President's Update | December 2018

Dear Colleagues,

As the fall term draws to a close, I want to update you on behalf of the ASCCC Executive Committee regarding the work we do on behalf of faculty and in service to our students. But before that, we should all acknowledge the tremendous loss our communities, students, and colleagues have endured due to the fires that devastated our state last month.  We are heartened by the outpouring of efforts to find ways to support our most affected colleagues through collective action and service occurring across the state.  Should you be able, please consider supporting the philanthropic relief efforts sponsored by the Foundation for California Community Colleges Foundation here.  

Last month in Irvine, the ASCCC had one of its largest Fall Plenary Sessions in recent memory.  We appreciated our Chancellor’s Office colleagues co-presenting relevant information regarding our combined work on areas of mutual concern, and welcomed our other colleagues from across the system who attended to add their perspectives and to hear those of faculty.  We also thank all of you for attending and sending delegates to hear issues and set the course for the Academic Senate as we advocate on behalf of all faculty in academic and professional matters.  A final copy of the adopted resolutions from this recent plenary session can be found here. As you prepare for your spring terms, please keep in mind that the April 11-13 Spring Plenary Session in Burlingame with be the 50th anniversary of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges.  Please plan to attend this special occasion as we celebrate our golden anniversary.  

Lastly, the Executive Committee has been hard at work searching for an executive director to help lead our organization forward.  The critical role of the executive director is to support the board and our governance processes, evaluate and direct the organization’s financial performance and viability, guide the organizational mission and strategy to align with the strategic plan adopted by the delegates, and oversee the organizational operations that support the service of the ASCCC to the field.  It is my extreme pleasure to announce to you that the Executive Committee has selected Ms. Krystinne Mica to fulfill this important role starting on January 1, 2019.  We will formally introduce Krystinne at the Spring Plenary Session.  If you should be fortunate enough to meet her before then, please congratulate her and thank her for her service.  

This update is intended to provide you with information on several items we are working on at the state level and the four areas designated as priorities by the Executive Committee.  Please forward this message to all faculty and perhaps all colleagues and constituents of your college.  As always, academic senate presidents should feel free to contact us at info@asccc.org should you require any assistance or have questions.  We are here to serve the 60,000 faculty and 2.1 million students in all academic and professional matters.  

The Executive Committee hopes that you find time to rest and rejuvenate with friends and family at the end of the term.  We look forward to being of service in the new year.

    Respectfully,

        John Stanskas, President

AB705 Implementation

Colleges have worked hard to implement AB705 by Fall 2019 through curricular design, the development of assessment for placement rules, and the creation of student support structures. Most colleges have in place their initial plans for Fall 2019 and may be continuing to work on possible improvements for Spring 2020.  The California Community College Curriculum Committee, 5C, is working to create draft Title 5 regulations to reflect the change in the law.  Those regulations will be presented for consideration at the Chancellor’s Consultation Council on January 10, and then forwarded to the Board of Governor’s usual process for revision of Title 5 sections.  This includes at least two readings at BoG meetings, both January and March, and opportunities for public comment. The regulations will be consistent with the law as well as guidance provided by the ASCCC and Chancellor’s Office. This spring, colleges will need to evaluate student support mechanisms in place for the next academic year. Each college should also work to devise a method of evaluating the success of the model the college has selected for Fall 2019 and determining how it can improve service to students in Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 based on that evaluation.  A discussion board with questions the ASCCC receives from the local colleges and the answers provided is available on our AB705 Resource webpage.     

Strong Workforce Program

The ASCCC is working with the Chancellor’s Office to produce a toolkit and professional development activities for local senates and equivalency committees. The toolkit will be available in Spring 2019. We truly appreciate the active participation of the attendees at the Fall Plenary Session’s working general session as we considered possible evidence of equivalency to the associates degree. The ASCCC is currently processing the feedback and creating matrices of examples colleges can use locally for equivalency discussions and determinations. We expect regional meetings to be scheduled late in the spring term to showcase the findings and provide insight to colleges as they evaluate and update their equivalency processes in an effort to expand the pool of qualified applicants with significant industry experience capable of educating our students.  

In addition, the ASCCC continues to work with the Chancellor’s Office to evaluate how best to advise colleges on effectively granting credit for prior learning.  We are evaluating models for military service as a top priority for this academic year and have found promising locally-implemented practices that can benefit all of our colleges.
 

Faculty Diversification

The first IEPI Diversity Workshops and the general session presentations at the CIO and CCLC conferences and the Fall Plenary Session served as a tremendous push to highlight the need to examine the implicit bias inherent in any institution, including our own colleges, when it comes to race and ethnicity of applicants throughout the recruitment, hiring, and retention process. For faculty processes, academic senates need to lead this examination.  To that end, the ASCCC is partnering with the Chancellor’s Office to host a Faculty Diversity Conference in Los Angeles scheduled for February 8-9. Registration for the summit is available here.  The ASCCC will then hold regional workshops on February 21 at Bakersfield College, February 25 at Yuba College, and February 28 at Norco College. More information on the regional meetings is available here.  As always, we truly appreciate colleges’ willingness to sponsor important professional development events like these for faculty. We encourage local senate presidents responsible for appointing faculty to hiring committees to insist that appointees attend one of these events in February.  

Guided Pathways

This fall, the ASCCC Guided Pathways Task Force held the Academic Academy in September, sponsored 10 webinars with 633 attendees from over 100 colleges, and responded to numerous requests for technical visits.  Many of the resources from these events that may be of use to colleges are available on our Guided Pathways Resources webpage.  The ASCCC has also worked to developed information colleges can use to empower all students to make informed choices and improve the student onboarding process through guided self-placement.  If a local academic senate would like to request a local visit, such a request can be made here.    

C-ID Update

Major progress has been made with our California State University colleagues, as the CSU Academic Senate has agreed to change the way they appoint faculty reviewers of course outlines of record and appears prepared to tackle the challenges we have faced in continuous course review processes. In addition, the Model Curriculum Workgroup has been reconstituted to evaluate, streamline, and propel forward our service to CTE certificate and degree students with curriculum designed to serve the needs of the labor market of today.  

OERI Update

The ASCCC will formally launch its comprehensive statewide Open Educational Resources Initiative, OERI, in the Spring 2019 term. A series of nine weekly webinars were held to inform local colleges about current resources.  For the rest of the academic year, the OERI Committee will focus on gap assessment of quality resources and design an implementation, creation, and curation strategy to ensure broad availability and participation.  Please encourage faculty from your college interested in this project to apply for the ASCCC OERI Regional Lead Positions by emailing their resumes and brief explanations of OER experience to info@asccc.org with a subject line of ASCCC OERI Regional Lead Application by Friday, December 14.  

Upcoming ASCCC Events

• Jan. 11-12, Executive Committee Meeting, Riverside
• Jan. 25,   SLO Symposium, Santa Ana College
• Feb. 1-2, Executive Committee Meeting, Oakland
• Feb. 8-9,  Building Diversity Summit, Los Angeles (cosponsored by the ASCCC)
• Feb. 21, Faculty Diversification Regional Meeting, Bakersfield College
• Feb. 21-23, Part-Time Faculty Institute, Newport Beach
• Feb. 25, Faculty Diversification Regional Meeting, Yuba College

• Feb. 28, Faculty Diversification Regional Meeting, Norco College

• Apr. 11-13, Spring Plenary Session, Millbrae
• Apr. 25-27, Career and Noncredit Institute, San Diego

• Apr. 30-May 3, ACCJC Partners in Excellence, Burlingame (cosponsored by the ASCCC)

• June 13-15, Faculty Leadership Institute, Sacramento
• July 10-13, Curriculum Institute, Burlingame

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