The Academic Senate would like to thank and celebrate the faculty, staff, students, and administrators who are “keeping on keeping on” during this very unusual semester. Here are some updates on Senate work.
Skyline Represents: Congratulations to the following faculty who have been appointed to serve with the statewide Academic Senate (ASCCC) in various committee roles – thank you for representing Skyline College!
Annie Corbett, Psychology: ASSC OER Reviewer for Online Education Resource Initiative
Alpha Lewis, BEPP division: ASCCC Part-Time Committee
Poh Kim Lim, Library: ASCCC CCC Library Services Platform Project
Leigh Anne Shaw, Academic Senate president: ASCCC Educational Policy Committee
ASCCC Plenary happening this week: Resolutions will be voted on Saturday.
Congratulations to our own Nathan Jones of the Language Arts department, who spoke on the panel, “Addressing Anti-Blackness in the CCC: Meet the Summer Special Rostrum Faculty Authors,” which was a follow-up to the ASCCC Rostrum issue from Summer 2020. Here is Nathan’s article.
Faculty Stepping Up Locally: Thank you to faculty who continue to serve on local screening committees to ensure quality hiring for key positions (please see Academic Senate minutes for details). Thank you also to the faculty who serve on tenure evaluation committees and peer review committees. You are seen and heard, and your work is appreciated.
Curriculum Kudos: Big shout out to the Curriculum Committee for engaging in the most intensive curriculum approval task that California Community Colleges have ever seen: the approval of every single course being offered online in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. If you happen to see or talk to a Curriculum Committee member, please thank them for their hard work: Jessica Hurless – Kristina Brower – Anthony Brunicardi – Christopher Collins – Jacquie Escobar – Jan Fosberg – Alpha Lewis – Poh Kim Lim – Melissa Matthews – Christina Shih – Erinn Struss – Arthur Takayama – Hellen Zhang – Maria Norris – Marianne Beck – Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza – Luis Escobar – Will Minnich – Adriana Johnston – Thomas Gower – Sarah Tran – Chris Watters – Emilie Hein – Susanne Schubert – Jimmy Wong – Sherrie Prasad
Comprehensive Program Review Work Group: Charged by SPARC to create the templates that will be used for CPR beginning in Spring 2021, this committee has begun its work. They will meet weekly till the end of the year to develop one template for Instructional Programs and one template for Student Services/Noninstructional Programs. Look for presentations at Academic Senate, SPARC, and your divisions, for feedback on these templates.
District Academic Senate: The DAS has appointed faculty to the first-ever district-wide Faculty Equivalency Committee. This committee will review equivalency applications in a manner advised by the ASCCC that will contribute to greater equity in hiring. Additionally, the DAS is focused on:
Tri-college Flex Day event
Reviewing and revising policies for the equitable hiring of Full-Time Temporary Hires
Review and revision of evaluation procedures: This is work that the DAS engaged all three campuses in; the forms have yet to be negotiated.
Review and revision of professional development processes (again, work that the DAS engaged all three campuses in, which is yet to be negotiated)
President’s Work Group on Participatory Governance: The PWG will soon be reaching out to chairs to ascertain needs for membership (numbers/representation), share a model minutes-taking template, and discuss onboarding processes for committees.
District Strategic Plan: Dr. Aaron McVean presented at Academic Senate on 11/5/20 regarding the District Strategic Plan, also presented at the Board of Trustees meeting. The plan is open for comment; please forward feedback to Jesse W. Raskin raskinj@smccd.edu or Leigh Anne Shaw shawl@smccd.edu.
Keep up with the Academic Senate: All are welcome at Academic Senate meetings every 1st and 3rd Thursday; look for the emails sent out on the Monday before. Review minutes and agendas on our web page. President Leigh Anne Shaw holds office hours every Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. via Zoom: https://smccd.zoom.us/j/91532912254 Meeting ID: 915 3291 2254
Article by Jesse Raskin
