The Academic Senate has been designated in Education Code (87357) as being responsible for developing the lists of minimum qualifications for service as a faculty member, commonly known as the Disciplines List. The List currently consists of two categories of minimum qualifications, the one category being for those disciplines in which a Master's is available and the other category for those disciplines that do not generally offer a Master's degree (commonly known as the "non-Master's list"). A resolution adopted at the Fall 2004 Plenary Session called upon the Senate to "research the need for and the feasibility of establishing a third minimum qualifications [category] that includes those disciplines requiring a bachelor's degree in a specific major (.e.g. in health occupations) and two years of professional experience." The breakout held at the Spring 2007 Session to address this resolution provided a discussion that was both interesting and informative. Here are some of the comments that were collected by the panel:
- Faculty need to take ownership of the List and make both General Education and Vocational Education legitimate academic endeavors.
- All non-Master's disciplines should be reviewed.
- Vocational disciplines (i.e. non-Master's disciplines) need as much care and scrutiny as Master's disciplines.
- There are many disciplines on the non-Master's list that should be elevated to a bachelor's degree.
- How do professional licenses and proficiencies factor into the Disciplines List?
- We need an opportunity to review our disciplines and establish a dialogue to hammer out these things.
These and all the other comments were important for the panel, which consisted of most of the members of the Senate's Standards and Practices Committee, to hear. We will be bringing back recommendations for the body to consider at a later plenary session.
Another Disciplines List activity also held at the Spring 2007 Plenary Session was the Disciplines List Hearings.
The Senate is responsible for reviewing revisions to the Disciplines List and holds a series of hearings to consider these proposed revisions.
Changes to the procedures were adopted several years ago and the revisions are reviewed in a twoyear cycle, and the hearings are held at the Senate's plenary sessions in order to get more input from the field. The last hearing of this cycle was held on the Thursday of the Session and the voting on approving revisions to the Disciplines List was held on Saturday. Seven proposed revisions were considered with one (addition of degrees to the current Counseling discipline) being approved. We will now be starting a new cycle of revisions to be considered, culminating in a vote at the 2009 Spring Session. Please check the Senate website at www.asccc.org for further details on the Disciplines List revision process.