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Think of the
Glendale College Academic Senate as a car— a very special 1928
Porter convertible, built around the time our institution was
founded. |
Its president is the driver, its executive board is the
transmission, and its task forces are the cylinders that drive the
engine; individual task force members are the spark plugs. Last
academic year, we had a fourteen-cylinder engine, each cylinder working
hard to do the tasks that maintain our academic and professional
standards. I’d like to discuss each of these task forces, and describe
what they accomplished, or what they will strive to accomplish as we
travel through this academic year. Jerry Van Dyke would be proud of
us. Now, let’s look at each of the fourteen cylinders of our engine.
Instructional Hiring Policy
The Instructional Hiring Policy Committee had a mission to
finalize changes to the full-time and part-time hiring allocation policy
for our college, delineating the criteria upon which full-time faculty
positions are prioritized, and streamlining part-time hires. The
committee continues to work with division chairs to tune up the language
of the policy. As of this date, the committee will soon report their
final recommendations to the Senate.
Faculty Orientation
This task force is idling. The Senate will shortly decide
whether it will truly begin its work this fall. The mission of the task
force would be to work with Staff Development and Human Resources to
create a comprehensive support plan for a new faculty orientation.
Exceptional Adjunct Faculty Award
The Distinguished Faculty Award for full-time faculty began
in 1987. Yet, we have never had an award honoring an Exceptional
Adjunct Faculty (EAF) member. This task force set up the criteria and
mechanism for an annual EAF Award, recognizing the outstanding
contributions of our vital GCC Adjunct Faculty. Senate Executive is now
working on a time-line, and will present its first EAF Award this year.
Phil Kazanjian, former Board of Trustees member and adjunct faculty
member, has funded the award for this academic year; Phil is now a
full-time faculty member. In subsequent years, the Foundation will fund
the EAF award.
Senate Brochure
The mission of this task force is to develop a brochure
about our Senate, a brochure to be used as part of the orientation
packet for new senators, and as information for all senators and
faculty. While the brochure was created last year, the Senate did not
approve it; it is currently in the process of revision, and should be
finished this fall to advertise our model senate.
Planning Policy
The goal of this task
force was to describe governance committee structure and leadership,
including how committees are constituted and how committee chairs are
selected. Its goal was also to devise a new committee structure to
attend to the multiple aspects of planning, including not only the
Educational Master Plan, but also the facilities and administrative
aspects of planning. The task force’s goals were completed last year.
Faculty Sensitivity to Cultural Diversity
The mission of this task force is to review the curricula now
offered at GCC with respect to the cultural diversity requirements of
the Chancellor’s Office, and to assess whether GCC is providing courses
that adequately prepare students to live and function in a culturally
diverse world. Based on its findings, the task force came up with
recommended revisions to our current curricula. Another charge of the
task force is to develop and provide information and motivation to our
faculty to promote the understanding, acceptance, and celebration of the
cultural diversity of our institution. The task force continues to meet
and review what other colleges are doing; it hopes to report back to
the Senate this fall.
College Services Hiring Allocations
Similar to the Instructional Hiring Task Force, this committee
created a hiring prioritization procedure parallel to that for
Instruction. The work of the committee is being finalized. The Senate
needs to schedule time with College Services to create a College
Services Hiring Allocations Committee. Currently, there is no policy in
place at a higher level to allocate positions to College Services.
Sunset-Enhancement Program Policy
This task force finished its work last year. It developed
the state-mandated guidelines and processes for program
discontinuance/enhancement. It has already been implemented with
programs meeting the criteria of the policy. The State Academic Senate
recently asked for a copy our Sunset-Enhancement Program Policy to serve
as a model for other community colleges; it is a policy of which we can
be proud.
Mutual Gains
The goal of this
committee is to revise the Mutual Gains Document, a document that
establishes the division of AB 1725 responsibilities (the bill that
delineates the legal purview of local Academic Senates) assigned to the
GCC Senate and Academic Affairs. The document, originally approved in
1993, does not reflect the current realities of the shared
responsibilities within our governance structure. Therefore, the
committee will tune up the document to reflect current practices. It is
important that the new wording is agreeable to Academic Affairs.
Non-Contractual Grievance
Simply stated, non-contractual grievance is any grievance
outside the purview of our Guild-negotiated contract. It would include
faculty-faculty, faculty-administrator, and faculty-staff grievances.
The goal is to create a non-contractual grievance policy with a
conflict-resolution structure and agenda. Although it was initiated
some years ago, the task force should begin its work in earnest this
fall. Not trying to reinvent the wheel, it will first peruse policies
at other community colleges.
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
The goal of this committee, a very important cylinder, is to
find new ways to improve student learning. The assessment of SLOs
redirects institutional and individual attention away from the planned
curriculum and toward the learned curriculum and its outcomes. It is
the major focus of the new accreditation standards by which we will be
judged. The SLO committee believes that the student learning outcomes
for each program on campus should be faculty driven. Moreover, it
believes that the selection and evaluation of SLOs should emerge from
the faculty. The SLO committee, a long-standing task force, will help
to facilitate the implementation of SLOs on our campus, and coordinate
workshops to help individual faculty and programs. Like the Auto Club,
it will help faculty and programs map their journey toward SLO
implementation.
Mentoring on a Tenure Committee
The Senate is legally responsible for the tenure process.
To date, however, no specific guidelines have been written regarding the
role of the mentor in assisting the tenure candidate with the three-year
Professional Growth Plan, and in encouraging tenure candidates
throughout the tenure process. This idle task force will rev up this
fall.
Mentoring Adjunct Faculty
The goal of this task force is to develop a policy for
mentoring adjunct faculty, modeled on the already successful ESL and
Math adjunct mentoring programs. Recommendations to the Senate are
forthcoming.
Culturally Diverse Faculty
The last WASC accreditation report admonished GCC for not
encouraging and maintaining a faculty that represents the ethnic
diversity of its student population. This task force will investigate
ways of attracting and nurturing a more culturally diverse faculty.
While this committee has already presented a report to the Senate, it
still has more work to do.
More Cylinders on the Horizon
Additional cylinders may soon be added to our powerful
engine. A task force investigating a universal policy regarding how
long faculty must keep final exams and unreturned papers and projects
may soon be in commission. Yet another task force should be up and
running to think of ways to make our impending “Administrative
Transition” as smooth as possible. And a third new task force, Core
Competencies, will soon begin its work.
Your
Help Is Needed
Jump upon our running board. The members of each task force
are the spark plugs that ignite our task forces with their passion; with
their hard work and ideas, they move our Senate the Car forward. We
need all the spark plugs we can get to help operate our massive
professional and academic vehicle. Please join our important journey.
The direction our college takes depends on those who steer our Senate,
and those who supply it with the energy to move forward.
I would like to thank Joe Dehart, former
Senate 2nd Vice President, for providing much of the
information for this article. &
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