Academic Senate President Report

Meetings:

Interim Superintendent/President Dr. Bob Jensen

I met with Dr. Jensen last week and we had a chance to speak about the overall College climate. As I'm sure most of you are aware, he is a very easy-going man who has the experience and expertise to help Solano College. He has the right balance of professionalism and accessibility that is very appealing. What is most reassuring about him is the way he affirms the values that faculty has been advocating for quite some time: transparency, accountability, and communication. In particular, his ideas on revenue generation over budget reductions are appealing. He recommends that the Senate take a look at the question of retention as a way of an enrollment strategy. This falls well within our roles and responsibility and ties in very well with what is going on in BSI. It seems appropriate that we further discuss this idea.

Vice President Steinback

I've been in regular contact with Dr. Steinback about all things accreditation. I know that Erin Farmer can communicate to the Senate our progress to date in this area.

Process Evaluation and Review Team (PERT)

As per your request, I've continued to meet with PERT and we keep moving forward with the Integrated Planning Process. The document is taking great shape. At our last meeting Dr. Steinback was present and remains an advocate of this process. After our next PERT meeting I should have an almost complete document to pass along to the Senate. Many thanks to Rob Simas, Ruth Fuller, Tracy Schneider and David Redfield for all their hard work on this.

Shared Governance Council Report:

Dr. Jensen has made his mark on SGC by creating an environment of respect and accountability. He commented that SGC should continue to meet over the summer so that the College doesn't "stop" over the summer. He left it up to the group to define what that would look like, but strongly encouraged them to consider changing when we currently work.

Superintendent/President Search:

I am currently in the interviews and cannot make the Senate meeting today. Many thanks to Gail Kropp for her help today.