I. Call to Order

D. Bezayiff called to order at 4:00 PM.

II. Roll Call

Present: D. Bezayiff, P. Boudreaux, S. Hathaway, B. Henry, D. Hensley, Y. Kim, D. Nelson, R. Osborne, C. Piersol, J. Wiens, C. Wilkins

Absent: D. Kavern, M. J. Jordan, J. Keele, L. Syrdahl

III. Approval of agenda

M: S. Hathaway

S: B. Henry

C: Unanimous

IV. Approval of minutes of March 1, 2006

M: C. Wilkins

S: R. Osborne

C: Unanimous

V. Reports

1. Senate President (Bezayiff)

See handout

2. CCA (Piersol)

Overload periods are changing.

Changes to language on faculty evaluation forms are being made based on the recent survey results.

3. Curriculum Committee (Piersol)

Courses were added to the Information Systems Certificate and Degree Programs as options for students (previously stand-alone courses). Spanish P101 and P102 were modified to include hybrid online/face-to-face format. Basic skills English classes were modified to separate the lab component from the lecture.

4. PC Foundation (Keele)

None

5. Division Reports

D. Hensley was pleased to announce the formation of an evening band class that has a number of community members.

VI. Old Business

None

VII. New Business

A. District-Wide Nurse Education (Val Lombardi)

M: D. Hensley - The Academic Senate withdraws support for the district-wide Nursing director position in light of the current budget crises.

S: C. Wilkins

C: Unanimous

B. 2006-07 College Budget Allocation

The Academic Senate is extremely disappointed in the budget proposal put forth by the District. It is the view of those present that the Chancellor and the Board do not realize how such cuts will adversely affect the students and our ability to serve them. The board may not realize that Porterville College is “cut to the bone”.

It seems very anti-student for the district to recommend cuts to the college (students) while promoting additional funds for the district (no students).

AB1725 states that issues dealing with students should be furthest from the budget cuts. Is the district aware of this?

C. Program Discontinuance Policy

Discussion continuing on whether the policy will be school wide or district wide. It will be difficult to develop a district-wide policy due to differences between the colleges.

D. Final Week Scheduling (J. Wiens)
Many of the professors are continuously teaching classes that are scheduled for the last day of finals on a Friday at 7:30 AM. Would it be possible to return to a rotating type of final schedule that used to occur?

The Senate agreed that this could be done, especially in light of the new 16-week schedule. Joel Wiens will look into this possibility.

E. Budget Planning Review Committee (Committee assignments, 2)

Two faculty will be chosen to participate on the BPRC.

F. Senate election 2006-07 (April)

J. Wiens (as Senate secretary) will begin the process of electing a “President-Elect” of the Academic Senate for the 2006-07 year.

VIII. Adjournment: 5:03PM
M: C. Wilkins

S: P. Boudreaux

Respectfully submitted,

Joel Wiens