Greeting from the Academic Senate!

Welcome to the 2019-2020 semester! Hope you all had a productive and restful summer. Please take time to thank your colleagues that worked this summer preparing College of the Canyons for this upcoming school year. Thank you for staying student focused while maintaining academic excellence. These efforts contribute to the success and lives of our College of the Canyons students.

Progression of Canyons Completes

by: Erika Torgeson, GP Student Services Liaison and Counselor

With the Fall semester underway, Canyons Completes (aka Guided Pathways) continues to make strides in implementing strategic goals for Guided Pathways. Canyons Connects (Powered by Starfish) has started their soft launch of increasing connection for student-to-faculty interaction within courses and plans to launch the capability for faculty to send referrals to The Learning Center (TLC) and counseling services. Academic mapping for two-year AA/AS and ADT programs continues from the work started in Spring 2019 and will be connected to the pilot program College of the Canyons is participating in from Bakersfield College's Program Mapper. Once the two-year maps have been created, this will provide a foundation for creating four-year (part-time) maps, online/hybrid, and evening/weekend options. Data coaching will also pick up from the previous Spring semester, in providing data literacy labs for faculty interested in data coaching for their departments and Schools, along with faculty interested in understanding data.

Important work has been launched from the 2018-2019 LEAP cohort, around Welcome Day and Equity-minded Practitioners. The Welcome Day Solution team spearheaded our Aug. 9^th Welcome Day celebration for new and prospective students to learn about programs, services, met with faculty, participated in workshops, and set themselves up for a success Fall semester. Along with this, the Equity-Minded Practitioners Solution team and workgroup are continuing work on the Latinx Alliance and discussing the launching of the A2Mend/Umoja chapter. All are welcome to participate and help continue the work of Canyons Completes.

Resolution in Support of Climate Change Mitigation

and Enviornmental Sustainability

by: Marco Llaguno & Jason Oliver

Toward the end of the Spring 2019 semester, the Sustainable Development Committee initiated a resolution in support of COC taking a more active approach toward mitigating climate change and promoting environmental sustainability. The resolution was brought to the Academic Senate where it was reviewed, revised, and approved unanimously. It was then read aloud by Senate president Rebecca Eikey at the June Board of Trustees meeting. At that same meeting the newly elected ASG president read a resolution they had passed expressing their urgent concern regarding COC's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. The Board members expressed their unified support of both resolutions and Chancellor Van Hook directed each of the bodies to work to compile a list of possible projects that would further the desired end.

The passing of this resolution shows that it is now a strongly held belief that the problem of climate change is one that requires action to be taken by all of the school's stakeholders and calls for the college to be a leader in addressing the issue in all future development and curriculum. It is also widely apparent that this is a passionate issue for our current and future students who are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, this makes it even more important for COC as part of its efforts to promote equity and meeting students where they are,.

The Sustainable Development Committee, with representation across the entire campus community, plans to step up its efforts to implement the goals of the resolution. Over the summer, members of the committee traveled to UCSB to attend the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference. There they learned about ways other colleges and universities have increased sustainability on campus, challenges they have encountered and tactics to overcome them. Recently the committee put together recommendations for integrating sustainability goals into the SCCCD Educational and Facilities Master Plan. Members then attended the facilities planning meeting, where they were joined by several students, to submit the list of goals. The committee plans to continue to be a presence at the meetings look for more opportunities to initiate projects in support of the resolution's goals.

Visit the Academic Senate Resolutions page to view full resolution.

CTE MQ Toolkit & Minimum Qualifications and Equivalencies

by: Aivee Ortega

California Community College Teaching Credentials were no longer issued after the passing of the Community College Reform Act (AB 1725) in 1988. AB 1725 also resulted in using minimum qualifications for each discipline in the hiring of faculty and administrators at the California Community Colleges. The disciplines and related disciplines were determined by the Statewide Academic Senate, adopted by the CCC Board of Governors, and published in the Minimum Qualifications for Faculty and Administrators in California Community Colleges Handbook (aka disciplines list). This ensures that faculty hired by the district are qualified to teach in the discipline under the minimum qualifications or disciplines lists. For most academic disciplines, the minimum qualifications are a Master's degree in the discipline of the assignment or equivalent. For disciplines in which a Master's degree is not generally expected or available, the minimum qualifications are a Bachelor's degree in the appropriate discipline and two years of professional experience, or an Associate degree and six years of professional experience. The disciplines list includes minimum qualifications for Counselors and librarians who are also expected to hold appropriate Master's degrees. Special requirements for hiring faculty in Academic Accommodations Center (AAC) and Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) is also included. Should hiring faculty not meet the minimum qualifications set forth within the disciplines list, the law allows for local Academic Senates to establish equivalencies to the minimum qualifications listed in the Discipline List. The equivalencies must be true equivalencies that include general education knowledge as well as discipline specific knowledge. More recently, the ASCCC has developed the Career Technical Education Toolkit that provides general considerations for equivalency to the GE Breadth of the Associates Degree. The CTE Toolkit is an effort to increase the number of industry experts in the CTE faculty hiring pool.

At College of the Canyons, the Minimum Qualifications and Equivalency (MQE) of the Academic Senate is responsible for making sure the disciplines list and set forth equivalencies are followed. This includes the review of faculty hired under equivalency. Members of the committee comprise of faculty from each school and representatives from Human Resources. This year the work of the MQE committee will include revising Administrative Procedures 7121 to reflect inclusion of the CTE Toolkit. This year also includes the 5-year review of the list of equivalencies to the Minimum Qualifications and department chairs will be notified if they would like to continue to accept equivalencies for their respective disciplines. At the first meeting of each academic year, members of the committee participate in an annual training of all things MQE and COC faculty, particularly Department Chairs, involved in the hiring process, are encourage to attend this training. The MQE Committee meets the third Monday of each month at 3:30 pm. to 4:30 pm and for fall 2019, meetings will be held in Canyons Hall (CHCS) 211. The first meeting of the fall semester took place on September 16.

Equity Minded Practitioners Workgroup (EMP) & the Mentoring Program

by: Juan R. Buriel, ASCCC Equity and Diversity Action Committee

The Equity Minded Practitioners Workgroup (EMP) is an (IE)² workgroup and a product of a 2018 LEAP solution team. The Equity Minded Practitioners Workgroup (EMP) is charged with creating awareness about all student equity gaps while promoting campus-wide practices and policies to advance student equity efforts and improve the overall collegiate experience among sub-populations facing disproportionate impact at College of the Canyons. In concert with various campus initiatives, programs, and services, the Equity Minded Practitioners Workgroup (EMP) devises implementation strategies in response to disproportionate impact data, equity research, and student feedback. Led by co-chairs Dr. Preeta Saxena and Dr. Micah Young, the Equity Minded Practitioners Workgroup (EMP) is open to members of any COC employee group and prioritizes student involvement. Ongoing activities of the workgroup include campus equity walks to ensure an inclusive environment, a resource campaign to combat student food insecurity and homelessness, FLEX events on equity in the classroom, and planning for an inclusive Multicultural Center. In partnership with student groups and alliances, such as the Black Student Alliance and the Latinx Alliance, in Fall 2019 the Equity Minded Practitioners Workgroup (EMP) is formally launching the Mentoring Program to pair participating students with trained mentors of any COC employee group and demographic. The Mentoring Program is an affiliate of the African-American Male Educational Network Development (A²MEND) and will commence in Fall with a focus on African American males, one of COC's most disproportionally impacted student groups.

Department Chairs 2019-2020

We appreciate the many faculty who have dedicated time to serve as Department Chairs for the 2019-2020 year, helping with various projects and activities . For a full list of Current Department chair for 2019-2020 please visit the Academic Senate Department Chair website.

Congratulations to our new Senators for 2019-2020!

Academic Senate Committee Interest Survey

There are still plenty of open committee positions available. The Academic Senate is responsible for appointing faculty to the colleges committees per Title 5 Section 53203(f). A survey will be sent out soon to collect faculty interest with committee membership needs. The survey will ask faculty about their interest and availability. Visit the Academic Senate Committees page to learn more about Committee roles and responsibilities.

2019 Academic Senate Faculty Certificates of Appreciation

The following Senators were awarded a Certificate of Appreiciation for their dedication and commitment in serving on the Academic Senate.

Ron Mita (2018-19) - Adjunct Senator

Warren Heaton (2018-19) - AFT Representative

Deanna Rivera (2017-19) At-Large Senator

Sonny Requejo (2018-19) At-Large Senator

Welcome NEW Full-Time Faculty!

Let's welcome all new faculty who will be starting Summer 2019!

Theresa Winter, Nursing Instructor

Christopher "Shane" Ramey, Biology (Microbiology/Molecular Biology) Instructor

SB Tucker, EMT Instructor

Announcements!

Upcoming election for 2019-2021 for Department Chairs

2019 Fall ASCCC Fall Plenary Session, Nov. 7-9, 2019, New Port Beach

2020 Part-Time Faculty Institute, Jan. 23-24, 2020, Napa Valley Marriot

2020 Accreditation Institute, Feb. 21-22, 2020, San Diego Marriott La Jolla

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College of the Canyons Academic Senate, BONH-315

Marilyn Jimenez

Administrative Assistant to the Academic Senate

Phone: 661-362-3058

Fax: 661-362-3049

Email: Marilyn.jimenez@canyons.edu