Faculty Development

Whereas the need for new community college teachers will continue to increase as more faculty retire in the next five years, and

Whereas many of our community college students are a possible source of new community college teachers,

Resolved that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges direct the Executive Committee to develop a model that would include ways that community college faculty may encourage our current students to teach in community colleges. M/S/C Disposition: Executive Committee

Whereas many community college faculty may retire in the next five years presenting the opportunity to change the demographics of community college faculty as well as the campus climate, and

Whereas new part-time and flail-time faculty need encouragement and mentoring in order to best serve the needs of our students,

Whereas community colleges are premier teaching and learning institutions, and

Whereas the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges takes a leadership role in supporting new teaching methodologies such as active learning, collaborative learning, constructivist learning, and distance learning, and

Whereas the demographics of community college faculty will change dramatically in the next five years as will the campus climate, and

Whereas local academic senates have the responsibility for local faculty development activities and district wide faculty development activities in accordance with AB 1725, and

Whereas local and district academic senates continue to have difficulty with the accountability of the use of staff development and staff diversity funds as these funds are used for faculty development activities in many staff development programs, and

Whereas the California legislature appropriates, based on AR 1725, and the Chancellor's Office distributes, funds to each district as staff diversity funds, and

Whereas an informal poll of the Senate faculty development committee has shown that these funds are variously distributed at colleges/districts, sometimes with little or no faculty input, and

Whereas the informal poll has also indicated that there is often no local publicity regarding how different constituents at a campus/district may use these funds, and

Whereas the Academic Senate voted unanimously at the Fall 1994 Session for a facilitated faculty conference to develop a vision of future community colleges, and

Whereas this conference has been scheduled for September 8 and 9, 1995, to be jointly sponsored by the Academic Senate and the FACCC, and

Whereas the conference program calls for participants to read selected documents in preparation for the conference,

Resolved that the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges adopt the document "Guidelines for the Implementation of the Flexible Calendar Program."

This paper will summarize existing practices as reported by the faculty development survey respondents, outline steps and offer recommendations that local senates can take to increase faculty involvement in faculty development programs, and provide information on possible untapped professional development funding sources.

Implementation of the flexible calendar program at the pilot colleges involved reforming the instructional calendar to accommodate instruction free days for faculty development activities. The use of flexible calendar days was accomplished through a shifting of the traditional calendar. With the success of the pilot programs, legislation (Assembly Bill 1149) was drafted in 1981 that allowed all colleges the option of adopting a flexible calendar program.

California Community College reform has generated a flurry of faculty and staff development questions. The purpose of the Faculty Development Policy Guidelines is to provide a reference source for faculty development issues and concerns. This is not intended as a "how to" resource. Rather, it addresses significant faculty development policy issues and provides guidelines for senate leaders in the interest of maintaining academic and professional integrity.