The halfway point is upon us!
National Coming Out Day was October 11
The logo for today’s blog is the lovely image by Keith Haring. The figure is busting out of the closet, and one step closer to living their life as their authentic self. My own coming out was full of support and love from my friends and family. For that, I know I am unbelievably lucky, and I’m grateful that those who matter accept me for everything I am. My wife and I did rush our wedding in 2016, however, because we feared that our Federal right to do so might vanish in 2017. It sometimes feels like “diversity” conversations get really complex, and maybe this is for good reason! Each of us has a life filled with very different interactions, opportunities, and challenges. Let’s all commit to being curious about each other’s lived experience!
Save the Date! November 2, 3-5pm
Our Collegiality In Action: Effective Participation Fundamentals visit is finally re-scheduled! This is an important event to help the entire college get on the same page in our understanding of participatory governance. The President of the ASCCC (State Academic Senate) and a representative from the Community College League (CEO organization) will be virtually visiting us. Please mark your calendar now, and please respond “yes” to the calendar invite from either Dr. Bell or me. This is so official, it’s even on the ASCCC website!
Committee Opportunities abound!
Speaking of participatory governance, here are a few opportunities: Marketing and Recruitment will meet at 2pm, Tuesday October 13. Since this is a newly-rejuvenated committee, we need many faculty to make sure the way our college is presented to the community reflects the work we do as instructors and counselors! SLO/AUO meets at 1pm, Tuesday October 13. It’s likely SLO assessment data will take a more prominent place in the decisions of the college, so make your voice known about how we can best use this information to improve our work with students! Operations Committee is changing its meeting time to better accommodate students and faculty. Instead of meeting at 9:30AM, which is prime instruction time, the committee voted today to change to 2:30-3:30PM on 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, which is less busy for faculty and students – and not much different from 9:30am for managers and classified professionals. This schedule will start November 11. We still need a 2nd faculty member for this Big 4 committee.
CCC’s Resolution on District Dysfunction
Last week, the Academic Senate Council and also the Classified Senate of CCC passed this Joint Resolution on District Dysfunction. This is in response to the Vote of Non Confidence (VONC) at our sister colleges targeting the recent actions of 3 District Board members. CCC’s senates chose not to support this VONC, and instead make a statement about the negative effects that actions at the district level have had on our college’s work over a longer period of time. This resolution calls upon the Board, the Chancellor, and District Administrators to do all in their power to equitably support the work of the colleges on behalf of students.
Faculty needed for hiring committees: NSAS Division Dean and Enrollment Dean
The job announcement for permanent Dean of NSAS Division has been posted, and as soon as the hiring process dates are solidified, you’ll see an email asking for volunteers to serve on the hiring committee. The permanent Dean of Enrollment Services position is next, so keep an eye out for that posting and call for faculty to serve on the hiring committee!
Can Program Review be Useful?
eLumen is being adopted as the tool to house Curriculum (replacing CurricuNET), SLO assessment data (also replacing an aspect of CurricuNET which never really worked), and also Program Reviews (replacing WEPR). Coupled with the “Organizational Capacity and Community Cohesion” goal of our new Strategic Plan 2020-2025, it’s likely both the structure and content of Program Reviews, and the way they will be used will change. The data and analysis found in our Program Reviews will be used more directly to make decisions about budget allocations for departments, hiring, and college support for programs. Faculty need to be involved in designing the new program review structure, so that the work we do every day is reflected in these analyses and plans. We have a small group of faculty interested in “getting in the weeds” in designing a new template, but with a few more perspectives, I think it’s more likely that we end up with something that works well for most programs on campus. Please reach out to me if you want to be part of the faculty team working on this during this academic year.
Strong Workforce Regional Dollars for Racial Justice Training
You may have heard of SWF (Strong Workforce Funding). It is distributed locally (at our college) and also to fund regional projects. Typically, the money supports development or improvement of CTE programs, either at a specific campus or as a collaboration between the same type of program at multiple colleges. Here’s a neat use of some of the funds- for a racial justice event on October 30. “Please join us for our second Bay Region Community Colleges Racial Justice Training Forum, Imposter Syndrome: Creating a Space and Place for Students to See Themselves in Post-Secondary Education and Key Workforce Sectors. Our keynote will feature Dr. Knatokie Ford! Register here!“