Department Chairs Council Minutes
15 November 2012
Attendance: Carl Sjovold, Melissa Fellman, Jon Hanson, Ann Lewis, David Wyatt, Richard
Erlich, Connie Zuercher, Ginni May, Gabriella Nuttall, Dianne Heimer, Richard Yang, Mel
Duvall, Jon Zeh, Laurie Perry, Bill Doonan, Angela Block, Linda Nuss, Rick Woodmansee,
Shanna Stein, Daniel Styer, Tom Cappelleti, Chris Seddon, Mary Turner, Elaine Ader,
Norman Lorenz.
I.
Mary Turner – Post-prop 30 and other admin info
District is still looking at our budget – looks like for the time being, FY 13/14 FTE will
remain stable with what we have in 12/13. We are running at a bit of a deficit (of about
$5M) at this time and this MAY be offset at some point by growth dollars, or some other
source.
Mary passed out the Summer/Fall/Spring tentative scheduling calendar (Attached). Spring
2013 we have a bit too many FTE’s and would have to cut a bit more to meet our FTE
allocation. This is because during Fall 2012 we scheduled a bit too many FTEs. Summer
school will stay about the same level (about 60 FTE) as what we had in 2012. We still can
hold off some of the summer school offerings and “bank” these FTE for Fall 2013 offerings.
As an institution, we need to really look at our Certificate and Degree programs to ascertain
if those Certs and Degrees are relevant anymore or should be eliminated. Productivity is
very important so be sure to manage our schedules for productivity.
Notable Dates:
Summer 2013 – draft schedule due to Deans 12/3/2012
Fall 2013 – draft schedule due to Deans 12/14/2012
Spring 2014 – draft schedule due to Deans 5/15/2013
For scheduling, be aware that many students are enrolling on multiple campuses and that
we have had many students not showing up on the first day of classes. This has affected the
number of students enrolled in the classes. We might want to send out emails to our
students before the semester starts to make sure that they attend and to encourage
students that do not intend to show up to drop the classes so that others can move into
their slots. Financial aid also plays a part in the no-shows – e.g. ARC had around 700
students that did not qualify for financial aid and thus were no-shows to their courses.
Transfer Degrees (AAT and AST) – 21 now approved at SCC. If we have a transfer degree in
draft stage then we need to move it forward. Richard Erlich is the point person. High unit
majors can still pursue this and prepare draft course lists – we need to make sure that we
have faculty representation in these discussions! CSU is getting pressure to reduce their
degree requirements to 120 units. CSU is limiting their spring transfers to people
completing Transfer Degrees but are not limiting their fall transfers. Reference Website: CID.net.
Faculty Hires – about 20 positions will become available for faculty positions starting in fall
2013. Senate list will be released on November 20, 2012. The goal is to post the positions
before we leave for winter recess/break.
A pilot program is available to take our particular course sections (individual classes) and
essentially roll the first five on the wait list to immediately get enrolled into the class at the
beginning of the semester – these five will be informed that they will get into the class if
they remain on the wait list on the first day of class. Will need to contact Mary’s office if we
wish to do this with our section. Another pilot program is to clear our wait lists during the
first week of classes and then to have the class listed as “open” so that others can enroll
into the class. Again, would need to arrange with Mary’s office.
II.
Spring Convocation
Student Success Task Force Recommendations to SB 1456 (Legislation for California
Community Colleges) was passed out. (Attached)
A total of 8 recommendations were made in response to SB 1456. An overview of these
recommendations will be provided by Dr. Jefferies during convocation.
Ask the department faculty if they wish to develop something along the lines of a “poster”
to highlight what that faculty or class or department is doing to enhance student success.
This is somewhat akin to a “poster session” at a conference. This way we can show the
accreditation commission that we are reporting our successes to other faculty and other
departments AND showcase what departments are doing to increase student success. This
way we can have a college-wide dialog about SLO successes if we have this during
convocation. This also in a broad way will show that we achieve student success not just
under the SLO process. This will be presented in the Cafe on the Friday of convocation.
Possibly having Graphic Communication help with the posters?
Next meeting of DCC will be scheduled for Thursday, December 6.