Annual Program Review Update
*Be sure to include information from all three campuses.
Program/Discipline: _History____________________
Date:
_29 October 2007____________
Trends and Relevant Data
1. Has there been any change in the status of your program or area? (Have you
shifted departments? Have new degrees or certificates been created by your
program? Have you added or deleted courses? Have activities in other programs
impacted your area or program? For example, a new nursing program could
cause greater demand for life-science courses.) If not, skip to #2.
Note: curricular changes should be addressed under 12-14.
Over the last few years, there have been a few changes in
the status of the History program. For the purposes of
clarity, I have listed them below:
• Two years ago, a full-time faculty member was
hired to teach in history and other disciplines
at the Mendocino Coast campus.
• The department has created a World History
sequence of courses to facilitate student
transfer to CSU and UC campuses, some of which
require World History instead of the traditional
Western Civ. courses as a transfer requirement.
• Several years ago, we created a sequence of
courses in US Women’s History. These courses will
soon be part of a Women’s Studies (or Gender
Studies) certificate offered by the college.
• For the last three years, none of the three fulltime faculty members in History has taught their
entire load each semester in History. At present
and for the foreseeable future, Tom Owen, on the
Del Norte campus, teaches in History, Political
Science, and Economics; Toby Green, on the
Mendocino campus, teaches in History, Political
Science, Anthropology, and Native American
Studies; and George Potamianos, on the Eureka
campus, teaches in History and Cinema.
• To introduce and emphasize more reading, writing,
group discussion, and professor-student
interaction in the History courses, all of the
course capacities have been (or will be, in the
case of some courses) set at 30 students. Though
it may be too soon to determine, we believe that
this practice will increase not only the number
of students who transfer to university, but also
their success rates after they transfer and in
the classes themselves. This also allows people
in the department to better meet the SLOs that
deal with discussion and oral argument.
2. Have there been any significant changes in enrollment, retention, success rates, or
student demographics that impact your discipline? If so, please include data
sheets (Excel or Word format) showing these changes.
Over the last two years, there have been a few changes in
these areas. None of the changes are statistically
significant, however, and there is not enough longitudinal
data to make definitive assertions about “trends” or
changes. Some observations are listed below:
• The census enrollment decline between 05/06 and 06/07
in History is in line with the college’s overall
enrollment decline over that time.
• The reduction in average class size (from 28 to 24)
over the same time period is most likely a function of
course cap reductions and the general enrollment
decline. Curiously, the number of sections offered
increased from 35 in 05/06 to 37 in 06/07. The
retention rate over the entire period of time remained
at around 90% and the success rate around 68%
(students receiving A, B, or C grades in the course).
This seems a reasonable success rate to the department
as a whole and indicates that there is not significant
grade inflation in history courses. Summer course
success rates represent the exception to this,
however. Success rates for summer courses hover around
92% (students receiving A, B, or C grades). Perhaps
summer students are more dedicated to the coursework?
It is observed that summer courses are taught by parttime faculty 100% of the time. They are also much
smaller courses in terms of class size, which may be
correlated with increased success rates. The
department also recognizes the challenges that parttime faculty members face that make it more difficult
for them to participate in discussions of pedagogy
that full-time faculty members enjoy.
• The department is interested in obtaining some data on
the unsuccessful students in the History courses and
whether or not there is a correlation between lack of
success and the English proficiency level of those
students. This will allow the department to make a
clear determination as to whether or not an English
prerequisite is appropriate for History courses.
3. Occupational programs must review the update of their labor-market data, some
of it provided by Institutional Research, to illustrate that their program:
a. Meets a documented labor market demand,
b. Does not represent duplication of other training programs (in the region), and
c. Is of demonstrated effectiveness as measured by the employment and
completion success of its students.
Other Resources
4. Do you have needs (professional development, library resources, and so forth) not
previously required by the discipline or not previously addressed in budget or
equipment considerations? Please describe.
It would be nice if the library could obtain a copy of
several local newspapers going back to the 19th century so
students can conduct some primary research in the US
history classes.
5. Does your discipline need additional support from Student Services beyond that
previously provided?
Because all of the courses are writing-intensive, a drop-in
writingcenter that did not require students to sign up for
the English 152 course, would assist the history program
and the students it serves.
Human Resource Needs
6. Complete the Faculty Employment Grids below (please list full- and part-time
faculty numbers in separate rows):
Faculty Load Distribution in the Program
Discipline
Name
(e.g., Math,
English,
Accounting)
Total
Teaching
Load for fall
2006 term
% of Total
Teaching
Load by FullTime Faculty
% of Total
Teaching Load
Taught by PartTime Faculty
Changes from
fall 2005
Explanations and
Additional
Information (e.g.,
retirement,
reassignment, etc.)
History
67 TLU
52.7
47.3
Total TLUs
reduced in
fall 2006 by
5; FT/PT
ratio in fall
2006 close
to 50/50
Each of the three
full-time faculty
members in
History also
teaches courses in
other disciplines.
Faculty Load Distribution in the Program
Discipline
Name
(e.g., Math,
English,
Accounting)
Total
Teaching
Load for
spring 2007
term
% of Total
Teaching
Load by FullTime Faculty
History
74.16 TLU 45.4
% of Total
Teaching Load
Taught by PartTime Faculty
Changes from
spring 2006
Explanations and
Additional
Information (e.g.,
retirement,
reassignment, etc.)
54.6
Total TLUs
increased by
11; FT/PT
ratio less
than what it
was in
spring 2006
Each of the three
full-time faculty
members in
History also
teaches courses in
other disciplines.
Do you need more full-time faculty? Associate faculty? If yes, explain why and
be sure to include data sheets justifying the need.
Like many disciplines on campus, the addition of more fulltime faculty would improve the FT/PT ratio in History. This
ratio has been around 50/50 for a while, though the ratio
skews toward part-time faculty in the Western Civilization
courses (in these classes, the ratio is more 25 FT/75 PT).
There is a need for a full-time historian with graduate
emphases in European and/or world history. It would be most
ideal to hire a faculty member in European/Western
Intellectual History who could also teach courses in
Philosophy, a discipline that could use additional fulltime coverage. It is not uncommon in the field to find
someone with advanced degrees in both History and
Philosophy, who focuses on the European intellectual
traditions and possesses knowledge of global systems.
That all of the full-time faculty members in History teach
in other disciplines provides a valuable service to the
college, and the department believes that this should not
change. Toby Green, in Mendocino, is the only full-time
faculty member in History, Political Science, and
Anthropology on that campus. Tom Owen, in Crescent City, is
the only full-time faculty member in History, Political
Science, and Economics. George Potamianos, in Eureka, is
the only full-time faculty member in History and Cinema. We
believe that these faculty members are crucial to the
functioning of the institution by providing more full-time
coverage in multiple disciplines that would be lacking
full-time faculty representation. For example, full-time
faculty members facilitate student advising and if faculty
members serve in multiple disciplines, students benefit
from more thorough advising and disciplinary expertise.
7. Complete the Staff Employment Grid below (please list full- and part-time staff
numbers in separate rows:
Staff Employed in the Program
Assignment
Full-time
Part-time staff
(e.g., Math,
(classified) staff (give number)
English)
(give number)
Gains over
Prior Year
Losses over
Prior Year (give
reason:
retirement,
reassignment,
health, etc.)
Do you need more full-time staff? Part-time staff? If yes, explain why and be sure
to include data sheets justifying the need.
The History department has no full-time staff. The division
of Humanities/Communication needs full-time clerical
support on the Eureka campus.
8. If necessary, to clarify your needs, please comment on current available staff and
distribution of FTE's for contract and part-time faculty. Describe strengths and
weaknesses of faculty/staff as appropriate to program's current status or future
development.
This has been explained in response 6 above. The program’s
future development will eventually require the addition of
a full-time historian with expertise in European and/or
world history.
Hiring a college-wide articulation officer will also
benefit the program. Presently, the World History courses
(HIST 20 and 21) do not articulate with the CSU/UC system.
The department is unclear as to how to articulate these
courses, and the department has received information that
the articulation officer is responsible for articulating
courses.
Facilities
9. Comment on facilities the program uses, their current adequacy, and any
immediate needs. Have your discipline’s facilities needs changed? If so, how?
Please provide a data-based justification for any request that requires new or
additional facilities construction, renovation, remodeling or repairs.
Most of the history courses require the use of a
DVD/VCR/computer projector in the classroom. The facilities
used by history faculty have typically met these needs.
However, there have been past incidents wherein the needs
of the High School on the Eureka campus have superceded the
needs of the History department with respect to facilities.
Consequently, some history courses over the past few years
have been located in facilities lacking the required
technologies to adequately run those courses. The
department respectfully requests that its needs for
facilities with suitable technologies take precedence over
non-college related facilities use.
The Mendocino and Del Norte campus classrooms have recently
undergone an upgrading of the technological systems
available to instructors. We are assuming that the Eureka
campus will undergo a similar renovation in the near
future.
Equipment
10. Have your discipline’s equipment needs changed? If so, how? Is equipment in
need of repair outside of your current budget? Please provide a data-based
justification for any request that requires a new or additional budget allotment.
The response to 9 above relates to facilities/equipment.
The History department lacks a budget of its own.
Learning Outcomes Assessment Update
11. How has your area or program been engaged in student learning outcomes
assessment?
a.
Summarize your results.
b.
What did your program learn from these results that enabled you to
improve teaching and learning in the discipline?
c.
How have part-time faculty been made aware of the need to assess SLOs?
Student Learning Outcomes have become a part of the
curriculum document in every history course (History of
Caifornia (HIST 18) will be updated in fall 2007). All
members of the department (full- and part-time) receive the
curricular document for the courses they teach and are
aware of the SLOs for their particular courses. Most
History courses are also part of the General Education
Program. Fortunately, the full-time Historian on the Eureka
campus was on the committee that created the SLOs for the
GE program and looks forward to participating in the GE
assessment of History courses to insure that they are
meeting the goals of the GE program.
Because the History courses depend upon student writing as
the primary means to assess student learning, the
department will meet in the future to discuss ways to
assess SLO achievement in the various courses taught. It
will be proposed that each professor teaching a specific
class gather together a sampling of student responses to
essay questions at the end of their class. The professors
will then meet and examine how each of the student
responses meets (or doesn’t) a particular course SLO and
the different ways that SLO can be met in the course.
Curriculum Update
(Reminder: Send updated course outlines to the Curriculum Committee.)
12. Identify curricular revisions, program innovations, and new initiatives undertaken
in the last year.
In the last year, course capacities for the history courses
have been reduced to 30 because writing and group
discussion have become the primary modes of student
assessment in the courses. In addition, a recommended
preparation of English 150 has been attached to each
history course. The department is interested in collecting
some data to see if there is a correlation between English
proficiency and student success in the history courses.
13. Identify curricular revisions, program innovations, and new initiatives planned for
the next year.
This fall (2007) the History of California (HIST 18) course
will be revised and submitted to the curriculum committee
for review. The Women in American History sequence (HIST 11
and HIST 12) will be revised in the spring 2008 semester
and will eventually be made a part of the certificated
program in Women’s (or Gender) Studies. HIST 6 and HIST 7
will be revised and submitted to the curriculum committee
in the fall 2008 semester.
14. Complete the grid below
The department has completed a separate curriculum grid and
has submitted it to the curriculum committee. It is located
on the college’s website and is included below..
DEPARTMENT/DISCIPLINE CURRICULUM REVIEW WORKSHEET
Course
Name/Number
CONTACT PERSON(S): GEORGE
Last
Revisi
on
Revisi
on
Due
DISCIPLINE: HISTORY
POTAMIANOS
Planned
Person(s)
Action
Responsible
& Dates
NOTES
We are
planning
HIST 11
to revise
George
Women in American 11/02 11/07
the
Potamianos
History to 1877
course in
spring
2008
We are
planning
HIST 12
to revise
Women in American
George
the
10/02 10/07
Potamianos
History 1877course in
present
spring
2008
The course
HIST 18
will be
10/89 10/99 revised in Toby Green
History of
California
fall 2007
HIST 20
Will be
World History: 10/04 10/09 revised on
schedule
Prehistory-1500AD
HIST 21
World History:
1500AD-present
HIST 4
Western Civ to
1600AD
HIST 5
Western Civ.
1600AD-present
10/04
10/09
Will be
revised on
schedule
Will be
5/06 5/11 revised on
schedule
Will be
5/06 5/11 revised on
schedule
George
Potamianos
George
Potamianos
George
Potamianos
George
Potamianos
This course
needs to be
articulated
with UC/CSU by
the
articulation
officer
This course
needs to be
articulated
with UC/CSU by
the
articulation
officer
HIST 6
The Vietnam
War
HIST 7
History of
Modern
Asia
HIST 8
US History
through
Reconstruction
Will be
9/03 9/08 revised on
schedule
Will be
4/03 4/08 revised on
schedule
Will be
2/06 2/11 revised on
schedule
HIST 9
US History since 2/06 2/11
Reconstruction
HIST 99
Selected Topics
in History
ND
ND
HIST 40
Independent Study
in History
ND
ND
George
Potamianos
The
department is
discussing
changing this
to a course on
“The 1960s” or
“Vietnam Era”
George
Potamianos
George
Potamianos
Will be
George
revised
on
Potamianos
schedule
Goals and Plans
15. If you have recently undergone a comprehensive review, attach your Quality
Improvement Plan if applicable.
The department does not undergo a comprehensive review at
this time.
16. If you do not have a QIP, what goals and plans does your area have for the
coming year?
The department hopes to continue the enrollment growth that
it has seen in the fall 2008 semester. We also plan to
ascertain whether or not there is a correlation between
student success (A, B, or C) and English proficiency in the
history courses. We also plan to have the World History
courses articulated so we can run those courses in the
spring or fall schedule.