Faculty Senate deliberates program coordinator job description

Faculty Senate passed a motion June 27 to revise a proposed job description for program coordinators to be compensated according to the difficulty and complexity of the job.

The district is revising the job description for program coordinators, and Dr. Dawn Elmore-McCrary, outgoing Faculty Senate chair and English professor, is helping allied health Chair Stella Lovato.

They are part of a subcommittee of a district committee studying department structure and chairperson policy and practices, which will make recommendations on chair and program coordinator job descriptions and compensation, President Robert Zeigler said.

Chancellor Bruce Leslie asked Elmore-McCrary to assist Lovato on that subcommittee, Elmore-McCrary said. Lovato is a college representative on the District Chairs Council.

Zeigler and George Johnson III, former Faculty Senate president at St. Philip’s College, are co-chairing the Department Structure and Chairperson Policy and Practices Committee.

September is the deadline for the program coordinator job description to be finished.

Senators agreed that the job description for program coordinators has so many duties that the compensation is not enough for coordinators to do the job.

The description lists 19 responsibilities expected from coordinators in all departments.

Dr. Conrad Krueger, dean of arts and sciences, said there are 16 program coordinators and nine chairs in the arts and sciences department.

Krueger said these program coordinators get a stipend of $2,500 a semester.

Gwyn Hagenbuch, administrative secretary to the dean of professional and technical education, said the division 10 chairs and 21 program coordinators in the professional and technical departments. Hagenbuch said compensation varies.

All professional and technical programs are required to have program coordinators. More program coordinators were added in arts and sciences in 2011-12 when the college combined academic departments.

“That is a lot to do,” political science Professor Suzanne Martinez said. “We are setting ourselves up to give someone at this table a whole lot of work and responsibility and not be compensated for it?”

Martinez said some of the duties, such as how to manage budgets, require training, which may not be worth the time it takes if the coordinator is not getting compensated.

“We don’t even need to call it a job. I think we should call it a volunteer position if they are not going to get paid,” Martinez said.

Senators agreed program coordinator job descriptions will vary because of the needs of departments.

“There is such a difference from department to department,” Jerry Townsend, Adjunct Faculty Council chair, said. “It seems to me, the best way to have it is: From this this list come the duties, rather than these are the duties.”

“It is a checklist and that’s going to have to be determined by the department, case by case, and even to some degree individual by individual,” Townsend said.

Elmore-McCrary said there should be a “Chinese menu,” where a list of duties is used as a checklist, but the duties will vary with each department.

She said compensation would be based on the duties of the program coordinator, who will need training.

“If you are doing any kind of coordinating or directing, regardless of what it is, you have to have access for the tools you need to do your job,” Elmore-McCrary said.

She said she will meet with the Department Structure and Chairperson Policy and Practices Committee to see where the chair and program committee job descriptions overlap and look at descriptions at other district colleges.

In other news, senators discussed revisions to bylaws and will vote on them in the fall.

Elmore-McCrary said the current bylaws state when there is a vacancy on the senate, the senate could award the position to the person with the most votes from the last election, appoint a new person or leave the position vacant.

Senators agreed to eliminate the option to appoint a new person because Elmore-McCrary said the senate has never used that option.

Larry Rosinbaum, incoming Faculty Senate chair and business professor, said senator terms also needed to be revised.

He said if a senator fills an unexpired term, it should count as their first three-year term.

Rosinbaum said they will have an additional three-year term after that because senators are allowed two three-year terms.

Another revision proposed suggested that officer titles should be consistent with faculty senates at other district colleges, he said.

Rosinbaum said instead of chair and vice chair, titles would be changed to president and vice president with each officer serving two three-year terms.

Rosinbaum said another revision suggested eliminating floor votes for officer positions.

Elmore-McCrary suggested having candidates talk about themselves during a senate meeting since everyone might not know who they are.

Kinesiology and dance Chair Bill Richardson said floor votes are constitutional.

They are the “good old American way,” he said.

Martinez said if people want to be in the senate or be an officer, they should do everything they need to do beforehand.

“What’s the good part of nominating people from the floor?” Martinez said.

Martinez said those who really think about it, fill out all documents and do everything necessary are the candidates who really want the position.

English Professor Alex Bernal said floor nominations were good because candidates can answer questions immediately and can be just as qualified.

Bernal suggested a secret ballot for the chair: however, there is still a possibility of a tie.

Senators also discussed a revision to decrease the number of candidate slots on the ballot from 16 to 12.

Richardson said with a smaller number of candidates, there is a less likelihood of ties.

If there is a tie, candidates can talk about their goals and philosophy, which will result in another tie, Elmore-McCrary said.

If there is still a tie, then there will be a coin flip, Elmore-McCrary said.

Senators agreed to keep four out of the nine committees represented in their bylaws; Budget and Compensation, Policy and Governance and Community Relations, Academic Affairs and Technology, and Elections and Surveys.

The Curriculum Alignment Committee was renamed the Academic Affairs Committee and will include the Technology Committee.

The Service Awards Committee will be combined with the Elections And Surveys Committee.

The Policy and Governance Committee will be combined with the Community Relations Committees.

The senate will meet next at 2:15 p.m. Sept. 5 in Room 120 of the visual arts center.