President’s Update | November 2023

Colleagues,

As the days shorten, nights lengthen, temperatures cool, and leaves begin to change color, California’s community colleges, whether on a semester or quarter system, are well past the midway point of the fall term. Time has flown since the ASCCC had its first 2023-2024 Executive Committee meeting in August. Much of the ASCCC’s work this fall has been in support of local academic senate leaders and advancing the ASCCC Mission, Vision, and 2023-2026 Strategic Directions. The ASCCC has also been engaged in initial efforts linked to Vision 2030, including providing input, hosting a faculty town hall, moderating faculty panels on dual enrollment and career education at Vision 2030 events, and planning spring 2024 events to support specific actions embedded in Vision 2030.

Below are updates on some of the statewide work the ASCCC is engaged in, always in service to and as representatives of faculty and often in partnership with other stakeholder groups. As you read about the many initiatives and efforts underway, please keep in mind that committees, workgroups, or task forces of faculty and other stakeholders are behind it all. The work would not be possible without those who have volunteered for and contribute in service to students, colleges, colleagues, and the California Community Colleges system. Thank you to all of those who have been willing to serve.

Please share this information with colleagues. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact info@asccc.org. For those who are planning to join us for the Fall Plenary Session, I look forward to engaging together in Costa Mesa and online. For everyone, may you enjoy some respite from your regular workdays during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and may the last weeks of your semester or quarter go smoothly.

With gratitude,

Cheryl Aschenbach
President, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges

ASCCC Organizational Information

Executive Committee

•  Vice President Manuel Vélez, Secretary LaTonya Parker, Treasurer Robert L. Stewart, Jr.
• At Large Representatives Juan Arzola and Christopher Howerton
• North Reps Eric Wada and Mitra Sapienza
• South Reps Kimberley Stiemke and Carlos Guerrero
• Area A Stephanie Curry, Area B Karen Chow, Area C Erik Reese, Area D María-José Zeledón-Pérez
• Acting Executive Director Austin Webster, Executive Director Krystinne Mica, Director of Administration Tonya Davis
• Fabulous ASCCC office team

ASCCC Strategic Planning

At the Spring Plenary Session, delegates adopted the ASCCC’s 2023-2026 Strategic Directions: embracing organizational change, engaging proactively in partnerships and advocacy to advance faculty voice and student success, developing innovative activities to empower faculty and uplift underrepresented voices, and advancing faculty engagement in data literacy. These strategic directions support the existing ASCCC Mission, Vision, Values, and Inclusivity Statements. In August, the ASCCC Executive Committee engaged in deeper planning to establish its 2023-2024 work plan, composed of short-, mid-, and long-term goals, which was adopted at its October Executive Committee meeting.

Area Meetings

Thank you to all who attended fall area meetings in the new format. While coming together online for virtual area meetings is quite familiar, the format of a combined morning general session followed by separate area meetings was new. Nearly 170 people logged in for the morning general session, which included an ASCCC update delivered by President Aschenbach and Vice President Vélez followed by an Academic Senate Foundation update, a resolutions overview, and a disciplines list overview. Faculty then split into regional area meetings, where attendance ranged from 35-55 people depending on the area.

Faculty input and engagement is key to the work that the ASCCC does, so thank you to all who attended and engaged in area meetings. The ASCCC Executive Committee is still exploring ways to make area meetings most effective, including considering possibilities for in-person and hyflex attendance if an interest exists, so please share feedback on the new format and preference for online or in-person area meetings with area representatives.

ASCCC on the Road: CTE and Curriculum Regional Events

ASCCC representatives have been on the road this fall, most notably facilitating regional events. CTE regional events were held in collaboration with regional partners and included presentations and dialogue titled Working with Regional Consortia, Working with ASCCC and Local Senates, What is New in Your Region, CTE-Related Updates and Emerging Concerns, Faculty Minimum Qualifications, New Title 5 Regulations, Dual Enrollment, and Regional Hot Topics. Curriculum regionals included Chancellor’s Office updates, Title 5 Updates and Implementation Timelines, Updates on Transfer and Articulation Matters, and the Implications of Vision 2030 on Dual Enrollment. Huge thanks go to the CTE Regional hosts Orange Coast College, the Orange Country Regional Consortium, Ventura College, and the South Central Coast Regional Consortium and to the Curriculum Regional hosts Orange Coast College, Woodland College, and Bakersfield College. Turnout was strong at all five events, and the ASCCC thanks all who took time out of their busy schedules to participate. Six additional CTE regional events and three curriculum regionals will be held during the spring. See the ASCCC Events Page for dates and details. We look forward to seeing many of you on the road.

Cultural Humility

With the adoption of Resolution 19.01 in Spring 2022, delegates called for the ASCCC to train in cultural humility annually and to make a Cultural Humility Toolkit available to colleges. This work entailed shifting from a cultural competency perspective to a perspective of cultural humility. Starting in Fall 2022, the inaugural Cultural Humility Toolkit was made available to colleges, and ASCCC representatives began engaging in presentations about the toolkit and engaging in cultural humility work with local senates when requested. Through its on-going cultural humility learning journey, the Executive Committee recognized that more robust resources were needed to support the cultural humility work of local senates. The ASCCC engaged with Dr. Veronica Keiffer-Lewis to develop an expanded Cultural Humility Toolkit. The Executive Committee is in the process of reviewing a draft of the revised toolkit and new supporting study guide with the intention of making it available to local senates in Spring 2024. Planning is also underway for cultural humility training online workshops. Meanwhile, the Executive Committee has prioritized integrating cultural humility into its work on both individual and organizational levels.

Faculty Empowerment Leadership Academy (FELA)

Applications for mentees for the 2023-2024 FELA cohort have been received, and participants will soon be paired with mentors. Thank you to all who applied to serve as mentors; your involvement is critical to the experience of the participating mentees. 

ASCCC Annual Audit

As a nonprofit organization, the ASCCC undergoes an annual fiscal audit. Independent auditor Propp, Christenson, Caniglia, LLP conducted the review of financial statements, statements of activities, functional expenses, and cash flows for both the ASCCC and the Academic Senate Foundation in early September and reported no findings as a result of its review. The audit report, including consolidated financial statements, is available to the public linked here and under the Resources tab of the Fall 2023 Plenary Session Event page.

Curriculum and Transfer-Related Information

Title 5 Revisions

The secretary of state recently chaptered two curriculum-related sections of Title 5, triggering a 180-day implementation window for colleges. Work experience regulations were completely revised. Three notable curriculum-related changes are as follows: the hours required per unit of credit have been decreased to be more consistent with curriculum credit hour standards, work experience can now be embedded in courses or continue to stand alone as a separate course, and work experience may now be utilized in noncredit courses in addition to credit courses. The Workforce and Economic Development Division of the Chancellor’s Office released an implementation memo (WEDD 23-022) on August 30.

The second set of curriculum-related Title 5 revisions recently chaptered were the Associate Degree Requirements regulations, which include general education requirements. The most notable aspects of these regulations are that the general education categories are now aligned with Cal-GETC and general education for associate degrees must be a minimum of 21 units, an increase from 18, to include ethnic studies as a separate general education area. Colleges can still add local general education or associate degree requirements for all degrees that are not associate degrees for transfer. These regulations become effective November 16, 2023, and colleges have 180 days to update policies and practices. Colleges will need to move quickly to update curriculum as necessary for inclusion in 2024-2025 catalogs pending any further guidance from the Chancellor’s Office.

In response to ASCCC Resolution 9.01 F21, the California Community Colleges Curriculum Committee has been working to draft regulations to include DEIA in course outlines of record. Those draft regulations are being disseminated in advance of Fall Plenary Session via ASCCC Resolution 09.01 (see the Resolutions packet linked on the Fall 2023 Resolutions page) for consideration by delegates, and the proposed revisions are tentatively scheduled to go to the Board of Governors in January for a first read.

Cal-GETC: Standards 

In preparation for implementation of Cal-GETC, effective Fall 2025 as required by AB 928 (Berman, 2021), the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates (ICAS) released version 1.0 of the Cal-GETC Standards in May. At that point, Areas 1A and 1B were updated for clarity and guidance for Area 1C was added. This fall, ICAS has convened the Cal-GETC Standards Subcommittee, including interdisciplinary faculty subgroups for Areas 2-5, to update guidance in each of those areas for release of an updated Cal-GETC Standards document by the end of the Fall 2023 semester. Subgroups were encouraged to consider additional courses or disciplines that could potentially be included within an area. Those discussions continue. Thank you to all California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California faculty who are participating on the subgroups and working quickly to ensure the standards for Areas 2-5 are updated and available for release as soon as possible. 

Separate from the review and update of the Cal-GETC Standards, the ASCCC appointed two faculty to a Chancellor’s Office workgroup of CCC, CSU, and UC faculty and system office personnel focused on clarifying the Cal-GETC submission and review processes. That group has just started to meet. 

AB 928 ADT Intersegmental Implementation Committee

The AB 928 Associate Degree for Transfer Intersegmental Implementation Committee is a requirement of AB 928. For the first two years, the committee is being chaired by Executive Vice Chancellor Aisha Lowe. Each public higher education segment has a single academic senate representative with additional system office representation and members appointed specific to mandates in the legislation. The committee has been discussing recommendations related to re-engagement of ADT completers who did not transfer and criteria for additional ADT units for STEM majors. Additionally, the AB928 Associate Degree for Transfer Intersegmental Implementation Committee document “AB928 Associate Degree for Transfer Intersegmental Implementation Committee, Draft: Final Report” (Version: November 2023) is available. Virtual public comments can be submitted via the form available here. This round of public comment will be open through November 15, 2023. Visit the AB 928 ADT Committee page for more information.

Baccalaureate Degrees (AB 927, 2021) 

The ASCCC continues to advocate for and support expansion of community college baccalaureate degrees. Most recently, the ASCCC appointed faculty readers to review Cycle 3 applications. Thank you to those who participated as readers. 

Through the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates, the ASCCC is also in dialogue with CSU and UC faculty to make recommendations on duplication thresholds, criteria, and a duplication review rubric to the CCC and CSU Chancellors’ Offices. Key in these discussions has been the need for community colleges to ensure their proposed baccalaureate programs do not duplicate CSU programs. Curriculum committees need to apply standards for upper division curriculum included in the California Community Colleges Baccalaureate Degree Pilot Program Handbook when reviewing proposed college baccalaureate proposals.

Common Course Numbering (AB 1111, 2021) Task Force

The AB 1111 Common Course Numbering (CCN) Task Force met in late August and in October with the final meeting scheduled for December 7. A Draft Summary Report (October version) was released for review and feedback. The next and final draft report is expected in mid-November for the December meeting, when recommendations will be approved.

Implementation is expected to begin in January with the convening of a CCN Implementation Council and workgroups by the Chancellor’s Office. The ASCCC will be appointing faculty representatives.

Additional Information 

Vision 2030 has undergone some revision since its introduction in June, largely as a result of stakeholder input via convenings and the input form. At the September Board of Governors meeting, the board approved the goals and strategic directions. Time still remains to provide feedback on the actions, outcomes, and metrics. Visit the Chancellor’s Office Vision 2030 webpage to access the Community Input Form and additional information about Vision 2030, including the Vision 2030 Report. 

The Chancellor’s Office has recently begun convening a Universal Design for Learning Task Force that is being co-chaired by ASCCC Vice President Manuel Vélez. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

The ASCCC, FACCC, and the Chancellor’s Office are partnering on a series of four webinars on Generative Artificial Intelligence, with the first two being held on September 25 and November 7. Recordings and slides are available at the Vision Resource Center. AI is definitely a hot topic. The ASCCC is exploring ways to engage interested faculty in collaboration with FACCC and CCA.

Regulations regarding inclusion of DEIA in employee evaluations were passed by the Board of Governors in May 2022 and finally chaptered by the secretary of state to be effective April 26, 2023. Most colleges are in the process of negotiating evaluation processes. For faculty, Ed Code establishes that academic senates be consulted by bargaining agents prior to negotiations over evaluations and tenure review processes. Academic senates should also be discussing the on-going professional development needed to support continued faculty growth in inclusion, diversity, equity, anti-racism, and accessibility as well as professional development needed for all faculty members and administrators participating on evaluation committees.

The ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (ASCCC-OERI) continues to support collaborative faculty development of OER through its projects. For colleges engaging in discussion about Zero Textbook Cost degree and certificate pathways, OERI has curated collections of resources that may be helpful. Collections of resources are available under Resources at www.asccc-oeri.org, organized in multiple ways including by discipline and by general education area. Additionally, ASCCC-OERI can help to facilitate or advise local OERI development in support of ZTC efforts.

In October, the Chancellor’s Office launched the Working Learners Task Force, which is looking at ways the system can be more accessible to working adults. The task force’s first work is to explore attendance accounting reform with the goal of having a course generate the same FTES and earn the same apportionment regardless of modality or term length. The ASCCC and FACCC are representing faculty on this task force in collaboration with representatives from other system stakeholder groups: instructional officers, student services officers, business officers, Student Senate, and the Chancellor’s Office. Initial recommendations are expected soon. 

Visit the ASCCC website for ASCCC resources, including toolkits, Rostrum articles, adopted resolutions, papers, and past President’s Updates.

Academic senate and curriculum leaders can request a technical support visit via the Services tab at www.asccc.org. ASCCC Executive Committee members have been visiting colleges in-person and via Zoom to provide information and engage in dialog on requested topics. These visits are free to colleges.

Participation of faculty from across the system is critical to informing and completing the work the ASCCC regularly engages in. Submit an application to volunteer for ASCCC service, including standing committees, CO advisory committees, task forces, workgroups, OERI, C-ID FDRGs and COREs, and Common Course Numbering workgroups. While appointments were completed for ASCCC standing committees during the summer, the need for a wide variety of appointments is on-going.

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