Academic Senate
Cosumnes River College
February 6, 2009
Orchard Room
APPROVED MINUTES
Attendance: Greg Beyrer, Debra Welkley, Norv Wellsfry, Balbina Chaderjian, Carol Bernardo, Ruth
Oxman, Darlene Mathias, Marjorie Duffy, Jamey Nye, Gary Martin, Hiram Jackson, Ralph Hendrix, Lon
Davenport, Rich Schubert, Julie Oliver, Constance Carter, Georgine Hodgkinson, Grant Parker, Kale
Braden, Michelle Smith, Maha Myren, Sharon Padilla-Alvarado, Tamyra Carmona, Dana Wassmer.
Meeting was called to order at 12:35 p.m.
Announcements:
Earth Day Planning is underway. Activities will be going on April 20 with speakers and booths. Faculty
are encouraged to plan additional events, activities or presentations. Contact Julie Oliver if interested in
participating. An e-mail request will also be sent.
Rick Schubert has been asked to speak as part of the RCA lecture series to do a presentation on
Academic Integrity. Rick notes this is an honor for CRC because of its leadership in this area. Lecture
will be Wed., March 11 at Sac State.
Constance Carter has sent in a note that perhaps facility planning should include a quiet space for
adjunct and fulltime staff/faculty to have some peace for reflection and even yoga.
Agenda: Approved as presented.
Minutes from Jan 23 approved.
UPDATES
Basic Skills: There is additional money that will be coming to CRC. The vice president indicates details
are not available yet, but the existing action plan moves forward. As a side note, the Statewide
Academic Senate is interested in involving more Careers and Technology faculty in the Basic Skills area.
CASSL and SLO Coordinator Funding: We will have more information about the .6 FTE from district
before our next meeting. If the district funding is not available, more of the funding may come from
presidential release. Funding then remains in question. Job description writing continues, but when it
comes to presidential release time, normally the president gets to decide who gets the money. The
Senate has a strong interest in making the hiring process for CASSL a joint decision between faculty and
administration. President Nye will contact Interim president Celia Esposito-Noy to determine how this
option will move forward. It was a general consensus that the college’s work in CASSL and SLO progress
should not be stopped, and the Senate and Administration’s joint interests in staying ahead of the curve
in these areas because they affect accreditation – in a review year. As a continuation discussion, there is
no real process for institutionalizing any on-going funding to support CASSL. Puente, and the Honors
programs are examples of issues that don’t have any on-going permanent funding.
Funding options: Could some of the money come from the professional standards sabbatical Type B
leave be applied to supporting CASSL? Concerns over the purpose of Sabbatical money being targeted
to an individual faculty need rather than for institutional goals seemed to be counter to the intended
purpose. This proposal failed and the idea will not be taken to Professional Standards.
The job description writing and negotiations on the funding moves forward through the work primarily
of Jamey Nye and Kathy McLain.
Accreditation: Norv Wellsfry reports the first draft on all of the accreditation standards has been
submitted. The college accreditation steering committee will see it later this month before additional
internal editing is done by Norv, Whitney Yamamura, Lisa Marchand and Chris Wagner. The draft will
then be released to the college community for additional review and feedback during the Spring
semester. All is on track for the site visit next October and for LRCCD Board of Trustees approval of the
Self Study during the summer.
Interim-President Transition: Celia Esposito-Noy will be the interim college president. Her existing work
on the student grievance process continues. The committee for hiring a new president is being formed
and the Chancellor’s process is underway. President Francisco Rodriguez will be travelling part of this
month before actually finishing as president and moving on to the Mira Costa Community College.
Discussion:
CASSL Coordinator Draft 2: Comments on the new draft should be sent to Jamey Nye. One of the
interests presented by administration was that this person should be someone who is in the ‘teaching’
faculty. The discussion was centered on whether this excludes people such as coordinators, counselors,
librarians and nurses. Would an option be to not limit the position to ‘teaching faculty’ but rather to
faculty with teaching experience?
SLO Coordinator Draft 1: Jamey Nye was been instructed to make this description look more like the
CASSL description and to move across the similar interests.
Strategic Plan: Student Success: The Senate is called to review the documents provided at the meeting
with the agenda (Attachment), and to provide appropriate feedback now. A concern surfaced that
suggestions might come very deep in the process and it was suggested that now is the time to make
comments rather than as it moves to the president and the board. If MESA, DIOP and Puente are
mentioned, Honors should also be mentioned.
Strategic Plan: Teaching and Learning Effectiveness: Also provided at the meeting was the draft
document with the goals and objectives for this additional section the Strategic Plan. Senators are
instructed to review the document between now and the next senate meeting Feb. 27 and to send
proposed changes to Jamey Nye. Several suggestions were mentioned and senators were told to send
the language to Jamey.
New Shared Governance Committee: Several new committees have been suggested. The Basic Skills
work group appears ready to write a committee charge, mission, membership rules and to move
forward under our process. An additional proposal is to have a campus Sustainability work group
become a shared governance committee. Discussion of this will need to include all constituencies and
to assess the willingness of administration, students and classified staff to participate before moving
toward a shared governance level.
Test Proctoring Agreement Form: Postponed until next meeting.
Adjourned at 2:06 p.m.
Attachment:
Strategic Plan
Student Success
Draft Goals and Initiatives
1/07/09
As an institution that serves a diverse community, the College strives to support student success,
promote educational equity, and offer programs that will empower students to contribute to a just and
democratic society as global citizens. The College provides students with access to high quality services
that support their success at the college and facilitate their transition to work or further educational
opportunities. The College also offers instructional programs designed to meet the changing needs of
industry and our global economy and programs and instructional methods that support student learning
and promote educational equity. Finally, the College supports and provides learning opportunities for
student learning outside the classroom.
Goal 1: Offer innovative instructional and support programs
Key Initiatives
a. Fully implement the Basic Skills Initiative.
b. Increase access to supportive learning communities such as MESA, Diop, and Puente
c. Implement programs and program components that that enhance student success,
retention and persistence, particularly for those groups who are not performing as well
as other groups
d. Ensure that programs support the acquisition of twenty-first century skills that meet the
changing needs of industry and the global economy
e. Assess and strengthen the College’s ability to help students transition to college, such as
Freshmen Seminar and orientation.
f. Facilitate student success by assessing and modifying as needed the college’s ability-tobenefit process, pre- and co-requisite practices, and advising for academically and financially
disadvantaged student populations.
Goal 2: Strengthen the institution’s ability to respond to the changing needs of our student population
(first generation, basic skills, traditionally underrepresented, etc.) by enhancing our services.
Key Initiatives
a. Assess and modify (as needed) current student-services facilities, and design future
student-services facilities, to ensure they are welcoming and service-oriented.
b. Explore ways to co-locate and/or integrate services to enhance access and quality of
services.
c.
a.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
Identify the strategic needs that should be met, and services that should be included, in
a student center.
Streamline and enhance processes to provide integrated and enhanced services.
Assess, enhance, and expand services available to students, including childcare,
advising, mental health services, tutoring, crisis counseling, wellness, and Veterans
services.
Provide professional development about recognizing and responding to student needs,
including issues related to wellness and mental health.
Assess, enhance and expand services that help students transition, including the
transfer center, the career center, and articulation.
Enhance the College’s awareness of, and articulation with, community resources.
Enhance program effectiveness by the full implementation of the student learning
outcomes assessment cycle.
Expand the use of institutional and program based qualitative and quantitative data in
assessing and improving program effectiveness.
Goal 3: Create a campus culture that embraces and supports learning outside the classroom.
Key Initiatives
a. Identify and disseminate relevant research about student needs and the potential
benefits of engagement outside the classroom
b. Create spaces that support learning outside the classroom, including dedicated spaces
for campus meetings and events and community events
c. Investigate and implement scheduling options, including the creation of a college hour
and modifications in the academic calendar, to enhance access to activities and
programs and investigating the feasibility of imbedding one or more FLEX days in the
academic year
d. Enhance and diversify the learning opportunities and campus activities that occur
outside the classroom
e. Improve the communication system about extracurricular opportunities to staff and
students