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Minutes 01/08/2002



Governing Board Meeting
January 8, 2002

Minutes

An executive session and special board meeting of the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board was scheduled to be held at 5:30 p.m. at the District Support Services Center, 2411 West 14th Street, Tempe, Arizona, pursuant to A.R.S. Section 38-431.02, notice having been duly given.

PRESENT

GOVERNING BOARD
Donald R. Campbell, President
Nancy Stein, Secretary
Linda B. Rosenthal, Member
Ed Contreras, Member
Gene Eastin, Absent


ADMINISTRATION
Fred Gaskin
Phil Randolph
Larry Christiansen
Rufus Glasper
Ron Bleed
Anna Solley
Ken Atwater
Fred Gaudet
Stan Grossman
Homero Lopez
Linda Thor
Tessa Martinez Pollack
Art DeCabooter
Corina Gardea
Patti Johnson for Arnette Ward
Gina Kranitz
Raul Cardenas
Pete Kushibab


STATE BOARD
Nick Balich, Absent


CALL TO ORDER
 President Don Campbell called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
 The Governing Board met in executive session, notice having been previously given.

The meeting recessed at 6:20 p.m.


I. SPECIAL BOARD MEETING

CALL TO ORDER
 President Campbell called the Special Board Meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
 The assembly pledged their allegiance to the United States of America led by Board Member Ed Contreras

GROUPS PRESENT
Dr. Campbell acknowledged the presence of Boy Scout Troop 83 from Gilbert. The troop is under the leadership of Mark Luebke and Sean Webb.

AGENDA

I. A. GENERAL

1. Election of Governing Board Officers for Calendar Year 2002

Dr. Campbell announced that this meeting had been called for the purpose of electing Governing Board Officers for calendar year 2002. He declared vacancy of the President and Secretary's offices and called for nominations. Governing Board Member Linda Rosenthal proposed the nomination of Mrs. Nancy Stein for the office of Governing Board President and Mr. Ed Contreras for Secretary. Nominations were approved 4-0. Dr. Campbell presented Mrs. Stein with the Governing Board Gavel and Mrs. Stein presented Dr. Campbell with a gavel plaque inscribed with appreciation for his year of service as Chair of the Maricopa Community Colleges Governing Board.

President Stein adjourned the special meeting of the Governing Board and turned the attention to Janice Reilly, President of the Faculty Association, as the person in charge of the evening's strategic conversation.

Ms. Reilly introduced Barry Vaughan, Faculty President at Mesa Community College and co-facilitator of the strategic conversation, titled "Adjusting the Faculty Hiring Process to Meet Our Shared Goals."

Dr. Vaughan shared that since the time the Maricopa Junior College District was founded forty years ago, it has grown and become a leader in post secondary education. He raised the question about where the Maricopa District will go in the next forty years and that in order to determine the direction, it will be necessary to create a new vision. He likened the organization to a living organism, one that needs to grow and change.

Dr. Vaughan stated that providing the highest quality education for the students of the Maricopa Community Colleges is the single highest priority of the district faculty. The heart of any post-secondary educational institution should be the student/faculty relationship. In turn, all non-faculty positions in such institutions exist for the sole purpose of aiding faculty in their work with students. Therefore, securing the best faculty for a post-secondary educational institution must always be a principal goal for such institutions.

The purpose of the evening's strategic conversation would be to review working assumptions about the Maricopa District's faculty hiring process to meet our shared goals. Conversation participants were presented the following seven common assumptions which were arrived at during a faculty retreat held a few months prior:

  1. The MCCD is committed to providing the highest quality undergraduate education in the nation.
  2. Excellence in teaching and learning is dependent upon securing the highest quality faculty available nation-wide.
  3. Intellectual diversity is essential for providing the highest quality education for students.
  4. Intellectual diversity is secured by hiring faculty from diverse graduate institutions, and from diverse gender and ethnic groups.
  5. MCCD should endeavor to secure the most highly qualified, diverse faculty from around the country.
  6. The most qualified, intellectually diverse faculty are scarce due to high demand in post-secondary institutions nationwide.
  7. The current hiring cycle of MCCD is incompatible with the goal of hiring the most qualified, intellectually diverse faculty.
    • The budget timeline for the allocation of new faculty lines must be altered.
    • The advertising timeline and process for new faculty lines must be alterred.
    • The screening process for faculty pools should be altered.
    • The division between internal and external pools could be altered.
Dr. Vaughan then called the participants' attention to pie chart overheads comparing the MCCD Hiring Calendar to the National Standard Hiring Calendar. The difference between the two cycles is that the national standard starts the process in September and Maricopa begins their cycle in February, long after choice faculty candidates have been hired elsewhere. MCCD lags behind and the cycle needs to be changed.

Those in attendance were directed to participate in one of four discussion groups whose purpose would be to explore how to move from assumptions to solutions in faculty hiring. Groups were designated to address Budget, Advertising, Recruitment, and Screening Process. The following report-outs were made:

Budget Group

The following topics were discussed in the Budget Cycle Group:
  1. Do the shared assumptions articulated earlier reflect this group's assumptions about faculty hiring?
  2. Can any part of the MCCD budget process be altered?
  3. Are there any parts of the MCCD budget cycle that cannot be changed? If so, what?
  4. Assuming that advertising for a new faculty position must begin in October, when should colleges know how many new lines they will have to fill? (Keep in mind that advertising copy is often due three to four weeks prior to its publication.)
  5. What changes in the current budget process need to be made to accommodate an Autumn hiring cycle?

Brainstorming Comments For The Budget Group

This is a commitment issue--it is not a budget issue.
  • There is a 5-year financial plan
  • We have projections of numbers
  • The numbers are there, they just have to be refined
The question is how many faculty are the Chancellor and the Governing Board willing to commit to?

There is nothing to prevent these types of projections-we do it with internal hires.

Need commitment in September 2002 for 2003-2004

Get requests in May that are acted upon in August

The logistical portion is viable--the philosophical commitment of when the information is shared.

Commitment that drives the financial planning

65% of revenues come from taxes

We know this in January of the previous fiscal year

We can add tuition projections to our 65% on our own cycle

65% Tuition % State
Solid positions Solid positions Pending positions +/- New> chancellor and Governing board and CEC commitment
Replacement-Reallocated base > college choices > can happen now

Once you make the commitment it also has to include salary compensations-it reduces the flexibility.

It will require a 3-year projection factored into the financial planning.

Advertisement Group

The following topics were discussed in the Advertisement Group:
  1. Do the shared assumptions articulated earlier reflect this group's assumptions about faculty hiring?
  2. Where should MCCD advertise to attract the very best possible faculty? That is, where do faculty expect to find advertisements of available jobs in their field?
  3. Since general faculty pools have been eliminated in favor of college/discipline specific pools, should advertisement for faculty pools be generic or college/discipline specific?
  4. Who is best qualified to write college/discipline specific advertisements for faculty positions?
  5. When should advertisement copy be ready to send supposing that advertising for faculty positions generally begins in October? (Keep in mind that advertising copy is often due three to four weeks prior to its publication.)

Brainstorming Comments from Advertisement Group

Hiring calendar needs to change.
Need to advertise:
  • AJP, i.e., professional journals
  • As many options as possible
  • Graduate schools
  • Minority professional caucuses
  • job fairs
Recruitment strategy
Establish Consistency in Recruiting
Advertisement needs to be specific; however, broad abilities as well where applicable.
Partnerships of folks familiar with college/discipline needs are best qualified to write advertisements for faculty positions, including:
  • Department Chairs
  • Instructional Councils
  • PR person
  • Affirmative Action
  • HR
  • Administration
Advertising copy should be ready ASAP (September).
-Flexible in relation to hiring reality of discipline

1) Will this help us recruit minorities?
2) Concern about ignoring ideal talent


Travel Group

The following topics were discussed in the Travel Group:
  1. Do the shared assumptions articulated earlier reflect this group's assumptions about faculty hiring?
  2. Assuming that some of the finalist candidates approved by a screening committee are not located in the Phoenix metropolitan area and must travel for a micro-teach and final interview; is there a professional obligation to provide transportation and lodging expenses for those candidates?
  3. Suppose that there is a professional obligation to provide transportation and lodging expenses for finalist candidates. Since budgets are always finite, what is a reasonable maximum number of candidates per pool that should be provided transportation costs?
  4. When and how should travel funding for final candidates be allocated? By each college? By the district?

Brainstorming Comments from Travel Group

7.2-may not be the actual solution
7.1-are we sure?
7.1-7.4-have language problems


Timelines reflect an academic calendar and recruitment from an academic institution.

#3 WOW! Way too operational

#4 District (operational) should allocate travel funding.


Options
  1. Video
  2. Travel
  3. Search committee
    Options-give more tools
  4. Interviewing and conferences
  5. Teleconferencing
  6. Telemarketing

Screening Group

The following topics were discussed in the Budget Cycle Group:

  1. Do the shared assumptions articulated earlier reflect this group's assumptions about faculty hiring?
  2. If the goal of faculty hiring is to secure the very best faculty nationally, and if that requires advertising faculty pools in October, when should pools ordinarily close and screening begin? (Assume for the sake of argument that this is for new tenure track positions, not OYO positions.)
  3. Supposing that general faculty pools have been eliminated in favor of college/discipline specific pools, who is best qualified to screen the dossiers in those college/discipline specific pools?
  4. When and how should candidates who are no longer under active consideration for a particular faculty position be notified?

Brainstorming Comments from Screening Group
  1. Do we share the assumptions?
    Basically, OK but budget implications
    • Excellence in teaching is also dependent on facilities, etc.
    • Diverse institutions = occupational
  2. When should positions close/screen?
    • Can you offer faculty position in January when we have not secured funding?
    • (Let's assume budget is secured)
    • Lots of best folks are taken when other institutions advertise and hire earlier.
    • Advertise timelines---open until filled
    • We usually know what we need in terms of faculty.
    • We know what replacement positions are available.
    • Perhaps have retirement announcement incentives
      Have joint advertising and closing of similar colleges/disciplines available.
      Coordinate ads and interviews. Identify appropriate periodicals. Disciplines will get to know MCCCD with more advertising.
  3. College discipline specific pools. Who is best to screen?
    • New process to begin in February.
    • Committees determine who they want to interview, then Human Resources screens these candidates for minimum qualifications.
  4. When and how should candidates who are no longer under active consideration for a particular faculty position be notified? ASAP
  5. What about openings after cycle?
    Need retirement information
    Professional obligation to help us recruit excellent replacement
    OSO hires until cycle begins.
Dr. Gaskin thanked the participants for their excellent participation. All the comments will be taken under consideration.

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting concluded at 8:30 p.m.



_________________________________
Ed Contreras
Governing Board Secretary




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