Taft College Academic Senate Minutes
Monday, October 7, 2013
Cougar Conference Room
Attendees: President Tony Thompson, Vice President David Layne, Secretary Linda West, Paul Blake,
Adam Bledsoe, Kamala Carlson, Bill Devine, Sharyn Eveland, Tori Furman, Shelley Getty,
Lourdes GonzalezGreg Golling, Gary Graupman, Dan Hall, Danielle Harris, Vicki Herder, Brian Jean,
Craig Johnson, Diane Jones, Kelly Kulzer Reyes, Julián Martinez, Michelle Oja, Ruby Payne,
Joseph Polizzotto, Robin Polski, Juana Rangel-Escobedo, Joy Reynolds, Jeff Ross, Becky Roth,
Sonja Swenson, Susan Vaughan
The meeting was called to order at 12:15 p.m.
Public Commentary
None
Review of May 6, 2013 Senate Minutes
A motion was made by Jeff Ross and seconded by Kelly Kulzer Reyes to approve the minutes as
presented. The motion carried.
Welcome to New Faculty
Tony Thompson
Tony welcomed the new faculty in attendance to the first meeting of the Academic Senate of the 20132014 academic year.
Taft College Foundation
Sheri Horn-Bunk
Sheri Horn-Bunk, the director of the Taft College Foundation, shared some highlights of the last four
years of fundraising efforts.
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The foundation has reached out to over 5000 TC alumni and raised about $50,000 as a result.
Fourteen permanent $1,000 Osher scholarships for second TC students have been funded.
Raising the Barn Casino Night raised approximately $150,000 for the TIL program.
STEM Corporate Circle Partners have contributed over $350,000 for K-Career programs.
The Beck-Rowe family donated $200,000 for the purchase of lights and a scoreboard for the
soccer field at Taft Union High School, which the Taft College Soccer teams use for their
practices and games.
Harry Smith donated $104,000 in honor of his Aunt Opal Smith’s 104th birthday.
The fourth annual Rib-Eye Cook-Out will be held October 17th and tickets are still available.
Sheri reported on existing Foundation funding sources that are available to faculty. Requests for funds
of less than $1,000 can be approved by the Foundation Director. The Mini-Grants program is available to
fund requests of $1,000 - $5,000 and is reviewed and approved by the Director and Executive Board.
Large funding requests of over $5,000 require the approval of the full Foundation Board. The fund
request application is located under the Foundation link on the Taft College website.
Sheri also reported on the West Kern Petroleum Summit taking place on campus on October 18th. Local
legislators, educators, and industry leaders will be presenting on the status of the petroleum industry in
the area. A tent will be erected in the parking lot to house the event. The event is currently sold-out, but
faculty and students will be able to watch the event in the Cougar Room.
Mark Williams, Vice-President of Instruction
Mark Williams reported on his transition to the California Community College. He stated that “California
does things crazy, but the Academic Senate does it right.”
Tony Thompson asked how the Instructional Office was functioning with the change in personnel. Mark
stated that the office was almost at a full staffing level and was functioning amazingly well.
Mark reported that Agnes Eguaras accepted the vacant Dean position and would be starting on October
14th. He said that she was coming to us with deep grants knowledge and a good attitude.
Mark stated that his favorite thing about the college was the people. He said the curriculum was
awesome and we have a good data collection system in place, but we still have some work to do.
Mark shared some of his short and long-term goals for the college. He has plans to develop and enhance
the tutoring and supplemental instruction programs. He hopes to improve the data collection and
analysis processes. He’s also interested in providing funding for travel and conference expenses,
training, and speaker fees to support professional development opportunities.
Curriculum and General Education Committee Update
David Layne
The Senate paid for Dave to attend the Curriculum Institute in Anaheim in July. Dave stated the
conference was beneficial.
Budget Committee Update
Sonja Swenson
The District budget has been released by Brock McMurray. Sonja has a copy of the budget and has asked
for a copy to be placed in the library.
Brock stated that Trustees want to maintain a reserve of 13%, although the law requires a reserve of 5%.
Governance Council Agenda Items
Tony Thompson
Tony was asked by Dr. Maloney to contribute items for the Governance Council Agenda. It you have any
agenda items, please forward them to Tony.
Other
Kelly Kulzer Reyes reported that Quest for Success hired Nancy Artiga as a temporary, part-time
counselor serving students at the basic skills level. The position was written into the initial grant. The
position will be posted.
The next meeting will be held on Monday, November 4th. Presentations in support of new faculty
positions will take place at the meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Linda West