Office of Instruction Update - October 2023

Good morning, colleagues! October was a busy and exciting month for the Office of Instruction. Here are some of the highlights and the activities that kept me busy.

Accreditation

We have submitted numerous new programs to ACCJC, so kudos to those of you writing new curriculum. Many thanks also to Accreditation Faculty Coordinator, Jaclyn Rowley, who has been actively writing, seeking input, and soliciting feedback for our ISER. Below is the timeline for this work.

  • October 2023: college-wide feedback on the draft of Standard 1.
  • November 2023: college-wide feedback on the draft of Standard 2 & incorporate feedback for Standard 1.
  • January 2024: college-wide feedback on draft of Standard 3 & incorporate feedback for Standard 2.
  • February 2024: college-wide feedback on draft of Standard 4 & incorporate feedback for Standard 3.
  • March 2024: edit ALL draft language and finalize evidence files.
  • April 2024: send ISER draft to CCC graphic designer & final edit(s).
  • May & June 2024: submit for first and second read(s) to BOT.
  • July 2024: Submit ISER to ACCJC.

ACMM and the Accessibility Center

In October, we finalized Clovis' participation in a CCCCO Accessibility Center pilot program: Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM). We will review our public-facing documents, especially on the website, to ensure accessibility. Through the pilot program, we will conduct an internal review and begin transitioning materials to assure accessibility. We will provide training in April 2024. Specific information about the training will be made available starting in early spring 2024, so please watch for those announcements.

DEIA in Curriculum

I was inspired by the last two summer's ASCCC Curriculum Institute sessions, specifically on DEIA, so I have brought the conversation back to our campus. After discussion with faculty coordinator, Daniel Gutierrez, we agreed to host DEIA discussions for the committee. We followed up last year's ASCCC-led discussions with additional, locally focused ones facilitated by DEIA Faculty Coordinator, Christina Wells. This past month, we made significant strides with committee members beginning to practice how they might use the information to engage with those submitting new/revised curriculum. Many thanks to all involved in these difficult but courageous conversations and to Christina for her leadership!

Grants

New on the horizon is the NSF-funded Project Vision, a program targeting two year colleges and Advanced Technological Education programs. This was a competitive process, and Clovis was one of ten colleges to be accepted into the next cohort. I am working closely with Grant Coordinator Scott Phillips, Dean Derek Dormedy, and Dean Laura Hill on this effort. We will ensure wide dissemination of the process to participate for those who may be interested.

Additionally, Stephanie Briones, Rachel Moring Garcia, and I traveled to the annual HACU conference to participate in a grant writing institute. We learned a lot and are bringing back a lot of useful resources to share! We are planning our next steps...perhaps a work group with Scott Phillips...so we can make the best possible use of all that we have gathered. Please watch for more information, which will be coming out soon!

Finally, we are starting up our MESA program, which is exciting! Watch for more details which will be shared out as they are confirmed. Keeping in mind that this program was designed to serve underserved student populations majoring in and seeking transfer in calculus-based STEM programs, this program complements the services we already strive to provide for this population. That is a goal I know we all share: to serve more effectively!

New Faculty Institute (NFI)

Thank you to the new faculty who are participating, to those who have/will be presenting, and especially to Ann Brandon! As I met with this group on October 13, I was reminded of the enthusiasm and the fantastic energy that new staff infuse into our campus. I'm grateful for their enthusiasm and their willingness to share their skills and talents with us at Clovis. Please watch for an opportunity to work more closely with this group of faculty in spring when they attend committee meetings as observers. As part of NFI, they will learn the protocols of committee participation, including effective two-way communication between committees and constituency groups being represented.

Clovis Celebrates!

I'll end on a celebratory note and our Science Lab Coordinators! On October 6, I had the pleasure to attend the celebration honoring Christine Garduno, Tyler Johns, and Houa Xiong. These three were present daily on campus (along with former Biology lab coordinator, Emily Wilson) to ensure smooth, remote lab operations. They created videos of experiments that are still being watched worldwide! Thank you to this group for their excellent work and service to our students!

Wishing you all a wonderful November! See you on campus next week.

Thanks,

Monica Chahal, Ed.D. (she, her)
Vice President of Instruction