President's Update | October 2016

Academic Senate Directory

A new academic year often comes with a change in academic senate leadership. Please make sure the ASCCC directory is up to date with the correct listings for your senate leadership including your academic senate’s career technical education, legislative, and noncredit liaisons. For more information on these positions, please see the ASCCC liaison webpage. Also, be sure to sign up for any or all of the Academic Senate listservs so that you can receive critical notices, important updates, and information newsletters.

Accreditation

Efforts to improve the accreditation process continue in October with meetings by both CEO Workgroup I and II. Workgroup I is scheduled to meet with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) in the coming weeks to continue discussions on the proposed changes to improve ACCJC’s current processes. Led by Chancellor Helen Benjamin, these conversations are based on a report summited to the ACCJC in June. Workgroup II, led by Chancellor Cindy Miles continues to explore alternatives that would join the community college accreditation process with that of four-year institutions. Workgroup II has met twice since May and is scheduled to meet again in October. Chancellors Benjamin and Miles reported to the Board of Governors at the board’s September meeting on the progress made by the workgroups. Their discussion with the board members should be made available in the coming weeks on the Board of Governors webpage.  Regular updates on both workgroups and all efforts involving the ACCJC may be found on the Community College League of California’s Accreditation webpage. At its September/October meeting, the ASCCC Executive Committee approved a letter to be submitted to the United States Department of Education for the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) meeting regarding ACCJC’s compliance report.

  Legislation    

Friday, September 30 was the last day for the governor to sign bills into law. As reported in last month’s update, a number of bills tracked by the ASCCC were held in appropriations committees, but a few were passed to the governor’s desk for consideration. The governor has acted on the following bills:

• AB 1741 (Rodriguez) California College Promise Innovation Grant: Signed by the governor
• AB 1914 (Bonilla) Academic materials: Textbook Access Codes: Signed by the governor
• AB 1985 (Williams) Advanced Placement Credit:  Signed by the governor
• AB 2009 (Lopez) Dream Resource Liaison: Vetoed by governor
• AB 2017 (McCarty) Mental Health Services: Vetoed by governor
• SB 906 (Beall) Priority Enrollment Foster Youth, EOPS, and DSPS: Signed by the governor
• SB 1359 (Block) Education Materials: Textbooks: Signed by the governor

Legislative updates and additional information may be found on the Legislative Update webpage

Fall Plenary Session and Area Meetings

The ASCCC Fall Plenary Session is almost here. The Plenary will be held on November 3-5 at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. Early registration ends on October 17, so don’t delay in reserving your spot.  

Area meetings are scheduled for Friday, October 14 (North – Areas A and B) and Saturday, October 15 (South – Areas C and D). Meeting information for all areas may be found on the Area News page. 

 Minimum Qualifications (MQs) and Equivalencies

Recently, the ASCCC has received a number of requests for information regarding faculty minimum qualifications and equivalencies. The Strong Workforce Taskforce recommendations on hiring qualified instructors for career technical education (CTE) programs placed a strong spotlight on college MQ and equivalency policies, processes, and practices. However, these policies affect all disciplines. Now would be the perfect time to review the effectiveness of the policies and procedures for determining the minimum qualifications and equivalencies for candidates for faculty positions at your college and to make improvements if necessary. The Academic Senate is holding two regional meetings focused on MQs and equivalencies, and we are urging teams of faculty to attend that include senate presidents, equivalency committee chairs, curriculum chairs, and CTE liaisons. The meetings will focus on sharing policies and practices and determining strategies for success. More information on this and all regional meetings may be found on the ASCCC website.

Curriculum-SACC is now 5C

The System Advisory Committee on Curriculum (SACC), which makes recommendations to the Chancellor’s Office on system level curriculum policies, processes and practices, recently completed a review and revision of its charge to more accurately reflect its purpose in the California Community College System. The membership was also reviewed and changed to better serve the charge of the committee. In completing this work, the committee renamed itself to better reflect its role and responsibilities. As a result, SACC is now called the California Community College Curriculum Committee (5C). The new purpose and membership, as well as meetings summaries, are located on the 5C website.

New Addition to the Chancellor’s Office

Congratulations to Interim Vice Chancellor Jacob Knapp and his wife on the newest addition to their family, baby daughter Eleanor. The Academic Senate extends the warmest of welcomes to Eleanor and best wishes to the proud parents.

Upcoming ASCCC Events

• Academic Academy, October 7-8, 2016, Westin South Coast Plaza
• Area Meetings, October 14 (North) and October 15 (South)
• Curriculum Regional Meetings, October 21 (North) and October 22 (South)
• MQs and Equivalency Regional Meetings, October 28 (North) and October 29 (South)
• Fall Plenary Session, November 3 to 5, 2016, Westin South Coast Plaza
• Formerly Incarcerated Students Regional Meetings, November 18 and November 19
• Contextualized Teaching and Learning Regional Meetings, December 2 and December 3
• Common Assessment Initiative Regional Meetings, December 9 and December 10

More information may be found at www.asccc.org.

The ASCCC is always happy to provide assistance or guidance on any senate-related topic.  We also make visits to local colleges to connect directly with academic senates or other faculty bodies when appropriate.  Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in these services.