Minutes

Faculty Meeting & Faculty Development Workshops

Spanish-American Institute

August 18, 2001

Convened: The Faculty Meeting convened at 10:10 am

Attendance: 31 faculty and 3 staff attended, the President, Academic Dean, and Librarian.

President’s Report: Mr. Ferraro thanked everyone for his or her presence. He encouraged faculty to--

· take advantage of the school's two 403b tax-deferred annuity options,

· take advantage of the tuition reimbursement policy to attend courses in teaching pronunciation and other ESL topics, and

· think about forthcoming conferences that individuals might wish to attend.

Mr. Ferraro also reported that the application for degree-authorization has been reviewed by the State with the possibility of a State site visit in late Spring 2002. He reminded everyone to continue exercising discretion with students in discussing the possibility that the Institute will offer college programs in the future.

Dean's Report: Dr. Prager introduced the new Librarian, Mr. Nishan Stepak. She also—

· asked faculty to let her know about their experiences with the project to encourage all ESL students to obtain local library cards;

· distributed a copy of the Current Student Survey form and asked faculty in lower level ESL classes to introduce survey vocabulary before the survey is distributed to students;

· distributed copies of Marco Castillo's English 900 and Side-by-Side grammar correlation study with thanks for his contribution; and

· announced tentative faculty meeting dates on October 20, 2001 and January 26 and May 19, 2002.

Chair and Other Faculty Reports:

Computer Technology--Khalid El Harmassi announced that computer application faculty are tracking student academic progress on a weekly basis.

Accounting--Lilliam Hernandez stated that accounting faculty keep daily notations of student academic progress.

ESL--Radha Krisnamoorthy reported that she has been reviewing and evaluating textbooks and academic outcomes for certain upper level ESL classes.

Faculty Development--Libertad Grajo reported that she and Vicenta Ortiz attended intensive TESOL Summer Workshops in San Diego. She participated in the session on teaching literature in the ESL classroom and V. Ortiz attended the session on teaching pronunciation. Both distributed material from the TESOL sessions.

Faculty Workshops (10:45 a.m.-1 p.m.): R. Krishnmoorthy, V. Ortiz, and K. El Harmassi served as faculty workshop facilitators. Ms. Krisnamoorthy and Ms. Ortiz introduced pronunciation materials newly acquired for faculty use. Mr. El Harmassi led computer laboratory sessions on using the Internet to locate pronunciation and other ESL teaching resources. Each faculty member had the opportunity to rotate through the three workshop sessions.

Faculty Meeting Reconvened (1:00-1:35 p.m.): The faculty meeting reconvened after the workshop sessions. The following were discussed:

· evaluation of new pronunciation materials,

· provision of tape recorders for classroom use, and

· clarification of school photostatting policies.

Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 1:30 p.m. Mr. Ferraro invited faculty to lunch at the Bryant Park Cafe.