Proposal was added to the disciplines package and adopted at Spring 2011 Session. Proposal will be forwarded to the Board of Governors for adoption.
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges voted down a previous proposal for the creation of Art History as a separate discipline on the 2007 Disciplines List and the current Academic Senate process requires that resubmitted proposals provide substantively different rationale and come forward either as a resolution from a Senate area meeting or as a resolution from the floor of plenary session;
Whereas, The previous proposal failed because of the potential impact on smaller colleges in assigning disciplines; however, adding Art History to the Disciplines List does not require local senates to assign any courses to the new discipline but, rather, allows local colleges with larger programs in Art History to assign courses to that discipline and to hire, retain, and promote qualified faculty to develop and teach courses and degrees in Art History at a level commensurate with other systems of higher education where students are likely to transfer upon completion of lower division major transfer preparation at a community college;
Whereas, The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in studio arts is insufficient academic preparation to teach Art History courses, as a student earning an MFA in the CSU or UC system can do so by completing an average minimum of 12 semester units—out of the 180 - 210 semester units required for a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Fine Arts, MFA sequence—in Art History across both their baccalaureate and masters programs; and
Whereas, The College Art Association, the primary professional association for art history and studio arts, in 2009 revised their “Standards of Retention and Tenure of Art Historians” to include specific standards for Art Historians at two-year colleges that are reflected in this proposal;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges include in its current Discipline List Revision process a recommendation to the Board of Governors to add Art History as a separate discipline for inclusion in the “Minimum Qualifications for Faculty and Administrators in California Community Colleges” based on the rationale outlined in the attached proposal.
See Attachment A.
MSC Disposition: Local Senates