Taft College Academic Senate Minutes
Thursday, January 17th, 2013, 2:10pm
Cougar Conference Room
Attendees: Jennifer Altenhofel, Kanoe Bandy, Michelle Beaseley, David Berry, Wendy Berry, Eric Berube,
Darcy Bogle, Kamala Carlson, Joe’ll Chaidez, Christopher Chung-Wee, Bill Devine, Geoffrey Dyer, John
Eigenauer, Sharyn Eveland, Bruce Ferguson, Tori Furman, Shelly Getty, Greg Golling, Lourdes Gonzales,
Gary Graupman, Jessica Grimes, Dan Hall, Vicki Herder, Brian Jean, Craig Johnson, Diane Jones, Kelly
Kulzer, David Layne, Julian Martinez, Mariza Martinez, Mike Mayfield, Gracie Mickelberry, Michelle Oja,
Ruby Payne, Harold Pease, Joseph Polizzotto, Robin Polski, Juana Rangel-Escobedo, David Reynolds,
Rebecca Roth, Jeff Ross, Tony Thompson, Susan Vaughn, Stephanie Walsh
Prior to the meeting, Tony Thompson extended a special thanks to Big Denweed’s Friendly catering,
giving the caterers gift cards from Barnes & Noble and encouraging them to purchase educational
materials for their children with the gift cards.
The meeting was called to order at 12:31 p.m.
Public Commentary
Robin Polski remarked “Food’s delicious,” referring to the catering.
Review of December 3, 2012 Senate Minutes
The minutes were approved as presented.
Old Business—Subcommittee Report on Sabbatical Process
Eric Berube
Eric presented the draft of the Faculty Sabbatical Leave Handbook prepared by the subcommittee
formed to study the faculty sabbatical process. Eric explained that the committee would like feedback
on the draft so that the document and the process delineated in the document could be voted on at an
upcoming meeting.
Eric explained that the subcommittee researched the sabbatical processes of many California
community colleges to inform the draft policy. The draft policy includes the following process: Faculty
seeking sabbatical would submit a proposal that would include an abstract, outcomes, and measures; a
committee would rank these proposals based on established criteria delineated in a rubric; and the
committee would forward these proposals and rankings to administration (see Faculty Sabbatical leave
Handbook draft).
Faculty discussed the local senate’s potential role in this process and how committee rankings might
affect administrative decisions. Eric emphasized that he was more concerned with having a clear
framework than dictating how administration used the rankings provided to them. Diane Jones
expressed that the “bargaining committee should have a goal, a number [of annual sabbaticals
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potentially granted] to shoot for,” and faculty recognized that sabbaticals, like any other bargaining
items, require resources. Faculty also discussed the number of years (six) required to apply for a
sabbatical. Vicki Herder provided an example of requesting a sabbatical to develop an emergency plan.
Jeff Ross pointed out that it is faculty’s responsibility to apply for sabbaticals. The group discussed the
difficulty of a faculty member taking sabbatical when that faculty member may be the only faculty
member who teaches in a given discipline, and Kanoe Bandy offered the example of losing an Athletics
Director for a year to sabbatical and what that would mean to the campus and community. Craig
Johnson suggested that in some instances, a departmental recommendation might accompany the
proposal.
Tony Thompson requested that faculty review the Faculty Sabbatical Leave Handbook draft more closely
and place the item on the next meeting agenda. He also requested that the senate vote for or against
the document and procedure by March of 2013.
Budget Committee Update
David Layne
David informed the group that the committee has not been meeting. He said that Superintendent Dena
Maloney is going to “reactivate and revamp” the committee, “probably by February.”
Class Size Limits
Diane Jones
Diane Jones requested that the senate take action to establish existing class size limits in writing. She
explained that English classes have traditionally had an enrollment limit of only thirty students, but that
Banner and waitlists affect this. She requested a document delineating the class size limit for courses
that would consider physical limitations of certain classrooms, such as lab environments that only
accommodate twenty-four students.
The senate discussed the appropriate venue to advance the issue in, suggesting Division Chairs. Kanoe
Bandy asked if the class size limits should be made clear in the faculty contract, and Craig Johnson said
that the limits might apply to the contract “as a workload issue.” Diane Jones suggested adding an
appendix delineating current class size limits (thirty for English, thirty-five elsewhere, and twenty-four
for labs) to the contract. The group wanted these numbers to also reflect the classrooms themselves.
Tony Thompson volunteered to contact Patti Bench, Vice-President of Instruction, and ask her to bring
the issue to the Division Chairs meeting.
Evolving Curriculum
David Layne
David Layne gave a brief overview of an Academic Senate of California Community Colleges plenary
presentation entitled “Our Constantly Evolving Curriculum: Hot Topics.” David showed the senate where
to find the presentation on the ASCCC website. He gave a brief overview and explained some of the
slides. Topics of the presentation included prerequisites (content review or content review combined
with statistical validation), new repeatability rules to take effect by fall of 2013, the organization of
courses into “families,” and the impact of adult education shifting to community colleges. David
encouraged faculty to visit the ASCCC website to learn more and to contact him with any questions.
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Overview of Selected ASCCC Presentations
Tony Thompson
In the interest of time, this item was tabled.
IT Department Issues Affecting Instruction
Tony Thompson
Tony continued the discussion begun in December about IT. He began by referencing the proposed vote
of no confidence. Tony said, “I’m not comfortable” pursuing a vote of no confidence for four reasons:
professional courtesy; overstepping the academic senate’s role; the possibility of pursuing the desired
outcome without the senate acting directly to remove someone; and the fact that administration
already is aware of concerns about IT and the discussions taking place in the academic senate. A
subcommittee, bringing the head of IT to academic senate, and other possibilities were discussed.
Ultimately, Tony requested that members of the senate email Tony specific IT problems affecting
instruction to Tony, so that he could aggregate the list and advance it to Dena Maloney, Superintendent.
Tony said, “I’m not willing to take this upstairs to Dr. Maloney if it is framed as a personal attack on the
director of IT.” Tony pointed out that senate has “no authority” over the director of IT, and that “we’re
not trying to fire him.” Tony pointed out that some faculty had reported good service from IT in
December’s meeting. Some faculty expressed this during today’s meeting as well. Chris Chung-Wee said,
“Whenever I want help, I get help quickly.” More than one faculty member expressed that IT was
understaffed, and one person pointed to a candidate for Vice President of Instruction’s open forum and
the data he shared regarding IT supporting this assertion.
Additionally, Eric Berube suggested a customer satisfaction survey be implemented and included in IT’s
program review. “Boom, we’re done,” Eric said, explaining that implementing the survey could happen
quickly, providing feedback and concerns to IT to shape their annual planning.
One faculty member requested that measures taken to correct ongoing issues be provided to faculty in
writing to alert faculty of follow-up and how the status quo will change.
Dan Hall encouraged faculty to send requests to him, and offered to convert VHS tapes to digital files
and help with other instructional technology matters.
Wendy Berry suggested finding out how adjunct instructors feel about IT services.
Although faculty were invited to send specific issues to Tony, many faculty verbally expressed specific
concerns during the meeting. They are as follows:
*Failure to remove names of deceased faculty from Outlook
*Lack of back-up for the Virtual Transfer Center causing loss of two-years’ accumulation of data
*”Complete and total lack of communication . Maintenance communicates. IT is a black hole.”
*Miscommunication regarding appropriate hardware (keyboards) and hardware not replaced.
*Wireless issue: “Cisco said our system could multitask. We paid for a package that allowed us and
students to use personal equipment on the wireless network. IT didn’t install the services . . . IT said ‘The
capability is there, but the implementation won’t allow it.’”
*Two years of footage of Taft College baseball, intended for class analysis, lost, never backed up.
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*Request for VHS player for class materials answered with “You need to get with the times.” VHS player
provided for one semester, then removed, despite repeated requests.
*Tablet given to IT for back-up of files. Six years of data lost.
*Equipment (data projector controllers/laser pointers) stored in ceiling of classrooms without
instructors being informed.
*Unmet requests for functional computers in classrooms.
*Favoritism. “Techy people get treated better by IT.”
*Old, nonfunctional computer equipment never removed from classrooms.
*Limited availability of IT staff (available until 5:00pm) with no one to call for help during night classes.
*Switch to Outlook happened during summer and did not reflect input given prior by faculty on
Technology Committee. (This was expressed by two members of the Technology Committee).
*Need minimum standards for smart classrooms.
Other
Vicki Herder
Vicki Herder acknowledged the one week anniversary of the Taft Union High School shooting and the
grieving that is occurring. She pointed to a news report that indicated that students were reluctant to
attend Taft College because they thought “this may be a bad area.” Vicki provided, as a resource, a
handout from VCU Center for Teaching Excellence dealing with teaching during tragic events. She
encouraged faculty to send troubled students to counseling. She encouraged faculty “keep this in the
forefront of your mind on Tuesday” (the first day of classes). She closed with a heartwarming story of
the grief dogs working at TUHS.
Geoffrey Dyer
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