I. Call to Order/Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by President Don Cordero at 1:30 p.m. Senators present: Lois Carroll (ISS, Ext. 3226), Betty Christopher (Comm Serv., Ext. 3341),Don Cordero (Pres/Counseling, Ext.. 3142), Judy Hooper (Student Services, Ext. 3146), Mike McKenna (AAS, Ext. 2752), Peggy Messerschmidt (Communications, Ext. 3415), Cliff Monroe (Technology, Ext. 3349), Diane Pette (Student Services, Ext. 3138), Clint Poe (Natural Science, Ext. 3436), Joan Powers (ESL, Ext. 3401), Helayna Thickpenny (CATA, Ext. 3368), Karl Ting (Math, Ext. 3442), and Wilbert Xu (Social Science, Ext. 3447). Also Present: Husam Asfoor (ASB Rep), Chica Brown (ASB Rep), and Diane Lamkin, Chair of Curriculum Committee. Guests Present: Chris Olson and Regina Stanback-Stroud.

II. Approval of the Minutes

A. The minutes for the December 12, 1997, meeting of the Mission College Academic Senate were accepted and approved (M/S/U - Hooper/Ting) as submitted.

B. The minutes for the December 5, 1996, joint meeting of the District Academic Senate and the ACE Executive Council were accepted and approved (M/S/U - Ting/Powers) as submitted.

III. Order of the Agenda

The following changes were made to today's agenda:

Item VIII.A would be the first items of discussion after Oral Communication from the public.

IV. Oral Communication from the Public

There was no oral communication from the public at today's meeting.

VIII. New Business

A. Report on New Method for CC Measurement of Transfer Effectiveness

Chris Olson reported that measuring institutional effectiveness has been done primarily by looking at student transfer rates. Various state agencies focus on the transfer issue as a measure of community college effectiveness. In practice, community colleges admit more than just transferring students to UC and CSU. The measure of transfer effectiveness that has been used throughout the state has been the transfer number, reported by the UC and CSU system, and the transfer rate. Chris itemized the difficulties that this measure entails. If students take their last class or two at another community college, that college becomes the transfer college and it is credited as being the transfer school. Chris distributed a report for the Senator's information.

The research community in the state has arrived at a more meaningful measure of transfer effectiveness called the "transfer ready rate." Chris developed a paper in the last year, and he was successful in involving Mission College in a state-wide transfer ready pilot project that took place approximately two years ago. This ready transfer rate puts Mission College in the top third of the distribution against other transfer oriented institutions. Mission College's transfer rate has always been very low, but using the transfer ready rate, Mission College shows an excellent job of preparing for transfer those students who indicate they are transfer oriented and have a committed transfer role. We are doing very well on the transfer ready rate compared to other colleges, and we need to work on the transfer directed rate. Recent studies indicate that both numbers have increased significantly. This report provides an opportunity for Mission College to focus its energy and resources into this transfer pipeline. The transfer ready rate is a much more useful statistic for Mission College, and the state Chancellor's office has accepted this measure and will include this form of measure in future state accountability reports. Chris will keep the Senate apprised on the status of Mission College.

V. Information & Announcements

1. Each member of the Mission College Academic Senate introduced her/himself to Regina Stanback-Stroud, the new Dean of Workforce/Matriculation. Regina proceeded to provide the Senators with a recap of her background as a Nursing instructor at Rancho Santiago. She became very active in the Senate at the college level, and then the state level, serving in a number of positions including the state Senate's Presidency. She strongly recommended participation in the state Academic Senate conferences where one can experience the selective wisdom of the faculty from throughout the state, which comes through in the debates and is carried forth in the resolutions. She was serving as immediate past President of the state Academic Senate and Chair of the Educational Policies Committee just prior to coming to Mission College.

In order to determine the direction she will take in her position as Dean of Workforce and Matriculation, she wants to know what the faculty support, what their positions are on various issues. Her perspective is that it is her responsibility to provide administrative support to the faculty to be able to carry out their programs and services. There are several topics she would like to discuss and ask the Senate to consider.

a) Matriculation - Regina is willing to make a regular report on Matriculation, if the Academic Senate has concerns regarding matriculation and is interested in the matriculation plan and budget. Student success matters are clearly an academic and professional matter, and she would like to follow through and keep the Senate apprised of matriculation matters. She wants to ensure an Academic Senate tie-in and connection to matriculation. Matriculation is the ultimate academic and professional matter in an institution of higher learning. The various components of matriculation are all matters that affect student preparation and success. She asked that the Academic Senate identify to what extent it wishes to be involved, either through representatives or regular matriculation update reports to the Academic Senate.

b) Prerequisites - She expressed her concerns relative to prerequisites, indicating that there are apparent discrepancies between the two colleges relative to prerequisites for some courses. She has established the view that if Mission College faculty have set a course as a pre-requisite, that faculty decision must be honored and not be over-ridden. There is a position, recently vacated by DeeDee Bicocca, that is responsible for the schedule of the validation process. The position is allocated .5 release time, and Regina asked the Senate to appoint a faculty member to this position by whatever process the Senate uses.

c) Vocational Education - There is much work to be done with workforce preparation and the college and Senate will be faced with the task of determining the design and direction of workforce preparation. In her view, it is important that everyone has participated in the formation of the college's Strategic Plan.

d) Welfare Reform - The welfare reform has tremendous implications. She anticipates that the Senate will work with her on this matter. She noted that the college pays attention to the relationship between business and industry and pays attention to its responsibility to its community. There is also a part of the community that will be very affected by the welfare reform that will be in need of training and education. Those affected will have one year to get a job, to obtain training, etc. There are many resources here, but it will take creativity. For example, we need to consider short term certificate programs. It doesn't necessarily mean a dilution of the programs the college offers at this time, but we need to consider how we can serve this population effectively. She will work with the Academic Senate to determine what the strategic plan should be for the college in working with the welfare population.

e) Vocational Education Leadership Institute - This institute was designed to ensure that faculty had an opportunity to know all the regulations that affect vocational education, to know what their rights and responsibilities in the vocational education area, to know the state's direction, to know what resources are available, etc. The institute will be held in San Jose, March 14 -15, 1997, and all expenses are paid through grant funding for five faculty members.

f) Development of Middle School Grants - Regina noted that there is $145,000/year available from the Development of Middle School Grants. This year's deadline has past, and she is preparing to apply for next year. She reported that the Santa Clara Unified School District is interested in the middle school concept with our college. Anyone interested in working on this project can discuss the matter with Cliff Monroe. She offered administrative support to anyone who wants to work on this grant. She also noted that the deadlines for new grants in Economic Development grants and VATEA grants.

2. Update Report on 20th Year Celebration was postponed to a future meeting.

3. Dr. Rao reported on the most recent agreement as to how the student center and the portable units will be configured in order to ensure the preservation of the burrowing owl habitat on campus. The final decision should be announced by next week. Mike encouraged everyone to explore the plans for the Student Center building itself.

VI. Administrative Business/Actions/Appointments

A. Staff Recognition - No motions were made at today's meeting.

B. Appoint Faculty to MC Sign Committee - The Senators appointed Clint Poe and Duane Overby to the Sign Committee (M/S/U - McKenna/Thickpenny).

C. Reaffirm Role & Responsibilities of AS Senators - Don asked the Senators to consider how they view their role and responsibility as a Senator. He would like very much to discuss this at next week's meeting.

VII. Old Business

A. Discuss Resolution Related to Inactivity of ChAdCo/District Academic Senate

As directed by the District Academic Senate, a resolution regarding the inactivity of the Chancellor's Advisory Committee has been drafted. Don reported that the West Valley College Academic Senate passed the following resolution this Tuesday. The Senators were asked to consider adoption of the resolution. A motion was made to consider adoption of the following resolution (M/S/U - Pette/Thickpenny):

Whereas, An effective shared governance procedure will advance the educational mission of both West Valley College and Mission College; and

Whereas, The Chief Executive Officer of the West Valley-Mission Community College District is responsible for achieving quality management of resources and staff that support the educational mission of the colleges; and

Whereas, An effective procedure that includes representatives of all the stake holders in the district is already in place, known as the Chancellor's Advisory Council (ChAdCo); but

Whereas, ChAdCo has been reduced to a Board agenda review committee; and

Whereas, When a ChAdCo meeting takes place, the decisions to place items on the agenda for presentation to the Board have already been made; and

Whereas, The agenda has already been sent to the Board and no meaningful discussion is possible because of the short time line; Therefore,

Be It Resolved, That a sub-committee of ChAdCo bring forward a revised timeline for Board agenda preparation , and Therefore,

Be It Further Resolved, That the original intent of ChAdCo be reinstated as a milieu for meaningful discussion on changes in policy, procedures, expenditures and other matters that involve decision making at the District level.

The Senators unanimously adopted the above resolution as amended. Don reported that at this time, there is no shared governance process at the district level, the primary reason given is that we have two new college administrations and the details have not yet been resolved. Don reported that a copy of the above resolution has been sent to Dr. Tseng and Rose has indicated that she plans to hold a workshop on February 18, 1997, to discuss the re-establishment of ChAdCo.

B. Update Report on Changes in Division Chair Structure

The Senate's motion at the December 12, 1996, meeting recommended the reduction of the PE/Business/Engineering Division. Lee Callaway, Dean of Instruction, has dispersed the faculty in the division as follows: PE is under CATA, Business is under the Commercial Services and Technology divisions, and Engineering is under the Math Division. OIG will consider revisions in the division chair structure, which includes two requests for two additional administrators: one from Student Services and one from Instructional Support Services. Jim Van Tassel has been assigned as an administrative assistant to Lee Callaway for this semester in addition to teaching his classes.

C. Consider Request for Senate's Support for Flex Day Workshop in Intervention and Retention

In December, Carol Topple asked the Senate to support a flex day workshop in Intervention and Retention. The Senate opted to postpone a decision until it was determined as to whether or not other suggestions were submitted. Don reported that no other groups have asked to participate on the April 18 Flex Day, and he encouraged the Senators to support this workshop. The following motion (M /S - Pette/Thickpenny) was made:

"The Mission College Academic Senate supports the efforts of the Retention Committee to have a Flex Day Workshop on April 18, 1997, that will center on retention strategies for faculty and staff."

It was noted that most faculty have completed their flex day obligation, and there was some concern as to whether or not there will be enough participation to warrant the expense. Diane stated that it is the anticipation of the committee that people will be willing to give the time for such an important activity. In addition, this will provide an opportunity for "front line" people to participate. Some faculty have expressed concern that there will not be an alternative activity for those who did not want to spend the entire day on retention. Don expressed his view that it is part of the Senate's role to establish the educational directions for the college, and this workshop is a critical step in the accomplishment of that goal.

The Senators unanimously passed the above motion.

VIII. New Business

B. Discuss Role, Membership, & Charge of Joint. Senate/ACE Committee on Overload for New Faculty Hires

This item was postponed to the next meeting.

C. Review & Discuss Draft of MC Shared Governance Policy/First Reading

This policy has been drafted to determine how decisions are to be made throughout the college. It is the Senate's intent to bring the document to all other constituent groups on the campus. It was suggested that a one page summary of the document be included in the minutes, and Peggy and Don will meet to prepare a summary. Don strongly urged the Senators to disseminate the information on the policy to their constituencies and bring back any recommendations and/or concerns to the Senate for consideration at next week's meeting. In the meantime, the Senators will discuss the matter with their constituencies.

At this time Don requested that the Senators consider a list of future agenda items for prioritization. He will send each Senator a list of the Senate's goals for this year to review.

IX. Reports -

1. Balance of Curriculum Committee Report - There will be a meeting on February 7, at West Valley College. The committee will prepare recommendations for the Senate to consider.

2. College Budget Advisory Committee Report - No Report

3. District Budget Advisory Committee Report - No Report

4. Report on ASB Resolution on Faculty Positions - No Report

5. Others - None

X. Correspondence, Publications, & Announcements

Correspondence, publications, and announcements will be listed on another set of minutes.

XI. Future Agenda Items

No future agenda items were added at today's meeting.

A motion to adjourn was passed unanimously (M/S/U - Pette/Thickpenny) at 3:30 p.m.. These minutes are respectfully submitted by Grace Hazán, Academic Senate Secretary.