CHAPARRAL

Briefly, the Senate took actions to:

The implementation of student learning outcomes is taking place at three levels:  individual courses (with which you no doubt have first-hand experience), the program level (which we are just beginning to wrestle with), and the institutional level. The Senate decided that we would use our existing core competencies (which can be accessed from the Senate web page) as the institutional SLOs.  We then decided that the rubric for assessing these SLOs would be an adaptation of Bloom’s taxonomy:  knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Your division senator has a more detailed definition of these terms, if you need them.

This program would allow divisions to hire adjuncts who have not yet attained the minimum qualifications under certain conditions, which is permitted under state law.  The goal here was to allow the recruitment of persons who were within one year of fulfilling the requirements of minimum qualifications. Tenured faculty would mentor such adjuncts and they would be permitted to work for only one year, until they complete the minimum qualifications. The Senate is presently considering a motion to restrict these hires to disciplines where there is a shortage of qualified faculty or to build a diverse faculty. The motion would also authorize the first vice president of the Senate to oversee the hiring and mentoring of such adjuncts.

In 2005, a Student Equity plan was written and a Senate subcommittee was established to monitor and promote equity. The reconvened committee will reexamine the plan and make a recommendation for a mission statement for the committee and evaluate whether a Student Equity coordinator with released time is in order.

The Senate voted to extend the Hiring Procedures for Adjunct Faculty policy (Administrative Regulation 4110.1) to one-year temporary contracts.  The Senate also indicated that the emergency provision of the policy (section VI of the regulation) should not be used for these one-year temporary contracts. This will involve the adoption of an amendment of the regulation by the College Executive committee.

Last academic year, a Senate task force recommended that steps be taken to strengthen division chairs.  The report suggested that new chairs be mentored before they assume their duties and, as a corollary, recommended that the election of chairs take place six months before they begin their terms.  The task force also recommended the division chair manual be revised and updated.  A provision for division chair evaluation was rendered moot by changes in the Guild contract.

The Administration has asked for Senate input on several Board policies. The Senate’s viewpoint now goes to Campus Executive and eventually to the Board for its final decision. Among the Senate’s responses to these policies are the following:

• A revision of the policy on Freedom of Speech (BP 5410) to include language protecting the academic freedom of faculty and the right of students to study controversial issues.

• A rejection of a new Board policy on Nursing Programs that recommended a new method for selecting nursing students.  The Nursing Division believes that its present method is superior to the proposed one (which was derived from a new state law, AB 1559.)

The Senate passed a motion reminding hiring committees that whenever they make a decision about a job applicant’s claim for an equivalency to the minimum qualifications, such decisions must be referred to the first vice president of the Senate.  Equivalency decisions typically are made when applicants do not have the specified Master’s or Bachelor’s degree (or work experience) required to teach in the discipline but claim they have the equivalent to that degree or experience.  Please note:  if the applicant claims to have the minimum qualifications, and the materials in the application corroborate this, these applications do not have to be forwarded to the Senate.  It is just the equivalency decisions that need to be checked.
 

The college is considering a partnership with Glendale Unified, where a cohort of Glendale high school students will simultaneously pursue their Associate degree while they are in high school.  The task force will look at the 15 other California community colleges that have this program and make recommendations about which program, if any, the college should adopt.

Make a contribution to Larry Serot’s retirement party.

Upcoming items awaiting action include:

• Recommending the maximum number of hours a student should be in the classroom per day (covering lecture, lab, and training).  The object of this motion is in particular a shortened program such as study abroad.  This is proving to be a complex calculation, so stay tuned to see if we can figure it out.

• Create Engineering and Interdisciplinary Studies disciplines.

• Propose an amendment to the new Web policy protecting the academic freedom of faculty.

     If you have questions about these policies or want to understand the terms of debate that led to their adoption, talk to your division senator or any of the senators to get more details, or contact me at senpres@glendale.edu or by phone at ext. 5394. Better yet, if you’ve never seen the Senate at work, drop in on our meetings at Los Robles 105 on the 1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of the month from 1:15 to 3:00 p.m..  It’s not quite like watching the production of sausages, but it can be an eye-opening experience as we consider the place of various policies within the context of our mission of teaching and learning.  

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