FAEC Meeting Minutes April 21, 2021

FAEC Minutes
4/21/21

Present: Naseem Choudhury (President, SSHS), Bonnie Blake ((Councilor-at-Large over 11, CA), Katie Cohen (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11, TAS), Scott Frees (Vice President, TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter, (CA), Thierry Rakotbe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ed Shannon (HGS)

Guests: Timothy Judge (Adjunct Representative), Rachel Budin (Faculty Handbook Point Person), Martha Ecker (AFT, President AFT Local), Virginia Galdieri (Assistant Vice President, Human Resources and Benefits Administration), Janet Faber (Assistant Director, Employee Relations & Faculty Services (AFT)

Vote to bring meeting to order at 10:08am.

Minutes Approval: The 3/31/21 and 4/14/21 FAEC minutes were approved.

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Provost’s Service Award: Lisa Lutter and Ellen Kaiden will be honored. It will be held in the Alumni Lounges. 

Next Week’s Faculty Assembly Agenda: was discussed. 

Transition Team Update:

A meeting was held today. A survey will be distributed on 4/26 in an All College email from the Board of Trustees. This will provide a link for different campus constituencies; faculty should complete theirs regarding their concerns. There will be approximately nine open-ended questions and they are limited to 250 characters. Dr. Jebb will read all of the information we provide.

Dr. Jebb: Will be invited to attend a July or August FAEC meeting.

Connect Advisory Board:

Invitation: Naseem was invited by Joe Connell to attend the April meeting. He will be invited to meet with FAEC. Naseem shared faculty concerns about Connect with the Provost.  

Adjuncts: Tim Judge explained there is one Connect training for adjunct faculty, in the fall. Adjuncts are paid to teach; this would need to be done on their own time. Adjuncts also do not have advisees.

AFT: Martha Ecker discussed the need for union negotiations about Connect; faculty is not required to use it.

FAEC DISCUSSION

Adjuncts: Adjunct website visibility would be an important and validating enhancement and allow students to have easier to their contact details and more. This is standard practice at other higher education institutions. Tim Judge explained how this impacts adjuncts.

AFT LOCAL PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Martha Ecker)

NTTP: Martha Ecker discussed non-tenure track professionals is similar to a lecturer’s line. In the past, full-time faculty have been able to be hired under different conditions for a limit of 3 years. The union did not support this new “NTTP” position but eventually agreed to this in the master contract. AFT offered several models of MOAs from other institutions to administration, several months ago. Some faculty and adjuncts are very supportive of this. It is unclear how the positions will be filled; there is a cap in the number of openings in the master contract. Presently, we do not have NTTP hires. Who will fill these positions? In other institutions, these positions are often filled by very well-qualified individuals. Would adjuncts without terminal credentials be considered? There is much less protection for those hired for these positions. Elements related to advisement, service, evaluation, opportunities for promotion need to be discussed/negotiated. Some institutions offer 2 year, 2 year and then 3 year contract renewals. Others then would apply, again, as a new hire. These can be indefinite with renewals. The Faculty Handbook would also need to address this. Virginia Galdieri has recently reached out to Martha about interest on campus to hire individuals as NTTPs.

Hiring Managers: Different from other NJ state higher educational institutions, Deans are the only hiring managers at Ramapo College.

Summer Faculty Forum: Attendance is optional.

Faculty Assembly Bylaws Survey: Draft questions were reviewed.

Quorum: ER and the provost’s office  provides the number of faculty upon which the quorum number is based.  With electronic voting, quorum will be considered to be met when votes are received by at least 25% of the voting members, and will not be linked to attendance at a Faculty Assembly meeting.

FACULTY HANDBOOK REPORT (Rachel Budin)

NTTP: It was recommended that after AFT negotiations, NTTP criteria should be added to the Faculty Handbook for the purposes of clarity. Guidelines for advancement (absent a scholarship requirement) and other issues will need to be addressed.

 Faculty Handbook: The process is moving along. The Career Development Committee is doing well. Virginia has said she will come up with a new calendar. Individual units need to provide scholarship standards for each convening group. What does non-traditional scholarship look like in different disciplines?

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS (Janet Faber)
Faculty Handbook:

 Project Plan: Virginia would like to schedule a meeting for May 15th to check in with where committees are and to offer information for moving forward.

 Faculty: The original task force included approximately 10 faculty members. Virginia asked for sub-committee members and more representation from all units. Approximately 13 faculty members are currently involved.

Meeting adjourned at 12:36pm.

Categories: FAEC meeting Minutes 2021, RAMAPO FAEC