President's Update - March 2021

President's Update | March 2021

March 24, 2021

Colleagues and Friends:

I find it impossible to start this update with anything other than a recognition of the horrific events in Georgia last week, when Asian-Americans, specifically Asian-American women, were targeted in a heinous hate crime. In some ways, this scenario is beginning to feel all too normalized – these attacks on people of color, on women, on transgendered people – and the feelings of hopelessness, despair, and sorrow can be overwhelming. In such times, all of us need more than ever to practice self-care and look out for one another.

Last spring, past president John Stanskas sent out a list of things that local academic senates could do in the wake of the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. While many colleges and senates have already taken action, a reminder of the things we can do is worthwhile:

Make an agenda that includes a discussion of anti-racism and no-hate education. Remember, you do not have to have an answer to start a conversation.
Prioritize culturally responsive curricular redesign with your curriculum committee.
Acknowledge, without assigning blame, that the structure of the college houses the biases and prejudices of its founding time. Those biases have privileged some and disadvantaged others, particularly the Asian Pacific Islander, African-American, Native American, and LatinX communities.
Prioritize the evaluation of hiring and evaluation processes.
Request services from the ASCCC about any of these topics here.
Evaluate your academic senate and find the voices among your faculty missing in governance. Find ways to empower those voices.
Work with your administration and students to find constructive ways students can express themselves about recent events and the structural and historical biases that exist.
Examine resources from San Francisco State University’s Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning found here and the Southern Poverty Law Center found here.

Additionally stunning and disturbing is the fact that all of us are now in the second year of the pandemic – a second year of remote classes, Zoom meetings, and struggles with trying to maintain a sense of hope in a time that often seems colored entirely by the absence of it. With the rollout of the vaccines in the last few months, California finally seems to be turning a corner, and talk has begun of returns to campus, in-person classes, and the possibility of events being held face to face. The ASCCC leadership and office team continue to monitor the situation for our meetings and events and are heeding the advice of the Chancellor’s Office, the Governor’s Office, and the Public Departments of Health about when we can return to holding meetings and events in person. As much as we want to see each other, we also want to make certain that decisions are made based on the best scientific information possible. If that means going a few more months on Zoom, doing so is worth the inconvenience to ensure that everyone can join us when we are back in person.

Our next major event is the ASCCC Spring Plenary Session, which begins on Thursday, April 15, 2021. The event will once again take place online using Pathable. The theme for this year’s spring plenary is “Working Collectively: Transforming and Decolonizing Institutions.” Numerous breakouts and general sessions will be built around this theme, as well as opportunities for dialogue and discussion in area meetings, caucus gatherings, morning activities, and social hours. We will again be using PollEverywhere to vote on resolutions on Saturday, joined by our parliamentarian Dave Mezzara. We are looking forward to the debate and discussions that ensue.

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is working in many areas to support and represent the more than 50,000 faculty in the community college system. As always, please forward this message to all constituents at your college. The work of all of the stakeholders and practitioners is interconnected, and the system is strongest when we work together and keep each other informed. As always, academic senate presidents should feel free to contact the ASCCC at info@asccc.org should they require any assistance or have questions.

On behalf of the Executive Committee, I hope that you are all taking time for yourselves when you can; please know that we are here for you in all your endeavors and will continue to represent faculty and students in every venue we can.

Sincerely,

Dolores M. Davison
ASCCC President

Ethnic Studies

The Intersegmental Curriculum Workgroup (ICW) has approved the development of an ethnic studies TMC. A Discipline Input Group (DIG) consisting of discipline faculty from the CCC and CSU systems is scheduled to meet soon to begin the process of TMC and C-ID course descriptor design. At its most recent meeting, the Consultation Council considered changes to title 5 language that will create a graduation requirement in ethnic studies, and it is expected that the language will next move to the Board of Governors at its May meeting.

Open Educational Resources Initiative

In late February, the Open Educational Resources Initiative Advisory Committee approved a third request for proposals (RFP) to support faculty development of open educational resources. As with RFP II, collaboration will be required, support for those preparing proposals will be provided, and office hours will be held. All RFP details, including archives of support webinars and other documents are – or will be – available on the ASCCC OERI website. The OERI Advisory Committee has also identified faculty to engage in two OER development projects: communication studies (C-ID COMM 130, Interpersonal Communication) and psychology (C-ID PSY 150, Introduction to Biological Psychology). Each project currently has a team of fourteen to sixteen faculty that are engaged in the initial steps of developing a new OER resource. These new resources are anticipated to be completed by December 2021.

Legislation

The 2020-2021 legislative cycle is off to a strong start. Assembly bills, senate bills, and budget trailer bill language have come out on financial aid, student basic needs, transfer, and curriculum. For information regarding legislative and budget issues, see the legislative report under Item IV.A. in the ASCCC Executive Committee Meeting Agenda here.

Teaching in Incarcerated Environments

Together with the Rising Scholars Network, the ASCCC is deploying a grant to support teaching and learning in incarcerated environments. One element of the grant will be coordinating the development of faculty professional learning projects focused on high standards, appropriate pedagogies, trauma-informed teaching, social justice, and equity for justice-involved students. A second element of the grant will be developing a community of practice as a means of connecting faculty across the state. Stipend opportunities will be available for faculty who teach in incarcerated environments to develop courses and materials. The launch webinar was held Monday, March 22, and can be viewed here. Information about submitting letters of intent and, later, proposals is forthcoming in a future announcement. Project development will commence by Summer 2021.

Transfer Model Curricula

The Intersegmental Curriculum Workgroup (ICW), the intersegmental group with oversight for the development, revision, and approval of transfer model curricula (TMCs) and C-ID course descriptors, has been working closely with the C-ID Advisory Committee, the intersegmental group that facilitates TMC and C-ID development and revision, to align TMCs with University of California transfer pathways where feasible with small pathway changes, and, where not feasible, develop clear explanations for students and the public regarding the value of the differing pathways. The first phase of ICW’s current work began in 2019-20, and the second phase is in progress. In order to fully realize this project, the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates, the group with representatives from each of the CCC, CSU, and UC Academic Senates, has been seeking support to bring discipline faculty together as experts in each of the pathways to fully evaluate and clarify each program pathway.

List of Upcoming Events

March 2021

March 26-27 Area Meetings
Area A, March 26, 2021, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Area B, March 26, 2021, 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Area C, March 27, 2021, 9:00 AM – 3:30 PM
Area D, March 27, 2021, 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM

April 2021

April 14, 2021
Executive Committee Meeting - Virtual Meeting
April 15-17, 2021
2021 Spring Plenary Session - Virtual Event
April 30-May 1, 2021
2021 Career Noncredit Education Institute - Virtual Event

May 2021

May 7, 2021
Executive Committee Meeting - Virtual Meeting

Upcoming Webinars

March 31, 2021
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Coffee, Tea, and GP: Culturally Responsive Curriculum
April 2, 2021
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
OER and Ethnic Studies/Social Justice Studies
April 2, 2021
11:45 AM – 12:45 PM
OER and Sociology
April 2, 2021
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
OER and Physics
April 2, 2021
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
OER RFP III Office Hour
April 6, 2021
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
CTE Liaison Coffee Hour Minimum Qualifications
April 7, 2021
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Coffee, Tea, and GP: Sustaining Our Work and Ourselves
April 9, 2021
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
OER and Hospitality Management
April 9, 2021
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
OER and Business
April 9, 2021
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
OER RFP III Office Hour
April 9, 2021
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
OER and Child Development
April 9, 2021
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
OER and Math
April 16, 2021
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
OER and Political Science
April 21, 2021
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Staying on the Path: Guided Pathways and Scheduling for Student Completion