September

Local senates with and without problems encouraged to seek a match. Single and multi-college districts welcome . No fiscal status denied. No phonies or liars. Must love dogs.

At the Spring 2004 Plenary Session, delegates passed Resolution 13.03, asking the Academic senate for the california Community Colleges to explore which parts of the California community college application process might be standardized to facilitate employment opportunities for college teaching. At the August 10, 2006, System Office Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee meeting, Paul Stark, an Equal Employment Opportunity specialist, raised the idea of a universal application for California community college faculty as a possible way to nurture diversity among instructors.

The Standards of Practice for California Community College Counseling Programs was published in spring 1997 by a committee of outstanding counselor educators who were representative of the high level of accomplished professionals in their field of college counseling. while the majority of the committee members were counselors, other members included student services administrators, teaching faculty and students.

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has been discussing the meaning and role of the associate degree for many years. The discussion resulted in the adoption in Fall 2005 of the Senate paper, What is the Meaning of a Community College Degree? The paper presented several recommendations to guide further discussions of the associate degree, and it is at this point that the Academic Senate seeks additional input from the field as to what directions to take.

Will it rain? Will it get too hot? Will the person next to me chain smoke the whole day?

In March, you received a letter announcing that this fall begins the formal review of the Disciplines List. As you know, the Disciplines List establishes the minimum qualifications for the faculty of California Community Colleges. Every three years the Academic Senate reviews the list to permit faculty and professional organizations to propose changes. Below are important dates for you to remember.

October 15 or 16: Attend your area meeting to discuss proposed changes to the disciplines.

What an exciting year this has been and so many issues for a local senator to confront! Because of our changing environment, our senators are always learning about new laws, conflicts and other surprises. Each local senate is a model for the need and practice of life-long learning. The wonderful part is that the Academic Senate has the resources to assist you in this process, especially if you are a faculty member in an occupational or technical field.

Effective communication in distance education (DE) must consciously be worked towards. Title 5 Section 55211 requires that staying in touch with students-"regular effective contact"-must be offered by all who teach at a distance, regardless of the mode of delivery:

Every time you attend a plenary session or one of the many Academic Senate institutes, you are asked to fill out a form to volunteer on a committee. Many are called, but fewer answer, perhaps because many do not understand what serving on a committee entails and what rewards it offers.

THE COMMITTEES

At the last Academic Senate plenary session, an issue emerged during the voting on resolutions that called into question the status of the Whereas statements of resolutions: specifically, are these statements subject to amendment as are the body sections of resolutions, the resolved clauses?

A resolution was put forward that the delegates generally favored but that had a Whereas statement that many felt was objectionable, even insulting. Here is the resolution as presented-with the offending Whereas statement in bold: