Academic Senate News

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

The Academic Senate is excited to introduce a newsletter that will hopefully provide you with a tantalizing overview of what you can expect from the college governance world. This newsletter will not replace the agendas, websites, and regular communication you receive from Academic Senate subcommittees and other governance groups. What we want to add to the existing communication efforts is the following:

• An overview of connections across governance groups in a friendly and accessible manner
• Two or three highlights from Academic Senate subcommittees of salient issues in the month
• An opportunity to engage early in conversations as policy recommendations work through the governance process
• Spotlight exciting work being done by our Associated Student Government and Classified Senate

I want to personally thank all the faculty who are members and leaders of the various Academic Senate subcommittees, the Academic Senate, and other governance committees. Your work is vital to the governance of the college. Participatory governance is a long-held tradition at MiraCosta College. Everyone’s feedback and input are valued.

Join us this Friday, March 4, 2022, at 9am via zoom; we will be discussing changes to our bylaws and rules, we will be talking about the need for faculty data coaching-equity and data literacy, and that we will be hearing from students and Dr. Pohlert about the transitions program. At the March 18 mtg we will have a presentation from Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, President of FACCC, on Legislation Advocacy.

In unity,

Luke

Luke Lara, Ed.D.

my pronouns: he, him, his, él

Email: llara@miracosta.edu
Website: miracosta.edu/governance/academic-senate

March 1 - Sunset Social: Hungry to Learn Movie Screening at the lawn near the pavilion @ OCN - Time TBD

March 3 - College Hour Paint & Snack - Encinitas4Equality Black History Month & Women's History Month at the lawn near the pavilion @ OCN - Time 12-1:30 PM

March 9 - College Hour Paint & Snack - Encinitas4Equality Black History Month & Women's History Month student center quad @ SAN - Time 12-1:30 PM

March 29 - Zine Workshop w/ Heather C. Lous of Voice for Racial Justice

Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/ycyw76rf - Time 3-4:00 PM

March 31 - College hour Paint & Snack - Encinitas4Equality Black History Month & Women's History Month outside 300 Building @ CLC - Time 12-1:30 PM

And as always, all ASG Committee and Senate meetings are in engage! https://miracosta.campuslabs.com/engage/

• Classified Senate Mini-Retreat on March 10th to review goals and discuss improving engagement with constituents
• Classified Professional Development Days -- Monday-Wednesday of Spring Break. Sessions topics range from technology, governance issues, and health/wellness.
• Upcoming special election coming for updated bylaws this week.

• PDP is preparing for a test run to use MIST to record Flex for Fall 2022. If it goes smoothly, MIST could be adopted to replace MyFlex.

• Ways of improving how faculty access flex was a topic of great interest at the February meeting. Providing those who propose sessions an opportunity to categorize the offerings as a way to help attendees make choices was one of many ideas put forth.

• PDP and DEqCC have agreed to offer discussion opportunities for the campus read, Equity Talk to Equity Walk. Get your copy and watch for opportunities to discuss this important text.

During the March 11th AAC meeting, 9-11am, please join us to discuss the following issues:

• Hiring-We will consider a draft timeline for reading and ranking faculty position requests.
  
• Calendar-We will discuss feedback from the Calendar task force concerning the Excel template for a first draft of the academic calendar.
  
• BP/AP Review Cycle-We plan to discuss updates for the following documents:
• AP 5055 Student Enrollment Limitations and Priorities
  
• AP/BP 4231 Grade Changes
  
• AP/BP 4240 Academic Renewal
  
• AP 4103 Experiential Education
  
• AP 4255 Dismissal Disqualification and Readmission

• Congratulations to Noncredit ESL Instructor Christian Vele-Che! She has been nominated by our Academic Senate for the prestigious ASCCC 2022 Regina Stanback-Stroud Diversity Award for the work she does to create an inclusive and supportive campus climate implementing effective teaching and learning strategies. Chris's dedication to lead the annual Diversity Day symposium and her unique tech-based classroom practices were two highlights from her application packet.
  
  
• The call is out for applications for the Leon Baradat Award. This local award began in 2018 and honors outstanding MiraCosta faculty, one fulltime and one associate, annually. Please consider nominating a colleague! Applications are due to rallyn@miracosta.edu on Sunday, Friday, March 18th.
  
  Who was Leon Baradat? Professor Al Nyman has been teaching at MiraCosta College for going on 45 years, and worked with Leon Baradat. To learn more, we interviewed Professor Nyman via zoom.
  

• In March, MOE will continue moving toward actions on the three primary goals it set for this year:
1. Develop a guide for departmental leadership for enhancing quality online teaching and learning.
2. Develop a guide for faculty reference when selecting technologies to use for teaching and learning.
3. Draft the core components (goals/objectives/outcomes) for a new 3-year Online Education Plan.
• MOE also likely will be providing CPC with recommended updates to AP 4105, MiraCosta’s AP on distance education.
• MOE has also been engaging in reflection about improvements it can make to its own operation and interaction to reflect and exemplify the equitable and anti-racist practices we want in our online education environments.
• MOE meets 2nd and 4th Fridays, 9:30-11 am in Zoom. Please feel free to join us!

In DEqCC's March meeting (March 18 from 9-11AM on Zoom) we will discuss the first chapter of our campus-wide read -- From Equity Talk to Equity Walk -- Please come join us and share your understanding of the term equity and your place on your equity journey. We will also start brainstorming for our Fall Cultural Competency Conference, so if you have ideas, come to contribute!

We also want to celebrate that a trio of past and current DEqCC chairs have been selected to present at NCORE 2022 in Portland later this year! Alicia López, Edward Pohlert, and Violeta Sánchez will be presenting a panel that traces the history of DEqCC, imagines the work it can continue to do at MCC, and will discuss how a committee like DEqCC can be established and nurtured at other institutions.