CHAPARRAL

What an extraordinary year! Who would have thought that the community college sys­tem would be threatened by pro­posed budget cuts from the governor? What’s included in the governor’s proposed budget is the elimination of all of the $5.2 million Faculty and Staff Development funding, and the reduction of $8 million from Telecommunication and Technology Infrastructure Program (TTIP) funds used for training.

Let me explain the value of Staff Development here at Glendale Com­munity College. The goal of Staff Development is to offer professional and personal development to all our colleagues so that they can be more effective in their college roles. Staff and organizational programs are designed to improve the attitudes, skills, knowledge, and performance of people within our college.

Staff Development has organ­ized and supported professional development for faculty and staff through a number of programs and activities. Examples are as follows:

• Computer training and support (applications, web pages, and  Inter­net)
• Flex calendar program
• Travel and conference budgets and reimbursements
• Health and safety training
• Classified professional achievement growth units for salary advancement or sti­pend
• Tuition re­imbursements
• Innovative Grants

Technology Department
Technology has created a major demand on Staff Devel­opment re­sources. Most institutions recognize the need for staff to be adept at using all available technologies.  It is cru­cial to support the acquisition of new equipment and software with train­ing programs. In addition to up­grading skills, we have provided leadership in demon­strating the true potential of technology in the work and institutional setting. Staff De­velopment has coordinated with the Instructional Technology (IT) de­partment as new programs are imple­mented on campus. The following are examples:

• Computer application training
•  E-mail training
• Internet training
• Web site development
• Technology training as sup­ported by needs assessment
• Multimedia development

Curriculum Development
Curriculum development was shared among depart­ments, pro­grams and other groups, with some support re­quested from Staff Devel­opment. Diversity, educational tech­nology, and across-the-curriculum themes are some of the topics driv­ing curriculum development. Listed are some of the examples or­ganized by Staff Development to support curriculum development.

•   Cultural diversity
•  Conflict resolution
• Various concepts “across the curriculum”, e.g., writing, reading, critical thinking, or computers
• Distance learning

We also evaluate our workshops and activities to deter­mine the effec­tive­ness of our program and various activities.We measure it by deter­min­ing the reaction of our partici­pants, changes in on-the-job behavior, pre- and post-assessment of learning, and impact on student learn­ing.

I am currently working with the California Commu­nity College Council for Staff and Organizational Devel­opment (4C/SD) on putting forward a position paper, along with the Academic Senate and FACCC, to respond to this unforeseen and shocking attack on Staff Develop­ment funding.

I need your help. We need to prove why it is impor­tant to receive these funds for Staff Development. Please take a moment and tell us how Staff Development’s funding for workshops, conference and travel attendance, retreats, tuition reim­bursements, innovative grants, tech­nology training, keynote speakers, etc. has helped to im­prove your skills on the job.

Please respond to our plea ASAP and give us your suggestions on how to persuade our legislators not to eliminate these funds. Thank you for your immediate attention in this matter. z