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Minutes
Academic Senate Meeting
October 13, 2011
Present: Barry Andrews, Jeffrey Archibald, Holly Cannon, Kate Cannon, Michael Dowdle, Ralph Eastman, Tom Edson, Tim Engle, Edwin Estes, Kelly Ford, Jennifer Galbraith, LeAnn Garrett, Jennifer Garwick, Kamran Golestaneh, Barbara Gonzales, Vicki Greco, Michelle Grimes-Hillman, Scott Guth, Dirk Hagner, Laurie Hartman, Alina Hernandez, Luisa Howell, Jonathan Hymer, Bonnie Jeffers, Akram Khan, Eric Kaljumagi, Tamara Karn, Paul Kittle, Erica Ledezma, Beta Meyer, Monique Neel, Sarah Plesetz, Liesel Reinhart, Hector Sanchez, Michael Sanetrick, Dan Smith, James Stone, April Tellez, Antoine Thomas, Rebecca Walker, Liz Ward, Lance Wilcher, Randy Wilson, Tina Ziolkowski.
Absent: Janna Brink, Glenda Bro, Ema Burman, Jason Chevalier, Kelly Coreas, Marlene Gallarde, Lance Heard, Max Lizarraga, Martin Mason, Richard McGowan, Amy Nakamura, Charlie Newman, Jennifer Peiten, Robert Rogus, Michelle Sampat, Kathy Watanabe, Kisha Williamson, Paula Young.
Guests:
I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 11:40am.
II. Consent Agenda:
A. Approval of Minutes – September 29, 2011.
B. Approval of C & I Report – September 29, 2011
C. Academic Integrity Task Force Appointments: Tom Edson, Paul Kittle, Jimmy Tamayo, Anna Mc Kennon, Linda Rogus, Jean Metter, Susie Chen
III. Public Comment:
A. Barbara Gonzales spoke regarding AB 1143: I want to call your attention to the draft of recommendations made by the California Community Colleges Student Success Task Force. The task force was created through AB 1143 (2010). (It can be viewed at) http://www.cccco.edu/ChancellorsOffice/TaskForceonStudentSuccess/tabid/1894/Default.aspx. Please read this document. If accepted as written, Mt. SAC will be changed in ways that may not be best for our student population. Some of the recommendations, when standing alone, may seem logical and useful. However, taken as a whole, these recommendations will suck the community right out of our college. I want to read for you a portion of an e-mail written by Sun Ezzell, a professor in LAC. “The recommendations would not only change the mission of Mt. SAC to serve all students and help all students achieve their goals (including personal, not just educational and career), but seem to create a vocational school/junior college that is focused on pathways to careers, rather than allowing students the freedom to explore and discover their interests. A video making the rounds right now is Steve Jobs' graduation speech at Stanford in 2005 in which he talks about the freedom of dropping out of college and how it allowed him to drop in on classes that weren't practical, but in which he was interested. He took calligraphy because it was interesting and beautiful and because he had the freedom to follow his interests. It wasn't part of an education plan. It wasn't part of a pathway. If he had been in the community college system envisioned by the SSTF, he would have lost his priority registration for taking such a class. But ten years and a multi-billion dollar company later, he could look back and connect the dots: if he dropped out and gained the freedom to follow his heart, he would never have taken calligraphy at Reed College, and computers today wouldn't have the variety of beautiful fonts that they do--and that makes them the ideal computer for artists and innovators today. (The speech can be viewed at) http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html. Don't all our students deserve the freedom to follow their hearts, their intuition, their curiosity? Don't all our students have the right to explore their interests? How can F.A. and A.S. protect students' rights? How can F.A. and A.S. protect faculty rights to design and implement curriculum? How can a task force of 21 people--3 of whom are teachers--be allowed to change the mission, purpose, and role of 112 community Colleges?” Our Senate President Eric Kaljumagi stated as part of his response to Sun, “…for it is the Senate that organizes the discussion of curriculum and student success.” I ask this body our Academic Senate to be the leaders in the scrutiny and the response to this document, to these recommendations. WE have a small window of time to voice concerns. We have until November 9th to get our collective act together and question and respond with recommendations of our own. I call upon the Senate Exec and Legislative Liaison to please create a campus forum for discussion and action as soon as possible.
IV. Officer Reports
A. President:
1. Academic Mutual Agreement Council: AMAC met on 26 September and discussed Degree Works implementation, budgets for outcomes work, the MoodleRooms migration and the Academic Integrity Taskforce. We were informed that our first two AA-T degrees (Communication and Psychology) now have full approval by the Chancellor’s Office. We also discussed the AP on Course Equivalencies and Variances, which will now be taken to President’s Cabinet for consideration. In addition, AMAC finalized the call for faculty hiring email, which was sent to department chairs on 26 September. AMAC also met on 10 October. Details of this meeting will be in my next report.
2. Equivalency Committee: The Equivalency Committee met on 26 September to train its members and to consider the equivalencies submitted since late spring. Equivalencies for Journalism and Radiologic Technology were recommended to C & I, but a proposal from CIS was returned. The Equivalency Committee will meet next on 24 October.
3. President’s Advisory Council: PAC met on 5 October. Details of this meeting will be in my next report.
4. Institutional Effectiveness Committee: IEC met on 28 September and began its review of this year’s proposed strategic plan. Considerable discussion also occurred regarding the TracDAT software that is used for our ePIE process. This work continued at IEC’s next meeting on 12 October.
5. Exemplary Program Award:
a The State Academic Senate has announced the call for nominations for this year's Exemplary Program Award. The Foundation for California Community Colleges will again fund the Exemplary Program Award. As many as two California community college programs will receive cash awards of $4,000 and up to four programs will receive honorable mention plaques. This award offers an excellent opportunity to showcase exceptional programs, and Mt. SAC has won the award in the past.
b In order to enlarge and enliven the pool of recipients, the Academic Senate selects annual themes in keeping with the award’s traditions. The theme for 2011-2012 is Student Success: Programs Engaging First-year Students. The focus of the award will be on those programs that engage and serve incoming first year students to provide them with services and/or instruction tailored to identify their needs and prepare them in ways that increase student retention and persistence. Innovation, integration and adaptation based upon sound research are the keystones to successful applications.
c Information regarding the award was sent to all faculty via email on 6 October. Completed applications must be received in the local Academic Senate Office by 5:00 p.m. on October 26, 2011. The Senate Exec. Board will then select our college's nominee to forward to the State. The State selection committee will complete the review process by early December, and winners will be honored at the January 10, 2012 Board of Governors meeting.
B. Vice President: There was no report.
V. Legislative Liaison: (ASCCC Delegate):
A. AB 743 Passes: Governor Brown signed AB 743 on October 8. AB 743 will establish uniform placement exams in Math and English. In a message released by the Governor, he stated he was signing the bill “with the understanding that because of the state’s severe budget problems there will be no state funds available for this program. I encourage the Chancellor to seek federal or private funds to pay for the common assessment program envisioned by this bill.” The lack of funding will certainly delay implementation of the exams. It is expected that AB 743 will be addressed during the state Academic Senate Plenary in November.
B. AB 636 Passes: Removes the requirement that a student on a military deployment must meet the withdrawal deadline in order to receive a refund for tuition and fees.
C. AB 288 Vetoed: Would have authorized the governing board or designee(s), of a district to deny, permit, or place conditions on the enrollment of an individual who has been expelled from a community college within the preceding 5 years, or who is undergoing expulsion procedures for certain offenses. In his veto message the Governor asked the Chancellor and the BOG to work with local districts on a way to formulate a way to share information about student expulsions.
D. AB 1310 Vetoed: This bill would have required the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development to collaborate with the Chancellor’s Office, California Workforce Investment Board, CSU, UC, CDE and other agencies on the development of a strategic plan for connecting education and workforce development.
E. Area C Meeting: The State Academic Senate’s Area C meeting will take place on October 22 at Rio Hondo College. During this meeting the local college representatives will review proposed resolutions for the state plenary, and develop new resolutions as needed.
F. The State Academic Senate’s Fall Plenary session will be held from November 3-5 in San Diego. Mt. SAC will have four representatives in attendance.
VI. Faculty Association:
A. AP 3270 Use of Technology and Information Resources: At the last Representative Council meeting the Council voted to send AP 3270 back to the committee that developed it. There were concerns voiced regarding the inconsistencies with the AP and what was written in the Acceptable Use Agreement, which was going to be removed from the AP. Also of concern was the section on closed captioning and whose responsibility it is to caption as well as what options are available. Finally, there was an issue with the social media responsibilities.
B. Insurance Committee: The Insurance Committee is currently looking at endorsing a Long Term Care provider. This would be a college-endorsed plan that individuals would have the option of voluntarily signing up for. The District is not considering providing the funds for the college to pay for this for all faculty.
C. Pay dates for Overload and Intersessions: The Executive Board reviewed options provided by HR and Payroll on pay dates for overload and intersessions. They made a recommendation that will go to Representative Council, along with all of the options, at the meeting on November 1.
D. Budget Committee: At the Budget Committee meeting yesterday the committee started to review a process for reducing the expenditures of the District. Presented to the committee were the following items being discussed in President’s Cabinet: adhere to the Faculty Obligation Number, reduce categorical backfill, suspend contribution to OPEB (Other Post-Employee Benefits) funds, restructure RR BAN (Bond Anticipation Notes) for additional IT and scheduled maintenance needs, review stand-alone course offerings and low-performing academic programs, use ending balance for ongoing operation budget.
VII. Associated Students: Student representative Akram Khan noted that
A. A new Smoking Ban survey will be conducted
B. Auditions are now open for “Mt. SAC's Got Talent!” Hosted by Associated Students of Mt. SAC. To audition, visit Edwin Romero in the Student Life Office (building 9C) by Thursday, October 27, 2011, 4:00 p.m. or contact him by email: . We are looking for a variety of talents: singing, dancing, acting, comedy, poetry etc.. Prizes include $200 for 1st Place, $150 for 2nd Place, and $125 for 3rd place. All Mt. SAC students, faculty and staff are welcome at the event, which will be on Thursday, November 4, from 5:00pm - 7:00pm at the building 9C Patio. Free food for students with a current Student Activities sticker will be served.
C. AS recently held a Health Fair.
VIII. Council/Committee Reports
A. Curriculum and Instruction:
1. Committees
a Continuing Education: No report.
b Distance Learning: Minutes: August 30, 2011.
c Educational Design: Minutes: September 13 and September 20, 2011.
d Educational Design Sub-committee for General Education and Transfer Issues: No report.
e Equivalencies: No report.
f Outcomes: No report.
2. Information
a EDC members completed mandatory stand-alone training on 20 September 2011
b Special projects honors courses were denied because it is not clear how they differed from existing special projects courses.
c Stand-alone course approval discussion
d New course proposals for 2011-12 are available on the Mt. SAC portal
3. Consent:
a CHLD 11 Child and Adolescent Development (3 units): Examines major physical, psychosocial, cognitive, language and brain developmental processes prenatal through adolescence. Emphasis on developmental theory, research methodologies, maturational processes and environmental factors. Meets Title 22 and Title V requirements for the Child Development Permit. TB test, out-of-class observations and interviews required. Note: Required for Associate in Science degree in Early Childhood Education for Transfer. From the Child Development Department meeting minutes of November 29, 2010.
b Request for prefix change from EDT to IDE (Industrial Design Engineering) from the Architecture and Engineering Design Technology Department (a handout was distributed)
4. Action
a Recommend task force for modifying AA degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences with an Emphasis in Kinesiology and Wellness
b College Catalog Task Force Recommendations
B. Student Preparation and Success Council Report:
1. Information
a The Council reviewed and determined appropriate actions that should be taken regarding the State Senate resolutions that were adopted at the Spring 2011 Plenary Session:
· 5.02 Incentives to Encourage Effective Student Behaviors for Success-sent to SP&S Student Success Taskforce
· 8.01 Title 5 change to clarify Role of Advisors and Para-professionals in Counseling-Referred to the Counseling Department
· 15.01 Intersegmental Issues- No action deemed needed at this time
· 18.02 Matriculation-Drop/withdrawal policies- Resolution going to Senate Exec.
· 18.03 Matriculation-Collection Drop-9 Withdrawal Data- Not deemed a priority at this time
· 18.05 Limiting Repetitions and W’s - Currently being worked on
b Counseling Intervention Plan update was presented. Original process has not yet been implemented. Senate needs to follow-up on this.