Ventura College Academic Senate
November 6, 2008

I.	Call to order.
	The meeting was called to order at 1:37 PM.
	The following Council members were present:  Terry Morris, Kammy Algiers,
	Cari Lange, Angelica Gonzales, Paula Munoz, Mark Pauley, Lisa Anderson,
      Nancy Mitchell, Robbie Haines, Warren Lew (Treasurer), Deborah Pollack
      (Vice-President), Peter Sezzi (President).
Break in Agenda
President Sezzi was not present at the beginning of the session.  Vice-President Pollack presided in his absence and was able to proceed to items II, III, IV, VI, VII.  Sezzi came in during Art Sandford’s presentation.  At that time (2:25 PM), Sezzi chaired and continued with the agenda.
II.	Approval of the minutes.
The Senate Council approved the minutes of the October 16th meeting.
III.	Invited Guests.
a.	Donna Valle, Student Trustee, was not present. 
b.	Art Sandford, East Campus Coordinator gave a presentation starting at 2:05 pm about Institution Community Professional Development (I.C.P.D.) and its various components.
c.	Susan Bricker, Registrar was invited to bring the Senate up to date on a number of matters.   Commencing at 2:45 pm, she commented on FERPA and student privacy,  T.B.A. courses that now must have assigned instructor times and the advantages and disadvantages of plus/minus grades.
IV.	Action Items.
a.	Academic Senate Officer election for 2009-2011 term. Self-nominations for executive office of the Academic Senate are due in Sezzi’s mailbox in the Administration Building no later than 3pm on Friday, November 14, 2008.  
1.	Senate Elections Subcommittee report. Sezzi has contacted and enlisted the support of past Senate Officer Joyce Evans to help manage and count the ballots for the Senate election.
2.	Nominations. Nominations from the floor from a future Senate meeting shall be taken if no candidates are forthcoming for Senate Executive Office.
b.	Equivalence / Eminence Task Force report. Pollack motioned and Lew seconded to accept the report as submitted. Motion passed unanimously.
V.	President’s Report.
a.	Administrative Council. Sezzi urged all present to enquire with their department chairs about the status of four week intersession classes. He indicated that based solely on a hunch that with our large unfunded FTES growth, this might be an area of possible classroom cuts.
b.	Consultation Council. Sezzi will be unable to attend this meeting tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 7 as well he will be attending the statewide Academic Senate Fall Plenary Session.
c.	DCAS/DCSL/DCHR/DTRW. These district committees have been meeting less regularly of late. There was nothing to report in general from these committees
1.	DCHR: Minimum Qualifications (MQs) & Part-time applicant pool positions. It was agreed that we should be flexible on the departmental level.
d.	Statewide Academic Senate Fall Plenary Session report. Sezzi noted that he will attend the statewide convention from November 6-8 at some expense to the Senate budget. Due to lack of a timely receipt of his having obtaining the session packet for the Fall Plenary, he will not vote on any resolutions.

VI.	Vice-President’s Report.
There was no report.
VII.	Treasurer’s Report
a.	Senate Faculty Appreciation Dinner. Lew asked the council to consider something different from our traditional dinner. After some discussion, it was agreed that the Executive Committee would return with some alternatives.
VIII.	Committee reports
a.	Curriculum Committee report.
i.	CurricuNet. Starting Spring 2009, this database program will replace the omni-form process formerly used for course approval. CurricuNet should prove more usable and it will allow for an require greater faculty involvement of the course approval process. Once the process is complete, Ventura College course outlines will be readily available for all internal and external users to view. Sezzi encouraged all faculty to become familiar with this database. Those seeking more information/training, should contact Paulette Johnson.
ii.	Faculty involvement in the curriculum process. Sezzi reminded all present that faculty involvement in the curriculum process is integral to our role as members of the college community. Curriculum is the exclusive domain of faculty and it our professional and contractual obligation to engage in this activity. The availability of CurricuNet will only enhance our curriculum’s visibility and our ability to participate in developing and reviewing our college curriculum. 
b.	Professional Development Committee report. The next Senate meeting will be a joint meeting of the Academic Senate and Faculty Professional Development Committee.
c.	Sabbatical Leave Committee report. Proposals have been submitted and will be heard by the Sabbatical Leave Committee before the next Senate meeting.
d.	Staffing Priorities Subcommittee report. In advance of the next meeting, Sezzi will convene this subcommittee to begin its work. The committee now has its full compliment of faculty. 
IX.	Information Items
a.	All Faculty Email groups. Sezzi introduced the topic and explained what he knew about this decision. Presently, the Senate President at each campus in the District is the only faculty member who has access to all full time and all part time user group email lists. Sezzi shared with the Council that the Oxnard College Academic Senate has drafted and passed a resolution opposed to this dramatic change in our email functionality. After some discussion, the Council agreed by consent that there were serious problems with the manner in which this change took effect. Sezzi will caucus with the other two Senate Presidents about this issue as well as ask at future District committee meetings what recourse is available to possibly countermand or modify this change in access to District email.
b.	Other. Sezzi congratulated and thanked Bill Budke, Agriculture/GeoSciences professor for his tireless work on securing a multi-million dollar federal Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEMs) grant for Ventura College. Sezzi noted that he looks forward to the future announcement of this grant. He indicated that should an announcement of the award of this grant not be forthcoming this may become an agendized Senate topic.
X.	Adjournment.
	The meeting adjourned at 3:32 pm.