Events and Meetings

The Academic Senate is holding a CTE Leadership Institute on May 8 - 9, 2015, at the Sheraton in La Jolla. As many of you know, this year there is an intense focus on career and technical education at the federal, state, and local level. In our CCC system, the Board of Governors has formed a task force on Workforce, Job Creation and a Strong Economy, which has been convening regional college and faculty conversations and industry town hall meetings.

President Obama’s recent national challenge focuses on the dire lack of equity in America by calling for open access to higher education for all Americans though community colleges. “A college degree is the surest ticket to the middle class, it ensures you are always employable.” President Barack Obama, January, 2015

This event will provide CTE faculty with the opportunity to engage in key policy conversations through their interaction with representatives of the task force, by learning about the implications of policy decisions on local programs and courses, and in participating in breakout sessions to better understand the college processes including topics on leadership, curriculum design, course repetition, and effective program advocacy.

The Spring Plenary session will take place on April 9 - 11, 2015 at the Westin San Francisco Airport. Early registration is open now through March 23, 2015!! The theme of this session is “Thriving under pressure”. We look forward to seeing you in San Francisco!

Please contact your area rep for details.

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is excited to announce our first ever Noncredit Curriculum Regional Meetings! The meetings will be Friday, March 20 at Foothill College and Saturday, March 21 at Cerritos College. In the 15-16 academic year, the funding for some noncredit courses (Career Development and College Preparation) will be equal to credit courses. Due to these funding changes, CTE initiatives and the restructuring of adult and continuing education, colleges will need to use this opportunity to examine their noncredit and credit courses and assess how they can best serve the needs of their students.

We will begin the day with a presentation on the nuts and bolts of noncredit curriculum and programs. John Stanskas, the Senate’s AB 86 workgroup representative, will offer some insights as to how funding changes can impact opportunities for our students in basics skills and CTE programs. After lunch, we will ask college teams to discuss the viability and opportunity of noncredit instruction to benefit their students and how their college’s decision-making processes may impact the discussion at their colleges. Curriculum committee members and participants from colleges with noncredit programs will be on hand to provide guidance about the opportunities and challenges in noncredit. The goal of this session is for participants to draft a working plan to help colleges make informed decisions about the appropriate curricular offerings at their colleges.

We encourage you to bring a team of faculty, senate leaders, curriculum chairs, and administrators who are making decisions about building their noncredit programs and evaluating curriculum.  Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required so we can ensure appropriate lunch accommodations. When you register, please identify which of your team members are faculty and which are administrators.

Warmest regards,

Debbie Klein, At-large Representative

Noncredit Committee Chair

Michelle Grimes-Hillman, South Representative

Curriculum Committee Chair

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and the Online Education Committee are pleased to announce that the first ever Online Education Regional Meetings!  The meetings will be Friday, March 20 in the north and Saturday, March 21 in the south.  Meeting, location and registration information can be found below. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required.  We encourage you to bring teams from your colleges, including senate presidents, curriculum chairs, online education faculty, distance education coordinators, instructional designers and administrators that oversee online education.  Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. 

The morning will be dedicated to general sessions with presentations and updates from the Chancellor’s Office and the Academic Senate, including information on curriculum processes for online courses, accreditation, regulations, professional development and effective practices for institutions.  In the afternoon, breakout sessions will focus on range of issues including the “nuts and bolts” of online education, effective practices for quality online instruction, and online education “landmines”.  If you cannot attend in person, we will be live webcasting the afternoon breakout sessions.  So, come and join us for a great day of important and timely information.  I hope to see you there!

John Freitas, Area C Representative

ASCCC Online Education Committee Chair

The 2015 Academic Academy is scheduled for March 13-14, 2015 at the Westin South Coast Plaza located at 686 Anton Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Registration begins Friday at 9AM and the program commences at 10AM; the conference will end Saturday at 3PM.

Whether your college is gathering evidence, writing the self- evaluation, or preparing for a site visit in spring, the Academic Senate for California Community College’s Accreditation Institute will provide guidance and support no matter where you are in the cycle of accreditation.  Even colleges who finished a site visit in fall know that accreditation work never really ends.  At its core, accreditation is the peer-evaluation process we use to improve the education we offer to individuals in our communities and we have affirmed our commitment to the spirit of such processes throughout the years. 

Sponsored by the Chancellor's Office through Perkins Leadership Funds, CCCAOE and the Academic Senate will host the first CTE Curriculum Academy "Doing What Matters for CTE Students: A Collaboration of CTE Faculty with EWD and Regional Leaders" January 15-16, 2015 in Anaheim at The Anaheim Marriott Suites.  

The first day of the event, attendees will participate in a Leadership Academy offered by CCCAOE.  Day two attendees will participate in an intensive CTE Curriculum Academy led by the Academic Senate and geared to help all participants better navigate state and local curriculum processes.  Attendees will receive information and training on topics such as curriculum basics, effective practices for curriculum development, the Program and Course Approval Handbook, C-ID, and other aspects of curriculum development and approval.  Please see the program description for each day below.  

The Fall Plenary session will take place on November 13-15, 2014 at Irvine Marriott Hotel. Early registration is open now through October 29, 2014. The theme of this session is "Calling all Voices". 

Watch video presentations from the Session: