Greetings!
New legislation, performance and accountability,
new budget forecasts and formulae, misunderstandings,
misinformation, misinterpretations &
Never does it seem more important
for community college faculty to gather and
gather we will in San Francisco, April 7-9, for
our Academic Senate Spring 2005 Plenary Session.
We have been frustrated conveying
to those outside the system what we do, for whom,
and how well we do it. We serve students with
broad levels of experience, expectations, and
academic preparation; we offer an unmatched depth
of class selections; we enable students to broaden
their horizons, seize a variety of degrees and
certificates, and experience wage gains as productive
citizens. But, faculty are too often disregarded
by policy makers and others who have either not
heard our voices or not understood our messages
about efforts on students behalf.
Enough! This Plenary Session,
Taking AcCount: Show and Tell,
will showcase for us what we can and do accomplish.
Learn how to improve upon what we do well and
may do better, how to measure the measurable and
defend what is not so easily measured. Whether
we are promoting student success, increasing diversity
in hiring, improving online instruction, assisting
faculty concerned about the high costs of textbooks,
or affirming values such as the freedom to teach
and freedom to learn, or the 75:25 ratio, we will
share how to account for what we do and to demonstrate
the efficacy of our best practices new or
time-tested.
In this section of our website
you will find packet are materials highlighting
the sessions and activities now being planned
for you by our standing committees, as well as
registration materials and area meeting information.
Between now and our Spring
Plenary Session gathering we invite you to work
with your own faculty to craft resolutions for
our consideration, attend Area
meetings and, of course, make any necessary
hotel reservations at the San Francisco Airport
Westin by the dates posted.
Scholarships will again be
available on a limited, first-come first served
basis; these scholarships are awarded to college
senates experiencing financial hardship who are
eager to send their senate president or delegate
to our senate plenary.
I am looking forward to joining
with you all in April for an eventful Show and
Tell!
Cordially,
Kate Clark
President, Academic Senate for California Community
Colleges
Greetings!