The Word from CSEA
February 27, 2017
In This Issue:
A Message from the CSEA President
Know Your Contract
Did You Know?
Next Board Meetings
CSEA Upcoming Election
Faculty Updates
Faculty Excellence Award
Know Your Representatives
A Message from the CSEA President
Dear Colleagues,
I was very heartened several weeks ago when the college and CSEA joined together to make a statement that reiterated the commitment of Columbus State to the idea that the faculty determine both classroom content and appropriate delivery methods. Agreement on this principle can provide the framework for policies that place learning above fiscal expedience. I assure you that CSEA remains committed to this.
As the college changes to meet the needs of our student population, there are ever-expanding roles for the faculty. The faculty has stepped up to meet these challenges. We look forward to strengthening and clarifying our partnership with the administration. After all, faculty, staff, and administrators all are responsible for delivering the best education possible to our students. Columbus State is an Achieving the Dream Leader College thanks to this partnership.
To continue to be the leader that it is, our college needs to attract and retain not just qualified faculty, but the best qualified faculty. We must attract only the best. The college also needs to recognize and appreciate the qualified faculty we already have. Columbus State’s reputation is tied to the quality of its teaching.
We cannot meet the challenges of the next several years by refusing to change. The faculty is more aware of this than anyone. We all are trained in disciplines that are ever evolving. College policies and contract provisions that arbitrarily limit hours and roles need to be updated. New roles that are best filled by faculty cannot be appropriately filled when outdated policies require a certain number of hours in the classroom, despite college needs. Policies that capriciously tie a faculty member to a particular seat in a particular location for a particular number of hours without regard to student needs are another example of an antiquated view of higher education.
Finally, I have to repeat my thanks to all of you who have been participating in “Action Teams” and focus groups. I have never seen such a level of participation. I know you are all motivated. Your support for CSEA has been tremendous. I hope to see you all at in-service day, when we will have a general membership meeting and election. We will have much to discuss.
Tom
Know Your Contract
Article 28 – College Health Care Committee outlines the elements associated with the college health care committee. The purpose of the committee is to study and research different aspects of health care to make recommendations to the President and others. The committee consists of ten members – 2 staff, 2 administrators, and 2 from each union – and is chaired by a Vice President of Human Resources designee. The current chair is Deborah Robinson, Director of Benefits and Compensation, while the 2 members representing CSEA are Amine Kidane from Biological and Physical Sciences and Eric Neubauer from Social Sciences.
The committee is expected to meet on a quarterly basis and will not meet during semester breaks. Note that all recommendations made by the committee will be reduced to writing and subject to a roll call vote. Absent unanimous content, there must be at least two weeks between written recommendations to provide committee members the opportunity to share the proposed recommendations with their constituencies. This element is important because it affords CSEA the opportunity to inform members of the proposed recommendations and receive feedback accordingly.
Finally, any proposed recommendations for changes in plan design and/or costs associated with health care must be bargained. What this means is that the college cannot uniformly adopt a new health care plan or raise the cost of health care without the consent of CSEA. As CSEA will be going into negotiations with the administration on a new contract during Spring Semester, it is vitally important that all members provide their concerns and feedback regarding health care benefits to the CSEA Executive Committee via their department and/or division reps or the CSEA College Health Care Committee reps. Contact Eric Neubauer at eneubaue@cscc.edu or 614-287-5698 if you have any questions regarding health care benefits.
ARTICLE 28 – COLLEGE HEALTH CARE COMMITTEE
Due to the fundamental importance of health care for all members of the College community, the College has created the College Health Care Committee. The purpose and charge of this Committee is to study and research different facets of health care to make recommendations to the President and the various constituencies. Some of the responsibilities of this Committee will include but are not limited to the following:
1. Monitor the operations, service, and any problems with the current vendor and/or broker.
2. Review benefit options from current and competitive vendors.
3. Study methods to reduce the experience rate of the College.
4. Review bids of the vendors.
5. Promote wellness campus wide.
6. Distribute surveys as needed.
The Committee shall have two members representing the Staff, two Administrator representatives, and two members from each union. The Vice President of Human Resources/designee shall chair the Committee. Formal minutes of each meeting must be recorded and approved by the Committee. Once approved, minutes must be accessible to any member of the campus community. All recommendations of the Committee will be reduced to writing and subject to a roll call vote of the present Committee members. Absent unanimous consent, there must be two weeks between written recommendations and a vote to provide Committee members time to share the proposed recommendations with their constituencies. The results of any roll call vote must be recorded in the minutes. The Committee shall meet at least quarterly and shall have the right to have others in attendance who have the expertise that is needed for the work of the Committee. These additional attendees may not vote. No meetings of the Committee shall occur during the breaks. Changes in plan design and/or costs associated with health care must be bargained.
Did You Know?
Did you know that for your 2016 taxes, the OEA dues that are deductible are $652.53? Only $32.14 is non-deductible, since it is spent on lobbying.
Next Board Meetings
Committee of the Whole: Thursday, March 16th, at noon, in Davidson Hall, room 300
Board of Trustees: Thursday, March 23rd, at 6:00, at the Dublin Regional Learning Center
CSEA Upcoming Election
Save the date. On In-Service Day, April 20th, CSEA will hold its spring election. The Vice President and Parliamentarian positions will be up for election, as well as a number of CSEA Representative positions and two OEA Representative positions. Members will also be asked to vote on the President’s term beginning on the first day of summer break, and other recommended Constitutional changes.
We hope that many, if not all, of our members currently holding positions will consider continuing their service. However, we want to encourage other members to get more involved as well. If you are interested in one of the open positions or have a nomination to submit, watch for an email from our Nominating Committee – Amy Ng, Shannon Bookout, and Leslie Smith.
Faculty Updates
Faculty Discuss Hidden Figures
The Ohio Department of Education hosted a screening of the movie Hidden Figures, and the movie was followed by a panel of science and math faculty from local colleges and universities answering student questions. Merideth Sellars, Assistant Professor in Biological and Physical Sciences at Columbus State joined the panel.
Dann Gave Presentation on Woodhull
Judith Dann, Ph.D., Professor in Humanities, presented at Kelton House on Sunday, February 12th. The presentation “Victoria Woodhull: Queen Victoria or Mrs. Satan?” explored the life of Victoria Woodhull and the adversity she overcame to be the first woman U.S. Presidential candidate in 1872.
Teaching Diversity Workshop Offered
Dr. Mary Lewis, Assistant Professor in Psychology, presented on Diversity and Inclusion in the Classroom at the Teaching Diversity Workshop offered January 27th.
NASA Awards Grant
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded Columbus State a grant for $42,950 over two years, for Biological and Physical Sciences faculty member Dr. Anjali Gupta to work with data from deep space. This is the college’s first grant from NASA.
Faculty Excellence Award
The CSEA Faculty Excellence Award Committee would like to remind everyone to nominate your colleagues for the Faculty Excellence Award. Winners will be announced in the spring. The nomination form can be found on the CSEA website at http://72.3.251.75/CSEAmain/CSEAhomepage.aspx. Please send all nominations to Lydia Gilmore at lgilmore@cscc.edu.
CSEA Representatives
Executive Committee - Officers
Tom Shanahan President 287-2623 tshanaha@cscc.edu
Adam Keller Vice President 287-2562 akelle10@cscc.edu
Rachel Brooks-Pannell Secretary 287-2328 rbrooksp@cscc.edu
Michelle Duda Treasurer 287-2607 mduda5@cscc.edu
Catherine Ritterbusch Parliamentarian 287-2622 critterb@cscc.edu
Executive Committee - Senior Representatives
Heather Johnston Arts & Sciences 287-2679 hjohnst1@cscc.edu
Lydia Gilmore Business & Engineering 287-3908 lgilmore@cscc.edu
Dianne Fidelibus Health & Human Services 287-5015 dfidelib@cscc.edu
Department Representatives
Eric Kenz Biological & Physical Sciences 287-5176 ekenz@cscc.edu
Rachael Romain 287-5467 rromain@cscc.edu
Lyndsy Wolff 287-5365 lwolff@cscc.edu
Scott Milsap Communication 287-5124 smillsap@cscc.edu
Beth Barnett Developmental Education 287-2593 bbarnett@cscc.edu
Rebecca Fleming English 287-5186 rfleming11@cscc.edu
Tim Davis Humanities 287-5830 tdavis@cscc.edu
Phil MacLean Mathematics 287-5308 pmaclean@cscc.edu
Terry Eisele Justice & Safety / Modern Languages 287-5202 teisel02@cscc.edu
Elizabeth Hammond Psychology 287-5199 ehammon1@cscc.edu
Irene Petten Social Sciences 287-2004 ipetten@cscc.edu
Dan Collins Allied Health 287-2435 dcollin1@cscc.edu
Mark Mitchell Automotive & Applied Technology 287-3612 mmitchel@cscc.edu
Chuck Kassor Bolton Field 287-7108 ckassor@cscc.edu
Lydia Gilmore Business Programs 287-3908 lgilmore@cscc.edu
Deb Dyer Computer Science 287-2477 ddyer3@cscc.edu
Jeff Bates Construction Sciences & 287-3652 jbates@cscc.edu
Engineering Technology
Brenna Michelis Delaware Campus (740) 203-8151 bmicheli@cscc.edu
Antoinette Perkins & Hospitality, Massage Therapy, 287-5754 aperki01@cscc.edu
Christine Creagh Human Services 287-5805 ccreagh@cscc.edu
Jon Lundquist Integrated Media & Technologies 287-5647 jlundqui@cscc.edu
Jackie Miller & Nursing 287-2601 jmiller@cscc.edu
Tammy Montgomery 287-2509 tmontgom@cscc.edu
Carla Mayers-Bletsch Veterinary Image & Surgical Tech. 287-5232 cmayers@cscc.edu
The Word from CSEA is produced by the Communications Committee of the Columbus State Education Association – Frank A. Barnhart, Rachel Brooks-Pannell, Eric Neubauer, Amy Ng, Irene Petten, and Shauna Sowga. We welcome your participation, comments, news, and insights. Our initial deadline for submissions or ideas is around the 15th of each month. Please send all correspondences to Rachel Brooks-Pannell at rbrooksp@cscc.edu. Other information and back issues of The Word from CSEA are available at CSEA's web site.