MEMBERS PRESENT: P. Anderson, P. Bagley, R. Barton, E. Bateman, D. Borino, R. Byram, F. Daniels, C. Eikenberry, P. Fisher, P. Fox, L. Frazier, S. Garcia, E. Henderson, P. Hipps, C. Hyslop, L. Hyslop, P. Josey. J. Kempster, B. Kern, J. King, J. Larsen, J. Licht, K. Martin, M. McFarlane, K. Mowery, B. Murphy, E. Nickel, S. Nielsen, P. O'Hanahan, S. Owen, L. Owens, M. Ports, J. Pryor, N. Remington, B. Robertson, S. Rombough, J. Rosenthal, L. Sanchez-Saenz, J. Shaw, J. Shrock, R. Siler, G. Smith, T. Staley, S. Sweetwater, C. Tomlinson, L. Uhlenkott, P. Warren, J. Williams, L. Youngs

1. ATTENDANCE: Silent roll was taken. Chair John Rice declared a quorum present.
2. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 1:23 p.m.
3. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS : Chair John Rice welcomed everyone to Senate. Karen Mowrey, Nursing, and Dr. Phyllis Hipps, Winnemucca Women's Studies, were introduced.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the November 2, 2001, meeting were unanimously approved.
5. SENATE CHAIR REPORT:
   1. Faculty Salary Schedule - A copy of the current proposed Community College Taskforce schedule was distributed. Should be effective July 1, 2002. The proposal adds a tenured column to each step. The proposal gives a state-funded increase of 2.5% with an institutional match of 2.5% with the State picking up the full 5% in the next biennium. There is opportunity for a 1.25% increase in the tenure column which would take place over four years. The policy cannot be compensated for hire at greater than 10% above step. Credit hours relevant for grade must be System approved. Support for the plan has been received by all institutional faculty although WNCC Administration may make argument. WNCC currently hires at about 12% above grade and requests that merit increases be based on an "Above Standard" evaluation. However, language can be added to challenge this ruling for relevancy at "Standard." This plan has the support of the Chancellor and the language will be appealing to the State Legislature. The plan goes before the BoR in March. Nevada is currently at 45% of the western states in terms of compensation. The target is 60%. A variance committee is currently working on a comparable compensation formula for technical faculty.
   2. Academic Calendar - A draft of the Academic Calendar for the next four semesters. The calendar starts the fall semester after Labor Day, ending December 16 with final's week beginning December 17. Comments should be forwarded to Department Chairs. The final schedule will be approved through Academic Affairs.
   3. Enrollment Report - The projections for enrollment for the next ten years was distributed. The projections are more conservative than in the past with increases of only 3% for the next 4-5 years followed by 4% increases for the remaining period. These projections are based on data from the State's projected growth without breakout by regional factors. These figures are what must be reached to cover campus operating costs.
6. FOUR-YEAR PROGRAMS:
   1. Bachelor of Applied Science - The advisory committee is considering 15 applications. There are currently 74 active students which is ahead of projection.
   2. Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education - There are15 student teachers in their internships: 12 - Elko, 2- Winnemucca, 1-Ely. The program is trying to research missing approved program participants who are not in classes. The committee is busy with the accreditation visit preparations.
   3. Bachelor of Arts in Integrative and Professional Studies - The program by Northwest Accreditation in late November. The program has a new Administrative Assistant, Joy Sweeney. Packets have been sent to over 120 interested individuals with 4-5 applications currently received. The application deadline is February 1. The Social Sciences concentration area of the program is set. The Resource Management concentration should be on track for fall 2002.
   4. Bachelor of Arts in Nursing - No report.
7. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
   1. Academic Standards - Report; approved.
      1. Non-traditional credit was approved for Tara Stoker.
      2. Non-traditional credit for EDUC 201 was approved. Due to a committee oversight, Ruth Craig's full request was not included in the committee report. A petition and call for vote was distributed among Senate members via email. The Senate unanimously approved 4 credits nontraditional credits to Ruth Craig for EDUC 209B.
      3. The Senate approved a 15-week instructional semester with a one week final's week by majority. The committee presented a proposed final's week schedule for approval. The schedule is based on fall semester beginning after Labor Day. This pushes everything back in order to maintain the 15 weeks of instruction. There will be an obvious conflict with Christmas with the semester ending on Christmas Eve or later five out of every seven years. The current college catalog dates the beginning of fall semester at August 26. This may hamper the installation of the new start date until Fall 2003. There was a Sense-of-the-Senate motion entertained on the floor to accept the schedule as is with faculty conducting instruction finals as best as possible to fit into the schedule. The motion was dropped. The set final's schedule should be considered by individual departments. The approval of the schedule was tabled. A two-day model will be presented for alternate consideration.
   2. Budget - No report.
   3. Compensation and Benefits - Oral report; information only.
      1. The committee has approved $25,000 in requests which have been forwarded to Vice President Elliott and Interim President Diekhans for final approval. This leaves approximately $20,000 to be expended.
      2. The committee has received a request to research faculty compensation for the development of online classes. Because this directly effects teaching faculty as well as technology, the committee is asked to consider the request as part of their responsibilities in conjunction with the Distance Learning Committee. The issue will be further discussed at Faculty Caucus.
   4. Curriculum and Articulation - Report; approved as submitted. The committee advised Senate that ADA information does not need to be included on each syllabus but can be included at the discretion of the instructor. There is currently OSHA signage on each building bulletin board which is clearly visible to students.
   5. Distance Learning - Written report; approved.
      1. An online class guide was distributed to help conduct quality online classes.
      2. The committee was requested to research the response of Administration on the Intellectual Property Rights policy which was previously approved by Senate.
   6. Facilities - No report.
      1. Faculty requested that one room in the High Tech Center be arranged in a room-in-the-round format. Facilities Scheduler Karen Smith believes this request can be accommodated.
      2. Scheduling for the High Tech Center should go through GBC facilities scheduling.
      3. There is concern that Administration is designating offices whereas the Facilities Committee should be the entity to recommend office space.
      4. There is a request to research the possible relocation UNR AHEC and UNR Continuing Education to another location as soon as possible. They are situated at the front entrance of McMullen Hall giving the wrong visibility for GBC students who are seeking to meet with faculty located in this area.
   7. Faculty and Administration Evaluations - No report. The committee is working on a draft to be submitted at the next Senate meeting incorporating the considerations for change which have been submitted. The evaluation does include a satisfactory rating which effects the salary proposal although System policy only requires a satisfactory rating. The considerations include a proposal to move to self-evaluations (include student evaluation outcomes, peer evaluations, personal goals, etc.) once a year with Administration evaluations every three years.
   8. General Education - Written Report.
      1. Substitutions for Integrative Seminars - The policy proposed by the General Education committee states that students receiving a Bachelor's degree from GBC must complete two of the upper division integrative seminars allowing substitutions only in disciplines requiring more than one seminar. The student must provide transcripts showing completion of upper division course work. Discussion among Senate could not provide acceptance of the policy as substitutions should be made by the affected department on a case by case basis researching the content of the upper division course work through syllabi. Allowing substitutions has the alternative effect of weakening a program. This item was tabled for further research and discussion.
      2. The institution of MATH 290B as substitution for MATH 116 for the 2001/2002 academic year only was approved.
      3. It was approved that the General Education Committee would serve as the "Department Chair" in the scheduling of the Integrative Seminars and the GBC Orientation sections.
   9. Personnel - No report. The committee requests interested faculty to come forward to serve as summer school coordinator.
   10. Scholarships and Awards - The deadline for the 2002/2003 Academic Year is February 1. The re-awards for spring 2002 will be decided in March.
   11. Student Relations - No report.
8. OLD BUSINESS: No old business was brought forward.
9. NEW BUSINESS:
   1. Occupation Education Program Restructure - The amount of faculty instructed lab time in the Diesel Mechanics program is constant. Therefore, following the example of WNCC, the program will decrease the hours to credit ratio from 20:1 to 15:1. This would add another 12-15 more credits per program and 56 FTE for next year. The restructure will also generate extra money. There is concern that the additional costs will hamper a student's ability to participate. The program will need to remove the math and English classes within the concentrated technical programs. The Associates program will be reinstated at the two year level. The restructuring was unanimously approved.
10. REGENT'S AWARD NOMINATIONS: No nominations were brought forward.
11. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS:
    1. Faculty Senate will vote on the proposed Salary Schedule in February in order to establish formality to the Senate's acceptance.
    2. The Foundation Board is planning their Planning Retreat to set priorities. Faculty are urged to get their recommendations to Chair John Rice. Also, the Annual Foundation Dinner Dance invitations are in the mail. Faculty are encouraged to attend and participate with auction items. The raffle this year is for a 60" home entertainment system from Bodily's Furniture. Raffle tickets are available at various campus locations.
    3. The Information Technology invites faculty to a Wine and Cheese Discussion Panel on Adult Learning and Classroom Management, Thursday, January 17.
12. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 3:37 p.m.