All campus communication Enrollment Surge November 15, 2009:

Faculty Colleagues:

We are about to start the eighth week of the fall term during a year when enrollments are at a historic high. I have been hearing wonderful things from the deans about your willingness to roll up your sleeves and help out in a variety of ways to help students. Thank you!

Here are a few updates:

Accreditation and Assessment:
Our five-year accreditation visit went smoothly. Although we have not received the report yet, the chair of the evaluation team informed Mary Spilde and me that there were no recommendations. This is a testimony of all the incredible work that each of you do on a daily basis, even during difficult financial times. In particular, I want to call out the work that has been shepherded by the Assessment team (A-Team). The A-Team came together five years ago, initially under the leadership of Sarah Ulerick, then Stephen Selph, and now Barbara Breaden and of course, Mary Brau who is our curriculum and assessment guru. Many of you have been working diligently on assessment projects within your divisions and have stayed connected to the A-Team through the general education assessment work. Thank you!

Let*s toast the entire A-Team:
* Barbara Breaden, Language, Literature and Communications, Chair
* J.S. Bird, Art
* Mary Brau, Coordinator, Student Outcomes Assessment and Curriculum Development
* Sheila Broderick, Social Science
* Paul Bunson, Science
* Kathy Calise, Continuing Education
* Susan Carkin, Language, Literature and Communications
* Pam Dane, Language, Literature and Communications
* Barbara DeFilippo, Social Science
* Julie Fether, Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management
* Christina Howard, Health Professions
* Michael Levick, Information Technologies
* Mary Parthemer, TRiO
* Tamara Pinkas, Cooperative Education
* Stephen Selph, Mathematics
* Craig Taylor, Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning
* Sarah Ulerick, Science

The A-Team has worked to support program assessment by developing and conducting professional development seminars, and by working with program coordinators on systematic assessment planning and "closing the loop." The team has developed and revised the assessment planning guide, as well as a rubric for creating assessment plans (both forms available at 2011sitearchive.lanecc.edu/assessment/process.html.
A second important and exciting A-Team effort has been the general education assessment project, involving approximately 25 faculty in the last two years to design and pilot a "value added" study of general education outcomes for Lane's associate degrees. Work of this general education assessment project has included the development of cross-disciplinary rubrics for two of Lane's core abilities, "Think critically and solve problems," and "Communicate Effectively."

Finally, the A-Team has successfully contributed to development of Lane's "culture of assessment," fostering rich and meaningful discussions among stakeholders who are curious about how students learn at Lane.

Strategic Directions:
As you are aware, we are in the process of reviewing and revising our strategic directions. All the new topics that have emerged so far for discussion have direct connection with the work that you do. Here is the list: Liberal Education, Knowing our students, Empowering our students, Completion, Basic Skills, and Distance Learning. Once the strategic directions get approved, the Learning Council will embark on developing the Learning Plan to further examine the strategic directions in a more specific ways.

Faculty Vacancies:
We are in the process of reviewing faculty vacancies. Here is an excerpt of an email I sent to the deans on November 10th:

As you are aware, community colleges took a 10% reduction ($500 to $450 million) this biennium (2009-2011). In addition, with the federal stimulus funding that augmented the state revenues this biennium sun-setting, state agencies will experience a gap in funding for the next biennium and there will be fierce competition for resources. Finally, there is a lot riding on the tax measures being put before the voters.
Given these uncertainties, the College still wants to consider filling between 5-8 full-time faculty positions......

The deans will be presenting their requests for filling positions within their divisions on November 17th, from 9 to 11, in CML 225. Will let you know when the final decisions are made. Our intent is to get the positions posted in the Chronicle and other listservs by January 2010.

That*s all for now.

Until next time *..

Sonya