ACADEMIC AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE CPC

MINUTES

FOR THE MEETING OF

October 20, 2004

2:30 P.M.

President’s Conference Room

Attending:      

Administration – Nancy Carson, Luis Rosas

Faculty – Nabeel Barakat, Joy Fisher, Wendy Hollis, Lauren McKenzie,  Susan McMurray, Joyce Parker, Evelyn Portis, Stanley Sandell, Jim Stanbery, Pamela Watkins, Mark Wood

Students – Robert Cox and Joe Gillman

Absent:

Administration - Charlie Bossler, Traci Liley, Bobby McNeel, Bob Richards

Classified –Hovsep Kotelyan

Classified Manager - Carla Mussa-Muldoon

Nabeel Barakat chaired the meeting.

I.          MINUTES

Minutes of the September 15, 2004 meeting were accepted as presented M/S/A, Young/Wood.

II.                ANNOUNCEMENTS

ASO senators Robert Cox and Joe Gillman were introduced.  

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, classified who hold extra assignments causing their work week to exceed 40 hours, will be required to reduce their primary assignment by a like number of hours so that they at no time exceed the 40 hour limit.  The District is exercising its responsibility to hold an employees total hours of work to 40 to assure compliance with the new regulation, commencing January 1, 2005.  The LACCD refers to such assignments as “blended.” 

III.             PROGRAM REVIEW UPDATE

Dr. Tomlinson returned unit plans for chairs to update as agreed upon.  She recognizes that people needed more time.  It is a hectic semester with schedules, classes and building meetings.  For unit reviews, include positions, number of square feet for offices.  Some chairs with “C” and “G” basis employees may want to consider requesting change in basis to “A” due to the summer and winter sessions.

Q:  When will Q-Builder be operational? 

A:  Training sessions are necessary.  We must also verify that chair’s equipment is up to the load and working correctly.  Q-Builder is currently available on the Academic Senate computers.  Tentative plans call for training during Flex Days in January, 2005.

Chairs will receive three copies of the newest LAHC catalog.  PE 185, 285 and Coop Ed were left out of the catalog, but the corrections will be made to the web version.

IV.              ACCREDITATION ISSUES

The American Association of Junior Colleges is giving assurance that student learning outcomes will not be used as a means to evaluate faculty.   Student learning outcomes are an obligation that must be fulfilled; however, the whole issue of peer evaluation needs to recognize that this is a process to help each other.  We intend to take the fear out of SLO’s.  It is recognized that there has been pressure applied from business interests and the legislature responding with developed testing.  It could come to pass that there will one day be exit exams for community colleges.

For Harbor, the SLO’s should tell the community what an AA/AS graduate would have in terms of ability to read, write and communicate, and understand in terms of ethics and citizenship.  Validation of learning through multiple ways supports a faculty members grading system.

V.                 UNIT PLANS AND PROJECT FUNDING REQUESTS

The Grant Allocation Task Force is returning Monday, November 22.  Unit plans need to be updated with all changes and returned to Dr. Ann Tomlinson promptly.  No proposals should be submitted unless the need is shown in the unit plans and prioritized within the group.

VI.                          ITEMS FROM THE FLOOR

Block Grant updates will be distributed at the next meeting.

Bradley Young wants to secure funding for development of on-line courses.  The AFT Contract shows release time for this.

Mrs. Carson plans to get together with Evelyn Portis, Paul Grady and Mark Wood for the purpose of setting out information gleaned from their attendance at the Institutional Strategies for Assessing and Improving Student Learning for distribution to the campus.

VII.        ADJOURNMENT

The meeting concluded at 3:40 p.m.  Committee next meets on Wednesday, November 17, at 2:30 p.m., in the President’s Conference Room.