November 17, 2025

I. Call to Order

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Welcome

Erik Woodbury welcomed everyone back from the Veteran’s Day break.

There were updates to the published agenda to be approved. Voting Members used the roll call vote  link to establish quorum, approve the amended agenda, the previous meeting minutes, and the consent calendar.

Erik reminded voting members attending online whose names were not on the bottom of the published agenda that they do not count toward quorum and may not vote

Roll Call Vote (19)

Veronica Avila Acevedo, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, James Capurso, Yuri Chang, Barbara Dahlke, Mary Donahue, Umar Douglas, Dawnis Guevara, Mark Hamer, Shagun Kaur, Mark Landefeld, So Kam Lee, Sherwin Mendoza, Steve Nava, Mary Pape, Jamie Pelusi, Sukhjit Bob Singh, Danielle Vlahos

Quorum reached.

Erik Woodbury called the meeting to order at 2:34 pm.

Erik reminded representatives to complete their report out.

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II. Agenda, Minutes, and Consent Calendar

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Approval of Agenda, Minutes from November 3, 2025, and Consent Calendar

Approval of Updated Agenda

The proposal was to table the AP/BP Update, the ASCCC 2025 Fall Plenary Report Out, in favor of scheduling an update on campus security response plans in light of the Laney tragedy that happened last week.

Yes 19: Veronica Avila Acevedo, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, James Capurso, Yuri Chang, Barbara Dahlke, Mary Donahue, Umar Douglas, Dawnis Guevara, Mark Hamer, Shagun Kaur, Mark Landefeld, So Kam Lee, Sherwin Mendoza, Steve Nava, Mary Pape, Jamie Pelusi, Sukhjit Bob Singh, Danielle Vlahos

Agenda approved.

Approval of Minutes from November 3, 2025

Yes 19: Veronica Avila Acevedo, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, James Capurso, Yuri Chang, Barbara Dahlke, Mary Donahue, Umar Douglas, Dawnis Guevara, Mark Hamer, Shagun Kaur, Mark Landefeld, So Kam Lee, Sherwin Mendoza, Steve Nava, Mary Pape, Jamie Pelusi, Sukhjit Bob Singh, Danielle Vlahos

Minutes approved.

Approval of Consent Calendar

Appointments to the:

• SLO Committee
• RSI/J1 Work Group
• COOL Membership

Yes 19: Veronica Avila Acevedo, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, James Capurso, Yuri Chang, Barbara Dahlke, Mary Donahue, Umar Douglas, Dawnis Guevara, Mark Hamer, Shagun Kaur, Mark Landefeld, So Kam Lee, Sherwin Mendoza, Steve Nava, Mary Pape, Jamie Pelusi, Sukhjit Bob Singh, Danielle Vlahos

Consent calendar approved.

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Public Comment

Mark Landefeld: The Part-time Faculty Committee created at the urging of President Torres had a recent meeting with Vice President Ram. They discussed ways to engage more part-time faculty and increase part-time visibility within the campus community. They are planning to have a mid-day part-time faculty social in 2 weeks. They would like to request Senate support for the event.

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III. Needs and Confirmation

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District and College Needs (Attachment)

The Senate filled the following positions with nominations from the floor. 

• RSI/J1 Task Force, James Capurso
• Senate Events Committee, Barbara Dahlke
• Professional Relations (3) The purpose of the Professional Relations Committee is to provide confidential interviews and conflict resolution for non-contractual conflicts involving faculty. They have decided to make this a district committee with 3 faculty representatives from each college. There will be more objectivity and distance when the mediator is from another campus. Volunteers: Mary Pape, Doli Bambhania
• Police Chief's Advisory (1) Umar Douglas
• Hiring Committee, District Institutional Research (1), Veronica Acevedo

No objection to any of the nominations. All members approved.

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Confirmations

None

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IV. New & Continuing Business

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Quick Notes:

Realignment Plan: Faculty Survey Update

Please send reminders to constituents to encourage them to complete the survey by this Friday, 11/21. They have received more than 40 responses so far.

A View of Plenary

Last week the officers attended the ASCCC plenary. Erik Woodbury attended as a member of the executive committee. He described the meeting as engaging and energized. He encouraged faculty to attend the spring plenary in Santa Rosa to learn more about state-wide engagement opportunities like 8705, 1705, Common Course numbering, GE transfer pathways, OER, DEI, equity and pedagogy, etc. There will be a more in-depth report next week.

Laney College Tragedy 

Last Thursday, one of their coaches John Beam was shot and he subsequently died on Friday. This was a terrible event that raised concerns and questions about emergency preparedness for the campus. President Torres wanted to make sure the campus felt safe. Chief Acosta asked for time to address the Senate on the campus security plans and to answer questions.

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Update on Campus Security Response plans

Since the Laney shooting, Police Chief Acosta has received a lot of questions regarding De Anza’s Emergency plan as well as the protocols in case of an emergency. He showed and explained the current Emergency Plan that is separated into three parts: the District, De Anza, and Foothill. Each has an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The plan is currently being revised to have a centralized Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to outline procedures in handling situations from natural disasters like earthquake, flood, fire to an active shooter scenario. In the case of an active shooter, they have trained people in workshops to think about their situation to decide if they should run, hide, or defend (fight). 

Chief Acosta went over some items in the Emergency Preparedness Timeline 2025-2026. They were working with a contractor to update the plan to have more training and practices on campus.

Joy Garza, Supervisor, District Police Training and Community Relations, has been working with the Fed to arrange for large-scale training that includes simulation with actors, firefighters, police, and other agencies, maybe even a helicopter.

On Active shooting. The Laney College incident was a targeted shooting with intent to target a particular individual. This happens more frequently than active shootings. Targeted shooting has not declined but the survival rate has improved. Whether it is an active shooter or target shooter situation, the behaviors should be the same, take care of yourself, protect yourself (run, hide, defend)

There was a question about door locks. Their goal was to make all doors lockable from the inside. They have finished all the push button locks.

There was a question about more proactive protection and access issues in facility design. Chief Acosta praised the Behavior Intervention team (faculty, administration, police, psychologists) at De Anza for intervening and preventing incidents. The team meets weekly to go over cases they come across.  The chief shared a motto, “See something, say something.”

Faculty need to build a community and get training on how to de-escalate situations to keep the environment safe for the students and themselves. The police are willing to speak to groups and ready to develop lessons for them.

There is another question on emergency notification, how is the campus community informed in real time? People want to know better evacuation plans in specific work areas.

Reach out to Chief Acosta or the Senate officers with questions. Also, pass the information to your constituents.

Keep in mind “Run, hide, and defend.”

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AP/BP Update 

Tabled until 11/24.

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ASCCC 2025 Fall Plenary Report Out

Tabled until 11/24

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Proposed update to Shared Governance Structure

Draft
RAPP, Program Sustainability Committee, and Faculty Hiring

• Decision making flowchart v3.pdf
• Overview of changes
• Draft Proposal of Program Sustainability and Faculty Prioritization Committee
• DRAFT Faculty Prioritization Committee Charge.docx

Veronica Avila Acevedo presented a draft proposal to update the shared governance structure for RAPP, resource allocation and program planning committee. 

RAPP, formed two and a half years ago, brought together the 3 planning and budget teams. Like an airplane, they built it, flew with it, and now figure out how to land.

They started looking at this in the summer and have had a few meetings with the committee this fall.

They emphasized that this was a draft of their ideas. They were absolutely open to suggestions, critiques, etc. 

Veronica went over the proposed update in the Decision making flowchart v3.pdf. This chart identified 4 groups they will work or consult before making their recommendations to the College Council regarding positions and resource allocation. The Proposed RAPP Modifications is explained in the Overview of changes.

Veronica highlighted the creation of two faculty related committees.

First was the formation of the Program Sustainability and Faculty Prioritization Committee. Its mission, charge and other details are in the Draft Proposal. It is a subcommittee of RAPP to provide program support and improvement via intellectual and viable discussion. When a program is successful, it may still need more resources to achieve even greater success.

Second, the Faculty Prioritization Committee.

They wanted these committees to be inclusive and transparent with a fair approach, fair process, and fair vetting.

They want diverse representation and perspectives from divisions, full-time, part-time, administrators, and classified. (The members should recuse themselves if there is a request from the same division.) They want more faculty members on the committee since it’s a faculty-heavy committee. They want to have a process of support and a fair approach for the requests.

The faculty hiring decision:  the campus budget committee confirms the funding. RAPP based on collected data and other combined figures makes recommendations to the College Council, before the president makes the final hiring decision.

Email to Veronica Avila with feedback on the proposal.

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Online Education Updates

James Capurso gave an update on online education and from COOL.

COOL (Committee on Online Learning) communicates with campus groups about online education and gathers feedback.They support, review and approve distance learning forms. They research and test online tools and technology. Coordinate training and support for faculty teaching online.

POCR plug and play

Reduces course preparation time for faculty.

Maintains space for faculty personalization and customization.

Each course is aligned with the CVC@ONE Course Design Rubric and can be awarded badges through the faculty members’ own local POCR process,

Pronto Specialty Workshops

A chat tool that integrates with Canvas and students’ mobile devices. They do not use AI. Their focus is to connect humans, not bots.

Harmonize Pilot

COOL has been working on piloting and testing Harmonize as a potential Canvas Discussions enhancement tool. 

Canvas AI support and workshops

Online Ed is offering workshops on AI and instructional design. Canvas AI tools are in development and currently in the feature options.

James encouraged faculty to try out the AI tool on Canvas

James will come back next week to continue with Part Two of his presentation

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By-Laws Update:

Senate Dues and PT Compensation Update

Proposed Updates to By-Laws

The proposed updates to the senate dues, the vice president’s job description and the part-time at-large representative compensation were highlighted in yellow. 

Review and be ready to vote next week.

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Academic Senate Scholarship Committee Update

Scholarship Committee Update

Academic Senate Awards/ Grants

It is part of the Academic Senate leadership role in supporting Student Success

The goal is to support students with financial needs by providing them with a grant/award that may help alleviate their immediate financial situation, such as transit fees, gas, and food as well as educational materials.

Grant award: $500 per student. Total Academic Senate 2025-2026 student financial grant budget $5000.

Qualification: De Anza student, completed 18 units total They must be nominated by a member of the Academic Senate. Every faculty is a member of the Senate.

Turn-around time is about 2-3 weeks.

• How to Apply
• Application form

There was a question about whether receiving one of these awards could potentially impact a student’s Financial Aid in any way?

Please share information with your constituents and encourage them to identify and nominate students in need.

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Annual Schedule Development

Tabled until 11/24.

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Good of the Order

Erik Woodbury: Senate Lunch next Monday, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Please respond to the invitation to confirm.

Mary Pape: Chocolate Chip Cookies on the way out of the meeting.

Barbara Dahlke: Remind students that the transfer deadline for UC and CSU is 12/1. 

Kudos to the De Anza team, the only community college that participates consistently in the Northwest Pacific Regional International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Please fill out and review report outs.

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Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 4:26 pm.

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Attendance

In person

Erik Woodbury,  Shagun Kaur, So Kam Lee

Veronica Avila Acevedo, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, James Capurso, Yuri Chang, *Jacob Chen, Barbara Dahlke, Umar Douglas, Kevin Glapion, Dawnis Guevara, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Sherwin Mendoza, Mary Pape, Christian Rodriguez, Sukhjit Bob Singh, *Ram Subramaniam, Danielle Vlahos

Online

Mary Donahue, Rusty Johnson, Jamie Pelusi, Lakshmikanta "LK" Sengupta

Absent

James Adams, *Deborah Armstrong, Viviana Alcazar, Doli Bambhania, Lauren Gordon, Kevin Lee, Leah Smith, Angela Winch

*Non-voting members