Has anyone considered child care on campus?
It could be available to any employee or student with a child and it would
make life so much easier. Just an idea...]
[Instructional hours at a distance when
teaching distance learning.]
[I am happy to return the survey, but I teach
cello on a one-to-one basis in my home (there are not enough music studios to
accomodate all the instrumental specialists in the
music building), so I am unable to answer the questions. Sorry. Nancy
Streetman]
[I think that, with the new requirements that
are in place in order to qualify for a step increase, that the administration
should make the effort to see that every person has the chance to get the
step increase by assigning the needed committee work requirements, etc. Some
of us run for a committee position but do not get elected, and then it looks
like we haven't done much school service over the school year (and others get
elected to too many committees!)]
[So far none of the credits I have earned for
my second masters have counted toward promotion. This second Masters is not
in the field I am currently teaching.]
[No]
[The 360 eval does
not address its stated objectives.]
[All "internal" candidates for an
employment position on campus be granted a
"professional courtesy" personal interview (regardless if it's a
career, faculty or administrative position). This is a basic management
principle to maintain high morale and loyalty.]
[For years I have been unable to get on
committees, because I am so busy I cannot get known...popular, etc. Also, I
am in a small Dept., and even if we vote together, we do not get on. We have
been bothered by this for a long time. All committees with faculty representation
should have a rep from each Dept. How else can we serve the college and be
contributing faculty members? The system based on total numbers of votes is
unfair to small Depts.]
[no]
[Web access from Home is difficult to set up
and when you have a problem, the computer people speak to you as though you
are pretty stupid.]
[While not expected to hire adjuncts my
department is expected by the dept. chair to supervise, orient and evaluate
adjuncts which is difficult given class schedule and load and having no
defined authority and little support.]
[no]
[I believe the money spent on MCC's athletic programs could benefit a larger population
of our students if spent in other ways.]
[No]
[no..]
[I think the Faculty Senate needs to be
better organized and structured into an important decision making body for
the faculty. I'm not sure how many faculty attend
meetings, which is especially important when a vote is.f
being taken. Does the concept of a quarum exist?
Was it met during the recent Senate votes? Can faculty vote by proxy? I have
never heard any of these ideas discussed, and I would be curious to know just
how many faculty attended the meeting(s) during
which the vote was taken to approve the new/revised faculty evaulation procedures.]
[I think that the extra hours that we are
required to be on campus should be reduced to 10 hours as it is at most
colleges and universities. I definitely think that we should have faculty
parking. It is humiliating and ridiculous that we have to drive around and
park with the students in remote parking.]
[Requirements for step increase and promotion
and not specific enough.]
[Holding faculty responsible for success
rates. Faculty members are jumping through hoops and passing students that
don't deserve it because they know if their success rate is low they are
reprimanded. What happened to quality instead of quantity and when did the
patients start running the asylum.]
[No]
[I think the faculty senate should convene a
committee to address the need for MCC to add upper division courses. Now,
tell me who I am!]
[No.]
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