CollegeAcademic Senate

of the

Sequoias

General Session Agenda

WednesdayFebruary 27th, 2008 Rm 14:10-5:30 p.m.

1.1Call to order by Steve Natoli @ @ 4: 12 p.m.

1.2Approval of minutes from January 23rd, 2008 m M/S/A

1.2.3 Guest – Frances Guzman – FYE and HD 120. Update on FYE program and discussed the upcoming Fall 08 learning committees (12 planned communities and the need for Human Development instructors). Don Mast forwarded a hand out to Senators regarding the programs and learning communities. He briefly discussed the expansion plan from Fall 07 to Spring 08 to Fall 08. There will be a FYE seminar for students, as well as a student success class. He then reported on the numbers (approx. 720 students in the Fall), thus necessitating need for the increase of seminars/classes. S. Houk inquired about the student recruiting process to which Don responded by saying the ‘registration to go’ program will be utilized as a tool. All of the classes are scheduled for the main campus; however in the following Spring classes will be expanded to additional campuses. Frances inquired about potential instructors interested in teaching the HD courses. She spent a brief about of time speaking to the predevelopment of lesson plans and course outlines etc…There will be training involved for new instructors. If you are interested, please contact Frances or Don. Deborah Nolan is currently teaching a HD class and has invited instructors to observe her class.

1.2.5Guest – Linda Fontanilla

  1. Giant open house date – Spring Showcase; April 26th. The Giant Open house will be in the Spring this year as it is hopeful to capture an additional demographic of students (continuing or high school students, etc…). The open house will be previewed by doing a ‘chalk’ festival (theme is ‘education is the key to success’). The chalk drawings will be judged. Linda is hopeful the Senate will support this event, and is further hopeful that departments will be open the day of the event. The actual open house will occur from 10 am -1 p.m.
  1. Customer Service Committee – update. Primary goal is to train staff in the area of customer service. Trainings are still being offered. Linda reported that as of January of this year, faculty and students were invited to join the committee. Currently there is a revision of the mission statement and the committee goals. They have received proposals from outside professionals to assist the committee in focusing their goals.
  2. Guest – Don Mast – Student Services Administration Procedure changes. L. Brandis inquired about the procedural process. Don responded that currently the policy is set based upon precedence. Don’s philosophy of discipline is to be proactive. COS has not been inclined to have grievances.

1.3.a. Faculty/staff comments concerning those items not on the agenda. Michele Hester-Reyes nominated George Woodbury for the Tulare County Teacher of the Year. M/S/A

b. Faculty/staff comments concerning those items on the agenda none

1.4President’s report – (Steve Natoli) –Cabinet report via email. Steve reported on College Council; table proposal for police security. It will be revisited March 25th.

a. Board Policy Revision Report–8 items held back for approval. 4 have been completed, while the other 4 are still being worked on. Will be forwarded for approval when all 8 have been completed.

1.5Committees:

a. Curriculum Committee report – Joni Jordan *action items (none)

  1. Facilities Committee report –(none)
  2. Equivalency Policy – Steve Houk (none)

First Reading - Institutional SLO’s.

  1. Governance/Professional Matters (Committee A) – Linda Amaral. Exploring Honors Programs. 13 individuals interested, as well as a possible position for a Director. Dr. Scroggins will join the committee at the next meeting for an informal informational session. Glena would like to see individuals interested in teaching Honors’ classes.

e. Bylaws/Election Process (Committee B) – Jesse Wilcoxson. There is an upcoming meeting. Jesse met with Dorian regarding the book rental program. A possible issue regarding the book rental program is whether or not the instructor will commit to a particular book for at least 3 years. If this is a possibility for you, please contact Jesse via email. Brief discussion ensued regarding whether or not a student can ‘mark up’ a book and then sell it back. It was decided that Jesse will forward an email to the full time and adjunct faculty members regarding their interest, etc..

  1. Distance Learning/Committees/Professional Ethics (Committee C) – Janice Brown
  2. Action Item = Senate vote for approval
    Syllabus Template Committee – Ross Rueger, Kathleen Conway, Hunter Church-Gonzales, Deborah Nolan
  3. Customer Service Committee – Chris Knox
  4. Essential Learning Initiative Steering Committee – LA: Joni Jordan, Valerie Ehrlich, Louise Culver, Susan Jensen, Susan Franciskovich, Jeff Maryanow, Michele Hester-Reyes – Social Science: Jeff Basham, Steve Natoli, Chris Knox – SCI: Marla Prochow – Math: Ross Rueger, Sasha Anderson (faculty co-chair), Liana Hoskinson – COUNS: Meng Veng, Kathleen Conway – Ag: Frank Tebeau – Business: Lucy Decaro
  5. Wait list add code study group - James Thompson and Stephen Tootle – M/S/A

Discussion as to where Essential Learning Initiative Steering committee is to be housed? Possible Senate committee or fall under either A, B or C committee (supervise this committee).

Janice reported on intellectual property – committee is still tweaking the initial resolution.

  1. COSTA Liaison Committee – Steve Natoli. Steve reported that he met with Wayne regarding a BP dealing with Division Chair. The district desires to eliminate this policy, as they assert it is all in the contract. However, there were some questions as to whether or not this could possibly lead to the dissolution of division chairs. In addition, there is contract language that supports division chairs. However, there are some faculty that support having a ‘backup’ BP that supports division chairs. General support in the Senate to retain the BP regarding the division chairs.
  2. FEC – Chris Knox. Handout (also provided in faculty box). Needs assessment survey lead to the offering of faculty workshops. Note – for each workshop (5 in total), there will be a raffle of a $75 dollar gift certificate to a local restaurant. The invitation is open to all adjunct, full-time, CSEA, etc.. members. As well, there will be a $50 dollar gift certificate to Borders and 2 - $25 dollar gift certificates to locally owned coffee houses. There will be a guest speaker. As well, food will be provided. She briefly spoke to some particular workshops (see handout) and the content of these workshops. Chris also updated us that sabbatical proposals have been reviewed and have been forwarded for approval.

i. Student Learning Outcome – Carol Enns. Marla Prochow (guest speaker). Handout

of Institution – Level Outcomes. Brief overview of ILO’s from last year (approved last year). However, this year there is the addition of another (proposed) ILO (Health and Wellness: Participate in active living and practices that support health and wellness). Marla then spoke to the institutional assessment tools (mapping, e-portfolio). The SLO committee is researching both options at this time. Brief overview of assessment cycles (“the sponge” analogy) and the outcomes. Correlation to information and forwarding that information to your students. Lastly, Marla spoke to the importance of SLO’s and the impact they have upon the financial gain to COS in general (data = dollars).

Motion to vote upon the 7 ILO’s once taken back to the divisions for review. To be voted upon at the March 12th meeting. * First reading. M/S/A. Carol would like it be forwarded to management council and college council once approved by Senate. Ron Johnson inquired about prior approval and where they were moved to. Carol reported that in the past the 6 ILO’s were approved by Senate and forwarded to Cabinet. Ron does not see role for approval through management council, rather instructional council. Ron would like to not specify the process at this time; rather, he would like to have further discussion before this is decided upon. Ron would like to identify the process more specifically.

j. Adjunct Faculty report – Brandon Sanderson. No report

k. DECOS – Deborah Nolan. Deborah reported that there has been some stress upon the server. Deborah has deleted about 100 shells, which assisted in relieving the server issues. . As well, there has been some hardware that has been purchased. BB is back and functioning well. As well, the DECOS committee is reviewing EPSILINand the first course to be processed through this system will be Joni Jordan’s English 251. The DECOS committee has also just approved a distance learning addendum. Lastly, (informational)DE is under program review this year.

l. ASB – Student Rep. – Naloor See. Cool night outreach; presentation to middle school students and parents on March 4th. As well, will be selling paper on Kids Day. March 14th – Easter egg hunt. Irish Day Parade – March 15th. March on Main – child abuse prevention parade on March 29th. Relay for Life involvement and matching of 500 donations (feet).

1.6Unfinished Business – Steve announced that there is room for one or two people to attend the Senate Plenary in April. If interested, please contact Steve.

1.7New Business (the below already addressed).

  1. Board Policy Revisions – Joni Jordan
  2. Institutional Student Learning Outcomes

Members present: Amaral, Erhlich, Haycock, Brand, Nolan, Knox, Brown, Hester-Reyes, Enns, Sanderson, Basham, Crumal, Stava, Houk, Beltran, Rueger, Thomas, Wilcoxson, Moore, Brandis, Prochow, Natoli

Meeting adjourned at 5: 36 p.m.