COLLEGE OF MARIN
ACADEMIC SENATE
Minutes: April 23, 2009
12:45 p.m. – 2:02 p.m.
Student Service Building, Conference Rooms A & B
Senators Present: : Michael Dougan, Robert Kennedy, Sara McKinnon, Arthur
Lutz, JoEtta Scott, Radica Portello, Ron Gaiz, Joe Mueller, Yolanda Bellisimo, Erika
Harkins
Senators Absent: Meg Pasquel, Patrick Kelly, Derek Wilson, Erik Dunmire, Blaze
Woodlief,
Guests Rinetta Early, Chris Schultz
I. Approval and Adoption of the Agenda. Approved
II. Reading and Approval of the Minutes of April 9, 2009. Approved.
III. Officers’ Reports:
President (Yolanda Bellisimo): Sen. Bellisimo distributed copies of the ballot for the
upcoming election to fill seven Academic Senate seats. She also distributed copies
of a report she will be making to the Board of Trustees recounting the procedure
employed by the Senate in supporting the Athletic Department’s vote to eliminate
its football program, and the laws and policies behind College of Marin’s course
discontinuation policy and the board’s obligation to rely primarily on the Senate in
such matters.
She said IPC met yesterday and went through program review requests. They
asked that the Athletic Department’s program review be sent back for the addition
of evidence “that their intention is to create a really strong student athletic
program.” This would include the provision of tutoring, intensive counseling and
helping student athletes register in advance of the semester, rather than at the last
minute. In same cases, said Sen. Bellisimo, the IPC was unsure of what the Athletic
Department was asking for in terms of budgeting, and clarification was requested.
The remainder of program review requests that the IPC considered were forwarded
to the Budget Committee.
IV. Committee Reports
Curriculum (Chris Schultz): Curriculum Committee Chairman Schultz said the committee
was pleased that a new science degree has been approved.
At this point Sen. Lutz expressed concern that the COM organizational chart does
not indicate that the Academic Senate has any “direct linkage” to the educational
committees, which might limit our direct input into some (though they should be in
our purview due to the Ten Plus One Title 5 mandate). Others responded that we
provide our input into the College Council and the IPC, which in turn have input into
these committee. What’s more, said Sen. Bellisimo, we appoint members of these
committees. In response to a question from Sen. Lutz, she said we could remove
those members at will.
V. Consent Agenda:
a) Expenditure for Production of Senate Annual Report (held from 4/9/09):
Sen. Bellisimo said Sen. Wilson’s students can be used in this project. Sen.
Kennedy added that “we have a very professional level of layout people
doing very high-quality work” in the campus printing shop. He estimated the
overall expense would run between $2,000 and $4,000. The money would
be paid for out of the fall Senate budget. Senate Treasurer Gaiz said more
than $9,000 would become available on July 1, so no problem. There was
also talk of setting aside remaining funds in the budget at the end of this
school year and encumbering it. It’s not clear that this is possible. Sen. Gaiz
will inquire, and do this if it is permitted. Sen. Lutz said he wanted to see
the content of the report, which he said “sounds like a PR document” such
as the administration uses to promote the school. Sen. Bellisimo said the
material would be presented to the full Senate for comment in the fall.
b) Expenditure for Status of the Profession Statistical Review: Sen. Portello
noted that this item did not require approval because is for $83 and
expenses below $100 are exempt from prior review.
c) Calendar for Amendment Referendum: Sen. Bellisimo said the Senate is
trying to validate all of the signatures. A minimum of 15 full-time or parttime signatures must be validated. Meanwhile, she has ordered mailing
labels. The intent is to send out the referendum, which calls for Senate
elections to be held on a departmental basis, on May 6. That way it won’t
interfere with the election for Senate officers, which could cause confusion.
Voters on the referendum will need to return their ballots by May 15. This
was approved.
VI. Action Items
a) To Approve the Blue Print MOU: Sen. Bellisimo said it was necessary to
make a distinction between the Blue Print MOU and the College-Wide
Master Schedule. She said she would like to see departments start
prioritizing their courses according to the blueprint. The Senate approved
her taking the blueprint to department chairs.
VII. Discussion
a) SLO Inventory of COR (McKinnon): The inventory was presented to Trustees
on Tuesday, although they were reported to have been distracted and
inattentive.
At the end of March, Sen. McKinnon went through all of the course outline
binders at OIM. She looked at 1,164 or those. She marked the date of each
outline, and whether or not it contained SLOs. She said some outlines were 5
or 10 years old, and one dated back to 1973. Many have gone through
periodic transformation.
Some outlines contained teaching objectives, which are different from SLOs
in their purpose and language. Some from the 1990s had both teaching and
critical thinking objectives, which are similar to SLOs.
Those from the last 5 years all contain SLOs.
“We’re not doing so badly,” she said. She handed out a document titled
“State of SLOs in Official Course Outlines of Record as of March 28, 2009”
(attached). She said the Curriculum Committee will send letters again to
those whose outlines haven’t come back.”
b) Study Abroad Status Report (Portello): Sen. Portello presented a slide show
updating COM’s continuing efforts to develop a solid study abroad program. She said
the college is no longer involved in – nor restricted by – a study abroad consortium
with which it briefly hoped to be aligned. This leaves the college free to develop a
program that best suits its specific needs.
IX: Adjournment: 2:02 PM
For questions or information concerning the Academic Senate minutes, please
contact: Michael Dougan, michael.dougan@marin.edu, X7336