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Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral RevivalLaney College Professional Development Committee
Regular Meeting Schedule
Professional development committee meetings take place from 2-3pm. on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month.
Beginning Spring 2023, all agendas and minutes are in Boarddocs
Fall 2020 Minutes
Minutes Aug 31 2020
Minutes Sept 14 2020
Minutes Sept 28 2020
Minutes Nov 23 2020
Minutes Dec 9 2020
Minutes Nov 9 2020
Minutes Oct 26 2020
Minutes Oct 12 2020
Spring 2020 Minutes
Fall 2019 Minutes
Spring 2019 Minutes
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2015 Minutes
Dec. 2, 2015 Meeting Minutes
The following members were in attendance: Christy Blue, Phoumy Sayavong, Denise Richardson, Chris Weidenbach, Agustin Rodriguez, and Jacqueline Ma. District Staff Development Officer Miriam Zamora-Kantor was also in attendance.
Mindfulness: Danielle Alcin from the Niroga Institute, Katrina Totten, External Secretery of the ASLC, and Jackie Graves (English) joined us for the first half of the meeting, along with three other students Katrina invited. Chris introduced Danielle to the committee to begin making a proposal for a Flex Day interactive intro/training in Dynamic Mindfulness for Stress Resilience. Danielle then explained what Niroga’s trainings are based on, and where they have worked in the past, and why, and then led those present through a short mindful breathing session, incorporating gentle movement. With Danielle and Katrina, the committee discussed the possible shape of a presentation or training with Niroga, and Danielle answered logistical questions from committee members. –Christy Blue clearly expressed her support for such a component of our Flex Day in January. –Chris expressed to Danielle that he would be in contact very soon about some kind of relationship between the PD Committee and Niroga, and hoped it would involve the Flex Days.
Student suggestions: After Danielle left, Denise suggested that the remaining committee members take advantage of the presence of four students to ask what students see as priority needs for the college, and specifically what professional development they felt some of the faculty would benefit from, for the ultimate benefit of students. The students emphasized the importance of faculty recognizing that students often have very difficult, complicated lives, and might not be able to live up to the highest standards of performance in terms of attendance or always submitting assignments on-time, despite caring a great deal, working hard on assignments, and being quite capable. The students also mentioned that many students feel that they are sometimes spoken to disrespectfully by instructors. (*This description of the listening session is not yet complete.)
Funding requests: The committee lost its quorum after the halfway point, and thus could not approve any of the mounting funding requests.
PD Events: Chris announced two PD events happening this week: A Thursday Dec. 3 ‘open-house’ of a low-cost smart-classroom prototype, featuring some of his own Open Educational Resources — using WordPress to post links to online texts in place of requiring students to purchase textbooks. –And two hands-on trainings in how to build WordPress websites in the platform the college has acquired: Dec. 3 from 2-4pm in F170C, and Dec. 4 from Noon-2pm in F170A.
January Flex-Day planning:
Denise recommended that Chris put out a call for flex-day workshop proposals, even if it resulted in more proposed workshops than can be scheduled.
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Nov. 18, 2015 Meeting Minutes
Expense/Budget report: Eric gave us copies of a beautifully clear budget spreadsheet that shows the current amount available for disbursement, but also a list of all individuals to whom funds have been approved and disbursed. The amount available stands at $53, 017.73. We are in good shape!
Sabbaticals: Chris announced that six faculty submitted proposals for the two sabbaticals that may be awarded for Fall ’16-Spring ’17. The process is running on-schedule, and final deliberations and decisions will likely take place either during fall ’15 Finals Week, or during the first week of classes on Wednesday, January 27th in the new year.
Flex Days planning: Chris reported a very productive meeting with Lisa Cook and Dr. Webb on the 17th of Nov. A panel of instructors who have made significant changes in the way they communicate with and connect with students was suggested by Dr. Webb, and many on the committee, including the Chair, like this idea. Another proposal was well liked by all in attendance: a panel of student tutors would tell faculty what they have picked up from the students they work with, and from our assignment prompts.
Prof. Dev. Events Preparing for Spring ’16: Chris announced the dates for the WordPress training: Thursday, Dec. 3 and Friday, Dec. 4.
Funding Requests & Approvals: The committee approved a proposal by Kathy Williamson (Mathematics) to bring two Math faculty from Santa Ana College to present their acceleration model to Laney’s Math department during flex days. The estimated cost would be $2,000.
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Nov. 4, 2015 Meeting Minutes
Reproductive Justice Event Proposal: Alicia Christenson (Ethnic Studies) presented a compelling proposal for a community forum/panel on Reproductive Justice, and asked for the committee’s support. We agreed unanimously to support this event with $500. Chris will work with Alicia and Christy to deliver the funding as soon as possible to the panelists Alicia invites. –Denise recommended that Chris ask the District’s legal team to review this funding decision, but does not foresee any problems.
Classified Staff professional development: Still pending confirmation from Dr. Webb and Eric.
WordPress Training: Chris announced that he would be hosting a workshop showing how WordPress websites can be used with courses, to make many or all course readings available online; this event would be followed by a hands-on training in WordPress for beginners.
January Flex-Day planning: Chris outlined some proposed programming for the January Laney Days, Thurs. Jan 21 and Fri. Jan 22), and asked the committee for ideas and feedback. He is planning to meet with Lisa Cook and Dr. Webb in coming weeks.
Funding requests: (to be completed)
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Oct. 21, 2015 Meeting Minutes
The meeting began in earnest at 4:10pm. Again, all committee members were present!
Expense report and consideration of approval for funding requests: Eric Smith was not available to attend the meeting, but the budget carried over from 2014-15 had been loaded into the ’15-’16 budgets, so the committee could proceed with considering funding requests for approval.
Sabbaticals update — and scheduled workshops: Chris reported that he met with four faculty members on Oct. 14th and 15th, and anticipated at least six sabbatical proposals by the proposal deadline. Chris again asked committee members to promote sabbaticals with faculty they talk to, and to forward him the names of anyone they suggest that he reach out to. The deadline for proposals has been set for Monday, Nov. 16th at 5pm.
Funding for Classified Staff Professional Development: Chris reported that he still had received no news from the Classified Staff Senate, but he also reported that the College President’s assistant, Maisha Jameson, verbally informed him that Dr. Webb would be making $10,000 available for classified professional development for the 2015-16 year. The committee discussed the possibility of announcing this move, and Christy Blue suggested that no such announcement be made until the committee or chair knew for certain that the funds had been moved into the appropriate budget line, to avoid any conflicts or disappointments.
Speakers Series: Chris updated the committee on the status of several speakers being invited to Laney, and the committee discussed honoraria. –Re: an honorarium, Ishmael Reed reportedly asked Chris Stroffolino (English), “How much you got?”; Fariba Nawa informed Eleni Economides (English) that she was leaving early on an international trip and would not be available this year; and Chris had informed Burt Dragin (Journalism) that the committee supported inviting economist Richard Wolff, pending an understanding of what honorarium he would demand. Chris will continue to work with these faculty to coordinate a speakers series, and will make some inquiries about the ‘market rate for honoraria’.
PD ideas/trainings: Chris announced that he would be hosting a workshop in December on using WordPress for websites, as well as some kind of Open Educational Resources ‘showcase’ and hands-on training sessions. He reported that he had begun talking with Karen Talbot and Marion Martin in DSPS about a Flex Day event regarding faculty meeting accommodations needs of students.
Proposal to change deadlines for funding requests: Chris presented a proposal to 1) shorten the timeline for funding requests for in-state travel, conferences, classes, and other events; 2) request an explanation of the Board/District’s policy re: out-of-state and international travel and events; and 3) request a revision of the policy in 2. –Phoumy recommended that the proposal specify reimbursement requests, since advance payments and third-party payments have compelling rationale for advance ‘paperwork’. The committee supported the proposal, which Chris will take to the District PD Chairs meeting on Oct. 22, where Mike Orkin is scheduled to speak to the Chairs about whatever Board policies apply to these situations.
Proposal for Dec-Jan Flex Days: Chris also asked the committee about his plan to host two workshops near the end of the fall semester, with the goal of preparing faculty for collaborative opportunities in the Spring. Committee members were supportive. Denise Richardson recommended that the original day-long event be separated into separate days. Several members agreed, including Chris! The exact nature of these events was unsettled, as were the dates.
Funding requests/approvals: The committee approved several funding requests.
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Oct. 7, 2015 Meeting Minutes
The meeting began in earnest at 4:10pm, and ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS WERE PRESENT! (Fine job, everyone!) Also present were Eric Smith and Miriam Zamora-Kantor.
Expense report and consideration of approval for funding requests: Eric Smith provided an update and spreadsheet outlining the PD budget. With $48,000 in the current year’s allotment, and more than $18,000 carried over from 2014-15, the PD budget is healthy! However, Eric informed us that the carry-over amount had not yet been loaded into the budget, so several committee members were hesitant to move forward on approvals of funding proposals. –The budget includes the chairperson’s release-time (approx. $12, 500) and the stipend for our classified Finance Administrator ($3,000), leaving $50, 824 available for disbursement through June 30th, 2016.
Sabbaticals update — and scheduled workshops: Chris reported sending out an announcement about sabbaticals and applying for PD funds on Oct. 1. Workshops for those interested in applying for a sabbatical are scheduled for October 14th and 15th. Several faculty have already expressed interest in applying, and Chris asked committee members to promote sabbaticals with faculty they talk to, and to forward him the names of anyone they suggest that he reach out to.
Funding for Classified Staff Professional Development: Chris reported that he had received no news from the Classified Staff Senate, but was hopeful that they would pass a resolution that the PD committee could support. Also, Chris has begun to inquire about a meeting with Dr. Webb, with this item as a key piece of the agenda.
Speakers Series: Chris asked the committee to consider recent suggestions of speakers being invited to Laney, and whether members like the idea of supporting these efforts? –The speakers mentioned are Ishmael Reed, author of a new biography about Muhammed Ali (suggested by Chris Stroffolino, English); award-winning Afghan-American journalist and author Fariba Nawa (suggested by Eleni Economides, English); and economist Richard Wolff (suggested by Burt Dragin, Journalism). The committee supported the idea in all cases. Chris will reach out to these faculty to let them know that we support them, and ask them to get the ball rolling!
PD ideas/trainings: Chris reported getting several emails regarding the idea of training for emergency preparedness, including “active shooter” trainings. The committee discussed other broad-impact training possibilities, including using WordPress for websites, making good use of Turnitin.com, Open Educational Resources ‘showcases’ and hands-on training sessions, and faculty accommodating students according to DSPS plans. The committee generally agreed that accommodations is a very important area where faculty need training. Chris will reach out to DSPS leaders regarding a January flex-day training event.
Funding requests/approvals: The committee approved funding requests for Lin Wang and Deborah Brooks.
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Sept. 16, 2015 Meeting Minutes
The following members were in attendance: Christy Blue, Phoumy Sayavong, Denise Richardson, Chris Weidenbach, Scott Strong, Kelle Lynch McMahon, Agustin Rodriguez, and David Simon. District Staff Development Officer Miriam Zamora-Kantor and Past-President of the Classified Staff Senate James Blake also attended. Jacqueline Ma has been nominated to serve as the final Classified Staff member, but has not yet been confirmed, and was not in attendance.
Budget: At Miriam’s prompting, the committee shared our collective memory about funds carried over from last year’s budget, and what we understood to be the current year’s budget. Miriam mentioned her understanding that 48,000 dollars were to be added to this year’s budget. Estimates of what remained from the 2014-15 year ranged from $5,000 to $15,000. Various members of the committee — and a clear majority — expressed hesitance to even consider requests for PD funding in the absence of sure knowledge about our budget for the ’15-’16 academic year. Without the advice of our Business Office liaison, Eric Smith, we were unable to move forward on two requests that otherwise likely would have been approved.
Committee chair Chris Weidenbach expressed to everyone that he would meet with Eric during the following week, and well in advance of our next scheduled meeting, to learn where the committee’s budget stands, and that he might be visiting individual committee members to ask them to consider approving funding requests that needed timely attention in order to keep them moving forward.
PD for Classified Staff: The committee then discussed, with Miriam’s input on district history, and James’ substantial explanation of an “un-funded mandate” by the State of CA to start providing professional development programming and funding for individual PD purposes, how we could promote and institute such funding and programming. Miriam suggested that Chris, as chair, should schedule a meeting with College President Dr. Webb to inquire about and press for College leaders to find a way to fund staff PD. Chris reported that he had begun talking with current Classified Staff Senate President Jim Cave some options on moving forward with this effort, and made a commitment to reach out to Dr. Webb as Miriam suggested. It was suggested by someone that the Faculty Senate should also be consulted, and the Chair agreed and committed to contacting Faculty Senate President Lisa Cook.
Kelle asked about her department’s access to PD funds, and the committee members clarified that the part-time faculty in Construction Management are already entitled to PD funding. Chris mentioned his intention to do a better job of getting the word out to all faculty about their access to these funds, and the process for requesting them.
In-House PD programming: A few possible trainings that could benefit faculty, classified staff, and administrators were then discussed. Chris mentioned his own familiarity with the WordPress website platform, and his willingness to facilitate a hands-on training session during the fall semester.
Last, but not least, a mysterious plate of banana bread gave several committee members a much needed, very moist and tasty caloric boost during the late-afternoon meeting! Thank you, mystery provider!
The meeting was adjourned at 5pm.
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August 26th, 2015 Meeting Minutes
In attendance were committee members Agustin Rodriguez, Scott Strong, Phoumy Sayavong, Denise Richardson, Chris Weidenbach, Kathleen Pappert, and Kelle Lynch McMahon. District Staff Development Officer Miriam Zamora-Kantor also attended, as well as Laney Faculty Senate President Lisa Cook. Christy Blue was absent. The third faculty member and the third classified staff member have not yet been confirmed. David Simon (Economics) is the faculty nominee.
The committee met briefly to elect a new chair, and to decide how much release time the chair would be given.
Release time for chairperson: After a lengthy clarification discussion regarding the precedent for the chair’s release time, and the charge of the committee and its chair, including a review of the PFT contract language regarding the committee and its chair, the committee voted to maintain the past two years’ release-time level of 0.4 of a full-time faculty member’s teaching load.
Chairperson election: Faculty member Chris Weidenbach was elected Chair of the committee in a unanimous vote in which he was unopposed. Chris mentioned some of his hopes and goals for the semester, including connecting ILO’s of Civic Engagement and Critical Thinking to curricular subjects such as Sustainability. Other goals included restoring PD funds for Classified Staff, shortening the timeline for funding requests, and cultivating faculty collaboration with each other and with student organizations.
The meeting was adjourned at roughly 5pm.
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Meeting Minutes from Spring 2015
January 28 Meeting Minutes
Members Present: Christy Blue, Alena Jacks-Young, Kathleen Pappert, Denise Richardson, Augustin Rodriguez, Phoumy Sayavong, Chris Weidenbach
Approval of the January 20 PD Meeting Minutes
Minutes were amended to read “All committee members were excited by the speakers on Peralta District professional development days, Kevin Powell and John Hetts.
With the amendment, the minutes were unanimously accepted.
Review of applications for Professional Development Funds
Applications for professional development funds for Robert Duffin (physics)were approved.
Before discussing Derrick Gardner’s application, Chair Kathleen Pappert explained that Mr. Gardner’s application was received sometime after December 19. At that time, former Chair Sonja Franeta told him that his proposal could not be considered by the committee until the January meeting. It would then be too late to receive the funds for an out-of-state conference. The committee felt that Mr. Gardner should not be penalized for applying before a vacation period. His application was accepted.
Discussion of retroactive payment for La Tonya Carpenter
La Tonya Carpenter (Cosmetology) had asked Dean Phoumy Sayavong about her PD requests to be reimbursed for classes she took at UC Extension in 2013 and 2014. Dean Sayavong had asked Chair Kathleen Pappert to research her application. Kathleen was unable to find any information about the requests. E-mails to Dean Crabtree went unanswered, and District PD Officer, Tamika Brown recommended that it be turned down. Although Carpenter reported that she had Peter Crabtree sign and had put her application in the PD mailbox, there was no record of the application. Since the requests were for activities going back as far as 2013, the committee had no choice but to deny the requests. Kathleen Pappert will advise Ms. Carpenter of the committee’s decision.
New Union Decision
Chair Kathleen Pappert read a letter from PFT Grievance Officer Jennifer Shanoski which said,”…as a result of a grievance, the Laney College administration has agreed to waive the dean’s signature on travel request forms associated with professional development requests. The dean will still be able to review requests and they will then be referred to the professional development committee where approval will be voted upon. Travel forms will be signed by the business manager and college president, then they will be sent to the district for processing.” Deans Richardson and Sayavong were unaware of the new procedure and wanted more clarification. They asked Kathleen to contact Shanoski and clarify what exactly the dean’s position was; for example, if the PD activity would impact the instructor’s teaching schedule so that s/he had to miss several classes, would the dean be able to register his/her concern?
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
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Professional Development Committee
January 20, 2015 Meeting Minutes
- Introductions:
Chair Kathleen Pappert introduced Christy Blue as the newest member of the Laney Professional Development Committee. Christy will be the third representative of the classified staff on the committee, along with Agustin Rodriguez and Alena Jacks-Young. Kathleen also introduced Eric Smith, who will be processing travel requests.
- Approval of the December 10, 2014 minutes.
The minutes were unanimously approved.
- Approval of PD requests
The committee approved pd funds for XiaoLin Chi and Evelyn Lord.
- Procedures for submitting travel requests
There was a brief review of the procedure for submitting travel requests and pd funds to the committee. 1) the forms, after being signed by the applicant’s dean, can be either handed into the business office or can be sent directly to the committee. 2) if the forms are submitted directly to the business office, the business office sends it to the committee. if the committee approves the request, it is sent on to the business office for processing. 3) the application is sent to the President for approval and 4) after approved by the President, it is sent to the Chancellor.
- Advances on PD requests;
Kathleen asked about advances on pd requests. Both Christy Blue and Dean Richardson said up to 80% of travel funds can be paid in advance to the applicant.
- Reflection on January Flex Days.
The committee felt that having fewer workshops was successful. Kathleen reported that several people appreciated having longer breaks between sessions. Chris Weidenbach was very pleased with the SLO/Assessment workshop and the discussion it opened up on writing across the curriculum offered by David Mitchell and Cheli Fossum. Dean Richardson suggested that we have follow-up sessions mid-semester to continue the campus discussion. All committee members were excited by the speakers on Peralta District professional development days, Kevin Powell and John Hetts
- Survey Monkey
The committee will make a call for proposals and then create a survey monkey asking faculty which proposals they are most interested in.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:00p.m.
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Laney Professional Development Committee Minutes December 10, 2014
Members in attendance: Sonja Franeta, Kathleen Pappert, Dean Denise Richardson, Agustin Rodriguez, Dean Phoumy Sayavong, Kathy Tran, Chris Weidenbach
Members absent: Dean Mildred Lewis
Review of applications for professional development funds.
Cynthia Correia has asked the committee to backdate her pd application for funds to participate with her students in a “tiny house” competition held in Sacramento. The invitation to the competition was sent out late and was not received in time for Celia to apply for funds in a timely manner. Laney’s participation in the competition would give the Laney Construction Department exposure statewide. A precedent for backdating applications does exist. The committee approved unanimously Celia’s request.
Math Instructor, David Ross, applied late for pd funds. His application was approved, but he was told that he may not be reimbursed because his application did not reach the Chancellor fourteen days before the event. While the Chancellor has signed other applications that arrived on his desk late, these were always justified.
The following applications were approved and sent on to the business office:
Ron Betts David Ross
Cynthia Correia Meryl Siegal
John Beam Josh Ramos
Rosemary Loughman Jeff Hoagerson
Amy Loewen
Laney College Spring 2015 Flex Schedule
Lisa Cook, Faculty Senate President, has requested that a turnitin training be offered during Thursday flex at 2:30 in the afternoon. Committee members felt that night instructors might be interested in this training and asked that Kathleen Pappert ask Lisa to change the training from 2:30 in the afternoon to 5:00 p.m. It was also suggested that instructors who are already using “turnitin” attend the workshop and be on hand to help people who are new to it. Because the training is very expensive and we want as many people as possible to start using the program, we talked about inviting people who are using it to write testimonials for the program that we could use to encourage people to use it. Kathleen said she would try to find teachers to do this.
Co-chair Kathleen Pappert announced that the Office of the President approved lunch for Friday of flex days.
The committee suggested adding information to the Spring, 2015 Laney Professional Days schedule about the 2015-2016 sabbatical leaves and about the availability of up to $1,000. pd funds per instructor It was also suggested that the committee offer regular meetings for the faculty to hear about the conferences and other pd activities that their colleagues have taken advantage of. The committee has suggested several times that the availability of pd funds be advertised on the screens in the Tower Lobby and the cafeteria
Sabbatical Leaves for the 2015-16 academic year
Kathleen said that she had emailed Tamika to clarify whether Laney could only offer 2 one semester sabbaticals instead of one year sabbatical. She did not want to put out a announcement from the committee announcing the two one semester sabbaticals, if in fact, the contract guara.ntees a choice. At the time of the meeting, Kathleen had not received an answer.
Farewell to Sonja Franeta
The committee said goodbye to Sonja, who was Chair of the Professional Development Committee for one year and Co-chair for a semester. Sonja will be on banked leave for one semester and then will retire. The committee thanked her for her hard work and wished her the best in her new life.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:59.
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November 12, 2014 Minutes
Absent: Augustin Rodriguez, Mildred Lewis
Guests: Kathy Tran
- New Applications for Professional Development Funds: there were no new applications for funds. Both Dean Sayavong and Sonja Franeta talked to Arturo about using professional development funds for him to complete a project that he is working on that would require him to go to Mexico. While Dean Sayavong suggested that he apply for a sabbatical, the committee agreed that he should submit a proposal for funds if he was not interested in applying for a sabbatical at this time. Professional development funds do cover approved faculty projects.
- Committee Treasurer Kathy Tran’s payment: In a previous meeting, the committee approved paying Kathy Tran $2500.00 a year for her work processing travel forms submitted by faculty . Kathy requested that she be paid a flat 2 hours a week in overtime which would include benefits. This would bring her annual payment to approximately $3, 250.00. The committee unanimously approved her request.
- Committee Budget: Kathy Tran reported that the remaining professional development funds for the 2014-15 academic year available are $40,971.04. So far eleven requests have been approved for Fall 2014 and one for Spring 2015.
- January Flex Days January, 14, 15, 16, 2015:
- Discussion on having Deborah Pruitt give a 3 session workshop (approximately 3 hours per session) was discussed again. There is concern among some committee members that spending $15,000.00 for the presenter and limiting participants to 15 would not be an equitable use of professional development funds. There is also concern that if she were to give the workshops at Laney, she would have to be contracted as a vendor. This would not make it possible to use PD funds for her. If we were to pay her with the 15 participants’ individual professional funds available to them (maximum $15,000), the workshops would have to be held off campus. This increases the cost of the workshops in that a venue would have to be paid for. There is also concern that the 15 participants may not attend all three workshops. While no decision was made was made, it seems that future workshops presented by Dr. Pruitt are in doubt.
- Kathleen Pappert discussed the scheduling of the Thursday and Friday of Laney Day. A tentative schedule has been sent to V.P. Lilia Celhay. In the tentative schedule, the assessment workshop and the accreditation workshops were scheduled for Thursday, but the committee thought the workshops should be scheduled on 2 different days. Assessment leaders, Cheli Fossum and David Mitchell have requested 3 hours for their workshop. The committee felt that was too long and did not give much opportunity for other workshops to be offered. Since assessment leaders have presented at Division meetings, faculty senate meetings, and to individual departments, the committee felt that the assessment workshop should only focus on the major ideas and be limited to no more than two hours. Possible workshops were discussed. A call for proposals has not been sent out because of the limited time available.
- Survey Monkey
- Sonja will send Phoumy a list of items to be included in the Survey Monkey that Phoumy will create. We are mostly interested in finding out what kind of professional development faculty would like on Flex days and during the semester. Also would there be any volunteers for “faculty success” presentations.
- Advertising Professional Development Funds: Sonja Franeta created a poster advertising the $1000.00 available per instructor per academic year. Dean Richardson suggested that the message be posted on the flashing screen in the Tower Lobby and Kathleen Pappert suggested that each instructor who comes back from a conference write a blurb for the committee stating the value of the conference. These would be used for publicity purposes to try and encourage faculty members to take advantage of the funds.
- Committee Members: according to the union contract, the committee should be made up of 3 administrators, 3 classified employees and 3 faculty. Dean Mildred Lewis has not attended the meetings since the beginning of the school year and will need to be replaced. Kathleen will contact Vice President Celhay and ask her to appoint an administrator. The Business Director Phyllis Carter objected to having two of her office workers out of the office at the same time to attend the professional development meetings. Having Kathy Tran become a member of the committee as well as treasurer would solve this problem. Kathleen will contact James Blake, President of the Classified Senate and request that Kathy be appointed a member representing the classified staff.
- Other Business: There was no other business to discuss. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
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Minutes Sept. 24, 2014
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Minutes May 15, 2014
Minutes May 15, 2014 Present: Kathleen Pappert, Chris Weidenbach, Phoumy Sayavong, Agustin Rodriguez, Sonja FranetaNominations and Elections for Professional Development Chairs: Chris W., Kathleen and Sonja were all nominated. Chris declined. Kathleen and Sonja volunteered to share the PD chair for Fall semester and then Kathleen would be the Chair in the Spring. Motion made and voted unanimously.Proposals for PD funding included Janine Fujioka for travel to Japan, as well as Chris Weidenbach for instate travel. Approved.Discussion about travel for classified Roxana Post and Tomoko Roudebush for Apahee conference under classified. Approved.Professional Days in August: Decision has not been made regarding Deborah Pruitt for speaker. Sonja had a meeting with her and also spoke about her with Tamika, the Chancellor and President Webb. The committee supports her being the Laney guest speaker in August. Sonja will send a letter to President Webb confirming this. Kathleen agreed to work on Flex Days during the summer with the President when Sonja is not in town but they will communicate.Meeting was adjourned.
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Minutes Oct. 29, 2013
By Sonja FranetaPresent: Kathleen Pappert, Chris Weidenbach, Shawna Crawford, James Menifee, Mildred Lewis, Denise Richardson, Kathy Tran, Tamika Brown, Agustin Rodriguez, Sonja FranetaMeeting was called to order at 4:10 pm; introductions were made
- Tamika as the District Professional Development went over a number of details regarding Sabbaticals and other PD matters. The allotment for Laney Pd is $48,000 ($120,000 is the amount per year Districtwide). Release time for the Prof. Dev. Chair is .4 maximum each semester for Laney. There also has been a stipend for the Bookkeeper which in the past was redeposited and the bookkeeper got overtime. All of this funding comes out of the $48,000 per year that Laney gets for Prof. Dev. The Sabbaticals are not paid out of those funds.
Other campuses have voted to postpone their sabbaticals because of the lateness of starting. The deadline for notification of the District of Sabbaticals would be Nov. 15th.
Soon we have to plan professional development and accept applications from the campuses for proposed workshops. We may have to pay for some of the activities from our funds. This needs to be checked with the President.
- Minutes from the previous meeting Oct 8, 2013 were approved.
- Release time was discussed. The committee had already approved of .4 release time for this semester. The question was brought up that we did not have to use the maximum release time. Laney is a big campus and there will be a lot of work regarding sabbaticals. Discussion favored keeping the maximum. A motion was made that the release time be changed to .2 for this semester and .4 for Spring 2014. Sonja said that was agreeable because this was just starting at half the semester anyway. Motion was approved.
- A motion was made that we postpone the Spring sabbatical to the Fall 2014 and we would have two sabbaticals to offer then. The motion was seconded. Discussion focused around the availability of funds and the scheduling of workshops. We would not have enough time for workshops and deliberation of the sabbatical choice if we had to have the name in to the District by Nov. 15. This is the main rationale for postponing. Tamika said she would provide dates asap concerning the timing for the Fall semester. Motion was approved.
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Minutes Oct. 8, 2013
Attending: Miriam Zamora-Kantor, Sonja Franeta, Marco Menendez, Denise Richardson, Mildred Lewis, Agustin Rodriguez. Absent: James Menifee, Kathleen Pappert, Chris Weidenbach.
As PFT rep, Miriam called the meeting to order and we voted on making the simple majority of appointed members, including at least one from each unit (administrator, classified, faculty) a quorum. Article 25 of PFT contract and was reviewed and discussed. Noted is the need for one more classified staff to complete the committee.
A discussion about what amount of release time would be awarded to the PD Chair at Laney. The maximum was .4 which is 6 units of release time for faculty. Miriam said that it would be up to the chair to get office assistance with that release time. A stipend for tracking of funds and financial assistance would come out of the general PD funds Kathy Tran or someone else from the Business Office. The PD Committee voted to award the maximum–.4 release time for the Chair.
Nominations for the position of chair were all three faculty appointees: Chris Weidenbach, Kathleen Pappert, and Sonja Franeta. A secret ballot was taken for those nominees and Sonja Franeta was voted the Chair of this year’s Professional Development Committee.
A discussion ensued about forms, procedures and what the rules were on financial assistance and sabbaticals. Sabbaticals would have to be discussed and workshops have to be scheduled soon because the deadline for applications for the Spring semester is November 15th. The committee felt there needed to be another meeting soon at least to discuss the latter. Agustin cannot attend on Thursdays and several people would be out of town the following week so the committee decided to have a meeting on Tuesday Oct. 15th at the same time 4pm and Sonja agreed to schedule the room.
Meeting was adjourned.
