Service Areas Program Review Update 2012/13 (fields will expand as you type) Section 1 ‐ Program Information 1.0 Name of Program: Mendocino Coast Education Center Date: 4‐25‐13 1.1 Program Review Authors: Geisce Ly 1.2 Program Director Signature: Date: 1.3 Vice President Signature: Date: 1.4 Primary Function: CRMC exists to serve students and the community by providing educational opportunities on the Mendocino Coast. Over 650 CRMC students have graduated with degrees and/or certificates since 1975. 1.4.1 State briefly how the program functions support the college mission: CRMC offers five career and technical certificates, an AS degree in Marine Science Technology, and five Associate Degrees in Liberal Arts for students aiming to transfer to four‐year colleges and universities. These Associate Degrees are in Behavioral and Social Sciences, Business, Fine Arts, Humanities and Communication, and Science Exploration. CRMC also offers the Fine Woodworking program and art classes, such as ceramics, are in great demand, both for professional artists who seek to improve their skills and for lifelong learners. 1.4.2 Program highlights/accomplishments: * The Fine Woodworking program continues to be a preeminent program of its kind, attracting talented California, national and international students. There are 23 students in the program every year, and several on the waiting list. * CRMC has integrated itself into the social and economic fabric of the Mendocino North Coast by offering self‐supporting community education classes and a nine‐hole disc golf course for recreation. * The Center provides free education to lifelong learners through the Personal Enrichment Learning Series and One Day College events. * In partnership with the community, CRMC has been a longstanding supporter of cultural and educational activities. The Center has been “home base” for the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference for the past 22 years and supported the CR Community Chorus, various student art shows, lectures and readings. * Events such as “Winter in the Redwoods” raised funds to provide local student scholarships as well as finance other educational outreach activities. (Note: The last time this event took place was March 2010). r Revised for CRMC Admin Serv Area 4‐25‐13.doc 4/30/2013 Page 1 * The Center raised $27,000 in 2011 to create two permanent scholarships as part of the Osher Foundation initiative. 1.4.3 Program Data: The Mendocino Coast Campus has not had a budget for at least the last 5 years. A budget and clarity of the finances of our campus is of utmost importance. Our campus has recently sustained dramatic cuts in staff and services. Without a budget and without clarity of what portion of the total CR budget the Mendocino Campus is responsible for all cuts or modifications in staffing and services must be done arbitrarily and potentially disproportionately to the Mendocino Campuses resizing and transition responsibilities. Gaining proper budget information for our Campus is of high priority in being able to monitor how financial changes affect our school and vice versa. # of Full Time Employees 2010‐2011 20 2011‐12 19 # of Part Time Employees 2010‐2011 25 Personnel Budget 2011‐12 2010‐2011 26 ? 2011‐12 ? Discretionary Budget 2010‐2011 $75,000 2011‐12 $55,000 Section 2 ‐ Data Analysis 2.0 List Service Area Metrics/Indicators and provide information on changes over time (Steady/Increasing/Decreasing, etc.) 2011/12 2.1 Metrics/Indicators Number of full‐time faculty 7 Number of part‐time faculty 25 Number of permanent staff 13 2012/13 5 21 12 Observations (steady/increasing/decreasing) Decreased by two in 2012‐13 Decreasing due to reduction of course offerings Decreasing due to budget cuts. It should be noted that dramatic changes have occurred in the number of “permanent staff,” since the fall entry of this number as 12. As of April 25, 2013, five is a more appropriate figure. TLU allocation 579 534 Decreasing due to budget cuts 2.2 Describe how these changes affect students and/or the program: Fewer students are being served due to limited offerings. It should also be added that students have little or no support at times due to the changes mentioned in 2.1. 2.3 Provide any other relevant information, or recent changes, that affect the program: r Revised for CRMC Admin Serv Area 4‐25‐13.doc 4/30/2013 Page 2 * On average, the Center has awarded about 20 degrees and/or certificates per year the last four years (excluding the 23 Fine Woodworking graduates every year). * The average fill rate is about 70‐75% at census. We rarely have a 100% fill rate. * The average age of CRMC students is about 38. Majority of the community members are retired or close to retirement. * High school enrollment pattern over the last 10 years indicate that our local high schools are graduating fewer students. For instance, Mendocino HS graduated 30 students in June 2012. * Based on Fort Bragg HS and Mendocino HS graduation numbers in recent years and the Mendocino County Office of Education enrollment patterns the last 10 years, the number of college‐age students in our local community are decreasing. * About 80% of our students take one or two classes a semester. * It is very difficult to find instructors who meet the minimum qualifications to teach at our campus. There appears to be a shortage of qualified instructors in this community. * Due to the availability of our part‐time instructors, we can only offer courses that they meet the MQ to teach. This results in offering the same courses over and over, and over time due to repeatability issues, the students run out of classes to take. * The Mendocino Coast is a small, isolated and rural community. It takes about 2.25 hours to drive to Santa Rosa Airport (the closest airport) and 3.5 hours to San Francisco. * Since the last mill site closed in 2002, there is no longer a viable fishing and lumber industry for boost the local economy. Hospitality and tourism has become the default industry, but only during peak travel season. Unless there is a robust industry that we can train our students to enter the workforce, there is no economic development to change the landscape of this community. * Various local and county agencies are reducing their services (i.e., court system), shutting down their operation (i.e., health and human services) and declaring bankruptcy (i.e., Mendocino Coast District Hospital). * An increasing number of local businesses have ceased operation because they cannot pay their bills. There are more empty storefronts now than ever before. Section 3 –Critical Reflection of Assessment Activities (2011/2012) 3.0 Describe Service Area Outcomes Assessed or reviewed in the current cycle: Section 2.3 notes the challenges we are facing. r Revised for CRMC Admin Serv Area 4‐25‐13.doc 4/30/2013 Page 3 3.1 Summarize the conclusions drawn from the data and the experience of staff working to achieve the outcomes: As noted in section 2.3, many of the challenges are out of our control. If we have more of a critical mass of students, we would be able to fill our classes. If we have more qualified part‐time instructors, we would be able to offer a variety of courses. If we have an industry, we would be able to train our students to enter the workforce to meet the local demands. With being so isolated, it is difficult to attract potential instructors, students, investors and businesses to come to town. Without new curriculum, we are very limited in what we can offer due to repeatability issues. 3.2 Summarize how assessments have led to improvement in Service Area Outcomes (top three.): We have done what we can to increase our presence in the community and draw more people to campus by offering a variety of programs, events and activities. However, we are constrained by the challenges identified in section 2.3 3.3 (Optional) Describe unusual assessment findings/observations that may require further research or institutional support: Faculty Request for Full Time English Professor Of primary importance is the need of the campus for a full‐time English professor. Presently, our English classes are taught by two remarkable part‐time professors who share far beyond the burden of a full‐time professor in order to keep our English program standards. It is crucial that we have a local full‐time faculty for our basic skills, core IGETC, TMC, and other “bread and butter” classes. Of these types of classes English abounds. We would like to put forward the request for a full‐time professor position in the area of English. Technology 1) Many of the computers in the Math/English Lab (room 104) and student work area are running on outdated and antiquated software. For example, the internet browser programs that are presently running are 6 and 8 versions old. Running outdated software of this sort can poses system security issues. 2) Our server is in ill repair and in need of replacement. It is frequently down and is an impediment to communication. Disabled Student Program and Services Carol Freeman continues to work hard to accommodate our students with special needs. She has brought it to our attention that the DSPS information is not very visible or accessible on the CR home page. We will be working to make DSPS information and particularly DSPS Mendocino Coast information more readily available through these means. Library and Library Services Among the personnel cuts that our campus sustained at the end of the fall semester was that of our library technician, whose r Revised for CRMC Admin Serv Area 4‐25‐13.doc 4/30/2013 Page 4 primary responsibility was to staff the library/Learning Resource Center. Consequently, our LRC was closed. Our students at present have no physical library services, until further discussion. In the mean time, students are able to access computers and print in an adjacent room. It is important that a plan to re‐utilize the LRC space be examined. Section – 4 Evaluation of Previous Plans 4.1 Describe plans/actions identified in the last program review and their current status. What measurable outcomes were achieved due to actions completed. Actions Current Status Outcomes This is the first program review for CRMC 4.2 (If applicable) Describe how funds provided in support of the plan(s) contributed to program improvement: Section – 5 Planning 5.0 Program Plans (2012/2013) Based on data analysis, service area outcomes and indicators, assessment and review, and your critical reflections, describe the program’s Action Plan for the 2012/13 academic year. If more than one plan, add rows. Include necessary resources. (Only a list of resources is needed here. Provide detailed line item budgets, timelines, supporting data or other justifications in the Resource Request). 5.1 Program Plans Action to be taken: Allocate enough TLUs (approximately 534/year) to offer Relationship to Institutional Plans To maintain CRMC as an education center r Revised for CRMC Admin Serv Area 4‐25‐13.doc 4/30/2013 Relationship to Assessment Expected Impact on Service Area Outcomes Resources Needed Page 5 a robust schedule every semester 5.2 Provide any additional information, brief definitions, descriptions, comments, or explanations, if necessary. If we don’t have enough TLU allocation every semester, we would be in jeopardy of falling below the 250 FTES/year. The consequence of this is that the district will lose about $250,000 in funding every year. Section 6 ‐ Resource Requests 6.0 Planning Related, Operational, and Personnel Resource Requests. Requests must be submitted with rationale, plan linkage and estimated costs. Request Check One Amount Recurring Rationale $ Cost Y/N Linkage Planning Operational Personnel Allocate 534 TLUs/year for scheduling X ? Y Equity in TLU allocation to purposes a branch campus is critical to continue to sustain its operation Section 7‐ PRC Response 7.0 The response will be forwarded to the author and the supervising Director and Vice President: S.1. Program Information: S.2. Data Analysis S.3. Critical Reflection of Assessment Activities S.4. Evaluation of Previous Plans S.5. Planning S.6. Resource Requests r Revised for CRMC Admin Serv Area 4‐25‐13.doc 4/30/2013 Page 6