Mission College Academic Senate

Ext. 5413

Unapproved Minutes

Thursday, October 21, 2004

I. Call to Order/Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by President Alex Braun at 2:10 p.m.

Senators	A	P	Senators	A	P
Braun (Ext. 5355) Pres/Tech		X	Lavallo (Ext. 5399) Math		X
Brichko (Ext. 5222) CATA		X	Martin (Ext. 5356) Tech.		X
Charland (Ext. 5046) Stud. Dev.		X	McKay (Ext. 5312) Comm		X
Cogswell (Ext. 5388) AAS		X	Musat (Ext. 5331) Math		X
Cox (Ext.5164) CommSvc		X	Perlas (Ext. 5041) Stud.Dev.		X
Dooley (Ext. 5379) AAS		X	Rath (Ext. 5413) AF/CIT	X
Harris (Ext. 5796) AF/Comm		X	Smebye (Ext. 5305) CommServ		X
Kashima (Ext. 5319) ESL		X	Szabados (Ext.5289) CATA		X
Laird (Ext. 5186) SocSci	X		Zeisler (Ext. 5426) Comm		X
ASB Rep. O.Vidaurre		X	ASB Rep. D. Vidaurre		X
			Guests: J.DelFrate		X

II. Approval of the Minutes

The minutes for the meeting of October 14, 2004 were accepted and approved with the following addition and correction (M/S/U – Charland/Martin):

Page 2, Item VI.C, add #3 (Committee Appointments) – Information Competency Task Force:

3. Information Competency Task Force – Judie Smith, the current Chair of this committee will be gone for some time this semester and has requested that Erlinda Estrada be allowed to serve in her place until she returns. Erlinda, currently serving as the Interim Library Director will return to faculty status once the position is filled. Senator Cox indicated that the members of the task force recommend Erlinda be permitted to serve as Chair. The Senators unanimously approved Erlinda’s temporary appointment to the task force as Chair (M/S/U – Cogswell/Szabados).

Page 5, Item VIII.B (Consider District Program Review Task Force), second paragraph, first sentence corrected as indicated:

“After some discussion, it was stated that there does not seem to be any advantage to combining the efforts of the two colleges, particularly since the Mission College Academic Senate has proposed a campus-wide planning effort to review programs and project into the future on budget issues, faculty, equipment, and curriculum.”

III. Order of the Agenda

It was agreed (M/S/U – Cox/Charland)a that Item VIII.B will immediately follow Oral Reports in order to accommodate Judie DelFrate.

IV. Oral Communication from the Public

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

V. Information & Announcements

1. President Braun announced that the next District Academic Senate meeting will be held on November 9, 2004, at West Valley College in the Board Room at 2:05 p.m. Items on the agenda will include: 1) the resolution of no confidence in the Chancellor, 2) the Faculty Hiring Policy, 3) the Kuwait project, 4) the District Program Modification Policy, and 5) to be determined.

2. Faculty volunteers are needed to assist in distributing information on Measure H. Anyone interested in serving should contact Peter Anning.

3. A joint meeting of the Division Chair Council and the Academic Senate will take place in November to consider faculty hiring priorities.

VI. Administrative Business/Actions/Appointments

A. Curriculum Committee – Dianne reported that the committee will meet the next two Mondays to approve curriculum proposals that have been processed through the tech review. The committee is also working on an Overlap Policy, to be brought to the Academic Senate for review.

B. Staff Recognition - No resolutions were presented today.

C. Committee Appointments

1. Staff Development Committee – No appointments were made to this committee.

2. Distance Learning Committee – The Senators approved the appointment of Susanna Pancella and Heather Lynne-Rothenberg (M/S/U – Charland/Szabados). The appointment of Britta Burton to this committee is pending the permission of the Chair of Britta’s Tenure Review team and the VP of Instruction as she is a new hire.

D. Oral Reports

1. Staff Development – No report was presented.

2. Other: Written Report from Ian Walton on Statewide Academic Senate Activities –

Greeting Senators:

As you know, I continue as Vice President of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. This year the Senate is reimbursing the District for 100% reassigned time. My routine activities involve working closely with the Academic Senate President, Kate Clark, and in particular consultation Council and the Board of Governors in Sacramento.

Some of my more unusual activities may interest you:

One of my Senate appointments is as a mathematics editor for the nationwide M,ERLOT multimedia resources project. I could not attend their summer conference in southern California, by one of my colleagues, Jim Rutledge from St. Petersburg College in Florida, included a description and examples of how Mission College’s Math G class uses MERLOT resources for a student assignment.

In September, I conducted a flex day presentation on governance to the Cerro Coso College community – out in the desert in Ridgecrest, followed for contrast by a joint keynote speech on hot issues in Sacramento with new system Chancellor Mark Drummond at the Los Angeles District Academic Senate/Administration Summit in Marina Del Rey.

In October, I presented on academic freedom to Chabot College faculty and administration and then I was the only faculty member to testify as part of an invited panel before a joint hearing of the Assembly Higher Education Committee and the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education in Pasadena. The topic was community college funding and I presented the viewpoint of all statewide faculty groups (representing the COFO partners: Academic Senate, FACCC, CCC/CFT, CCA/CTA and Independents) that funding difficulties should not be solved by transferring the burden to students and their families in the shape of increased mandatory fees.

The printed copy of the Senate position paper, Roles and Responsibilities of Faculty Academic Chairs: An Academic Senate Perspective has just appeared. A copy should be available from the MC Academic Senate Office and it is available online. Much of the paper was written in Mission College’s Conference Room A during meetings of last year’s Educational Policies Committee. Many thanks to the staff members who made those Friday, Saturday, and occasionally Sunday meetings possible.

As agreed, the order of the agenda was suspended and moved to Item VIII.B.

VIII. New Business

B. Consider Proposal to Change State and Local Minimum Quals for CA

Judie DelFrate asked the Senators to consider a change to the state’s Disciplines List to create a separate discipline for Computer Applications (CA). At this time, CA falls under Computer Information Systems. In addition, Judie is requesting that the local minimum qualifications for CA be changed as well. She advised that she has conferred on this matter with the West Valley College department chair, Karina Dundurs, and they are in agreement. Karina has reported that the West Valley College Academic Senate has approved the requests. It was clarified that the request for the change to the state was approved. Approval on the local minimum qualifications is pending.

A lengthy discussion ensued with Senators, with Judie and Senator Smebye explaining the rationale behind the request. They reported that the advisory board has recommended the increase in the standards, and the intent is to ensure that instructors with the appropriate background and/or degrees are hired. This will ensure that the student’s needs are met and that they will be better prepared and successful in the workforce.

Several Senators indicated some concern relative to the increased standard of qualifications, noting that this could produce additional barriers to filling positions. It also has implications for the Equivalency Committee. If the language is ambiguous, the committee will make the decision, and if there is an error, the committee will err on the side of inclusion or exclusion. It was emphasized that the language must be clear, and several Senators offered suggestions on how to clarify the language. Judie expressed reluctance to make the changes. She agreed, however, to discuss possible changes to the proposed local minimum qualifications with Karina.

Since the proposal to the state is a separate issue and the state has control over the requirements and the language, the Senators unanimously agreed to approve the proposal to the state (M/S/U – McKay/Charland). The Senators were asked to review the proposal for the local qualifications with their constituents and report back to the Senate.

The order of the agenda was resumed.

VII. Old Business

A. Update Report on Kuwait Project

Alex reported that he has not had an opportunity to meet with the Chancellor as he is away from the District.

B. Update Report from Subcommittees Dealing w MCAS Goals/Objectives

The subcommittees continue to meet and no specific reports were made at today’s meeting.

C. Update on College-Wide Marketing Budget

Alex reported that this item is on the agenda for the next GAP meeting.

D. Discuss Rationale for Revising MC Mission Statement

Alex reported that The Western Association for Junior Colleges and Community Colleges (WASCC) has rewritten the accreditation standards, collapsing ten standards into four. One standard is on Institutional Mission and Effectiveness. Alex attended a presentation by Barbara Beno of WASCC, and it is his understanding that WASCC will look for a citation in the college’s mission statement that refers to student assessment or student learning outcomes (SLOs) in the next Accreditation Self Study. Alex also advised that the Academic Senate for CCCs and the American Association of University Professors are both opposed to forcing the development of measures. It is defined as a move to create a corporate culture in the world of academia. Alex stated that President Chong wants to form a constituent group to review and revise the college’s mission statement if necessary. He opened the floor to discussion and asked for direction on this matter.

During discussion, many expressed the view that a mission statement is developed by a college through analysis of its purpose and should not be driven by external pressures. The mission statement is generally a marketing tool and communicates the college’s mission and provides a sense of strategic direction for college employees. It was reported that research indicates that most community colleges refer to assessment standards and SLOs in their goals and objectives, as does Mission College. The Senators agreed that a mission statement should represent a statement on the over-all direction of the college. SLOs are behavioral objectives and those objectives vary for each discipline and cannot be included in the mission statement. SLOs are a statement of what students are expected to know and to do in a given course and program. The ASB representatives noted that students attend college for different reasons; some attend in order to attain a job, others attend with the intent to transfer to a four-year university. If assessment standards are included in the mission statement, the college may not prove to be attractive to all students.

Alex was directed to communicate to President Chong that the MC Academic Senate is opposed to changing the mission statement for the following reasons:

• No external group should drive the college’s mission statement.

• The mission statement is a general statement that sets the direction of the college in a strategic sense and it is inappropriate to include an overall goal and objective in the statement.

• The mission statement should not contain operational language.

• There is no real objection to adding the word “assessment” to the current mission statement. The objection is to adding SLOs, which is the current favored method of assessment and would necessarily require that the statement change when the methods change.

• The Senate is willing to include SLOs subsumed under goals and objectives of the college.

Alex will report to President Chong as directed by the Senate.

E. Report from ASB Reps on Intersession Proposal

Oscar and David Vidaurre, ASB Representatives to the MCAS, presented the concerns of the Academic Senate to the ASB. They stated that there appears to be student support for an intersession. Approximately ten people were polled and it is not an official endorsement of the ASB. They advised, however, that the ASB is not a diverse group of students. Most of them do not have a job and attend school full-time. Therefore it will be easy for them to take classes. They recommended that most classes should be on-line or TV classes.

F. Discuss Volunteer Service Form

Alex explained that this form was distributed at GAP and members were asked to take the form to their constituents for input. The purpose of the form is to ensure that volunteers are not doing the work of regular employees covered under one of the collective bargaining units.

A relatively brief discussion ensued on what constitutes a volunteer, as well as the necessity for some of the information requested on the form. There was general agreement that the process will avoid problems between the District and the collective bargaining units.

VIII. New Business (Continued)

A. Consider DCC Resolution on Teaching Demonstrations for Associate Faculty

The following resolution was passed by the Division Chair Council (DCC) in April of this year and the DCC has asked that the Academic Senate support the resolution:

“Whereas, Associate Faculty are hired for only one kind of expertise: their ability to tech in their subject area, and

Whereas, The only reliable way to assess teaching skills is by observing a teacher in action, and

Whereas, The WVMCCD agrees with the principle of determining teaching competency in its policy to require teaching demonstrations for full-time faculty interviews, and

Whereas, Students deserve the same quality of instruction from all faculty, whether full-time or part-time,

Therefore, Be It Resolved by the Mission College Division Chair Council, That we recommend that, effective September 2004, for all Associate Faculty who are new to the college (excluding emergency hires) there be a teaching demonstration as determined by each department, and

Be It Finally Resolved, That the DCC ask the Mission College Academic Senate to consider this resolution before the end of this academic year.”

The Senators indicated that most of the Associate Faculty members in their pools are required to fulfill a teaching demonstration, and agreed to support the resolution (M/S/P – Harris/Szabados).

IX. Correspondence, Publications, & Announcements

Correspondence

1. E-mails dated October 20, 2004, from ACE regarding vote on Intersession.

2. E-mail dated October 22, 2004, re: negotiations on Load.

Publications/Minutes

1. The approved minutes for the September 30, 2004, meeting of ACE.

2. The approved minutes for the October 6, 2004, meeting of DBAC.

3. The agenda for the October 21, 2004, meeting of the Board of Trustees.

4. The meeting notes for the October 15, 2004, Area B Pre-Session meeting.

5. The agenda for the October 21, 2004, meeting of the Mission-West Valley Land Corporation.

Announcements

1. The Sabbatical Workshop will be held at Mission College on Friday, October 29, 2004, in Conference Room A,, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

X. Future Agenda Items

1. Consider the Crisis Intervention Committee as a MCAS Subcommittee (Charland)

XI. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m. (M/S/U –Harris/Cox). These minutes are respectfully submitted by Grace Hazán, Academic Senate Secretary.