ARTICLE XIV: PROGRAM OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The parties agree to undertake a program of professional development for members of the bargaining unit; provided, however, that the provisions of this Article XIV shall be of no application to any person appointed to a part-time position in the bargaining unit other than a salaried part-time member of the bargaining unit as defined in Article XIII, §H(4).
Participation in any such program by any member of the bargaining unit shall be undertaken only on a voluntary basis.
The purpose of the Program of Professional Development shall comprise the following several aims and goals through research, scholarship and other appropriate professional activities:
1. To improve teaching and student advising and to relate those to a changing curriculum that is itself responsive to the larger needs of society;
2. To develop new teaching skills and an appropriate facility in the use of media, teaching aids and other supportive techniques where those are appropriate;
3. To improve student advising techniques and the faculty member’s command of relevant bodies of knowledge in this area;
4. To increase the faculty member’s command of the body of knowledge that constitutes his/her own discipline;
5. Where appropriate, to enable a faculty member to develop a command over a body of knowledge in a related discipline;
6. In the case of any librarian, to improve such librarian’s professional skills and techniques and to relate those to a changing curriculum that is itself responsive to the larger needs of society;
7. In the case of any librarian, to develop new professional skills and techniques to the same end;
8. To provide retraining to members of the bargaining unit who have been or may be given notice of retrenchment.
B. PROGRAMS OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
No later than September 30, 2001, there shall be established at each College a Committee on Professional Development and Retraining, which shall be composed of three (3) unit members appointed by the Chapter President and two (2) persons appointed by the President of the College.
1. The Committee shall:
a. Meet and confer with the Vice President regarding criteria for the awarding of Professional Development Programs;
b. Receive and review all requests for programs of professional development that may be undertaken pursuant to the provisions of this Article, and thereafter make recommendations to the President of the College regarding approval or disapproval of all programs of professional development submitted pursuant to the provisions of this Article;
c. Make recommendations regarding the allocation of moneys which shall be available for the implementation of programs of professional development that may be undertaken pursuant to the provisions of this Article;
d. Develop and recommend a policy for the retraining of unit members who may be retrenched, and submit such recommended policy to the President of the College within three (3) months from the date on which the Committee shall have first convened; in discharging this responsibility, the Committee shall seek to compile and disseminate information regarding retraining and job opportunities for members of the bargaining unit; and
e. Advise, when requested, individual unit members who shall have been or may be retrenched pursuant to the provisions of Articles X-A and X-B of this Agreement for the purpose of assisting any such unit member in the development of a program of retraining.
2. The President shall:
a. Upon receipt of the recommendations of the Committee on Professional Development and Retraining, grant such awards as he/she shall determine in accordance with the provisions of this Article;
b. Notify the applicants of the approval or disapproval of their program of professional development; and
c. Notify the Chapter President of the grants and programs approved by him/her.
3. Every such request for a program of professional development shall be submitted within the limits of time prescribed therefor.
The participation or lack of participation of any member of the bargaining unit in any program under this Article shall not be considered in any evaluation of such member of the bargaining unit conducted pursuant to the provisions of Article VIII or VIII-C of the Agreement; provided, however, that any member of the bargaining unit may introduce for consideration during any such evaluation the work done by him/her, or the product thereof, pursuant to any program under this Article. Notwithstanding the foregoing, whenever any member of the bargaining unit shall have been granted a reduction of teaching workload in order to undertake a program under this Article, of professional development, his/her participation in such program shall be evaluated in accordance with Article VIII or VIII-C of this Agreement.
Upon the completion of any program of professional development, a member of the bargaining unit shall submit to the Vice President a report thereon describing with reasonable particularity the professional activities undertaken pursuant thereto as they relate to the purposes for which the program of professional development was approved.
The amount, method and manner of the funding of any program of professional development shall be determined by the President of the College.
For the purpose of this Article XIV, the phrase "individual program of professional development" shall, in the case of any individual member of the bargaining unit, mean a program designed to effectuate any one or more of the purposes set forth in Section A, which program shall have been developed at the initiation of such unit member, assented to by him/her, and approved as such by the President: it being the common purpose of the parties to this Agreement to provide members of the bargaining unit with the specific means by which to achieve professional growth and to benefit the College.
Nothing in this Article XIV shall be of any application to any individual program of professional development approved prior to the effective date of this Agreement or for which moneys have been made available other than pursuant to Section G.
G. SUPPORT FOR CONTINUING SCHOLARSHIP
1. Funding
With effect on September 1, 2001 (for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2002), and, again, with effect on September 1, 2002 (for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2003), there shall be made available at each College a pool of moneys that shall be expended, in accordance with this Section G, for the support of continuing scholarship. The amount of the pool of moneys shall be calculated as follows for each such year:
a. there shall first be computed an amount equal to one and one-half percent (1.50%) of the value, aggregated for the nine State Colleges, of the AA unit payroll as that payroll is on May 31, 2001 (for the period commencing with effect on September 1, 2001) and on May 31, 2002 (for the period commencing with effect on September 1, 2002);
b. the amount computed under the preceding clause (a) shall be divided by the number equal to the number, aggregated for the nine State Colleges, of all full-time-equivalent members of the bargaining unit employed on the relevant May 31 (but including in that number only full-time and salaried part-time members of the bargaining unit); and
c. the amount computed under the preceding clause (b) shall, for each College, be multiplied by the number equal to the number of full-time-equivalent members of the bargaining unit employed at the College on the relevant May 31 (but including in that number only full-time and salaried part-time members of the bargaining unit).
2. Source of Funding
The moneys required under the preceding subsection 1 to fund support for continuing scholarship with effect on September 1, 2001, shall be an incremental cost item for purposes of Section 7(c) of Chapter 150E of the General Laws and Article XXI of this Agreement.
The moneys required under the preceding subsection 1 to fund support for continuing scholarship with effect on September 1, 2002, shall not be an incremental cost item for such purposes and shall be supplied from moneys otherwise lawfully available to be expended for such purpose at each College.
3. Continuing Scholarship Moneys and Supplementary Moneys for Continuing Scholarship
On September 1, 2001, and, again, on September 1, 2002, the pool of moneys that is then to be made available at each College under the preceding paragraph 1 shall in each case be segregated into two funds as follows:
a. Two-thirds (2/3rds) of each such pool of moneys shall be denominated the Fund for Continuing Scholarship and one-third (1/3rd) of each such pool of moneys shall be denominated the Supplementary Fund for Continuing Scholarship.
b. The Fund for Continuing Scholarship shall be allocated and expended in accordance with the following subsection 5 and the Supplementary Fund for Continuing Scholarship shall be allocated and expended in accordance with the following subsection 6.
4. Continuing Scholarship
For the purposes of this Section G, the phrase "continuing scholarship" shall have the meaning ascribed to it in Article VIII, Section A(1)(b)(i) and Section A(3)(b)(i), and the moneys made available hereunder shall be applied solely for the support of such continuing scholarship.
5. Allocation and Approval of Expenditures: Fund for Continuing Scholarship
With effect on September 1, 2001, and, again, with effect on September 1, 2002, there shall be allocated (i) to each full-time member of the bargaining unit an amount equal to the amount calculated for such date pursuant to clause (b) of the preceding subsection 1 and (ii) to each salaried part-time member of the bargaining unit a proportionate share of an amount equal to the amount so calculated for such date. Each such member of the bargaining unit shall be entitled to expend the amount so allocated but may do so only subject to the following:
(a) on or before December 31, he or she shall first submit to the Vice President a description of the purpose for which such moneys (or any portion thereof) are to be expended, and, on or before January 31, the Vice President shall thereafter approve the same unless he or she shall have determined that the intended expenditure does not constitute support of continuing scholarship;
(b) whenever the Vice President shall have approved the purpose for which an expenditure is intended to be made, the member of the bargaining unit shall be entitled thereafter to be reimbursed for such expenditure when actually made for such purpose;
(c) the reimbursement of expenditures hereunder shall be made in accordance with and subject to the rules and regulations that are of general application to the reimbursement of employee expenditures, including those requiring the submission of appropriate receipts and like documentation.
Whenever the Vice President shall have declined to approve an intended expenditure under paragraph (a) above, the member of the bargaining unit whose submission has been disapproved shall be entitled to appeal the Vice President’s decision to the Committee on Professional Development and Retraining, and the Committee’s decision in that regard shall be final and binding.
6. Allocation and Approval of Expenditures: Supplementary Fund for Continuing Scholarship
Commencing with effect on September 1, 2001, and, again, commencing with effect on September 1, 2002, every full-time and salaried part-time member of the bargaining unit shall be eligible to apply to the Vice President, Academic Affairs, for an allocation of moneys from the Supplementary Fund for Continuing Scholarship. Every such application shall be submitted by any applicable deadline the Vice President may have established for the purpose and shall describe the manner in which the moneys sought will be used to support the applicant’s continuing scholarship. As promptly as is practicable thereafter, the Vice President shall approve or disapprove such application and give to the applicant notice of his or her decision.
Whenever the Vice President shall have approved the purpose for which an application has been made, the member of the bargaining unit shall be entitled thereafter to be reimbursed (but only up to the amount authorized by the Vice President) for expenditures actually made for such purpose. The reimbursement of expenditures hereunder shall be made in accordance with and subject to the rules and regulations that are of general application to the reimbursement of employee expenditures, including those requiring the submission of appropriate receipts and like documentation.
7. Limit on Allocations
No member of the bargaining unit shall be allocated, in the aggregate, more than Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000) from the Fund for Continuing Scholarship and the Supplementary Fund for Continuing Scholarship during the period ending on June 30, 2002; and no member of the bargaining unit shall be allocated, in the aggregate, more than Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000) from the Fund for Continuing Scholarship and the Supplementary Fund for Continuing Scholarship during the period ending on June 30, 2003.
8. General Programs of Professional Development
Whenever on February 1 there remain moneys whose expenditure has not been authorized pursuant to the preceding paragraphs 5 and 6, the Committee on Professional Development and Retraining shall, as promptly as is practicable, recommend to the Vice President one or more general programs of professional development (such as seminars and workshops) for the support of which such moneys may be expended.
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