Steering Committee Chairperson Dr. Steven Dahlke called the fifth regularly scheduled meeting of the Academic Senate to order at 3:12 PM. The meeting was held in a hybrid format, with attendees both in M136 and on Zoom. Chairperson Dahlke chaired the meeting from M136.

I.              Attendance

55 votes were recorded at the time attendance was taken; 61 members of the Academic Senate were present during the meeting.

II.            Approval of the Agenda

Chairperson Dahlke used unanimous consent to approve the agenda. There were no objections.

III.         Consideration of the minutes from the December 14, 2021 meeting

Chairperson Dahlke used unanimous consent to approve the minutes (Attachment A). There were no objections.

IV.        Communications from:

A.            President Mangino

The Senate received President Mangino’s February report.

President Mangino welcomed the community back to campus. The strategic plan is up on the President’s website—Communications and Marketing did a great job of capturing the plan visually. The campus Truth and Racial Healing Center also launched, and President Mangino shared her experience participating in a healing circle, which she recommends.

President Mangino remarked on the State budget: elected officials should increase the FTE for full time students. There is also money available for capital improvements, especially HVAC systems and windows. She is also pursuing a Childcare Center for the campus.

President Mangino congratulated the QCC basketball team, which has made the final playoffs. She also noted that the Provost search went live, and the Chief Librarian search posted as well.

The President is trying to get the vax van back to campus so that faculty and staff can get vaccinated easily by the April 1^st deadline. She reminded faculty and staff that they must get tested within a week if they are called for random testing.

Lastly, President Mangino presented a pin of gratitude to Professor Emily Tai for her 20 years of service as advisor to QCC’s Lambda Sigma Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society

B.            University Faculty Senate

Senator Tai announced that the UFS won’t be meeting until later in the month, but she did want to share that when the UFS met in December they discussed the budget, most notably the money needed to close the TAP cap, cover fringe benefits for faculty, money for TAP for part-time students, and for childcare centers.

C.           Steering Committee

The Senate received the February report from the Steering Committee.

Chairperson Dahlke thanked the Committee on Committees (especially Professor Christine Mooney and Dr. Julian Stark, who stepped up as Chair and Secretary) which is taking on a great deal of work getting ready for elections season. He used the opportunity to remind the community how important service is to the college, thanking the candidates who were running to fill the FMAL Senate seat vacated by Senator Mary Ann Rosa and announcing the vacancy in the STO position. He also congratulated Dr. Margot Edlin, who is serving in the Dean of Faculty position, and Dr. Jennifer Maloy who is taking her place as Chair of the English Department; in addition, he congratulated Mark Chropufka and Ron Carter on their new Senate seats as well as Dr. Jeanne Galvin on her retirement. Chairperson Dahlke also brought attention to the fundraiser for athletic scholarships in honor of John P. Belivacqua.

V.           Elections

The Committee on Committees ran two elections. The first was to fill the position of Senate Technology Officer vacated by David Moretti. Senator Rezan Apkinar was the only nominee, so she was voted in by one vote recorded by the Secretary on behalf of the Senate.

The second election was to fill the Faculty Member at Large seat vacated by Senator Mary Ann Rosa. Parisa Assassi (Health, Physical Education, and Dance), Philip Nelan (Nursing), Leslie Ward (Library), and Shenaz Georgilis (Nursing) were nominated. Leslie Ward was elected to the FMAL seat with 23 votes.

VI.        Monthly Reports of the Committees of the Academic Senate

There were two votes from the report from the Committee on Bylaws (Attachment B). There was some discussion about whether the bylaws for committees should be changed with regularity and some remarks about the confusion about the role of this committee’s charges that could be clarified with a bylaws change.

A.            A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 47-0-2 to approve Bylaws Proposal 1 (amendment to charge #2 of the Committee on Awards and Scholarships).

B.            A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 53-1-3 to approve Bylaws Proposal 2 (amendment to Charge #3 of the Committee on Awards and Scholarships).

VII.      Old Business

There was no unfinished business.

VIII.    New Business

A.            A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 57-1-0 to approve a resolution Defending Academic Freedom to Teach About Race and Gender Justice and Critical Race Theory (Attachment C).

B.            Dr. Anuradha Srivastava spoke to the Senate on behalf of the Committee on Continuing Education and Workforce Development.

Dr. Srivastava thanked the Steering Committee for time to speak about the exciting Public Health Corps project she has worked on closely with Dean Hsu. The Public Health Corps’ goal was to train corps members to assist at vaccination centers: they are trained as community health workers then can move from these temporary jobs to more permanent positions in the city. More information about her program is available on this slide. Senator McGill raised the issue of consultation with the academic departments on credential programs like this and Dr. Srivastava assured her that going forward, programs like these would consult with the relevant academic departments.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:09 PM.

Zivah Perel Katz, Secretary

Academic Senate Steering Committee