Unit Plan: Full-Time Faculty/Adjunct Staffing Request(s) [Acct. Category 1000]
Unit: Geogaphy
Division or Area to Which You Report: Social Sciences
Author(s) of this Unit Plan: Don Plondke
Date: March 10, 2011
Audience: Faculty Prioritization Committee and Administration
Purpose: Providing explanation and justification for new and replacement positions for full-time faculty and adjuncts
Instructions: Please justify the need for your request. Be sure to include reference to Goals/Objectives from Part II, and Strategic Planning
Priorities. Please cite any evidence or data to support your request, including enrollment management data (EM Summary by Term) for the most
recent three years, student success data (EM Success report), and any other pertinent information. For EM data, go to http://help/EMC/ (from on
campus—college intranet). If you have not worked with EM data previously, seek assistance from your division dean or CEMC rep.
1. Number of new faculty requested in this discipline: _2 adjunct_ [Please list staffing request(s) on your Resource
Request spreadsheet.]
2. Rationale for your proposal. Please use the enrollment management data from your attachments (see #4) to support
your rationale. Additional data that will strengthen your rationale include FTES trends over the last 5 years,
persistence, FT/PT faculty ratios, SLO assessment results and external accreditation demands.
To replace a retiring full-time faculty member, Geography needs at least 2 new adjunct faculty positions to maintain our
FTEF allocation and continue to offer our full range of course/section offerings. Section II of Geography’s Program
Review, Year Two, describes in detail our high rates of enrollment (including WSCH/FTEF ratios) and student success.
Geography’s courses have collectively produced WSCH/FTEF ratios over 750, averaging 767 in the period Spring 2009
through Spring 2011. Geography courses GEOG 1 and GEOG 1L, both of which are core, transferable Natural Science GE
courses, will be most in need of coverage by new adjunct faculty. Up to 7 sections of GEOG 1 have averaged a total
census enrollment of 398 per semester over the 5 semesters between Spring 2009 and Spring 2011.
Over the last four (4) academic years (8 semesters), GEOG 1 enrollments have averaged 389 per semester (or 38.9
FTES) per semester.
This request does not ask for new staffing that would increase our FTEF allocation. We are request simply replacement
of faculty resources in light of the retirement of one full-time faculty member, so that Geography can continue to make a
significant contribution to teaching and learning during this period of increasing enrollments and budgetary contraction.
3. Statements about the alignment with the strategic plan and program review are required. Indicate here any
information from advisory committees or outside accreditation reviews that is pertinent to the proposal.
Geography requests approval and funding of two new part-time Geography adjunct faculty positions. Recruitment
for these positions should be specifically directed to qualified geography instructors with experience in teaching physical
geography, physical geography laboratory, and experience with Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies.
This staffing request is directly aligned with Geography’s program review goals; particularly it is basic to our goal to
maintain enrollment levels in our “core” courses, GEOG 1 and GEOG 1L. It also aligns directly with our ongoing goals and
strategies to improve student learning of essential geographic concepts through multiple methods of pedagogy (such as
our Basic Skills initiative and introduction of Reading Apprenticeship techniques). Geography instruction at Chabot has put
emphasis on application of modern technologies (e.g. satellite remote sensing, GIS) to analysis of environmental
processes, which supports our college’s planning strategies to “increase experiential learning opportunities” and “initiate
and expand industry-educational partnerships” (Chabot IPBC Strategic Plan 2009-2012).
4. Attachments:
 EM Summary by Term report for the appropriate discipline or cluster of disciplines.
 EM Success report for the appropriate discipline or cluster of disciplines.
Unit Plan: Classified Staffing Request(s) including Student Assistants [Acct. Category 2000]
Unit:
Geography
Division or Area to Which You Report: Social Sciences
Author(s) of this Unit Plan: Don Plondke
Date: March 11, 2011
Audience: Administrative Staff
Purpose: Providing explanation and justification for new and replacement positions for full-time and part-time regular (permanent) classified
professional positions (New, augmented and replacement positions) AND student assistants (tutors, learning assistants, lab assistants,
supplemental instruction, etc.).
Instructions: Please justify the need for your request. Be sure to include reference to Goals/Objectives from Part II, and Strategic Planning
Priorities. Please cite any evidence or data to support your request. If this position is categorically funded, include and designate the
funding source of new categorically-funded position where continuation is contingent upon available funding.
Justifications should include rationale for requesting the position. Rationale should include specific reference to, where
necessary and appropriate. [Reminder, student assistants are not to replace Classified Professional staff.] Please
list staffing request(s) on your Resource Request spreadsheet.







Data from student learning and service area outcomes
Connection to program review
Relationship to institutional priorities
Impact on enrollment and revenue
Safety
Mandates
Workload distribution (impact on other’s work)
1. Rationale for your proposal. Please include the rationale from your program review and unit plan. Rationale should
include things such as student learning and service area data and outcomes, difficulty in serving students, health and
safety concerns and/or any other information that speaks to the criteria listed previously.
1. Geography has implemented over 2 academic years our Basic Skills project that utilizes the resources of The Learning Connection,
particularly PATH, employing peer tutors to assist in improvement of student success rates through supplemental tutoring of students in
basic geographic concepts.
2. We request 2-3 student Learning Assistants (LA) who will attend GEOG 1 classes regularly to augment our instructional classroom
resources as experienced peers of our students. The LAs will work with small student groups on in-class exercises; assist students in
taking lecture notes and modeling good note-taking practices, observe/identify students struggling with concepts, answer questions, and
use supplemental means of instruction outside of class to clarify or exemplify concepts. LAs can model and encourage meaningful
questions on course content and can keep a "metacognitive log" of the learning process.
3. In the last 3-4 semesters, we have coordinated with Institutional Research (IR) in the tabulation of student surveys about their
engagement with learning resources, with and without PATH tutoring help. We have noted improvement in student success rates for
those course sections with access to peer-assisted tutoring. IR has documented the improved success rates among students who utilize
the Learning Connection’s resources. The participation of LAs in-class will enable collection of new data toward ascertaining a
comparative level of active classroom student engagement when an LA is present and not present.
4. Learning Assistants can aid in the realization of our Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in GEOG 1: to Improve skills in observing the
physical environment; to explain methods of synthesizing concepts, observations, and data toward describing physical processes; and to
visualize real-world examples of processes operating in the physical environment.
5. In addition, we request 2 Peer Tutors for Geography who will provide supplemental instruction and guidance to students in Geography
course via regularly scheduled tutoring sessions in the PATH Center.
2. Statements about the alignment with the strategic plan and program review are required. Indicate here any information
from advisory committees or outside accreditation reviews that is pertinent to the proposal.
This request is directly aligned with Strategy B3 of Chabot’s 2009-2012 Strategic Plan which seeks to “support programs and initiatives that
increase the success for all students in our diverse community”.
Geography’s Program Review (Year Two) Goal #5 focuses on improving student learning of essential geographic concepts. Our Basic Skills
initiative first employed Geography peer tutors to support this goal. Also, Goal #4 in our Program Review is a call to persist in our analysis of
enrollment trends and success rates Institutional Research data has indicated improvement in both retention and student success through the
involvement of Learning Assistants and Peer Tutors.
Program Review: Enrollment Requests
Discipline: Geography
Division or Area to Which You Report: Social Sciences
Author(s): Don Plondke
Date: March 11, 2011
Audience: Budget, Deans, CEMC, PRBC
Purpose: To recommend changes in FTEF allocations for subsequent academic year and guide Deans and CEMC in the allocation of FTEF to units.
Instructions: In the area below, please list your requested changes in course offerings (with reference to corresponding change in FTEF) and provide your
rationale for these changes. Be sure to analyze enrollment trends and other relevant data (http://help/EMC/). Please seek your dean’s assistance as needed.
To support 1) the GIS Certificate of Completion program (see college catalog), 2) the joint program with the “Green Academy” of San Lorenzo
High Schools (see goal #9 of our Action Plan Timeline), and 3) the developing Environmental Studies program at Chabot (see goal #3 of our
Action Plan Timeline), Geography needs the ability to offer more than one GIS course per semester. For example, we would like to
accommodate both introductory-level GIS students enrolling in GEOG 20 and GEOG 19, and more advanced GIS students who have completed
GEOG 20 (or equivalent) and wish to enroll in GEOG 21, the 2nd level GIS applications course. Our current academic year FTEF allocation allows
us to offer our annual range of courses that consistently reach or surpass enrollment expectations and support our “core” courses students
needs for GE requirements fulfillment and the Geography A.A. program (including GEOG 1, 1L, 2, 5, 8, and 12). However, we currently have
insufficient allocation to allow simultaneous offering of more than one GIS course (GEOG 19, 20, 21, 22, 95, 96) without sacrificing one or
more courses or sections of “core” courses.
Geography requests an additional academic year allocation of a minimum of 0.3 FTEF to enable offering of at least one additional GIS
applications course (GEOG 21, 22) and both GIS work experience courses, which a student must take concurrently (GEOG 95 and 96), in the
same semester without sacrificing our “core” course offerings that consistently have shown high enrollments.
As an example, for Spring Semester 2012, we anticipate a proposed schedule that would include:
GEOG 19
1 unit (0.15 FTEF)
GEOG 20
3 units (0.2 FTEF)
GEOG 22
3 units (0.2 FTEF)
GEOG 95/96 1-3 units (0.1-0.15 FTEF)
GEOG 22 and GEOG 95/96 would be new to the course offerings.
GEOG 19 and GEOG 20 are scheduled for Fall Semester 2011.