Notes - October 2nd, 2006
De Anza Academic Senate
Approved Notes for the meeting of
October 2nd , 2006
Senators and Officers present: Bambhania, Bresnan, Capitolo, Chenoweth, Cole, Cordero, Dolen, Gallegos, Glapion, Goodwin, Hearn, Hertler, Hunter, Jensen-Sullivan, Joplin, Kessler, Khanna, Kramer, Lathers, Lee, Maynard, Mowrey, Osborne, Raffaelli, Setziol, Winters, and Zill
Senators and Officers absent: Miller
DASB: Celeste Enriquez
Classified Senate:
Administrative Liaison: Christina Espinosa-Pieb
Guests: Karl Schaffer, Brian Murphy, Jeri Montgomery, Kathleen Moberg, Susan Malmgren , Mary Donahue
[NOTE: Item numbers are reflective of agenda numbers in the order they are actually taken up at the meeting.]
The meeting was called to order at 2:32 a quorum being present.
I. Approval of Agenda and Notes: The agenda was approved as distributed.
The notes of the meeting of June 19th were approved as distributed.
III. Introduction of Senators: All present at the time introduced themselves.
II. Needs and Confirmations: Chenoweth distributed a document titled "Needs and Confirmations for 10-2-06 Meeting". Mary Donahue was added to the ongoing Dean of Physical Education Search and Selection Committee.
Diana Alves De Lima, Judy Mowrey, and Cheryl Woodward were reconfirmed and Cynthia Kaufman and Karen Chow were confirmed as alternates on the Instructional Planning and Budgeting Team (IPBT). All confirmations were interim and limited to October, 2006
Truly Hunter was confirmed for the Student Services Planning and Budgeting Team (SSPBT) on the same interim basis as those on the IPBT.
Marilyn Patton and Arden Kragalott were confirmed for service on the Facilities Committee, again on the same interim basis.
IV: Senator's Responsibilities : Chenoweth walked the group through Senator responsibilities as per the groups Constitution and By-Laws, information available on the Academic Senate web site along with other information useful to conscientious Senators .
V: Orientation Format and Date: Hearn laid out the need for a special session covering both orientation and vision/goal setting for the year. After considerable discussion, the group formed a consensus allowing Hearn to propose the following possible dates and times: Mondays - October 9th, 16th, or 23rd all from 4:30 to 6:00 or so p.m., Saturday, October 14th from 12:00 to approximately 2:30 p.m. (including a fabulous lunch - possibly a barbeque), and Friday, November 3rd, 12:00 to perhaps 1:30 p.m.
VI. Budget Update and Process: Hearn walked the group through an abbreviated and preliminary presentation. She distributed a handout from which she managed to glean the notion that there were five distinct pots of money. After she introduced each of them briefly, she turned to faculty and staff hiring from growth money, 5 or 6 new full time faculty positions and 4 or 5 new full time classified positions are possible. Hearn then turned the group's attention to the very short timetable proposed for deliberations and decision making. Largely, the short time frame is a function of A) the fact that vocational funds must be expended this year or they will be lost, B) the urgent need for B budget and other things on the part of programs, and C) the fact that De Anza is frequently late in the annual full time hiring cycle, thus putting itself at a disadvantage.
Questions focused on the role of the Campus Budget Committee and other ingredients in the budget process. The tight timing presented underscored the need to have faculty fully functioning on the PBTs at any given point in time. Speaking of the PBTs, Hearn reinforced the policy of having PBT deliberations based on program reviews. At the same time, she said that refinements and revisions of last year's reviews were appropriate at this time.
VII. Response to Newsletter: Setziol mentioned a variety of largely positive responses to the latest Newsletter from faculty and administrators. He then asked for responses from the group. Responses ranged from favorable comments about content and writing to medium used with some wondering about electronic versions of either a newsletter or some aspects of news and information which might or might not go in a newsletter. The college sponsored electronic communications were suggested as a future possibility for at least some kinds of things. The general characterization was that the college organ could be used for timely short things and the Newsletter for more in depth things like Chenoweth's piece on Technology Transformation.
Setziol returned to his previously mentioned request for ideas for content and or volunteer writers. The frequency of Newsletter editions was queried. Hearn acknowledged that it had been less frequent than ideal in the recent past but mentioned the difficulty of getting a lot of writing done in the midst of urgent requests for her time. Winters volunteered to write an article on the Equity for All effort. Kramer volunteered to coauthor a "Top Ten Reasons..." kind of piece.
Chenoweth will write about how to keep up to date by using RSS (Really Simple Syndicate - among other possibilities)
Additionally, a suggestion that there should be more about the scope of Academic Senate work and responsibilities was very well received.
At this point Hearn acknowledged the arrival of President Murphy and asked him if we wished to address the group. His response of "Not particularly" was well received. When asked about the current state of college enrollment, he stated that, surprisingly, while headcount was down a bit, WSCH was up a bit. He also said that the count will likely fluctuate for the next few days and that the Job Corps numbers were essentially flat by intention.
VIII. Strategic Planning - Next Steps? Hearn led an abbreviated discussion mostly centered on responses to the college opening day activity. At the end of the discussion President Murphy said that he and the outside consultants were very impressed with the energy and passion demonstrated among the participants in the exercise and the latter mentioned that, in their considerable experience, this was quite unusual.
Also, the role thus far of students and their potential involvement was discussed. Murphy said that, for whatever reason, his efforts last year at getting student participation through the DASB was largely unsuccessful. A renewed effort is under way.
Hearn ended the item by reiterating that a full discussion aimed in part at determining possible leadership by the Academic Senate on one or more aspects of the effort.
IX. Campus Services: Jeri Montgomery, Bookstore Manager, spoke briefly, but would like to be on agenda next week to discuss a paperless ordering system. She left us with 6 reasons to buy at the DA bookstore. Money stays on campus, largest employer of students on campus - $320,000/year in student wages, we care about a campus solution and take care of customers, problems are resolved, discount computers and other items, and full-time staff with benefits.
Kathleen Moberg, Admission & Records Director, has been here only a month, but has been impressed by what a positive work environment we have.
Susan Malmgren, Recycled Computer Scholarship Director, spoke of computer grants to students. They have been fortunate to receive many very usable computers from industry to pass on to students who demonstrate need by filling out FAFSA. De Anza now also recycles its computers here. She passed out copies of a flyer and will email it to Lydia to pass on to the faculty as a whole.
X. Good of the Order: Thursday, October 5th there will be an open house for the Writing & Reading Center in AT 309, 9 am - 12 pm. Refreshments served.
- Kristin Jensen Sullivan proudly announced that her grandmother has turned 100!
The meeting was adjourned at 4:35 p.m.