Approved Minutes
Sacramento City College
Academic Senate
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Meeting
President: Ginni May
Vice-President: Greg Rose
Secretary: Troy Myers
Past-President: Connie Zuercher
Senators Present: Paul Prue, Barbara Toupadakis, Jennifer Laflam, Deb Bryant, Liam McDaid, Karen
Carberry-Goh, Dianne Bennett, Jang Ha Oh, David Carmichael, Ken Naganuma, Andrea Greenwell, Lynne
Giovannetti, Danette Ocegueda, Norman Lorenz, Steve Cirrone, Nicholas Miller, Josh Roberts, Deborah
Gambrell, Kris Janssen, Brian Mom, Lewis Bair, Lori Petite, Gabriella Nuttall, Jonathan Segal, David Fabionar,
Andrew Jones.
Senators Absent: Barry Kalar, Norma Olivarez, Irma Rodriguez, Gayle Pitman, Pamela Richmond, Norman
Walker, Marcia Bonawitz, Amy Zannakis.
PRELIMINARIES
Call to Order: meeting called to order by Ginni at 12:00.
Approval of Minutes: minutes from 2-4 approved by consensus.
Introduction of Guests and any new Senators
Announcements
Future Agenda Items: campus issue 13-1402 (Staff Resource Center Coordinator); this will be an agenda item in
the future.
Also, there have been changes to the Brown Act that require that every vote the Academic Senate takes show a
record of each name and the way that person voted; we are working out a way to do this efficiently, including
consulting with colleagues across the state.
We need a volunteer from the Senate for the district-wide bookstore committee.
The SCC website goes live March 15th.
There will be a faculty and staff survey coming out from the District Office. Confidentiality will be respected;
please be honest. District promises to respond to input they receive from the survey, and they are taking the
survey very seriously.
INFORMATION ITEMS
Academic Senate Elections
C. Zuercher
The packet goes out today from Connie inviting all faculty to run for Senate. Currently, we only have three full
time Senators who are returning. This is because so many current Senators have been appointed instead of
running for office (even unopposed). If you are appointed, you must run if you wish to serve again! Anyone who
is elected can serve two, 2-year terms before taking a year off and then running again if desired. Several others
could run for a second term because they have just completed their first term. Even if all nine Senators decide to
return, we still need continuity on this committee and Connie encourages those who can run for another term to
please do so. Otherwise, get interested faculty to run! There are going to be quite a few vacancies this election.
Each Division gets one Senator for every 10 FTE full or part time. How do we know how long we have been on
Senate? Connie or Troy have a Roster and Connie passed a hard copy around.
The packet will contain a nomination form. Anyone running for Senate must gather three signatures; anyone
wanting to serve as an Officer needs fifteen signatures and a candidacy statement; all three Officer seats are open.
All these forms must be turned in under the Senate office door (next door to the Senate office); the
nominations are due by March 6th at noon.
All this information, including run off information, is included in the packet coming out today by Connie.
What happens if someone cannot continue as a Senate member? They need to contact Ginni, and she will make an
appointment.
SSSP
M. Poindexter
Michael did not appear.
Degree Qualifications Profile
M. Turner
The DQP was developed by educators across the country with the assistance of a grant from the Lumina
foundation; SCC participated. The Degree Qualification Profile describes competencies in five areas and tailors
each of these to three different levels of education, the Associate’s, the Bachelor’s, and the Master’s Degree. This
paradigm has been used in several parts of the United States to determine articulation between various areas. We
will not use the DQP for articulation in California because we already have the IGETC. At SCC we looked at
PROLOS from Math, Communications, and English, and we feel we mapped well except for Civic Learning, one
of the five categories. We view these definitions as a conversation starter. How could we improve civic awareness
for our students? Those kinds of decision will be made by multiple constituencies across the campus. We are still
looking at how well these guidelines apply to our curriculum. Are we teaching, at times, at too high a level? Is
there an example of this? One Communications member feels she is prepping her lower level course the same
way she is prepping her upper division.
The DQP guidelines use action verbs so they can be easily applied to assessment. DQP has a website that is
informative and almost all the states in the US are doing something with the DQP.
Honors Classes/Program
P. Frank
Paul is the Honors Program Coordinator and he oversees the Honors courses and Phi Theta Kappa, the Honors
Society at SCC. The requirement for PTK is a 3.5 GPA over 12 or more units. This fall we had a larger number of
students join because of the PTK foundation and other groups on campus encouraging students to join. They just
had a Valentine’s Day even in the quad selling balloons and candies. They also hold workshops and help students
graduate and transfer. Their program is Commit to Complete where students sign a document promising to finish
school. PTK is also sponsoring Earth Week this year. It is 85 dollars to join, and EOPS pays for it for their
students.
SCC offers between 6 and 8 Honors Courses. These courses are smaller and more rigorous than their counterpart
courses. If students take 4 or more of these courses with a 3.0 GPA it goes on their transcript. UCLA has a
transfer agreement with SCC for students who take 5 or more classes with a 3.2 GPA. About 87 percent of
students who complete the TAP are admitted to UCLA. We do not always offer enough Honors courses for
students to complete 5 classes. Paul wants to expand the number of courses offered.
Honors classes can be taught as a smaller lecture seminar or perhaps in a blended class where fifteen students in a
regular class are considered Honors. This helps productivity. Or, an individual could contract with a professor and
ask if any one class can be taken as an Honors class. Are faculty paid extra for these kind of individual projects?
No.
Paul encourages Honors students to apply for one of the several Honors conferences during the year throughout
California. It helps when faculty encourage students to join Honors and we are all encouraged to do so.
How many classes are approved in Socrates? About 30, and we offer about 7 a semester. There are courses that
are not being offered that Paul would love to see offered.
Some faculty expressed concern over blended classrooms, those with both Honors and non-Honors students. Paul
does believe most students expect smaller classes. Ginni invited anyone who wants to discuss this further to send
her an email so we can further agendize this.
DECISION ITEMS
Campus Issue 13-14-04
(1st Reading)
Interest in plug in charging stations for electric cars seems to be growing. SCC had stations in 2005 but they were
not used much and they were removed. Is there more interest at this time? Would there be a cost to the college?
We are not sure. There is faculty support from one division. Would students use these? We are not sure. Would
faculty have to pay for the current? Some workplaces offer it no charge, some offer a nominal charge, some
charge more. All these options would be viewed. All that is being asked from the Senate this time is if we support
exploration of the issue.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
Schedule Notes on Online Schedule
G. May
Online teachers have noted that many students are enrolling in courses and not knowing an orientation is required,
for example, because they are using E-Services and not seeing the online schedule notes. Perhaps something
could pop up which requires students to acknowledge that they know an orientation is required when the student
registers? Mary thinks that until there is a more permanent fix, students can be informed about the need to read
schedule notes during the new student orientations. Are students even using the online schedule anymore? Maybe
most do not, but accreditation and auditors need to see that information made public, and we have anecdotal
stories of students who still do.
Ginni informed us that in the future, we will be discussing course auditing.
REPORTS
Accreditation: Ginni distributed the Revised Standards Draft; comments are important and should be directed to
Ginni. No comments will be eliminated.
The Student Learning Outcome Advisory Committee (SLOAC): Maria informed us that this new committee
is up and running and has gotten off to a strong start. They are still looking for more interested faculty members.
They meet twice a month and are looking at multiple projects, from accreditation to the SLO web page.
Upcoming Meetings
1. Senate: Meets 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at noon in RHN 258
Tuesday, March 4, 12:00-1:00, RHN 258
Future Agenda Items:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Senate Constitution/Bylaws Review and Update Committee Report
Skateboard Locker – J. Steever ( 2nd Reading)
Hiring Request Process Modifications (3-4-14)
Institutional Learning Outcome Proposal
Picture on email
Shared Governance Processes (3-4-14)
To place items on future agendas, email Ginni May at mayv@scc.losrios.edu