20102011 Truckee Meadows Community College School of Liberal Arts COMMUNICATIONS AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES PROGRAM/UNIT REVIEW SELF STUDY Communications and Foreign Languages Introduction Languages are the repository of past and present cultures, and as such are and should be the sine qua non of a college’s academic mission. The study of language plays a part in developing the ability to acquire knowledge by use of reasoning, intuition, and perception, sharpening analytical abilities, and understanding sameness and differences of the human cognition. At a time when preparing students for work in a global environment has become a mandate of higher education, without the study of languages, monolingual and even bilingual American students would be at a serious disadvantage in a multilingual world. Language learning helps bring to students a greater understanding of different cultural perspectives and helps meet a community need for greater cultural awareness in the modern world. Mission Statement The mission of Communications and Foreign Languages is to promote cultural awareness in the modern world and expand reasoning, perception, and analytical abilities through the study of language. We bring the world to life through language. The mission of Communications and Foreign Languages supports both the mission of the Humanities Department and Truckee Meadows Community College. The mission of the Humanities Department at Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) is to bring the world to the community. The Humanities Department provides a wide variety of courses in foreign languages, core humanities, philosophy, humanities, speech and communications. An emphasis is offered in philosophy. The Humanities Department includes the study of languages and culture, film and philosophy, ethics and morality. The high quality of teaching and learning offered by the Humanities Department helps in our search for answers to life’s fundamental questions, including everything human. Truckee Meadows Community College promotes student success, academic excellence and access to lifelong learning by delivering high quality education and services to our diverse communities. Degrees, Certificates, and/or Non-Credit Courses offered TMCC offers the following 43 courses in 9 disciplines in Communications and Foreign Languages: American Sign Language (AM 145, 146, 147, 148), Communications (COM 113, 135, 285), French (FREN 111, 112, 198, 211, 212), German (GER 111, 112, 198, 211, 212), Hebrew (HEB 113, 114, 198, 221, 222), Italian (ITAL 113, 114, 213, 214), Japanese (JPN 101, 102, 198), Russian (RUS 111, 112, 211, 212), and Spanish (SPAN 101, 102, 111, 112, 198, 211, 212, 225, 226, 227). There are currently no degrees, emphases, or certificates offered. Primary Goals and Objectives Students will demonstrate the ability to read, understand, interpret, and communicate through spoken and/or written language as well as gain an awareness of other cultures by being able to identify personal values and cultural mores different than their own in custom and usage. Factors Expected to Affect Future Communications and Foreign Languages have gone from five full-time, tenured faculty members (Bill Baines, Dianne Cheseldine, Nancy Faires, Carlo Ferguson-McIntyre, and Beverly Turner) to three and, currently, one faculty member is in phase-in retirement and another is serving as chair. This leaves one full-time, tenured faculty member solely dedicated to teaching in this diverse area. The part-time pool frequently lacks qualified applicants. We need to hire Truckee Meadows Community College 3 more full-time, tenure-track faculty for the growing areas of AM, Foreign Languages, and COM. The issues affecting the future of Communications and Foreign Languages are staffing, articulation, and degree requirements. Recently there were two associate degrees that required 14 credits of foreign languages, Philosophy and Criminal Justice, now there are none. This will affect the Foreign Languages in the future. Future work on improving articulation with the baccalaureate institutions will stress the importance of the 14-credit foreign language requirement at the undergraduate level and this could prove beneficial to foreign languages at TMCC. TMCC’s transfer degrees are neither emphasizing nor assisting students with the baccalaureate foreign language requirement. The Humanities Department is exploring offering emphases in Foreign Languages. DEMOGRAPHICS AND ENROLLMENT General Student Demographics The data provided by Institutional Research (Appendix C) illustrate no significant differences between fall and spring semesters in terms of general student demographics. The graphics provided for this segment focus on the spring semesters as they show the most recent data from year 2010. This review focuses on Communications and Foreign Languages as a single unit and, therefore, these data were collapsed for the unit of analysis. We compared the patterns of Communications and Foreign Languages with the School of Liberal Arts and the college when the data were available. Age 70% 60% 65% 61% 59% 65% 53% 50% 0-17 yrs 40% 18-24 yrs 30% 21% 20% 10% 11%11% 4% 4% 22% 20% 10% 7% 9% 3% 19% 6% 8% 3% 25-34 yrs 21% 5% 8% 2% 35-49 yrs 50+ yrs 4% 0% Spr 06 Spr 07 Spr 08 Spr 09 Spr 10 The group of students 18-24 years old is the main group that enrolled in Communications and Foreign Languages between spring 2006 and spring 2010. During this time period, there was a 12% increase in enrollment in this age group in Communications and Foreign Languages, while there was no increase in the college as a whole for this age group which was at 54% in spring 2006 and at 54% in spring 2010. This may reflect that most students enrolled in Communications and Foreign Languages are doing so to fulfill the baccalaureate requirements for transfer. Truckee Meadows Community College 5 Gender Spring 2010 41% Female 59% Male As illustrated in the above graph, the female to male ratio is fairly similar to the college as a whole. Over the period for this review there were some trends to note. The percentages of male to female varied from 37-41% for males versus 63-59% for females reflecting a 4% increase of males. The male population went from 44% in fall 2004 to 45% in spring 2010 at TMCC, so the increase of the male population was 3% higher in Communications and Foreign Languages compared to the college as a whole. The college as a whole did not have the same increase as in Communications and Foreign Languages. Ethnicity 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Spr 06 Spr 07 Spr 08 Spr 09 Spr 10 Similar to the college as a whole, the white population of students is the most numerous in Communications and Foreign Languages. The most noticeable change in ethnicity was the Hispanic population that increased from 11% in spring 2006 to 18% in spring 2010. The Hispanic population was 17% at TMCC in spring 2010, so the Hispanic population in Communications and Foreign Languages was 1% higher compared to the college as a whole. This change reflects a similar, but slightly smaller increase for the college as a whole. This was primarily due to the increase of the percentage of Hispanic students enrolled at TMCC and Hispanic students enrolled in courses in Communications and Foreign Languages. Student Status Educational Status 100% 90% 86% 90% 89% 85% 85% 80% 70% 60% Continuing 50% New 40% New Transfer 30% 20% 10% 4% 9% 5% 10% 6% 9% 5% 6% 6% 4% 0% Spr 06 Spr 07 Spr 08 Spr 09 Spr 10 The majority of students enrolled in Communications and Foreign Languages are continuing versus new enrollments or transfers from other schools. The trend is similar compared to the college as a whole. Enrollment Status 60% 50% 50% 46% 40% 36% 30% 20% 18% 17% 15% 18% 20% 16% Spr 06 Spr 07 25% 20%19% 32% 35% 29% 21%19% 23% 22% 20% <1/2 time (0-5) 1/2 time (6-8) 3/4 time (9-11) Full-time (12+) 10% 0% Spr 08 Spr 09 Spr 10 The enrollment pattern in Communications and Foreign Languages is changing, decreasing from 50% to 23% for the less than half-time student group and increasing from 17% to 35%, almost double, for full-time students between Truckee Meadows Community College 7 spring 2006 and spring 2010. In the college as a whole, the percentage of full-time students went from 12% in spring 2006 to 22% in spring 2010. The enrollment of full-time students in Communications and Foreign Languages is 11% higher than the college as a whole. This may reflect the fact that the age group that predominately enroll in Communications and Foreign Languages are of typical, college-going age and are, therefore, likely seeking to fulfill the required courses in Communications and Foreign Languages for a degree and/or transfer. Student Recruitment Activities We participate in the Welcome Back Fair to recruit students. We have a Speech and Debate Club to support and foster Communication students. We added SPAN 226 and 227 for the increasing number of Spanish-speaking students that want to take Spanish. TMCC faculty members have made efforts to engage with the high school administrators, teachers, and students in an effort to recruit. Dagmar Bohlmann, the new German instructor, is working with the high schools where German is taught, McQueen and Yerington, to attract students. Professor Carlo Ferguson-McIntyre holds forums at local high schools to encourage language study. Dr. Nancy Faires worked with the student group Latinos Unidos Nevada Association (LUNA), an ASTM-recognized club (ASTM is now SGA), in an outreach effort with Latino high school students to encourage them to go to college. Future work on improving articulation with the baccalaureate institutions will stress the importance of the 14-credit foreign language requirement at the undergraduate level and this will help to recruit students to complete four semesters of a foreign language at TMCC. Underserved Student Populations The Hispanic group seems to be the only underserved population group growing. We have added SPAN 226 and SPAN 227, Spanish for Heritage Speakers, to serve this underserved population. These Spanish classes address the demand for Spanish for Spanish speakers. Students with backgrounds from many of the Spanish-speaking countries enroll in SPAN 226 and SPAN 227. Before, TMCC only offered Spanish for non-native speakers. Enrollment Patterns Number of Sections 50 4342 41 39 45 40 Spring Terms Spr 08 30 Spring Terms Spr 09 25 20 15 5 Spring Terms Spr 07 33 35 10 Spring Terms Spr 06 555 77 1212 78 Spring Terms Spr 10 33334 1 111 121 5 223 2 21121 3 3 1 22 ITAL JPN RUS 0 AM COM FREN GER HEB SPAN The total number of sections offered by Communications and Foreign Languages increased by 23 sections, 21% of the total increase of sections in the college as a whole, from spring 2006 to spring 2010. American Sign Language, Communications, Russian, and Spanish showed the biggest increases. The increase in sections in these disciplines were driven by student demand. The other courses remained relatively steady. In the same period of time, the School of Liberal Arts increased by 76 sections, 70% of the total increase of sections in the whole college, and the whole college increased by 108 sections. (For the complete data about Number of Sections see Appendix C.) Communications and Foreign Languages are a very important and robust segment of the increased number of sections offered by TMCC as a whole given the increased demand for these courses. Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment 200 177 180 160 146 140 Spring Terms Spr 06 120 Spring Terms Spr 07 100 80 Spring Terms Spr 09 60 40 Spring Terms Spr 08 68 25 39 35 20 8 Spring Terms Spr 10 21 4 6 6 HEB ITAL 8 4 5 5 6 0 AM COM FREN GER JPN RUS SPAN For clarity, the graph only shows the full-time equivalent enrollment (FTE) numbers for spring 2007 (because this is the first term that Communications was offered) and spring 2010. FTE increased by 128 FTE in Communications and Foreign Languages between spring 2006 and spring 2010. In the same period of time, FTE increased by 803 FTE for the School of Liberal Arts, 55% of the whole college increase, and by 1,458 FTE in the whole college. Therefore, Communications and Foreign Languages account for 9% of the increase in FTE of the whole college between spring 2006 and spring 2010. The largest increases in FTE in Communications and Foreign Languages were likely due to students attempting to fulfill undergraduate requirements. (For complete FTE data see Appendix C.) Truckee Meadows Community College 9 Retention Rates 120% 100% 89% 90% 80% 71% 80% 81% 78% 80% 97% 88% 82% 83% 92% 77% 69% 72% 58% 60% Spring Terms Spr 06 Spring Terms Spr 07 Spring Terms Spr 08 40% Spring Terms Spr 09 20% Spring Terms Spr 10 0% AM COM FREN GER HEB ITAL JPN RUS SPAN For clarity, the graph only shows the percentage of retention rates for spring 2007 (because this is the first term that Communications was offered) and spring 2010. The highest retention rates (90% -97%) are shown by American Sign Language, Italian, and Russian. The other courses varied from 65% to 83% retention rates with one exception, the retention rate in German in spring 2008 was 30% and in spring 2009 was 100%. A new German instructor began in fall 2008 and the retention rate increased sharply. Overall, retention has increased in Communications and Foreign Languages. In spring 2010, the average retention rate for Communications and Foreign Languages was 77% compared to 74% for the School of Liberal Arts and also 74% for the whole college. (For complete Retention Rates data see Appendix C.) Student to Faculty Ratios 30 28 25 25 21 24 22 22 21 20 15 15 18 17 13 16 13 Student to Faculty Ratios Spr 06 Student to Faculty Ratios Spr 07 Student to Faculty Ratios Spr 08 11 9 10 Student to Faculty Ratios Spr 09 8 Student to Faculty Ratios Spr 10 5 0 AM COM FREN GER HEB ITAL JPN RUS SPAN The class capacity for Foreign Languages is set at 25 for face-to-face classes and 18 for online while Communications is set at 30. For clarity, the graph only shows the student to faculty ratios for spring 2007 and spring 2010 (because spring 2007 was the first term that Communications was offered). The highest student to faculty ratio (28) is shown by Communications in spring 2010. The lowest student to faculty ratios (7) are shown for Hebrew in spring 2008 and German in spring 2009. In spring 2010, the average for the student to faculty ratios for Communications and Foreign Languages was 20 compared to 24 for the School of Liberal Arts and 22 for the whole college. Number of Declared Degree/Emphasis Seekers Not applicable. The Humanities Department is currently exploring the development of Associate of Arts emphases in Foreign Languages. Student Success Rates Student success is reflected in the relatively steady increase in retention rates culminating in spring 2010, when the average retention rate for Communications and Foreign Languages was 77%. The Humanities Department has consistently addressed issues that have significantly impacted retention, including mentoring and, if need be, replacing part-time instructors. Enrollment Development Strategies Demographic Findings and Strategies The main group of students is white women from 18-24 years old. This same pattern is reflected by the college as a whole. The increase of the male population was 3% higher in Communications and Foreign Languages compared to the college as a whole. Communications and Foreign Languages enrolls more students in the 18-24 year-old group than the college as a whole. Communications and Foreign Languages enrolls more of the underserved student population than the college as a whole. The Hispanic population in Communications and Foreign Languages was 1% higher compared to the college as a whole. Communications and Foreign Languages are serving a need in our community that attracts a larger segment of the population than the college as a whole of 18-24 years old, males, and Hispanics. These classes fulfill the requirements of this segment of the population. We cover a necessity that this poulation demands. To be able to continue responding to this demand, we are limited by not hiring full-time, tenuretrack faculty to support these positive trends. The strategy includes that current faculty members continue to do their best. Student Status Findings and Strategies The enrollment of full-time students in Communications and Foreign Languages has almost doubled from spring 2006 to spring 2010, and it is 11% higher than the college as a whole. Now, full-time students are the largest percentage of students taking Communications and Foreign Languages. Also, 90% of the students enrolled in Communications and Foreign Languages continue at TMCC versus 10% of new enrollments or transfers from other schools. These are all positive trends. As we expressed before, we recommend hiring full-time, tenure-track faculty to support these trends. The Humanities Department might develop strategies to emphasize to students how Communications and Foreign Languages fulfill undergraduate requirements to transfer and assist students with completing these undergraduate requirements. Enrollment Patterns and Strategies Communications and Foreign Languages account for 9% of the increase in FTE of the whole college between spring 2006 and spring 2010. FTE has been steadily increasing in this area and illustrate that enrollment increases in fulltime students are positive in Communications and Foreign Languages. The total number of sections offered by Communications and Foreign Languages increased by 23 sections driven by student demand. The average retention rate was higher for Communications and Foreign Languages than the School of Liberal Arts and the college as a Truckee Meadows Community College 11 whole at 77%. These are also positive trends. There is only one full-time, tenured faculty member dedicated solely to teach in this area. There is a clear and obvious need to hire more full-time, tenured faculty. Student Success Rates and Strategies Of the TMCC graduates between 2000 and 2010, 33.3% took foreign languages. Of the TMCC transfer degrees between 2000 and 2010, 37% took foreign languages. Of the TMCC Graduate Rate Survey (GRS) cohort for fall 2006, 30.1% took foreign languages. (For complete data see Appendix E.) Student success is revealed by the average retention rates for Communications and Foreign Languages which are superior to the college as a whole. These again are all positive trends. Communications and Foreign Languages are doing a great job and there is only so much that can be strategized when there is only one full-time, tenured faculty member dedicated solely to teach in this area. We recommend hiring full-time, tenure-track faculty to support these trends. CURRICULUM Degree/Emphasis Assessment Reports The Humanities Department offers neither a degree nor an emphasis in Communications and Foreign Languages. Program and Discipline Reports in Foreign Languages were submitted in 1993 and 1997. Both reports came to the conclusion that the program was growing. In 1985, we offered no university-parallel foreign languages courses. Today, most courses transfer to the university. Course Assessment Report Summaries AM 145: How to show plurals is an area to be reinforced in AM145. 2009-2010. FREN 111: The use of the verb in the infinitive, the verb “avoir” in expressions, and adjective agreement are areas to be reinforced in FREN 111. 2009-2010. FREN 112: The use of the partitive article is an area that needs to be reinforced in FREN 112. 2009-2010. FREN 212: The pronouns “y” and “en” is an area to be reinforced in FREN 212. 2009-2010. ITAL 113: At a 95% accuracy response of the core indicators assessed, the levels of ITAL 113 are well above average and therefore an effort should be made to maintain such percentages. The next assessment tool for ITAL 113 should focus on the oral skills of the students participating in oral presentations. 2009-2010. RUS 111: There is no need to revise the assessment plan as far as phonetics is concerned. It needs to be pointed out that the vocabulary of the first-semester Russian class is limited by design. The students should feel comfortable using correctly most of the time only nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs they learned during the semester. 2009-2010. RUS 112: There is no need to revise. 2009-2010. RUS 211: Devote more time for studying and practicing this particularly difficult grammatical subject of the future tense. 2009-2010. RUS 212: More emphasis should be made in class on differences in using comparatives and superlatives in Russian and English. 2009-2010. SPAN 111: Noun/adjective agreement is an area to be reinforced in SPAN 111. 2006-2007. SPAN 112: Saber y conocer and preterite/imperfect tenses are areas to be reinforced in SPAN 112. 2008-2009. SPAN 211: The nosotros command is an area to be reinforced in SPAN 211. 2009-2010. SPAN 212: We are satisfied with the outcomes as they exist. There were no low accuracy outcomes. The conditional perfect is an area to be reinforced. 2009-2010. SPAN 226: At a 100% accuracy response of the core indicators assessed, the levels of SPAN 226 are well above average and therefore an effort should be made to maintain such percentages. The next assessment tool for SPAN 226 should focus on the oral skills of the students participating in oral presentations. 2009-2010. Truckee Meadows Community College 13 SPAN 227: At a 95.0% accuracy response of the core indicators assessed, the levels of accuracy in SPAN 227 are well above average and therefore an effort should be made to maintain such percentages. The next assessment tool will focus primarily on: the imperative, the present perfect, the present perfect subjunctive, the future perfect, and the conditional. A subsequent assessment should focus on the oral skills of the students participating in oral presentations in SPAN 227. 2007-2008. For a complete list of all Communications and Foreign Languages courses offered, see the Degrees, Certificates, and/or Non-Credit Courses section in the Introduction. See Appendix D for Program/Discipline/Course Assessment Reports (PDCARs) submitted between spring 2007 and spring 2010. Assessment Driven Improvements After completing assessment in SPAN 111 to 212, we organized coordination meetings for all Spanish instructors to review programs, contents, pedagogical tools, and the results of the assessments. These meetings occur every semester as part of professional development. Every semester the instructors attend workshops for Professional Development where strategies are discussed to improve the performance and retention of our students. Evaluating Relevancy of Curriculum Course Content The course content is of high quality, rigorous, and appropriate. The course content is reviewed regularly by the faculty and the curriculum is updated as needed. Degree/Certificate Requirements Not applicable. Methods of Instruction We offer face-to-face and online classes. The full-time, tenured faculty member who started the online program left in the third round of buy-outs. That left the online program floundering. The online program has since been redesigned and invigorated. Faculty Qualifications These are the minimum qualifications and there are faculty with doctorate degrees. Specialized certificate in American Sign Language. Master's degree in a Foreign Language from a regionally accredited institution. Master's degree in Speech, Communications, or Psychology from a regionally accredited institution. Post Completion Objectives (transfer, job placement, etc.) Currently, Communications and Foreign Languages do not offer a transfer degree, but do assist the student to transfer by offering the courses that satisfy the fourteen-credit foreign language requirement at the baccalaureate level. In addition, the Washoe County School District teachers can satisfy in-service credit and recertification requirements through these courses. The course offerings in foreign languages provide terminal TMCC students with the foreign language requirements, transfer students with the 14-credit foreign language requirement at the baccalaureate level, and teachers in the Washoe County School District with in-service credit and recertification. Secondary Student Preparation Efforts Not applicable. TMCC does not offer credit for classes taken in Communications and Foreign Languages at the K12 level. External Review Not applicable. Non-credit Training Offered Our conversation classes in Spanish and Japanese are non-transferable, three-credit classes. Curriculum Development Strategies Assessment Findings and Strategies By conducting assessment at the course level, we have identified areas to be reinforced. We are working collectively to close the loop: plan, act, assess, and adjust. After completing assessment in SPAN 111 to 212, we organized coordination meetings for all Spanish instructors to review programs, contents, pedagogical tools, and the results of the assessments. These meetings occur every semester as part of professional development. Every semester the instructors attend workshops for Professional Development where strategies are discussed to improve the performance and retention of our students. We plan to continue to coordinate efforts to use the assessment findings to improve the teaching of the courses. Also, we are planning to start a second cycle of assessment. This second cycle would begin with the assessment of the same courses for a second time. External Resource Recommendations and Implementation Plans Not applicable. Anticipated Factors Affecting Curriculum and Strategies The full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty members lead curricular change and assessment of student learning outcomes. As the number of our full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty dwindles, the demand on the remaining full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty creates a potential to exhaust their strengths. In addition, it is more and more difficult to meet the enrollment demands without relying more and more on part-time faculty. The reliance on part-time faculty creates difficulties in providing consistency and continuity in the curriculum. We will not be able to meet the demand of our students without relying more and more on contingent faculty. TMCC is the only institution within Nevada State Higher Education that offers online basic Spanish instruction. The Spanish online program has been in the process of re-design after the retirement of the full-time, tenured faculty member who initially designed and grew the program. Currently, we rely on part-time faculty to develop and maintain this program which has led to difficulties with continuity and warranted a re-design of the program. The online program now includes activities such as recordings by the students where they have to speak and record, webconferences with the instructor for oral tests, writing compositions in Spanish, as well as the regular activities in the textbook, workbook, and lab manual that include writing, reading, speaking, and listening comprehension. Truckee Meadows Community College 15 The Humanities Department plans to expand the emphases offered to include an Associate of Arts in Foreign Languages. There is a potential demand in this area. We will need to hire more full-time, tenure-track, foreign language faculty to offer this degree. American Sign Language and Communications are two growing disciplines where full-time, tenure-track faculty is needed. There is currently no full-time, tenure-track or tenured faculty in these areas so advancing these curricula is difficult and problematic at best. Communications and Foreign Languages have continued to advance curricula; however, with increasing student demand and the decreased availability of full-time, tenure-track or tenured faculty it might prove difficult to sustain. Therefore new tenure-track lines are essential. This recommendation will be addressed more fully in the next section, Resources, of this report. RESOURCES Faculty and Staff Communications and Foreign Languages are made up of three tenured full-time faculty members and one full-time faculty under a one-year contract who teach foreign language courses. One of the tenured faculty members is in phase-in retirement and she will retire in 2015. The unit also features 35 adjunct faculty members. The entire faculty is comprised by qualified instructors who possess both the required credentials and the experience in the classroom that make the Communications and Foreign Languages unit successful. Due to the increased number of students interested in Communications and Foreign Languages, both as a requirement for graduation and as courses of interest for the community at large, full-time, tenure-track faculty is needed to meet demand. As part of the Humanities Department, Communications and Foreign Languages have one full-time Administrative Assistant III and one student worker. Required Faculty Credentials A master’s degree in the field of Communications and Foreign Languages by a regionally accredited institution is the minimum requirement for faculty teaching university-parallel courses at TMCC. Native speakers with a degree in a related field are sometimes hired for the teaching of non-transferable conversational courses. In both cases, proven classroom teaching experience and the literacy in the handling of the latest teaching technologies are qualifications generally preferred in the hiring of faculty. A certificate is required to teach American Sign Language. A master’s degree in the field of Speech, Communications, or Psychology from a regionally accredited institution is required to teach Communications. Full-Time to Part-Time Faculty Ratio 1.2 100% 1 100% 75% 0.8 100% 100% 100% 73% 69% 0.6 Spr 10 FT 0.4 31% 27% 25% Spr 10 PT 0.2 0% 0 AM 0% COM FREN GER 0% ITAL 0% JPN 0% RUS SPAN For clarity, the graph only shows the Full-Time (FT) to Part-Time (PT) Ratios in percentages for spring 2010. American Sign Language, German, Japanese, and Russian were taught only by Part-Time Instructors. Italian was taught only by a Full-Time Instructor. Communications, French, and Spanish were taught by both Full-Time and PartTime Instructors. However, the ratios for Spanish do not reflect the reality. In spring 2010, Dr. Nancy Faires taught 8 credits for Independent Study students, and Professor Carlo Ferguson-McIntyre taught 12 credits for Independent Study students. If we subtract 20 credits from the total of 45 credits taught by Full-Time Faculty in spring 2010, the Truckee Meadows Community College 17 Full-Time to Part-Time Ratio was 20% to 80%. This is a much more accurate ratio. Hebrew is not shown in the graph because it was not offered in spring 2010; it is taught only by a Part-Time Instructor. These data illustrate the point that the ratio is out of step with the college goal of a ration of full-time to part-time ratio of 60:40. We recommend hiring full-time, tenure-track faculty to begin to change this ratio. (For complete Full-Time to Part-Time Ratio data, see Appendix C.) Required Classified Credentials Communications and Foreign Languages is part of the Humanities Department at TMCC and require the credentials of at least an Administrative Assistant. The Humanities Department is down from two Administrative Assistants, one at full time and the second at half time, to only one full time. Classified FTE The Administrative Assistant III works full time. Facilities Because the first year of foreign language instruction is comprised by 4-credit classes, there is a need for at least three dedicated classrooms to facilitate scheduling. Currently, we have only two dedicated, tier-status classrooms which, by only having two, complicate scheduling. There also exists the need for a dedicated language lab to support and foster language learning. The smart classrooms need to be updated regularly because of the inherent characteristics of technology to be immediately outdated. Technology TMCC provides Communications and Foreign Languages with smart classroom technology. This technology is essential in the success of the program since a variety of methods are used. The program greatly benefits from direct internet access and the audio and visual equipment with which the classrooms are appointed. The smart classrooms need to be updated regularly because of the inherent characteristics of technology to be immediately outdated. Funding Sources The Humanities Department has a budget line that has a small operating budget for Foreign Languages. There is a need to increase that budget by $1,500 to cover the copy expenses sufficiently for this area. Resource Development Strategies Staffing Issues and Strategies With only three full-time, tenured faculty members, the success of the program with its increasing enrollment numbers must depend heavily on the instruction of adjunct faculty who carry 75% or more of the courses offered. Although the full- to part-time ratio is very heavily weighted toward part-time, we have been very efficient in conducting effective assessment of student learning outcomes. The addition of two full-time, tenure-track faculty members would greatly benefit both the strength and solidity of the foreign languages and one full-time, tenure-track faculty member for communications. We recommend replacing the lost Administrative Assistant position so that the department is staffed with two Administrative Assistants. This would aid in completing schedules, book orders, reports, and serving our students. Facilities and Desired Capital Improvements We recommend the addition of one dedicated classroom to 4-credit language classes for a total of three tier-status classrooms to facilitate scheduling, a dedicated lab to support and foster language learning, and to regularly update the smart classrooms. Funding Allocations and Development Strategies The Humanities Department has a budget line that has a small operating budget for Foreign Languages. There is a need to increase that budget by $1,500 to cover the copy expenses sufficiently for this area. Truckee Meadows Community College 19 APPENDIX A. Dean’s Analysis of Funding Resources The Humanities department has a budget line that has a small operating budget for foreign languages. However, currently that account does not cover the expenses sufficiently for this area. In addition, while there is a separate account for the foreign languages area it is not separated by language and thus specific details by language are not available. State-Supported Operating Budgets As indicated above, the foreign languages area has a separate budget line within the Humanities department. However, this area does not appear to have sufficient funds for making copies and must rely on the larger Humanities budget to cover its copy costs. While the foreign language area has tried to make adjustments, with faculty utilizing web assisted sections for example, it is still in need of additional funds of approximately $1500.00/year to cover the costs of its expenditures. Lab Fees None Special Fees None Grants None Non-Credit Training Income None Donations None Other None Truckee Meadows Community College 21 APPENDIX B. Degree and Certificate Worksheets Not applicable. Truckee Meadows Community College 23 APPENDIX C. Institutional Research Data APPENDIX D. Program/Discipline/Course Assessment Reports (PDCARs) AM 145 completed spring 2010 FREN 111 completed fall 2009 FREN 112 completed spring 2010 FREN 212 completed spring 2008 ITAL 113 completed fall 2009 RUS 111 completed fall 2009 RUS 112 completed spring 2010 RUS 211 completed fall 2009 RUS 212 completed spring 2010 SPAN 111 completed spring 2007 SPAN 112 completed spring 2009 SPAN 211 completed fall 2009 SPAN 212 completed spring 2010 SPAN 226 completed fall 2009 SPAN 227 completed spring 2008 Truckee Meadows Community College 25 APPENDIX E. Other data from Institutional Research. Truckee Meadows Community College 27