Cosumnes River College
Professional Standards Committee
Sabbatical Leave Report
Type B
Spring 2015
“Researching and developing an Ethnic Studies Program for Cosumnes River College”
by
Nyenbeku C. George, MA
Concentration: Sociology
Concentration: Culture and Race Studies
Submission Date: October 15th 2015
Abstract:
As stated in my initial application, the purpose of this sabbatical was to create a cutting edge, fully functioning, Ethnic Studies AAT program and blaze a trail for future Ethnic Studies AAT programs. Additionally, an Ethnic Studies AAT program will allow all of CRC’s students-with an emphasis on minority students-the opportunity to have a professional and scholarly approach from which to understand and continue to celebrate their respective ethnic group; equally important, other ethnic groups’ contributions to American society. With an Ethnic Studies AAT program, we create and indelibly foster a diverse student body that is culturally competent with the skills and training to work effectively and compassionately alongside diverse human groups in an increasingly diverse society. It would also strengthen our institution in its efficiency, its solidarity, and its commitment to its value of academic excellence while continually providing an institutional sense of belonging to all of its student populations.
Objective:
The objective of this sabbatical leave was to have an Ethnic Studies program that Reflects all of the following (1) Diverse input from ethnic group organizations throughout the city of Sacramento (2) Institutional and unique training, input, and experience of CRC’s campus and faculty as we will use information from the CRC Research Office (3) Input from Social Science/Ethnic Studies faculty at various campuses in our Los Rios Community College District (4) Contemporary courses that other Ethnic Studies AA/AAT programs can adopt in their programs (5) Be the first Ethnic Studies program in the state to be an AAT and (6) Articulation with Ethnic Studies courses and Ethnic studies programs at neighboring CSUs and UCs.
Background:
Through the medium of instruction, we (those of us in the Social and Behavioral Sciences) need an Ethnic Studies AAT program at CRC to continue the premise of both cultural pluralism and integration (the shared experiences and intercultural relationships of our diverse student body) by bringing the unique experiences of CRC’s ethnically diverse student populations into the classroom. Currently, the courses that are responsible for establishing institutional credibility for, and simultaneously validating the experiences of, our diverse student body (especially those underrepresented or socially disadvantaged) on CRC’s campus are currently located in the Social Sciences. We have an a Social Science degree AA-degree, but the curriculum for the degree needs to be revised because it is outdated. Specifically, the lecture schedules for each of the courses have not been updated in over five years. Textbooks for the courses need to be updated. SLOs need to be reviewed and revised. The courses that need to be revised are: Social Science 300-Introduction to Ethnic Studies, Social Science 320-The African American Experience, Social Science 325-The Asian American Experience, and Social Science 330-The Mexican American Experience. Additionally, we need a Social Science course that focuses on The Native American experience. Revising and updating course SLOs, lecture schedules, and textbooks is important, but creating an Ethnic Studies AAT program will address the curriculum needs as well as the social, cultural, and educational needs of the students on CRC’s campus.
Due to budgetary issues in our state and city, we were forced to cut many courses in our Humanities/Social and Behavioral Sciences division. Unfortunately the courses for the Social Sciences AA degree were cut and we were not able to offer them consistently over the past five years. This has led to our need to revise and update curriculum. However, our district is recovering, and now is the time to bring the courses back and do the work that is required to get them up and functioning.
CRC emphasizes the significance of cultural pluralism (student populations of all ethnic backgrounds’ right to participate in all facets of our educational institution while simultaneously retaining, maintaining, and elaborating their own culture). CRC encourages cultural pluralism with slogans such as “Our Diversity Is Our Strength,” through the existence of clubs and organizations that both celebrate and validate a diverse student body, through campus food fairs, and through celebratory events and festivals like Indigenous People’s week, Festival of Cultures, Black History Month, Women’s History Month and many other engagements. For these reasons, we needed an Ethnic Studies AAT degree. In speaking with CRC’s articulation director, I ascertained that there no Ethnic Studies AAT degree had been developed at the State level. CRC is known for being on the cutting edge, so we have a real opportunity here…
As I realized the remarkable timing and opportunity to develop an Ethnic Studies AAT program, I also realized that the amount of time that I spend mentoring students, updating curriculum, preparing, teaching, creating assignments, and grading each semester did not leave me enough time to do the required and timely work (as listed above) for the creation of an Ethnic Studies AAT degree. Having the time to focus on this task would ensure successful completion of the aforementioned needs. It was this realization that prompted me to request a partial sabbatical for the Spring 2015 semester.
In my sabbatical application, I listed the tasks (activities) that accounted for my release time of .4 FTE.
Review of Tasks:
Additionally, as I ask for .4 of release time, I am aware that I am asking for 16 hours of release
time worked each week for a 16 week semester. This means that I am asking for 256
hours of release time for the entire semester. Listed below is a description of the time
distribution and designation for each of the tasks-in the form of activities, assignments,
research, and meetings-necessary for the creation of an Ethnic Studies AAT program at CRC:
Tasks Total Time Accounted for: 256 hours Time Left:
1. Meeting w/CRC counselors and articulation officers: 20 hours 236 hours
2. Researching Existing Ethnic Studies Programs 20 hours 216 hours
In Los Rios District
3. Research Existing Ethnic Studies 40 hours 176 hours
Programs at neighboring CSUs and UCs
4. Input From Community Organizations 40 hours 136 hours and CA State Museum consultation
5. CRC Librarians Consultation on Materials 10 hours 126 hours
6. Work with CRC Research Office 10 hours 116 hours
7. Curriculum Development 8 hrs per week for 16 weeks 128 hours 0 hours
Activities:
Initial contact was made with CSUs and UCs in Spring 2015 during my Sabbatical. I obtained contact information from several department chairs and program directors. The department chairs, major advisors, and program directors that I formed professional relationships were on the campuses of CSU Sacramento, CSU Stanislaus, San Francisco State University, CSU Chico, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley. The activities included (1) Meeting with the professionals at each community college, CSU and UC (2) Learning of the development of each campus’ Ethnic Studies program so that I could ascertain the conditions that produced the needs of each Ethnic Studies program (3) Explaining CRC’s vision of its Ethnic Studies program (4) Asking questions as to how CRC’s Ethnic Studies program could meet 6-9 units of core requirements in the Ethnic Studies major at each respective institution (5) Obtaining course content materials (i.e. syllabi and textbook materials), program content materials (program catalogs)
As I went from campus to campus, I engaged in the following tasks with (and asked questions of) each of the Program Coordinators, Major Advisors, and Deans at the CSUs and UCs named in my sabbatical and in this report. Below, I’ve listed the questions that generated the discussions per each meeting:
1. Introduction: Introduce myself.
1A. Explain what my purpose is for meeting with them.
2. Explain CRC’s vision of an Ethnic Studies program.
2A. A brief overview of CRC’s Diverse population of Students
3. Get informed About their Ethnic Studies program.
3A. Ask about their curriculum
3B. Obtain copies of syllabi, names of authors of textbooks
3C. Inquire about their learning modalities
3D. Look at the structure of their classrooms
I visited 6 campuses. In order, the campuses that I visited were ARC (in our Los Rios District) CSU Stanislaus, CSU Chico, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, San Francisco State University, and CSU Sacramento
ARC
I met with professor Pam Chao over at ARC. She teaches the Sociology 321 (Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in the U.S.) courses at ARC. She also does workshops and seminars on professional development in the area of race studies. She informed me that she attends the White Privilege conferences alongside advocates for racial equality such as Tim Wise, Michael Eric Dyson, David Roediger, Peggy MacIntosh, Anna Meigs, Cornel West, Michael Messner, and others. How her insight specifically helped me for this sabbatical was where she gave me ideas of how to market the program and/or advertise it to the CRC community. Her suggestions ranged from having authors of contemporary texts and researchers in the field of Ethnic Studies come and speak at CRC to having them do hands on workshops. She told me that she wanted to continue to be a resource for me. I thanked her for her time.
CSU Stanislaus
My contact at CSU Stanislaus was Dr. Sari Miller-Antonio. From her, I learned of the history of the Ethnic Studies program, the ongoing work that they engage in for their colleagues in other Social Science departments to have continued support for the Ethnic Studies program. She gave me a tour of the classrooms, provided me with syllabi, and also referred me to a couple of her colleagues that were unavailable during my visit. She also explained that my visit was timely because they were in the middle of program review for the Ethnic Studies program. She and I agreed that we would remain in contact so that I could tailor CRC’s Ethnic Studies curriculum to meet the requirements in some of the courses they offered for our students pursuing a degree either in Ethnic Studies or in a major specific to an ethnic group (ie. Chicano Studies). This is because we both see the value in community college students being able to have at least 6 G.E. credits going toward their major for whichever CSU or UC they decide to transfer to. I left the campus knowing that she would continue to be an asset in my development of the Ethnic Studies program and curriculum that I developed here at CRC.
CSU Chico
My contact at CSU Chico was Dr. Eugenie Rovai Dr. Rovai is the Director of the Center for Multicultural & Gender Studies. She explained to me that the Ethnic Studies program at CSU Chico has been in existence since the 1960s and in the 1970s it became a Black Studies program. Then some time in the mid to late 90s it became the MCGS (Multi-Cultural-Gender-Studies) program. She provided me with a list of degree patterns that they have developed for incoming freshmen who are interested in majoring in Ethnic Studies or for those whose specific focus is on an ethnic group. As I examined the patterns of courses it became clear that Gender Studies was a regular component of the curriculum for Ethnic Studies. This means that it would be very difficult (if not impossible) to tailor courses in CRC’s Ethnic Studies program to fulfill any of the general education and core classes for the MCGS majors at CSU Chico. CRC’s Ethnic Studies program will have a gender component to them, but the individual courses will not be equally weighted in Gender studies as they are in Ethnic Studies. Dr. Rovai also showed me around campus. She took me to the classrooms so that I could look at their size and access to media stations. She also informed me that they would be doing program reviews for the MCGS major and that she would send me some syllabi. She too was very helpful.
UC Berkeley
The chair of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, Dr. Catherine Ceniza Choy directed me to the following contacts: Lindsey Villareal Herbert, Jan M. Johnson, and Dewey St. Germaine.
Ms. Lindsey Herbert-Program Coordinator for African American Studies
Ms. Lindsey Herbert is the program coordinator for the African American studies department. She gave me a tour of the Barrows Hall which is where courses in African American studies are taught. I got to look at classroom sizes, access to smart rooms and such. What she explained was that there were in fact, other buildings on campus that some of the courses from the program were taught in. However, Barrows Hall was the main building for teaching the majority of the Ethnic Studies courses. I inquired about courses in the African American studies program that could potentially articulate with courses that I would develop as part of CRC’s Ethnic Studies curriculum. She explained that they would be reviewing and revamping courses in the program to meet the direction that the field of Ethnic Studies was moving toward. She named courses such as Research Methods, African American Pop Cultural Influcences, The Black Panther Party Through Popular Culture, The Revolution Will Be Tweeted, and African American Representation in Reality TV. I noticed the specific tailoring of each course and wondered if articulation of one of our CRC courses to one of theirs might be challenging. She also said that she would send me some syllabi and authors of textbooks that they use.