Office of Instruction and Student Development Update February 27, 2015
The administration worked with the leadership of the Academic Senate and CRFO to implement a
reorganization of our instructional and administrative structure on July 1, 2013 to support student
success and to help us achieve our strategic and education master plan goals. We made a
purposeful choice at the outset to give the new organizational structure time to work and to connect
any future structural changes to the Dean’s analysis of their administrative needs, guidance and
input from the Academic Senate and results of the administration’s 2014 faculty survey.
The 2014 survey, if you remember, gathered input from the faculty on whether the reorganization
impacted their ability to deliver quality instruction including their ability to contribute to
instruction/curriculum revision and development. The results of the survey were separated into
four general themes:
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Communication: We need to improve communication between full time faculty and
between administration and faculty
Coordination: We need to work harder to develop better coordination of
department/division meetings, the program review and assessment processes, and between
the campuses/sites and Eureka
Associate faculty: We need to strengthen the connection associate faculty feel to the
college and increase the support we give them so they can better serve the needs of our
students
Distance Education: We need to create a sustainable Virtual Campus program that ensures
that faculty using distance education are supported and that the courses and degrees we
develop are strategic and well thought out
I believe that we’ve made some progress to implement projects that support our associate faculty
and to build a robust sustainable distance education program. I think we’d all agree that the
College still has work to do on both of these initiatives.
Over the past several months, the administrative team continued to discuss ideas that would help
address the various issues noted in the survey as well as actions that would, if implemented,
improve support for new and current faculty, increase communication and dialogue amongst and
between faculty, support curriculum innovation, and help us continually adhere to accreditation
standards. The culmination of those discussions was a recommendation to the
President/Superintendent to create four associate deans positions to:
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Assist with annual and comprehensive program reviews, organizing faculty to complete
course and program level mapping and assessment dialogue, which are directly aligned
with narrowing the achievement gap of underrepresented students and improve upon
district retention and persistence priorities.
Support faculty in the development and implementation of assessment plans for courses
and programs.
Assist in facilitating department and division meetings.
Collaborate closely with the Deans and faculty to develop class schedules.
Assist in orienting and mentoring new faculty to the college.
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Assume areas of management specific to the division’s needs.
Make recommendations to the Dean concerning professional development opportunities
for faculty.
Communicate professionally, consistently, and effectively with administration, faculty,
and other college staff.
The District and CFRO have signed a SARTCO agreement approving 40% release time for
fulltime faculty willing to serve as an associate dean for the 2015-16 academic year. I anticipate
that Human Resources will send out an internal recruitment announcement to all fulltime faculty
next week outlining the job expectations and the search process/timeline.
There’s one last update I’d like to mention. The Library staff, with assistance from the Business
Office and Information Systems, have streamlined and clarified what was a previously complex
process for tracking and reconciling the library overdue and lost item fines. This used to be the
responsibility of one person, and was dependent on that person’s schedule. Delays in processing
student fines has, in the past, resulted in blocks or delays for students wanting to register or get
grades, transcripts, or other college services. Now, thanks to Ruth Moon’s leadership, all staff are
equally trained, and can assist students and resolve issues usually within the same day.
The PCounter printing system in the library now includes an “Add Cash Value” station, which
allows students to put cash value on their printing accounts, for which there is no transaction fee.
The library has also set up a “Quick print” and “Create Account” station.
Most of the new books in History and Political Science, purchased with last year’s IELM grant, are
now on the shelves, in the catalog, and ready for checkout. You can request a title list from Ruth
Moon.
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