Ventura College Academic Senate
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Campus Center Conference Room

I.	Call to Order
	This meeting was called to order at 1:37 p.m. The following senate members were present:
	
	Anderson, Lisa – Math & Sciences
	Chen, Albert - Social Sciences & Humanities
	Gardner, Ty - Math & Sciences
	Guillen, Guadalupe - Student Services
	Haines, Robbie - Math & Sciences
	Hendricks, Bill - Social Sciences & Humanities
	Lange, Cari – Senate Secretary
	Mitchell, Nancy – Career and Technical Education
	Morris, Terry – Health, Physical Education & Athletics
	Muñoz, Paula – Student Services
	Pauley, Mark- Senate Treasurer/ Curriculum Co-chair
	Pollack, Deborah - Senate Vice-president
	Pourmoghim, Salomeh - Communication & Learning Resources
	Reynolds, Andrea - Social Sciences & Humanities
	Schoenrock, Kathryn - Communication & Learning Resources
	Sezzi, Peter – Senate President

	The following guests were present:
	Associated Student Body Representative  	
	Calote, Robin - President
	Blum, Steven – VCCCD Trustee
	Hosley, Ticey – Student Services
	Huddleston, Gwendolyn – Dean, Social Sciences & Humanities
	 
II.	Approval of minutes
a.	Motion to approve the minutes from September 16, 2010 was made by Guillen and seconded by Chen. Motioned carried 12-0-1, with Pollack abstaining. Hendricks and  Muñoz  were not present for this vote. 

III.	Guests
a.	Robin Calote, College President
	Robin Calote was in attendance to talk with the senate about the State Accreditation Team visit next week and to answer any questions we may have regarding the process. 
	Calote reminded us that the Accreditation Team will be on campus October 12-14, 2010 and that there will be two open question/comments forums and an exit forum for faculty and staff to attend. Calote stressed that the Accreditation Team will be looking closely at our process of Program Review, Student Learning Outcomes and evaluation, and the operations of the Board of Trustees. 
	On a different note, Calote was happy to report that Ventura and Oxnard Colleges were awarded the Title V Co-Op grant that will help us in executing a major portion of our Educational Master Plan. According to Calote, “part of the grant will be used to support the plan to re-engineer student services that was developed by the Student Services Division last spring.  Funds will be available to improve outreach to area high school students, to establish an “intake”/first-point-of-contact office for new students, to hire a systems analyst consultant to map and improve the flow of information on the student portal, and to enhance the online services available to students.  A second part of the grant will be used to support professional development.  Funds will be available to hire a full-time faculty Instructional Design Specialist who will organize and implement an annual summer institute for faculty members and provide ongoing training and support on curriculum design, online course development and delivery, and the use of technologies as teaching tools.” 
	Finally, Calote reminded us that this year’s Program Review does allow for some amount of one time equipment funding. In addition, she anticipates being able to add one or two faculty growth positions. She also noted that with the current budget in place, she does not anticipate cutting any more faculty or staff positions during this fiscal year. 
	
b.	Steven Blum, VCCCD Trustee 
	Trustee Blum was present to meet with and address questions from the senate. The following are key points raised by senators that were addressed by Blum:
	District budget reserves- according to Blum, there is approximately 23 million in the district reserves, but the next 3-5 years look bad, therefore the Board of Trustees is hesitant to spend out of it. However, the Board will spend out of reserves where necessary to cover payroll for this fiscal year. Blum emphasized that VCCCD is in better condition than many Community College Districts because we have been able to retain a budget reserve. 
	Determining what gets funded- Blum reported that the Board has not adopted a formal philosophy as to how to deal with this apparent new low in state funding (i.e. funding many things at a superficial level vs. funding fewer things fully). However, Blum stated that it was his personal desire to support CORE areas fully; and that it is the faculty and staff’s purview to determine what CORE is, the Board should not be the entity to decide what CORE is. Blum stressed that faculty and staff members should maintain an open line of communication with him on the subject of CORE programs, as Board members often get conflicting information on the matter. He stated that the strongest voice would be to communicate through the Academic Senate President. Blum also suggested that communication be made sooner in the process, at the governance or Board sub-committee level, rather than waiting to discuss and debate issues at the Board of Trustees meeting level. 
	Changing ideology- Blum confirmed that, from his perspective, we are beginning to focus more on catering to the degree/certificate or transfer oriented student rather than the special interests of the community as a whole. Blum also confirmed that the Board sees courses and student services that lead to a degree, transfer, or a job as CORE. 
	Common course naming and numbering- Blum confirmed that the Board is under some amount of pressure to encourage common course naming and numbering. However, it is his personal conviction that it is not the Board’s role to micromanage. He feels such issues should be up to the experts, the faculty and staff. However, he also stated that the Board as a group has not had the philosophical debate on this topic.  
	Board objectives statement- Blum contended that the Board of Trustee’s Objective Statement is merely a document of goals, not an attempt to micromanage. The Board will merely check to see that these goals are being attended to at each college; they will not be telling each campus how to implement each objective. He further stated that many of these goals were not written by him, but rather suggested to the Board. The senate suggested then that the Board reword these objectives to simply state which problems should be addressed, rather than leaving the document in the current format of bulleted solutions. At this point, Sezzi reminded the senate that these objectives may be up for review in the December Board of Trustee’s Meeting, and we may have the opportunity to suggest this revision directly to the entire Board of Trustees at that time. 
	Trustee Blum thanked us for inviting him out and for allowing him to do his job. He stated that it was his personal goal to make VCCCD campuses better institutions and fun places to work. 

c.	Gwendolyn Huddleston, Dean, Social Sciences & Humanities 
	Dr. Huddleston delivered a presentation on the proposed campus Institutional Research Board (VCIRB). As explained to the senate, the purpose of the VCIRB is to, “review research proposals that involve human subjects to ensure that the rights and welfare of human subjects are protected, that risks are considered and minimized, that the potential for benefit is identified and maximized, that all human subjects volunteer to participate in research after being provided with legally effective informed consent, and that any research is conducted in an ethical manner and in compliance with established standards.” 
	Dr. Huddleston further explained that the VCIRB will be composed of five members, with at least one member coming from the sciences and one member from the non-sciences, while also including gender/diversity on the committee. She implored us to ask our colleagues if they would be willing to serve on this committee, as there are currently three proposals on hold until this board can be approved, formed, and convene.

IV.	Announcements
a.	Senate Elections
	Sezzi announced that Senate nomination forms have been placed in all faculty mailboxes and have been delivered via e-mail. He encouraged senate members to consider running for a position, or to encourage fellow faculty members to run. Nomination forms are due by 12 noon on Friday, October 15, 2010. 

b.	Senate Dues Drive
	Sezzi reported that we are in the final week of this year’s dues drive.

V.	President’s Report
a.	Administrative Council report
	Sezzi reported that Ramiro Sanchez would like to discontinue publishing a PDF version of the schedule of classes. At the Administrative Council meeting, Sezzi , as well as many Deans/Classifieds present at the meeting, spoke out against this obviously bad idea, and strongly urged Sanchez to reconsider. Sezzi encouraged us to become more vocal on the issue of the college maintaining/restoring an easily accessible schedule of classes. The PDF version of the schedule of classes will continue to be produced.

b.	DCSL, DCAS, DCHR, DTRW
	DCSL: Reviewed AP 4250 on Probation. 
	DCHR: The Local Equivalencies Committees to determine Minimum Qualifications, as part of the state mandated audit of personnel files, have yet to be formed. 
	DTRW: At DTRW, it was asked that this body be included in the review process of all Board and Academic Policies made to Chapters 4 & 5 of these documents.
c.	Consultation Council Report
	Sezzi stated that the State Accreditation Team will be in attendance at the next Board of Trustee’s meeting. 

VI.	Information/Discussion Items
a.	Institutional Research Board (IRB)
	 Please refer to item III c above and action item VIII a below.

b.	Accreditation Oct 11-14, 2010
i.	Student Learning Outcomes
	Sezzi reiterated that the State Accreditation Team will be looking for these things to be in place, but Sezzi reminded us that we still have two years to work towards our goal of full implementation.
ii.	Course Syllabi
	Sezzi reminded us that it is good practice (and an accreditation mandate) for instructors have their course syllabi on file each semester with their Division Office. 
	 
c.	SB 1440 & AB 2302
	Sezzi distributed copies of the recently approved SB 1440 (and AB 2302) policy that implements an Associate Degree for Transfer. 

VII.	Campus Committee reports
a.	Curriculum Committee report
	Pauley reported that 397 courses have been processed this academic year, and all but 21 courses of the top priority tier were updated. Most of the courses that were not updated were courses that have not been offered on our campus for quite some time. 
	 Guillen brought up a concern with the push to change the wording “recommended” on some courses. Pauley agreed to forward this concern to the Curriculum Committee. 

b.	Campus Resource Council report
	Nothing to report at this time. 

c.	One Book, One Campus report
	Pollack reminded the senate about the various events going on to celebrate the book Botany of Desire. Sezzi will send out an all users group email with the flier announcing these events. 

d.	Sabbatical Leaves Committee report
	Senators were reminded that the deadline for applying for sabbatical leave is  November 1, 2010. 

VIII.	Action Items
a.	Institutional Research Board (IRB)
	Pauley moved that the senate approve the Ventura College Institutional Research Board as presented by Dr. Huddleston. Haines seconded the motion that then carried 14-0-1 with Muñoz abstaining.

b.	District & College Committee Appointments
	Sezzi reported that he received three faculty volunteers for the remaining three positions on the Program Review Committee. Muñoz motioned that the Academic senate approve these individuals, K. Algiers, A. Chen, and M. Hagerman, for the Staffing Priorities Committee. Haines seconded, and the motion unanimously carried. 

c.	Reaffirmation of Senate Resolution on Program Discontinuance (Sen Res 2009-01) 
	By acclamation, the Senate reaffirmed our previously adopted resolution (Fall 2009) on Program Discontinuance. 

d.	AP 4250 – Probation (First Reading)
	It was moved by Muñoz and seconded by Pauley that this item should be moved to a second reading during the October 21, 2010 meeting so that Sezzi may provide the senate with the input he has received from Angelica Gonzales. All approved. 

IX.	Adjournment
	This meeting was adjourned at 3:54 p.m.