February 2002
Gov. Gray Davis has proposed cutting all $5.2 million for community college faculty and staff development in the 2002-03 state budget.
We need to hear your success stories. What activities and events have you used these funds for? And how did they improve your professional development and student success?
If you had two minutes alone with Gov. Davis, what would be your top argument for retaining this money?
Your responses will be posted at www.faccc.org, may be used in other FACCC publications, and may be used as testimony to help convince legislators to retain the money.
Please e-mail responses to Communications Director Katherine Martinez, k7martinez@aol.com,
by Feb. 28 (use the subject "Feb.
Question.")
Answers received:
From: Albert, Lou E.
Sent: Thursday, February 7, 2002 3:44 PM
Subject: 2002-03 State Budget Cuts -- LAVC Reaction Request
STATEWIDE BUDGET CUTS!!!
The Los Angeles Valley College Staff Development Program would appreciate your support in addressing the Governor's proposed 2002-03 state budget cuts that would include the entire Faculty and Staff Development Funds. If you would prefer to send your comments to this office (response to the below message from FACCC), we will compile a campus-wide response and submit. Please send your comments to Lou Albert -- email, fax, and/or campus mail.
These are funds that provide services, programs, and activities for Faculty, Administration, Classified Staff, and Students. The Professional Media Resource Center, a responsibility of the Staff Development Program, has served over 11,000 participants in the past 5.5 years.
Staff Development provides:
Faculty Opening Day programs
Faculty and Classified Orientation programs
New Horizons Computer Training
resource for conference and workshop attendance
campus committee retreats
videoconferencing/distance learning
tutoring and mentoring for campus faculty, administration, and staff
site for campus and community meetings
available computer workstations -- state-of-the-art technology
satellite downlinks
hiring/interviews
product demos
teaching and learning training
NETg self-instruction computer training tools
and more...
--Thursday, February 28, 2002 10:10 AM
Subject: RE: 2002-03 State Budget Cuts -- LAVC Reaction Request
Lou,
If I had two minutes with the Governor I would have to tell him of the great impact the Professional Development Resource Center has had on my own professional growth as well as that of many college programs.
As Director of the Learning Center at Los Angeles Valley College I actively participated in a District-wide Tutor Training Conference that connected four college with the LACCD and had student tutor representatives from seven of the nine colleges. Part of the video-conferenced meeting included a formal presentation by a speaker at East Los Angeles College with graphics presented onscreen synchronized from L.A. Harbor college, using a four-quadrant display of the videoconference sites. While each of our colleges has its own range of diverse students, it was especially impressive to have the four groups of students interact with each other on critical issues in tutoring, especially the spectre of sexual harrassment.
By using live role-player and pre-recorded video vignettes we were able to illustrate with sensitivity and humor complex issues in tutor-tutee communication. Such a watershed event would never have been possible without the first-class facility operated by Mr. Lou Albert and his capable staff, as well as the numerous opportunites for training in the use of such technology.
Indeed we are in an era where the use of new technologies is no longer a frill, but an essential part of meeting the demands and expectations of our student in an increasingly complex society. We do this by networking among ourselves under our "New Media Mentors" concept of having more experienced faculty "explorers" mentor other faculty and staff in the use of new media. We use the satellite link to connect with fellow educators around the country, and we use the videoconferencing facility to interface academically with higher education institutiobns and students on an international level. ("Syllabus," December 2001.)
I could cite numerous other examples of how the professional development activites are interwoven into our academic lives, including the training of administration, faculty and staff. To cut of the funding for such valuable resources would stagnate the great flow of ideas and learning among our professional colleagues, and if that momentum is ceased, I fear we may not regain it for a long time. That is a loss that we certainly cannot afford.
My two minutes are up. Thank you,
Richard Holdredge
former Learning Center Director Director, IDEAS Ed>Net Grant
Los Angeles Valley College
--Stack, Shannon C.— Include that it has long been the wish of the state of California to have their teachers continue to grow and improve and extend their skills--this budgetary axing goes against years of educational philosophy. Staff development is a key part of the instructor's growth. It allows for teachers to come together and share what they know and to explore areas and skills which are new--certainly in regard to new technology and methods of instructional delivery.
According to the Campus Computing Project, a national survey of information technology in US higher education, ". . . respondents across all sectors of higher education identify "assisting faculty integrate technology into instruction" as the single most important IT issue confronting their campuses "over the next two or three years."
The way we do business in the Community College has been rapidly changing during the past few years, with an increasing reliance on Web-based operations. The Staff Development portion of the TTIP grant has been essential in retraining faculty and staff in these key areas.
Departments that have recently received such training include: Chemistry; Film; Architecture; Theater Arts; Computer and Information Science; English as a Second Language; Technology Mediated Instruction; and the Student Learning Center.
The Technology Learning Center at City College of San Francisco, through the TTIP Staff Development funds, has been able to support our faculty and staff in far more than the few areas listed here, but I think the examples will give you a sense of the kind of training the grant has made possible.
The State of California has made a valuable investment in updating the Community College Technology Infrastructure, but we can’t afford to drop the training component mid-way through the crucial transition to a more technologically savvy Community College workforce that is able to provide the access, resources and training our students need.
There is a clear need to view the education of our California workforce in a new light. More and more people will need to regularly upgrade their skills. Because the job market is continually changing and evolving, we not only have to change the way we handle our operations, but we have to modify our curriculum and find innovative ways to deliver it to students who often have to fit their education needs in between jobs and families. Our ability to do so will have an impact on reviving the California economy.
Barbara Stewart, Coordinator
Technology Learning Center
City College of San Francisco
Morris Bibliowicz
ESL Instructor
City College of San Francisco
Thanks for asking.
Ruth Logan, Chair, Professional Development Committee
Professor of Life Science
Santa Monica College
The community colleges are the only gateway to success for a number of different populations. The student who is the first in their family to go to college and cannot afford any other alternative. The student who is new to this country and is trying to work their way through the American education system. The student whose is working and cannot go to a four year university. The mature student who already has been in the workplace and wants something better.
For these people, and others, financial and time considerations make community colleges the only practical choice. Other alternatives are way beyond the financial reach of the people. The demands of these other institutions are often not accomadating to the needs of these people. Other education alternatives are often not interested in these groups as they simply are not profitable.
One road to success for many of these people is to become technically proficient in some area. It is the way out of poverty and hopelessness. Our economy depends on finding more and more qualified people to handle technology. Without community colleges, these groups would have no where else to go and we would not have the benefit of their talents and services. We can no longer afford, as a society, to ignore any human resources. This growing demand for technologically adept people will not let us.
Cutting funding for community colleges effectively, very effectively in fact, says to these groups that the door is now not as open as it was. California is not interested in giving you the opportunities that more privileged groups enjoy. California is going to make it tougher to find the faculty and resources to serve you. You and your children are not going to have the access to education, to training, that you had just a short time ago. You and children will now be in competition for what remains. Can California really afford this? Do you, Gov. Davis, want to be known as the de-education Govenor?
Martin Chetlen
Department Chair, Computer Science and Computer Network Systems Engineering
Moorpark College
I hate to tell you this but I am with Gov. Davis in his cut of Staff Development. We could better serve the student if we spent those days in the class room. Here at my college the staff are not doing a very good job of full filling their part of the contract. To many on the Flex activities are not related to their area and should not be allowed. So for me I would rather have the time back in the classroom. It would be a wiser use of the tax money.
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