Progress and decisions – May 2015

Finals are just around the corner and your governance leaders and committee members are working tirelessly to wrap up all their year-end activities. Read about what is happening.

In this issue:

 

Governance task force update

In response to concerns of governance leaders, the college president convened a representative group of 16 leaders in April to form a governance task force. The development of this task force followed the adoption of a resolution (in March) by the Academic Senate Council calling for a group to evaluate the college governance structure.

The purpose of this task force was to address the identified issues of workload on committees, problems getting quorums for committee meetings, problems finding chairs/co-chairs for committees and the general sense that the amount of work being done on governance was not commensurate with the outcomes we were getting nor focused on the key issues facing the college.

The governance task force met four times in April and May and the outcome is a recommended change to the governance structure of the college.

  • The College Council would be retained as the governance committee with leadership representation from all constituent groups.
  • Supporting this council would be a committee charged with ranking resource requests from program reviews and hosting the broad conversations with that function (currently done by the Integration Council).
  • A separate committee is proposed to focus on research and evaluation in support of establishing annual outcomes and monitoring the college's efforts to achieve the goals, directive and values outlined in the DVC Strategic Plan.
  • The functions of the current Budget Committee and Institutional Planning Committee would be subsumed by the College Council (relying on task forces and work groups to perform specific tasks as needed).
  • No changes to other committees are proposed.

 

This recommended structure was discussed at the Academic Senate Council meeting on May 12, 2015 and will be continued at a special Academic Senate Council meeting on May 19, 2015. The recommendation is scheduled for a review at Classified Senate Council and Management Council. The review and discussion of this new structure includes an implementation timeline that could begin in fall 2015.

Strategic plan group

The strategic plan work group (Ted Wieden, Laurie Lema, Andy Barlow) has begun the implementation of DVC’s Strategic Plan. Their work has been focused on the following four projects:

  • Conducted a census of current DVC activities that support the Strategic Plan.
  • Issued a request for proposals (RFP) for innovations to advance the Strategic Plan. Of the 87 proposals received, they recommended action on 85 of them, and are now working with select initiators to develop their proposals into fully operational projects. Three to five projects are expected to start up in fall 2015.
  • Supported an ongoing conversation among college leaders about ways to make DVC’s governance processes and structures responsive to the Strategic Plan’s goals, and capable of more nimble, efficient and effective decision-making.
  • Worked with committees to align their work with the Strategic Plan.

 

The group has been working at a break-neck speed this semester, and has been amazed and gratified by the enthusiastic support for this work from all corners of DVC.

Governance committee and council reports

Governance meetings are open to all members of the campus community. For up-to-date information on governance and the various documents, please visit our new governance website. Also see our new governance meeting calendar.

College Council (CC)

CC has been engaged in activities to close out the current academic year including taking action to modify DVC Procedure 1017.01 (Review of the College Mission Statement).

CC also reviewed end-of-the-year committee reports from:

  • Institutional Planning Committee,
  • Budget Committee,
  • Student Equity Committee,
  • Integration Council,
  • Technology Committee.

 

In addition, CC reviewed the following:

  • a recommendation from the DVC Technology Committee to establish a standard for classroom technology
  • recommendations on the new Workforce Development Master Plan and the Professional Development Master Plan
  • ASDVC’s plan to encourage student car-pooling
  • a college facilities report, including the status of new facilities planning
  • responses to the ACCJC recommendations included in the draft Follow-Up Report.

 

For more information, please visit:
the College Council website

Integration Council (IC)

IC continues discussions on how to best fulfill its charge as a place where important college dialogue occurs. They have been reviewing the Strategic Plan and inviting speakers in to discuss the Student Equity Plan and its relationship to the Strategic Plan and Program Review.

The IC continues to work with the Program Review Task Force to review the proposed changes to the PR templates in preparation for the next cycle of Program Review this fall.

For more information, please visit:
the Integration Council website

Budget Committee (BC)

BC resumed work on "operating budgets” This involved the review of current operating budget allocations, and the review of information and data for all college units. This review provided the committee with valuable insights concerning operating budget allocations and expenditure histories, combined with current college unit needs.

The next step is to review specific, targeted budget information supported with detailed data to allow the committee to make the most informed, logical and equitable recommendations.

The Budget Committee will resume work on operating budget allocations with a goal of making recommendations during the 2015-16 academic year.

For more information, please visit:
the Budget Committee website

Institutional Planning Council (IPC)

The IPC reviewed the status of the DVC Facilities Master Plan 2006-2017. The college has accomplished many of the goals envisioned in this plan and continues to work towards most aspects of the plan, though some of the details and areas of emphasis have changed over the years.

The IPC updated the College Wide Planning Template to simplify and align with the current Strategic Plan.

The committee also created a Validation Tool to use when examining newly written or updated plans:

  • to provide feedback to the authors and
  • to improve alignment with the Strategic Plan
  • to assist the College in Plan evaluations.

 

At the final meeting of the year, IPC will invite the Workforce Development Committee to present their newly drafted WFD Plan for validation as it moves through the approval process.

For more information, please visit:
the Institutional Planning Council website

For the charges and functions of the above committees, please see the College Committee Handbook.

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