Cosumnes River College
Academic Senate
Regular Meeting
December 14, 2007
Orchard Room
Senators Present : Travis Parker, Marjorie Duffy, Tamyra Carmona, Sue Palm, Ruth
Oxman, Scott Hamilton, Sharon Padilla Alvarado, BJ Snowden, Rubina Gulati, Margaret
Woodcock, Dennis Daugherty, Maha Myren, Lily Kun, Jamey Nye, Darlene Mathias,
Debra Welkley, Gary Martin, Michelle Barkley, Constance Carter, Georgine
Hodgkinson.
Call to order at 12:34 pm
Announcements
BJ Snowden announced the freshman seminar courses are at DCCC, and classes will be scheduled in the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009.
Sharon Padilla Alvarado joins the Academic Senate representing student services.
Minutes for Nov. 9, 2007 are approved without changes.
Agenda approved adding the following.
Program Placement Council
Summer Academies
Updates
Basic Skills Update:
Faculty from Math, English and Basic Skills will be analyzing current basic skills courses, and will complete an assessment of what’s working and what needs improvement. Faculty in those areas will be contacted for help, and stipends are being offered to encourage participation. Some money will need to be spent in Spring, and the task force group, and possibly the senate itself, may be the temporary method for reviewing/approving expenditures. Jamey is monitoring along with the Task Force. The group has a best practices document from the state, and early baseline data is being prepared assembled by Dean Kathy McClain and Brad Brazil in the Research Office.
Accreditation:
Additional release time has been approved for Accreditation Liaison officers. Standard chairs have named. Faculty across the college will be working on accreditation in the four areas and ‘volunteers’ will be added to the work groups for the standards and substandards. It was suggested Accreditation group information be sent with Spring’s opening bulletin, and that sign up sheets will be available at convocation.

Faculty Positions:
Hand out provided. 12 positions will be hired for Fall, 2008. The district will hire 85 overall, which will improve the district’s 75%-25% Fulltime/Part-time ratio to approximately just under 70%. A new faculty hiring manual will be ready for this hiring season.
Interim College President Restrictions:
College and District Senate President met with the Chancellor Brice Harris. He was split as well on the issue. It weakens the power of the chancellor, but there are other good reasons way the regulation is in place. It was suggested that if the regulation was removed, then some Standard Operating Procedures for hiring presidents and VP’s would need to be written. The original creation of the rule decades ago was to encourage the broadest group of people to apply.
Health and Facilities:
Michelle Barkley commented on the district-wide Emergency Preparedness Team. The group held a training at FLC. Assessments are being done at all the colleges. Committee is made up of campus police, VPA, PIO, operations and faculty. Overall, we are ahead of the game compared to many other districts in the state. An Active-Shooter drill will be done in the Spring.
DSPS Test Proctoring:
New forms are being considered as a joint form for regular test proctoring and the regular testing center. The DSPS offices are now inadequate for the volume of testing that is being requested. The space issue is becoming even more pronounced as the number of students being served increases. Part of the process includes having a ‘quiet’ area, which can sometimes include as many as 16 students at a time. As a result of this discussion, as much as 95% the DSPS test proctoring will be moved to the regular testing/assessment center. Five-percent will continue at the DSPS offices (because of Asperger’s or autism etc.) This new process with the new notification forms will detail where tests should be sent by faculty. Expanded scheduling, because of new hires in both testing as a proctor and DSPS as a clerk, will make testing available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. M-F and several nights as well.
Academic Honor Code:
The new honor code statement was presented at Executive Committee. The students, managers and classified staff (matriculation/orientation) are reviewing the document.
Response will be returned to Executive Committee later this month, so that the broadest use of the document can begin as soon as possible.
Discussion Items
Use of Technology for Textbook Ordering (Postponed to another meeting)

Faculty Forum Next Steps
Work groups that were formed previously have not yet reported back to Jamey. Work appears to have stalled in the absence of a VPI and a faculty group leader. ACTION:
Jamey will contact the work groups directly to request a timeline and to check what might be the next steps on the prioritization of top items from the forum. He will also take this discussion to President Rodriquez since the lack of a VPI affects the ability to move forward on these issues.
Program Placement Council
A Program Placement Council has been formed under the district curriculum committee.
CRC Curriculum chair Sue Palm reports the DCCC is concerned about new courses coming forward that are foundational to new programs, without having the programs already in place. The Vice-Chancellor Bill Karns is asking for the PPC to meet. Four new programs are being seen from CRC, including Pharmacy Technician, Equine
Science Program, Agri-Tourism and Video Game Design. Are there more? The PPC’s goal is to examine the placement of programs on a more ‘regional’ thoughtful way with the goal of preventing unnecessary duplication of programs as mandated by district regulations.
Summer Academies
No call for summer academies appears to be surfacing. RTVF scheduling of paired courses seems to be working for a third year in a row.
Adjournment at 2:03 p.m.
Next meeting of the Academic Senate— January 25, 2008 12:30-2:30 p.m. Orchard
Room