The Academic Senate met on November 19th, and here are highlights from that meeting:
Academic Senate supports Ethnic Studies: At the recent Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) fall plenary, the statewide senate issued strong support for the creation of Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement. Such changes require revisions to Title 5, which is anticipated to take up until Fall 2022. During that time, on request of the Skyline College Academic Senate, the College Governance Council will be convening an implementation team to prepare Skyline College for these changes ahead.
Comprehensive Program Review (CPR) templates available for comment: CPR Work Group co-chairs Karen Wong and Leigh Anne Shaw shared that the draft templates are open for comment. You can insert your comments directly on the Instructional Template and the draft Student/ Learning Support Services Template. Alternatively, you may submit your comments on the survey for the Instruction Template or the Student/ Learning Support Services template. Please do so by the evening of Saturday, November 28. Should you have any questions, please contact co-chairs Leigh Anne Shaw or Karen Wong.
Professional Personnel, ACED, and Continued Progress on Professional Development: PPC chair Bianca Rowden-Quince, CTTL coordinator Nicole Porter, and Article 13 PD Committee chair Rob Williams shared some changes to the Article 13 PD process as well as progress on the effort to streamline and broaden access to professional development. Dr. Porter shared that the ACED committee is still looking to fill more seats; they are doing an assessment of all the PD at the campus (which is quite a lot). The District will be holding in cross-campus flex activities; please reach out to Dr. Porter to arrange to present. Progress is also being made on the Skyline College Professional Development plan, and ACED is looking to align local PD with resources at the CCCCO’s Vision Resource Center. Dr. Rowden-Quince wishes to remind faculty to send nominations for the Hayward Award by end of day on Monday, November 30th.
Distance Education (DE) Handbook Update: DE Coordinator Christopher Collins shared the Distance Education Handbook and the process for updating it. The proposed revisions may be viewed here, and the senate will be asked to support it at the Dec. 3 meeting. Please refer comments and suggestions to Chris Collins.
Senate Dues discussion: Treasurer Rika Yonemura-Fabian presented a proposal for a change to senate dues. The collection of voluntary dues results in a static average of $1500 per year, which goes to scholarships and awards. A proposal to increase the amount and the number of participants is intended to allow the senate to support senators in attending senate leadership events. The senate will consider and vote at a future meeting.
College Governance Council Campus Climate Work Group: In response to the release of the McPhail report, Dr. Moreno asked for members from each campus constituency to review the report and determine the best response. The Senate appointed Suji Venkataraman and Lavinia Zanassi to serve on this work group.
The next Academic Senate meeting will be December 3, 2020, at 2:10pm. Pres. Leigh Anne Shaw is available in Senate office hours every Monday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm via Zoom.
Article by Leigh Anne Shaw
