November 2018

Governance at a Glance

In this issue: Governance Committee and Council Reports:

Governance Committee and Council Reports

Governance meetings are open to all members of the campus community and all are encouraged to attend. For up-to-date information and documents on governance, please visit our governance website.

Bookmark our governance meeting calendar to always keep up with what is going on in college governance.

Guided Pathways (GPS)

Why Guided Pathways at DVC? Too few students develop and reach their educational goals in a timely manner, resulting in equity gaps in student success. Fragmented college initiatives to date have not solved this problem. We need to transform the college to increase timely success for all of our student populations.

A successful college-wide conference was attended by more than 200 faculty and staff in August. The conference focused on equity and the integration of student services and pedagogy through a guided pathway lens. Evaluations confirmed that the majority of participants learned more about guided pathways and were more enthused about participating in improving our students’ experience.

Cross-functional areas continue work on examining and identifying ways to improve the DVC student experience. The initial focus is on the student’s “Entry” experience - from application to enrolling in their first 15 units at the college.

For more information, please visit the Guided Pathways website

Current tri-chairs: Becky Opsata (management), Kris Koblik (faculty) and  Lupe Dannels (faculty)

College Council (CC)

CC was briefed about the success of the car drop-off program piloted in fall 2018 and recommended that this program be offered again in spring 2019.

The council continues to discuss processes to address resource requests in program review. This includes requests for ongoing funding increases as well as facilities and technology requests. The council recommended that $150,000 of one-time funds be used to fund supply budget requests that came through program review.

CC has also discussed reworking the college governance structure to unify Developmental Education, 3SP and Equity committees. The discussion is to consolidate these groups into one committee that would report to CC. They are also looking at forming a steering committee that would help facilitate communication between AB 705, Guided Pathways, the new integrated committee (above), College Council, and other college committees.

Finally, CC is working with Laurie Lema, the Senates, and ASDVC to develop and approve a new DVC Mission Statement. This process includes a review of RPEC recommendations on college stretch/floor goals, and institution set standards.

For more information, please visit the College Council website

Current Chairs: John Freytag (faculty) and Jessica Martin (classified)

Research, Planning and Evaluation Committee (RPEC)

The RPEC has had a busy fall term.

The committee:

  • revised the DVC procedure on research protocols;
  • worked with the Professional Development Committee to establish goals and plans for future professional development opportunities;
  • proposed Institution Set Standards and stretch goals; and
  • made revisions to its committee charge and function.

In spring 2019, the college will be conducting the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) with our students. The RPEC coordinated the creation of an additional data set of questions specific to DVC that will be included in that survey. The college participated in this national survey in 2014 and 2016 and we look forward to learning more about our students changing needs through the 2019 survey.

There are two vacancies on the committee for faculty members. If you are interested in joining the group please reach out to either of the co-chairs of the committee, Catherine Machalinski and Becky Opsata.

For more information, please visit the Research, Planning and Evaluation Committee website

Current Chairs: Becky Opsata (management), Catherine Machalinski (faculty)

Program Review Committee (PRC)

The PRC has been reviewing the program review templates, its processes, and its membership structure. Workshops for writers and validators were held throughout the term.

For more information, please visit the Program Review Committee website

Current co-chairs: Raymond Martin (classified), Obed Vazquez (management)

Budget Committee (BC)

The BC is beginning the process of revisiting its charge, membership, and relevance within the organizational structure of the college. The anticipated outcome is increased effectiveness, transparency, sharing of budget information, and linked planning and budget.

For more information, please visit the Budget Committee Website

Current co-chairs: John Nahlen (management); Laura Burns (faculty)

Academic Senate Council (ASC)

  • The ACS has hosted several conversations related to the critical importance of Academic Freedom at DVC. They will be expanding the conversation to a district level as well.
  • The council heard presentations on the importance of tutoring in a Guided Pathways and AB 705 landscape, and the need to establish expanded funding resources for tutoring.  Both English and Math have done presentations on how AB 705 will impact our students and our campus, and its positive implications on student success.
  • The ASC endorsed accelerating the Box 2A timeline process, so ranking will take place in May. This will allow areas to post positions as soon as possible after the May state budget revise. This will position DVC to be extremely competitive with other colleges in the faculty hiring process, helping to ensure we have access to the top candidates in multiple fields.

For more information, please visit the Academic Senate Website

Current leadership: Beth McBrien, president; John Freytag, vice-president

Classified Senate (CS)

  • CS has been discussing the implications of AB 705 on both staff and students.
  • Seventeen classified staff have agreed to be on accreditation writing teams and more are still needed! If you are interested in joining a team, please contact Becky Opsata or Marisa Greenberg.
  • Planning for the 25th anniversary of JobLinks has begun and DVC will be hosting! More details to come.
  • CS will be partnering with ASDVC for a finals week giveaway of scantrons, bluebooks and pencils.

For more information, please visit the Classified Senate website

Current leadership: Marisa Greenberg, president; Jessica Martin, vice president

For the charges and functions of the above committees, please visit the links to each committee above.

All DVC constituencies, including our students, can access our governance committee minutes and agendas through the public website.