COMM
Appendix A: Budget History and Impact
Audience: Budget Committee, PRBC,and Administrators
Purpose: This analysis describes your history of budget requests from the previous two years and
the impacts of funds received and needs that were not met. This history of documented need
can both support your narrative in Section A and provide additional information for Budget
Committee recommendations.
Instructions: Please provide the requested information, and fully explain the impact of the budget
decisions.
Category
Classified Staffing (# of positions)
Supplies & Services
Technology/Equipment
Other (Forensics)
TOTAL
2011-12
Budget
Requested
12,000
12,000
2011-12
Budget
Received
8,000
8,000
2012-13
Budget
Requested
Tutor funds
0
2345.68
12,000
14345.68
2012-13
Budget
Received
Tutor funds
100
0
8,000
8100.00
1. How has your investment of the budget monies you did receive improved student learning? When
you requested the funding, you provided a rationale. In this section, assess if the anticipated
positive impacts you projected have, in fact, been realized.
Hey Jason!
I hope you are well! I just finished my two week Winter class, which went well. Actually, it ended on a great note
following the presentation that my group gave for our final project. I truly believe that my success during the
presentation was a direct impact of having such an amazing debate coach and is a testament to all the hard work
that you put in with helping me organize my thoughts and perfect my structure for speech. The class was small,
only about 12 people. Instead of a written final, we (groups of 3) had to give a final presentation of our own
research study that was conducted outside the classroom. On a quick side note, I was under a lot of pressure,
because the professor that taught the course (who btw is apparently one of the toughest in the department and
can be harsh, yet good) is the same professor who's lab I'm currently working under; and the Graduate TA for the
course, is the one who I am an RA for. So, doing well and asking the right questions, etc, etc, was well..kindasorta
important, just a little ya know, and I sure as heck was nervous about it and was wondering what the heck did I get
myself into!!!! Anyways, so the day of the presentation, all the graduate student were there, many lab members,
the professors and a few other important people. I did the introduction and the methods section of the
presentation and a bit of the conclusion. You taught me that practice makes perfect (considering how many times
we had to cut the speech to get it under time and practicing it over and over and over again until it was just right),
and so I practiced several times and I attempted to slow down,(since all the nerves make me talk even faster than
normal). I could see a great deal of impressed audience members as I delivered my speech and I even got a lot of
laughs as I added a bit of humor into the presentation. During the Q&A rounds, which I feared the most, we
surprisingly did really well. As I answered questions from the lab manager and a 2nd year Graduate student (who
btw, said she was going to make us cry because she was going to ask us tough questions), the professor said, "Now
that's a graduate level answer."At the end of the day, the Graduate students said they were thoroughly impressed,
and that they saw a lot of my "shy" nature fade away and more of my personality shine through. My graduate TA
Billy, the same person that I'm an RA for, said that a lot of his fellow graduate students spoke afterwards and told
him that he has one heck of an RA, and he personally told me that I made him look good as I presented well. To top
it off, the professor himself at the end said, "I'm truly impressed Akanksha, you did really well, you are just so
natural up there." This was and is all thanks to you and your awesome coaching skills. I was quite nervous as I was
going to present, but somehow after a couple of minutes, my nerves calmed down and I worked my way through it
all. All of the hours practicing and gaining confidence in my speaking ability while having a coach that put in a lot of
time and effort and showed a great deal of compassion for his students definitely made a world difference for me
during my presentation. I already knew it before, and had no doubt, but just reiterate, those practices, long hauling
tournaments were well worth it for sure! Great coach, + tournaments, allowed for my communication/presenting
skills to literally speak for themselves, leaving a lasting impression on everyone else. Thank you so much Jason!
Best,
Akanksha
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Background: Last year, Kelsey Paiz was on the National team. One of her events was
Communication Analysis, where students take a communication artifact and apply a communication
theory to the artifact in order to discern the rhetorical implications and/or applications of that
artifact. She transferred to Sacramento State, where she is now a Communication major. I received
this e-mail from her:
Hi Jason,
So I was just reading through my syllabus for one of my classes this semester, and there was a page called
"Assignment Structure" that notes the following:
1. Interesting Introduction (inclu. message or artifact being analyzed, research question and contribution to
larger theory) 2. Describe Artifact 3. Describe Method of Analysis (Unit of Analysis) 4. Report Findings 5.
Conclusions
So basically what I'm saying is: Thank you.
Kelsey Paiz
2. What has been the impact of not receiving some of your requested funding? How has student
learning been impacted, or safety compromised, or enrollment or retention negatively impacted?
As with most disciplines, our budget is trending downwards. This impacts our Forensics program,
Communication Lab, and overall instruction/staffing. In the last 3 years, the budget for the Forensics
team has decreased from over $12,000 in 2008-09 to a little over $8,000 in 2012-13. This hurts the
program, but it also affects the discipline as well. First, it clearly makes travel to tournaments more
difficult. This season, the team has been unable to travel to any tournaments outside the Northern
California region (except for the National Tournament), hurting the team’s National competitiveness. It
also affects the education of the Forensics student, as their exposure to speeches, arguments,
performances, and critiques of their own material is limited. Forensics students make up a plurality of
the Communication Studies majors, taking numerous Comm. classes from different instructors.
Forensics students also present speeches to Comm. classes and to the College as a whole. This year we
have put on our semi-annual “Speak Up” which had over 100 students fill Room 804. We will do this
again this spring. We also put on a ballot initiative forum in late October, where the community could
come in and watch debates about initiatives on the November ballot. Finally in February of 2012 we
hosted the Northern California Forensics Association Spring Championship tournament, making the
school thousands of dollars while exposing our campus to the best and brightest speakers in the nation.
However, the team is financially on the brink. ANY further cuts to the team will most likely result in a
restriction of tournaments, a restriction of students attending tournaments, and, almost assuredly, an
elimination of the National Tournament from our schedule. We will not have the money to travel and
will be limited to only regional and State tournaments. This would effectively destroy the Forensics
team as it has been known for over 30 years. Thus, we ask for an increase in the budget from its current
state back to its previous state of $12,000 a year. With this rate, the team will be able to travel to one
or two tournaments outside of our region, enabling us to better prepare competitively but to also better
educate students in the Forensics class and better serve our campus as a whole.
The Communication Lab is also in need of better funding. Veronica Martinez has been essential and
brilliantly creative in finding funding for the lab, but this funding is temporary through Title III grants.
She has also written curriculum that enables us to staff the lab through units instead of financial
compensation, but once the grant money runs out, we may not be able to staff “Lab Leads”, who are
currently paid. The Communication Lab needs a permanent funding source, and one that is not reliant
on grants or the WRAC/Building 100 project, as we are often an afterthought in that project.
The Communication Lab is also in need of more supplies, equipment, and pedagogical materials which
also need a permanent funding source. The supplies budget is minimal at best, despite a great need for
funding. There is currently only one computer in the lab, limiting the ability for students coming to the
lab to receive support for research elements of the speech. Additionally, there is no current mode for
students to practice power point presentations. This is because we do not have a projector or screen in
the performance space. Power Point presentations, and/or the simple use of presentation aids, are vital
to the education of a public speaker. This program has been a great success, as it serves the campus.
94% of students who visit the Comm. Lab pass their Comm. Studies class and students who visit the lab
have a higher success rate than students who don’t visit the lab. This is a successful program and we
need support to reach its enormous capabilities and to enable us to serve more students more often.