CHAPARRAL

The Senate's Goals for the Year

The Senate has a full agenda this year. The two task forces the Senate created, Research Across the Curriculum (RAC), and Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), which were discussed in my

last article, are up and running. Thus far we are ahead of most campuses on the tasks assigned to the RAC, and that means we can share the Glendale model with the other community colleges. The task force may even want to propose a panel to take to the annual convention of the Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges. Our early start is also beneficial because it engages us in the discussion with the four-year schools. We want our students to be adequately prepared to succeed when they transfer, but we do not want to leave the discussion of standards to the four-year schools.

The WAC also promises to help in several ways. First it will help us look at ways that we can use writing to help students to learn. It will also allow us to explore the different kinds of writing assignments we use besides the term paper and assess the value these provide as forms of evaluation. And we can explore our standards of grading the written work we get from our students. The task force will also be examining the programs that other schools have created to see what we can learn from them. Some schools have had WAC programs for two decades, so we should be able to learn from them.

In short, the task force promises to move us further down the path of academic excellence by engaging us in discussion of the many ways we use writing.

In addition, the Interdisciplinary Studies Task Force, which was working on the creation of team-taught, interdisciplinary studies courses, has reported to the Senate, and the work on this front to create a new program continues. These courses would be distinguished from the Humanities Interdisciplinary Studies Program in that they would not require an instructor of English. In other words, two instructors from different disciplines would team-teach a class.

The Partnership for Excellence Task Force, which helped to guide the Senate's budget representative on the Budget Committee, had to be put to rest because Gray Davis chose not to fund PFE. But the Senate recognizes its interest in the goals set by PFE and its responsibility under AB 1725 to engage in the budget discussion still stands. The issue of budget is of considerable importance because of the anticipated cuts to next year's budget. We anticipate participating in the luncheon meetings Mr. Serot has scheduled in October and November and are developing a Budget Advisory Committee.