Summer Leadership Institute

October
1998
Area A

This year's Leadership Institute was held June 25-28 at the Doubletree Hotel in Palm Springs. Sixty-five faculty members (incoming and current academic senate presidents, vice-presidents, senators, and representatives) from community colleges throughout California attended the Institute. The focus of the Institutewas to help participants develop and apply effective leadership skills and strategies at their respective campuses.

On the first day, Past President Janis Perry and current President Bill Scroggins welcomed the participants, who then met the ASCSummer CC Executive Committee andlearned about each of the Committee members' duties. During the two and a half days, Senate members attended not only lectures on "Roles and Responsibilities of an Effective Senate" and "Running an Effective Senate" but also smaller breakout sessions addressing topics such as the Brown Act, college budget processes, and implications of current state issues.

On the second and third dayof the Institute, participants had the opportunity to review case studies and discuss appropriate responses in small groups. One such case study, for example, described a situation in which faculty appointed by the localsenate to a hiring committee refused to report back to the senate. Another case study involved a college president deciding on hiring criteria without the agreement of the campus senate. After each group had reported the results of their discussion, Executive Committee members provided several solution scenarios. Many participants found this activity very useful because solutions to the problems described involved learning to effectively apply Title V and the Education Code.

On the last day, President Bill Scroggins gave an update on current statewide issues such as affirmative action, evaluation of the IGETC process, and changes to the Education Code. Finally, participants worked collegially in small groups to set goals and objectives for their local senates for the 1998-1999 Senate year.

During the three-day long Institute, participants also networked and created contacts with other senate leaders during delicious dinners at the hotel and enjoyable outings in town.

As current or future senate leaders, you should seriously think about attending a future Leadership Institute in order to strengthen or build your leadership skills and knowledge of important statewide Academic Senate issues in an invigorating yet relaxing environment.