January 23, 2023

Attendance

Minutes

I. Call to Order and Report Outs

Welcome

Cheryl Jaeger Balm reminded representatives to update their report-out.

Approval of Agenda and Minutes from December 5, 2022

Alicia Mullens moved, Ravjeet Singh seconded to approve both minutes and agenda. No objection.  Agenda and minutes approved by unanimous consent

Brown Act and AB 361

Alicia Mullens moved, Jayanti Roy seconded, to invoke AB361 that will allow the Academic Senate to continue meeting by HyFlex for the next 30 days. The vote passed unanimously.

Cheryl Jaeger Balm briefly explained AB361 and the Brown Act requirements when the governor's emergency order expires. More discussion in the next meeting.

Response from the survey to the 30 voting members showed 10 intending to attend in person, 1 from within the district boundary after the State of Emergency ends Feb 28. At least 15 executive members must attend in person or within the district boundary to reach quorum. Cheryl Jaeger Balm will send out the survey once more for those who have not replied. 

Comment from the Academic Senate President

Cheryl Jaeger Balm acknowledged the tragic mass shooting over the lunar new year in Monterey Park. The Academic Senate has passed a resolution denouncing such hate crimes. Contact the officers if anyone has suggestions on how the Academic Senate could do more. Dawn Lee mentioned that APASA is working on a statement.

Remembrance of Rich Hansen

Tim Shivley acknowledged the recent passing of Rich Hansen.  There will be a Celebration of Life for Rich Hansen on Thursday, February 9, 2023, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC). Everyone is welcome to attend.

Tim was shocked when he received the news of Rich’s passing last Friday. Tim has written an article honoring Rich Hansen for the FA newsletter.  Rich Hansen has had more positive influence on the community college system over the last three decades than any other single individual, serving in a variety of capacities. Rich taught Math at De Anza from 1991 until his retirement in 2017, and served as FA President from 1997 until that time.

Tim shared two letters. 

“I knew I could always rely on Richard whenever anything went awry or needed attention. His sense of judgment was excellent. Occasionally a tricky issue would arise because of the conflicting personalities of some of the teachers. Richard was always able to resolve the matter delicately and efficiently.” -Director of the Math Project, CSU, LA

“He worked very well with peers, having a rather unusual quality of being able to influence people to follow without appearing to lead. I would be delighted to have him join our staff at Pasadena City College, but he chooses not to live in Southern California, which is probably another indication of his good sense.”

Tim shared that Rich’s first passion was history. He majored in History at Cornell, then studied history at Univesity of Virginia. Rich earned his masters degree in History from Cal State, LA. Moved to Berkeley where he switched to Math. He taught Math at Santa Rosa Jr College before settling in De Anza.

In his career, he had worked on an assembly line in NY and NJ, taught in the NY State penitentiary, wrote professional journalism in NY and Southern California, served as a US army engineer and carpenter.  He traveled extensively throughout Mexico, Western and Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union. He was fluent in Spanish, German, and had a reading knowledge of French.

Rich died of cancer on the East Coast. He was originally from Ashbury, NJ. Moved to LA, then to the Bay Area. He is survived by his wife and nephew.

At one time Rich served as the presidents of three unions-the local FA, FACCC, and CCCI. The CCCI will be holding a memorial for him in April.

Public Comment - none

Introducing "new" and returning senators

• Salvador Guerero - in a new role as part-time representative
• Cecilia Hui - returning from PDL as ASLR representative
• Christian Rodriguez - DALA
• Carmen Lizardi-Folley - IIS
• Rusty Johnson - returning from coaching season as PE representative

The Academic Senate will return to the getting-to-know-you Virtual Posters next meeting. Cheryl Jaeger Balm has added slides for the new representatives. It is arranged alphabetically by first name. Contact Cheryl for further instructions.

Report outs - division, committee and area rep report outs are in this PDF

Additions to the Report outs:

• Curriculum:  Mary Donahue had a question about compensation for part-time faculty doing curriculum work.  Thomas Ray was supportive of compensation for part-time faculty. However, that is a matter between the deans and the faculty. Part-time faculty working on revisions in areas with full-time faculty will not get compensated. Those without a full-time faculty in the area will be compensated.
• Iman Seale, Communications, has left De Anza as well. The office is short staffed. Have patience with that office.
• Moment of Remembrance. Glynn Wallis acknowledged the fact that BFSA stands alongside APASA and other communities who might be devastated by what took place in Monterey Park, CA.

Cheryl reminded the representatives that their Academic Senate job includes two-way communication, to report from and to report back to their constituent groups (divisions/areas.) Reach out to the officers or seasoned representatives if you want help setting up a system for sharing out.  Some divisions have a division wide email list. Others send the reports through their administrative assistants. Do it in a regular and timely fashion to report and convey concerns from their areas.

II. Needs and Confirmation

District and College committees - needs

• Noncredit rep (1) for the Curriculum Committee

III. Old Business

Proposed updates to J1 and J2 (Administrative Eval and Student Eval) forms  

• Draft updated classroom J1

FA is looking for feedback to the proposed update to the J1 classroom form.  You can make a copy of the document, send it out, and gather faculty feedback by the end of the week. The document is commentable.

Resolution in support of the Creative Arts Division

President Holmes will have a meeting with the Creative Arts Division, Fri 2/3/2023 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Admin 109 conference room.  Currently, Creative Arts is in limbo. They hope that the Feb 3 meeting will give them greater clarity on their situation and options for a proper solution for a space for the arts.

On December 5, 2022, there was a collegewide forum on the Measure G bond with plans for the construction of a new Services for Students Building and a new Event Center on the north side of campus, among other improvements. For the first time, there the arts faculty learned about the plans to demolish the arts quad and replace it with a Services for Students Building. The plans at that time did not include the relocation or permanent spaces for the arts. 

Since then, Marco Marquez and several arts faculty had an interview with the architectural planning firm to share their opinions. This has been a hot topic at the FHDA district board meetings. At January's board meeting funds were approved for architectural plans that will include the arts.

This resolution is to support Creative Arts. It is not opposed to the Events Center or the Services for Studente Buildilng; it is opposed to arts being displaced without a plan, space and funding. Cheryl Jaeger Balm welcomes comments and suggestions to the resolution.  The Academic Senate resolution demands and supports a proper space for the Arts.  The resolution will be back for discussion and a vote in the next meeting.

Academic Senate Recognition of Indigenous People (from Oct. 31, 2022)

Funds were approved for this on Oct 31, 2022.  The 4 members in the task force have decided on an online course that they will take and report back to the body.  Cheryl Jaeger Balm asked if anyone is interested in the course and working on the research. She asked for more volunteers from the executive committee to join the task force.  The task force will continue to research and will come back with suggestions before the end of the quarter.

IV. New Business

FHDA mission statement

The Chancellor Advisory Council would like feedback on the mission statement. People put comments and resources in the document.  Please share out the document and get more feedback from your constituents.

Fall quarter finance report

The officers would like to form a committee to start offering student scholarships again. Cheryl Jaeger Balm will contact Karen Chow, Jim Nguyen and other former officers for previous application criterion and process.  We will need to form a committee for this at a future meeting.

Nominating and Election Committee formation

Officers cannot be on this committee. Anyone planning to run for any open position should not be on the committee.  Salvador Guerrero, Rusty Johnson, and Alicia Mullens volunteered to serve on this committee.  There will be 3 open positions for the election in the spring:  President, Executive Secretary, one of the two At-large Part Time Reps.

IV. Other Items

Good of the Order

• Cheryl Jaeger Balm sent out an email to all full-time faculty on the Learning in Communities (LinC) Faculty  Coordinator position. Application due February 1. Apply by email to Dean Alicia Cortez.
• Mary Donahue had a question about her First Aid Certification class going back and forth between positive and non positive attendance. Thomas Ray will follow up with her on that issue.
• Alicia Mullens reminded faculty to submit their Census. 

Adjournment

Mary Pape motioned, Alicia Mullens seconded, to adjourn, no objection.