Request for Tenure Track Faculty
Program: Biology - EKA
Initiator(s): Karen Reiss, Diqui LaPenta, Jeff Hogue
1. Program(s) Supported by the Discipline: LA: Science, LA: Science Exploration, LVN, RN
2. Job Description. Separate requests are required for each position sought. Please indicate
if this request is site specific and the location(s).
We are requesting a full time Biology - EKA faculty member whose expertise will be in
human biology and health science. Their primary teaching responsibilities will be some
combination of physiology, anatomy, microbiology and/or human biology to health
occupation students (Biol 2, 6, 7, and 8), and general education courses in general
biology and human biology (Biol 1 and Biol 8). This position will also serve as an
important liaison between the biology program and the health occupation programs that
the biology program supports (primarily RN and LVN).
3. Please check ONE of the following categories: Faculty Replacement Position, Growth
Position or New Program/Discipline. Provide related information. (0-5 Points)
Faculty Replacement Position (check one)
Stable or growing discipline or program needs replacement for FT faculty who have left
within this academic year
Stable or growing discipline or program needs replacement for FT faculty who have left
within 1-2 years
Stable discipline or program needs replacement for FT faculty who have left within threefour years
X Stable discipline or program can justify replacement for FT faculty who have left within
five years or more
Outside accreditation is at risk without FT hire
Provide justification and documentation. Include when the position became vacant and
the incumbent to be replaced.
This position is a replacement for a retirement that would allow growth in an already
stable discipline as well as allowing the development of other training opportunities
within the discipline.
Mr. Ralph Reiner retired in 2004. His typical load was over the full-time 22 ½ TLU load
per semester and typically included 2 sections of Biol 7 – Physiology (9 TLUs), and 2
sections of either Biol 2 – Microbiology (15 TLUs) or Biol 6 – Human Anatomy (15
r3/12/12 pg 1 TLUs). Drs. La Penta and Reiss cover some of Mr. Reiner’s former load, but these
faculty already had full loads prior to Mr. Reiner’s retirement. Some associate faculty
have emerged with adequate training to teach the health occupations courses, but their
availability is not sufficient to meet student demand, in part because of our load cap for
Associates and in part because we compete with HSU for these individuals. Health
occupation-bound students continue to make up a large percentage of life science
students. The demand for health professionals and our enrollment in these areas
continues to be strong and is expected to increase.
We have been encouraged to increase our offerings in environmental science, and while
this would be consistent with other employment opportunities in the area and across the
state, but we simply don’t have enough faculty to meet current demand in general
education, transfer education, and health occupations career technical education, let
alone enough to develop other career technical pathways.
CR has had a consistent problem meeting the needs of student in the area of Biological
Sciences for many years. These classes are the first to fill with full waiting lists within a
few days of registration. This position is needed not only to support the RN and LVN
student, but to meet the needs of all science students.
Growth Position (checkone)
XX Enrollment data over past two years indicate program is growing
Enrollment data over past two years indicate program is stable
Enrollment data over past two years indicate program is declining
X Independent marketing or other data indicate growth potential
Provide justification and documentation.
Diversified health care continues to be one of the largest and fastest growing targets of
opportunity in the North Coast region, and trained professionals continue to be in demand
across the state, nation, and world. Workforce requirements include all levels and
varieties of health care workers, many of which require training programs available at
College of the Redwoods. The biology department offers required courses for LVN, RN,
Medical Assistant and Dental Hygenist programs at CR, as well as pharmacy, physician
and technician programs offered at other institutions. These courses are always impacted;
we can never offer enough sections to meet demand. Moreover, diverting full time faculty
TLUs to these health occupations prerequisites is constraining departmental growth in
other areas.
New Program/Discipline Position
Program Initialization process complete
r3/12/12 pg 2 State curriculum approval complete
Program has grown significantly without FT faculty
Independent marketing data suggests viability of new program
Provide justification and documentation.
4. FT/PT Ratio: Indicate which statement/s are confirmed by the data: (0 -5 points)
Program has no full-time faculty
FT/PT ration below 50/50 percent
FT/PT ratio below 60/40 percent
FT/PT ratio below 75/25 percent
X
FT/PT ratio results in critical lack of effective oversight for associate faculty
X Reliable pool of well-qualified associate faculty is unavailable
(In the case of non-teaching faculty positions, the criteria will be the deviation from norms
obtained from like institutions)
Provide justification and documentation.
The demand for individuals with this expertise is high. Community colleges all over the
country regularly post openings for faculty positions in physiology and anatomy. The
pool of associate faculty qualified in this area is especially meager in Humboldt County.
We have only been partially successful, sometimes, finding associates to teach human
anatomy, and we compete vigorously with HSU for these individuals.
5. Program/Student Outcomes (0 – 5 points)
Provide a narrative justifying need for full-time faculty in order to maintain and/or improve
program and student learning outcomes (one-page max), based on the following: (0 – 5 points)


Demonstrate a clear need for FT faculty in order to maintain program outcomes
Justification demonstrates a clear need for FT faculty in order to achieve student learning
outcomes
Narrative:
Our current Mission Statement cites three equally important goals of the college and this
position impacts all three types of programs: GE, transfer, and career technical
education. Also, if this position were filled it would enable existing faculty to develop the
r3/12/12 pg 3 environmental studies/ environmental science program, a growth direction that has been
supported internally and externally. Past Program Review summaries have urged the
biology department “take steps to increase FTES by adding a new full-time faculty
member”, have cited “high enrollment and demand” as a strength of our program, and
have cited “lack of a full-time faculty in area of physiology” and “high demand for Health
Occ-related courses (that) cannot be met by current staffing” as obstacles in our area.
These are themes that have repeatedly emerged in our Program Reviews, and yet we
have made no progress in this area.
Student learning outcomes are well met to the degree that we can serve students, but
there remains a need for better communication between the biology program and health
occupations departments. Assessment Friday meetings and other discussions in which
Health Occupations and Biology faculty from across the district participate are
documented. These have been useful for course outline and student learning outcome
revision, but have brought to light the need for regular and consistent communication
between programs to ensure that Biology course slos adequately prepare students for
the health occupations programs. Over the last 5 years, Biols 2, 6 , 7 and 8 have been
taught by a total of 8 different faculty on the EKA campus alone. Only 2 of these faculty
are full-time, and both have significant commitments to other pathways in the biology
department such as GE and major transfer education. This lack of focused oversight
impairs pedagogical consistency, muddles ‘closing the loop” efforts, and prevents
concerted progress towards maintaining alignment across programs.
REDWOODS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
RUBRIC FOR PRIORITIZING FULL-TIME FACULTY POSITIONS
Faculty Replacement Position





Points (0-5):
Stable or growing discipline or program needs replacement for FT faculty
who have left within this academic year
Stable or growing discipline or program needs replacement for FT faculty
who have left within 1-2 years
Stable discipline or program needs replacement for FT faculty who have left
within three-four years
Stable discipline or program can justify replacement for FT faculty who have
left within five years or more
Outside accreditation is at risk without FT hire
OR
Growth Position




Enrollment data over past two years indicate program is growing
Enrollment data over past two years indicate program is stable
Enrollment data over past two years indicate program is declining
Independent marketing or other data indicate growth potential
OR
New Program/Discipline Position
r3/12/12 pg 4 



Program Initialization process complete
State curriculum approval complete
New program has shown significant growth without FT faculty
Independent marketing data suggest viability of new program
Points (0-5):
FT/PT Ratio






Program has no full-time faculty
FT/PT ration below 50/50 percent
FT/PT ratio below 60/40 percent
FT/PT ratio below 75/25 percent
FT/PT ratio results in critical lack of effective oversight for associate faculty
Reliable pool of well-qualified associate faculty is unavailable
(In the case of non teaching faculty positions, the criteria will be the deviation
from norms obtained from like institutions)
Points (0-5):
Program/Student Outcomes


Narrative justification demonstrates clear need for FT faculty in order to
maintain program outcomes
Narrative justification demonstrates clear need for FT faculty in order to
achieve student learning outcomes
Points (0-5):
Other (Shared Interest)

Shared interest determined by the Faculty Prioritization Committee. Scoring
rubric will be mutually agreed and will be based on the nature of the shared
interest.
TOTAL
r3/12/12 pg 5