Business and Technology Division Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Business and Technology Division
Work Plan
April, 2009
This Work Plan is designed to encompass the needs surfaced in the various Program
Review documents and the opportunities identified by the Dean of the division. The
Workplan also provides an indication of what will be needed to complete the Program
Improvement Viability process for the seven programs that have been involved.
1. The need for a fulltime faculty hire is the most frequently requested “urgent”
need for a program.
a. Accounting Program
The department requests a new full time faculty member to lead the taxation
program. Five years ago the tax program was one class per year, and that
class had chronically low enrollment. Over the past five years the
department has developed four tax tracks: CTEC Tax Prepare, Enrolled
Agent Exam preparation, Tax Continuing Education and VITA tax
preparation.
The department now offers six different full semester courses. The tax
classes fill to maximum enrollments in every section. We believe our tax
enrollments and course offerings could increase by 50% if a fulltime tax
faculty member is hired. There is a possible that the tax program will lose
momentum without leadership provided by a fulltime instructor to
coordinate the program and develop curricula as needed.
b. Administration of Justice
The lack of a fulltime faculty member to coordinate the department and
develop new curriculum has been an issue for the department since the last
full time person retired in December, 2007. In essence we provide one
adjunct faculty member with the equivalent of 3 units of release time to
handle the administrative duties related to the POST requirements.
However, that faculty member also teaches two classes and does not have
enough time to devote to other administrative areas.
It appears that there is movement at the State level to require a fulltime
supervisor for the POST program in order to retain certification to deliver
POST training. Although we have successfully operated with the program
coordinator’s certification in the past, these circumstances may change.
Hiring a fulltime lead faculty member now would anticipate these changes
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Business and Technology Division Executive Summary
and signal our commitment to maintaining our certification to the local
constituency of law enforcement agencies.
c. Cosmetology
This program is impacted each semester with more applicants than we can fit
into the teaching labs. One of the instructors is on post-retirement (he retired
from fulltime last Spring) and there is a need to replace this position. The
program runs on an intense schedule of 5 days a week, 8 hours a day for 1314 months. The entry level courses have a critical need for continuity of
leadership due to the behavioral issues that accrue when very young students
are forced into close, intensive environments for long periods of time. The
remaining fulltime faculty members are stretched to cover the classes since
one of the instructors has only a part-time schedule. The need to find
another fulltime faculty member before the post retirement contract ends in
fall 2010 is critical.
d. Fire technology
This program needs a fulltime lead faculty to manage the coordination of the
program – including curricula, scheduling, equipment, hazardous materials
and EMT training. The program has been impacted for a number of years
and the local constituency of public safety personnel in the county question
the situation.
It appears that there are sources of grant money available for Fire programs
but at this juncture we cannot identify anyone to take on the task of applying
for those funds or to monitor/report on the use of the funds should we
receive the grant.
II.
Innovative plans
There are several ideas for innovative changes in programs that are worthy of
consideration.
1. Cosmetology
This team would like our support for two things:
a. Initiating an Apprenticeship component to the Cosmetology
Program. The Industry Advisory Board recommends this addition as
a way for the students to have a realistic idea of a normal workday in
a salon. It enhances the students’ resume and gives them the
opportunity to network with professionals in the field. This could
greatly enhance the stature of the program and garner greater support
from the community.
b. Once the program moves to the new building 5, the program will
have a new facial room and a need for an esthetician. The college
has an approved certificate in this area (it is currently banked due to a
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Business and Technology Division Executive Summary
lack of adequate facilities). This would give the students an
additional career path in a high demand area. At the same time it
adds services to the public that will generate additional income to the
college.
2.
Broadcast
This program is looking at the possibility of developing offerings in radio – to
create a student-run internet radio station. This is a field that has recently started
to grow and would provide the students with an entire secondary path to
employment. It would also provide an outlet for more promotion of the college,
the broadcast program and (perhaps) revenue from the sale of advertising time.
The cost to launch this program would be:
a. $2500.00 in equipment (MAC Pro computer
b. $3500.00/year as a continuing cost to pay the vendor for web hosting
expenses.
c. A room to use that will have some baffling on the walls for sound
control
There are numerous requests for equipment and materials in the program review
documents. I will forward those under separate cover once I determine what I can pay
for through my remaining grant funds.
I hope this provides some context for the requests from program review that are
interwoven in the Division Workplan. There are many other complex issues facing the
Division that are unique to our role in occupational education during this unique
economic period. Those items were covered in a previous document (State of the
Division) last month.
Thank you for this opportunity to highlight the needs of the Division.
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