Meeting & Agendas

History Department Chair Al Purcell presented a case for exempting the History Department from using eStaffing for purposes of staffing adjunct faculty positions. His request was rejected by a formal committee vote of 12 - 0, with one abstention. Geographical Information Systems Department Chair Sean Moran presented a case for exempting the new GIS department from using eStaffing for purposes of staffing adjunct faculty positions. After listening to a discussion of how eStaffing could be used successfully for a new department with only a couple of courses, the request for exemption was withdrawn. A formal request had been submitted by the \'\'Personal Fitness Trainer\'\' department to be exempt from using eStaffing for preferences, assignment processing, and acceptance processing. The rationale for the request was \'\'the department is small and there are not multiple adjuncts qualified to teach the few sections\'\'. Since there was nothing in this rationale that would prevent the department from using eStaffing successfully as intended, the request was unanimously rejected. Two other Health Sciences departments submitted requests for exemption, both of them to request continuance of a previously granted exemption. The outcomes were as follows: \'\'Physical Therapy Assistant\'\' was granted an approval for an exemption extension. \'\'Sonography\'\' was not granted an approval for an exemption. The basis for a rejection was that the reason given for the exemption request is handled in eStaffing by maintaining correct \'\'Eligibility\'\' lists. Charles Quinn, Dean of Business Services, promised an update on the two Departments in Business Services that are currently exempted. Gary Hampton, Dean of Applied Technology, who was unable to attend today\'s meeting, had requested, in a blanket email, a continuation of exemption for the 9 departments in his area. The Committee agreed with the assessment that the process Applied Technology went through a few years ago that determined that these 9 departments had specific, unique requirements that justified exemption was thorough enough that it warranted a continuation of exemption, with the possibility of another thorough review next year. Eileen Klein, Dean of Health Sciences, had indicated on Friday that the 7 departments that are currently exempted and for which we have not yet received an exemption request, would be contacted for an update on this matter. Departments will be contacted regarding the outcomes of this year\'s review of departments requesting exemption, and the eStaffing webpage containing this information will be updated.

The eStaffing system will be undergoing a redesign and upgrade. In addition to a change to the \'\'look and feel\'\' so that the application is consistent with other ACC web applications, the programming will be gradually converted from ASP to PHP, and, most importantly, the functionality will be improved to enhance critical tasks and eliminate needless tasks and data. Volunteers to assist with IT Applications Development on the redesign are being solicited. During today\'s meeting we received a positive response: 1 Dean, 3 Dept Chairs, and 2 Admins volunteered. The function in eStaffing most needing of redesign is the MSTA process. The current process is faulty, principally, in identifying the type of action required for current MSTAs to continue with their MSTA appointment. The origin of the problem was the confusion several years ago over the criteria under which an MSTA is automatically renewed vs. the conditions under which an MSTA must re-apply. At today\'s meeting there was universal consensus that (a) an MSTA who has been an MSTA the last 3 consecutive years in a department is an automatic \'\'roll over\'\' and does not to re-apply, (b) an MSTA who has been an MSTA less than the last 3 consecutive years in a department must reapply for MSTA as a \'\'renewal\'\' candidate, and (c) most importantly for IT purposes, the following criteria is what should be used to determine if an adjunct is considered an MSTA for a particular year: the adjunct must have an MSTA appointment of MSTA or MSTA Exception for at least 2 of the 3 terms within an academic year. The advertised \'\'Transparency Report\'\' that will show where Adjuncts placed in the random order selection for each department will be made available as a report for Deans, for Department Chairs, and, most importantly, for the Adjunct instructor. Thus, a new tab will appear \'\'Reports\'\', that will initially include only 1 report -- the Transparency Report. A request was made, especially with the upcoming design review in mind, to always alphabetize Department names within a list. Human Development has an outstanding request to review the absence of columns on the right half of a critical report. The research will be given a high priority after the Summer-to-Fall \'roll\' which is scheduled for tomorrow. A request was made to publish a report displaying which departments were using (vs. not using) eStaffing. IT Applications Development will work on that. Computer Studies & Computer Science, two separate departments, would like to be merged together in eStaffing the same way Mathematics and Developmental Mathematics is.