Personnel Services Committee

March 20, 2008

Members Present: Myrtho Blanchard, Sheri I. David, Lisa W. Donaldson, Charles J. Errico, Bruce J. Mann, Sima T. Osuka, Patricia S. Ottavio, Jennifer M. Reynolds, Charles W. Scarborough, Jr., Sherrill A. Wharff, David L. Williams, Rong Zhu

Members Absent: Kathryn W. Blackwell, George Gonchar, Ruby W. Holland, Frances A. McDonald, Mitchell G. Markon, Nichole McBeth, William V. Robertson, Nancy Wyatt.

1) Call to order: Charlie Errico called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM.

2) Review and approval of the minutes: The minutes of the February 21, 2008 meeting were reviewed and approved. Dave Williams made the motion to accept the minutes, Bruce Mann seconded, and it passed unanimously.

3) VP’s Report: Dave Courter reported that the State Board for Community Colleges will address fall tuition and the tuition differential at its May meeting.

4) Chair’s Report: Charlie Errico led the discussion on the committee’s recommendation for allocation of faculty pay raises if the tuition differential is approved. It was the sense of the committee that, if the pay raise is minimal (e.g. 4%) that it should be applied equally across the board, rather than trying to allocate different amounts by rank. Charlie also reported that all eligible classified emeriti nominations were approved by the sub-committee and all but two faculty emeriti nominations were approved by the Board. Emeriti will be recognized at the awards luncheon on March 31.

5) Old Business:

a) Assistant Dean’s Stipends – Charlie Errico: Charlie reported that the recommendation for release time for certain assistant deans was folded into the task force on release time in general.

b) Enhanced Retirement Program – Myrtho Blanchard: Myrtho reported that the bill died in committee and would have to be re-introduced in the next session. JLARC will issue a report on this subject in the fall.

c) Criminal Background Checks – Myrtho Blanchard: Myrtho reported that criminal background checks are going well, with results within 48 hours in most cases. The online component is not yet operable. Myrtho clarified that an adjunct moving to fulltime status would need a background check as a new hire.

d) Faculty Hiring – Myrtho Blanchard: Faculty hiring is also going well. 1200 applications were received, 1081 have been processed for 44 vacancies. All but one committee has been formed and many interview pools are already approved. The committee discussed the issue of ensuring that pools are sufficiently diverse, given that the committee does not have access to the racial, ethnic, and gender information on applicants. It was suggested that the search committees identify first the applicants who are highly qualified for interview and also a second group of applicants who are well-qualified. If HR reviews the first list and there is not enough diversity, they can recommend that applicants from the second list be included in the pool. Charlie Errico will craft a recommendation to this effect.

6) New Business:

a) Distribution list for Emeriti – Charlie Errico: Charlie reported that the email distribution list for emeriti is on the Admin Council agenda but hasn’t come up for discussion yet.

b) Adjunct Tuition Assistance – Dave Williams: Dave submitted a proposal for tuition assistance for adjuncts. After some discussion, it was agreed that the tuition assistance for adjuncts should not exceed the amount for fulltime faculty and that adjuncts would have to maintain employment with the college for one year following the semester in which tuition was received. The committee recommended that the proposal be submitted to the Professional Development Committee.

7) Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 3:40 PM.