TAFTCOLLEGE

February 17, 2016 AS Minutes

July 20, 2016 In 2016, Minutes

February 17, 2016 AS Minutes

Taft College Academic Senate Minutes

Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016

Cougar Conference Room

Members Present: President Geoffrey Dyer, Vice President Vicki Jacobi, Secretary Dan Hall, Eric Berube, Jill Brown, Kamala Carlson, Jon Carrithers, Joe’ll Chaidez, Bill Devine, Candace Duron, John Eigenauer, Juana Escobedo, Sharyn Eveland, Chris Flachmann, Shelly Getty, Greg Golling, Leigh Golling, Jessica Grimes, April Hanawalt, Abbas Jarrahian, Brian Jean, Mike Jiles, Diane Jones, John Kopp, David Layne, Veronica Lynne Van Ry, Mariza Martinez, Janis Mendenhall, Tina Mendoza, Michelle Oja, Ruby Payne, Joseph Polizzotto, Natalie Ramirez, Stacie Rancano, Juana Rangel-Escobedo, Debora Rodenhauser, Becky Roth, Terri Smith, Lori Sundgren, Don Thornsberry, Melissa Thornsberry, Susan Vaughan, and Victoria Waugh.

The meeting was called to order at 12:10 PM.

Public Commentary

  • No public commentary was offered.

Review of Feb. 1, 2016 Senate Minutes

  • Ruby Payne’s last name was misspelled in the 2/01/16 minutes.
  • Debora Rodenhauser’s first name was also misspelled in 2/01/16 minutes.
  • David Layne motioned to approve the 2/01/16 minutes with the corrections mentioned above. Jessica Grimes seconded the motion and the motion carried.

Commentary on Electronic Committee Updates

  • There were no questions or comments about the committee updates that were sent via email.

Welcome to New Members – Dyer

  • Geoffrey welcomed the new members of our Academic Senate: Megan Andrews, Jill Brown, Leigh Golling, John Kopp, April Hanawalt, Natalie Ramirez, Veronica Van Ry, and Victoria Waugh.
  • Geoffrey sent out two emails to the divisions asking for adjunct faculty participation in the Academic Senate meetings and our eight new members volunteered.
  • Our Academic Senate membership has grown to 68. Quorum is now set at 23.

Accreditation Status – Berube

  • We received our Action Letter and Site Team Report from ACCJC last week. Eleven colleges were reviewed in Fall 2015 by the ACCJC, and 10 of those colleges, including Taft College, received an 18-month accreditation reaffirmation.  However, we did not meet all of the standards and will have until March 2017 to comply with those missed standards.  We will have a follow-up report and a site visit.
  • There were seven recommendations from ACCJC.
    • The first three recommendations do not deal with meeting the standards but instead focus on increasing effectiveness.
    • Recommendation #5 had to do with substantive change reports, and one of those reports has already been submitted to the Commission. The other substantive change report will be submitted soon.
    • Recommendation #7 (communicating SLOs to students) should be easily met.
    • Eric believes that we should fulfill recommendation #6 (“…consistently assess, analyze, and evaluate SLOs for all programs and courses…”) before addressing recommendation #4 (“…fully integrate the assessment of course and program SLOs into the program review process…”).
  • The IEPI team will be back on campus Monday, February 22nd. This team has developed a “Menu of Options” that we will get to look over prior to the team visit on Monday.
  • Bob Pacheco will be the speaker at the Governance Council Retreat next Friday. Bob is a well-known expert in the field of SLOs, Program Review, and planning.  Bob will bring insight into how to address the ACCJC recommendations as well as the concerns of the IEPI team.

IEPI Innovation and Effectiveness Plan – Dyer

  • We want to wait to submit a draft of the plan that will address the IEPI concerns and the accreditation recommendations until after the Governance Council Retreat. That draft will be brought to the senate and to the Governance Council for review.  When Brock submits the plan, our PRT group will review it and add their comments.  Before they send it back to us, it has to go to the person who coordinators the entire project.  Once we receive their review, Brock can apply for the Innovation and Effectiveness Grant.
  • Bill stated that faculty need more training on interfacing with eLumen.

PDC Update – Roth

  • Becky Roth is turning 29 soon and still prefers to be called Becky.
  • The PDC changed their charter to show that they are meeting every month. Also, instead of stating “faculty” representation on the PDC, the charter now states Academic Senate Representatives.
  • The PDC added an additional co-chair from the classified staff.
  • There will be three tracks for the May in-service: 1.) GeoGebra (primarily for math faculty); 2.) Intro to Teaching with Canvas; 3.) Diversity/Safe Zones training on the first day and potentially Excel/Word training on days 2 and 3.
  • We will be putting together a PD “needs” plan this semester in preparation for next year. Part of the reason for the plan is to be able to request funds for professional development. Please contribute your professional development ideas to members of the PDC.
  • Mariza Martinez asked if faculty who participate in two tracks will get credit for both tracks like we did last year. Becky will check on that.

Basic Skills Student Outcomes Transformation – Sundgren

  • The state is releasing $60 million in Prop. 98 funds for Basic Skills. We can request up to $1.5 million. The stipulations for the grants are that we must choose at least two evidenced-based practices that are given. In evaluating and ranking the grant applications, the state will also look at the number of Basic Skills students that will be helped.  The plan must include a professional development component.
  • Data shows that Basic Skills students are not completing their programs. By attending several presentations/conferences/trainings and reading various Basic Skills-related documents, Lori has learned of several successful practices that are taking place across the state in regards to Basic Skills.
  • The grant application is due on March 25th.
  • The Academic Development Committee will meet today and discuss the options of how we can best serve our Basic Skills students here at TC.

Mindset Project – Grimes

  • Jessica Grimes informed the senate that six faculty signed up for the Mindset Project, which is based on Carol Dweck’s Mindset Her book distinguishes between the Growth mindset and the Fixed mindset and makes suggestions as to how to incorporate the Growth mindset into our curriculum.
  • Paul Blake, Adam Bledsoe, and Michelle Oja are in one group, and Jill Brown, Tina Mendoza, and Jessica Grimes are in another group.
  • These two groups will be looking at our curriculum, meeting once per month and discussing real stories, real people.
  • This is a speech series where two faculty members will be talking about their success stories, obstacles that they faced, and how they overcame those obstacles. How did they develop academic tenacity? Two students will be paired with the faculty on a panel setting.
  • We will be starting these Real Stories, Real People speech series in March.

Election of Academic Senate Council Representatives and Vice President

  • According to our newly adopted constitution and bylaws, our academic senate will now not only contain the senate as a whole, but also Academic Senate Council. The council will include representatives from each of the divisions, the senate officers, a CTE liaison, and an adjunct representative.
  • We will need to elect those council representatives. Geoffrey thanked the divisions for getting the word out about this and for finding those who were willing to accept the representative nominations.
  • We will also be voting for the senate vice president. Vicki Jacobi will be finishing her second year of serving as vice president of the senate. She would like to continue in this role.
  • Geoffrey asked if anyone had any other nominations they would like added to the ballot. No other nominations were given.
  • If only one person has been nominated to represent their area, we do not need to vote for that person. Only senators who work in a given area are allowed to vote for the representative of their area.
  • The nominees who were to be voted on each spoke on their own behalf.
  • Those who were able to vote for nominees cast their votes.

Other

  • Geoffrey reminded the senate that we still need an academic senate representative to serve on the Direct Support Education Task Force. The person who does that has to work outside of the Learning Support Division.
  • Michelle Beasley wanted Geoffrey to announce the upcoming (February 25th) Taste of Soul event at TC. There will be food prepared from various cultural backgrounds.
  • Becky announced that Wine Tasting is in April.
  • Vicky Waugh announced that the Rolling Chariots event is also in April.
  • Diane Jones asked for a senate rep to be on the committee for the discontinuation of the Recreation program. This rep must not be from the Social Science division.

Meeting adjourned at 12:57.

Respectfully submitted by Dan Hall

2.17.16 Academic Senate Minutes