CAMPUS National Poetry Month Published by the Office of Institutional Advancement A Merced College News MagazineDIGESTVol. II Edition 9 APRIL 2013 Tech Savvy President Taylor ponders the impact Full-Time Appreciation Merced College steps out Manner of Speaking Editor offers a personal essay technology has on the teaching and learning experi- to honor and show appreciation to its part-time faculty on the life and legacy of John Ciardi, an important but ence, as well as on staff work load. Page 2 in April. Page 3 neglected American poet. Page 7 Candy’s Dandy Photo by Jay Sousa Members of the Associated Students of Merced College were busy raising money one candy bar at a time to fund a trip to Washington D.C. Seven students traveled to the nation’s capitol during Spring Break, including ASMC officer Damaris Raluy, 20, who was found manning the ‘candy window’ in the Student Union Building. CAMPUS DIGEST APRIL 2013 Conference Supports Technology for Learning Streamlining Processes and Easing Work Load Ultimately Helps Students By Dr. Ron Taylor Superintendent/President Accreditation Team Visit Set for April 22 “April is the We have confirmation of our accreditation site visit. Two previous cruelest month,” said T.S. Eliot, team members (from our 2011 visit) are scheduled to arrive next Monday, famously. He was April 22. talking about the The team members are: Dr. Sandra Mayo, president of Moreno Val- return of spring ley College, and Mr. Raj Bajaj, dean of Institutional Reporting, Riverside and how it de- CCD. feats winter, so In a side note, the original team chair, Dr. Jackie Fisher, was recently in to speak, and a terrible auto accident, and is still hospitalized. overturns our We do not yet have a schedule of interviews for the visit, but I urge grim assump- Dr. Taylor you—especially if you are a leader of a governance constituency or a chair tions about the of one of the master planning committees—to keep yourself as available inevitable march of society into oblivion. as possible on Monday, and to respond quickly if you get a phone call or Other poets down through the ages email. We want their visit to be effective and efficient. have also spoken about April, usually cel- If any questions arise, please contact Dr. Anne Newins or her assistant, ebrating springtime as a time of rebirth. Toni McCall. (“Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote --President Taylor . .” said Chaucer, speaking of the “sweet showers” of rain that refresh the earth and produce abundance. Wouldn’t we like to run our payrolls, issue payments to service isolated individual who is more interested see a little more rain around here just now?) providers, and many other things. It is the in numbers or cool gadgets than in people. But since I wrote about springtime in heart of our information technology as an Having spent a little time with a few hun- last month’s Digest, and since it’s a hack- operation. dred technology managers and support neyed topic anyway, let me see if I can give This was a big conference—about 8,000 staff, I can assure you that the stereotype you a counter-statement to Eliot’s grim in attendance. I was one of about 100 col- has one thing definitely wrong: these folks, picture of humanity’s devastation. (Bear in lege presidents attending their Executive as a group, are very interested in our col- mind he was writing right after World War Forum. (My humble thanks to the TIR lective well being. They want it all to work I and thinking about mass psychosis.) managers for insisting I go and helping to for students and they want our institutional To present a brighter picture, I’ll need get me there.) While I have a long history lives to improve. to set aside my shock at my tax bill, and of working with technology, nevertheless, If a technology-based solution can I’ll also need to disregard for a minute the to say that I learned something at the con- streamline a work practice that is taking us news that just came out of Boston. But I ference is an understatement. extra time and trouble, and causing us to can do it, and it’s worth doing. Here goes— What was most pleasing to hear was feel frazzled and over-worked, they want something about Merced College and the how serious the technology world is about to work with us to provide the solution. wonderful future ahead of us . institutional effectiveness and support for Speaking frankly, I’m all for it, too. Any- A couple of weeks ago, I attended the student learning. The folks at Ellucian, and thing we can do to streamline our work and Ellucian Live conference. You may not their many partner companies are busy provide service to students more smoothly know much about Ellucian. It is a tech- working to develop applications that will and gracefully is a very good thing. nology company that was born out of the help us interact with students who live on We are just about to forward a new merger of Sungard Higher Education’s their cell phones, for example (a “mobile Technology Master Plan to the Board of Banner database system and Datatel’s Col- app” has been rolled out). And they are also Trustees for final approval. As we do so, I league database system. In other words, it is busy preparing software that might help us am eager for us to renew our commitment the dominant company in higher education coordinate our institutional planning bet- to providing up-to-date technology in the database systems. To us at Merced College, ter than the combination of Curricunet and classroom, in the offices of the college, and Ellucian is the provider of our Colleague web-postings we are now using. online. software through which we register and Too often, technology geeks get a bad Have a great month—next month we enroll students, build the class schedule, rap. The stereotype is of a quiet, serious, will be preparing for Commencement! Page 2 APRIL 2013 CAMPUS DIGEST Time to Honor MC’s Part-time Instructors By Kathleen Brantley-Gutierrez Reference Librarian Once again April is Part-time Faculty Appreciation Month at Merced College! All members of our campus community are invited to join in the celebration of our valuable part-time faculty members. To help celebrate, MCFA has offered funding for cohorts and areas to pro- vide activities or food for part-time faculty during the month. The Academic Senate will also recognize the contributions of part-time faculty members. Each cohort will designate a part-time faculty member for recognition as the cohort “Part-time Faculty Member of the Year.” The candidates will then be presented to the Academic Senate on April 25, which will present these faculty members to the Board of Trustees at the May 7 meeting. Following the Academic Senate’s presentation, MCFA Presi- dent Keith Law will share a presentation that depicts the contri- butions and the challenges faced by part-time faculty members. Merced College employs approximately 420 part-time faculty members who teach approximately 879 courses. Beyond the classroom, hard working part-time faculty mem- bers are also located in the Learning Resources Center, Tri-College Center, Workplace Learning Resource Center, Guidance Center, Business Resource Center, Study Central, and in various labs. Other contributions by part-time faculty members include Photo by Robin Shepard meeting with students, participating in SLO assessments, and ac- This ‘Code Blue Box’ is located on the east side of the creditation program review processing. Communications Building. In 2009, MCFA began its campaign to recognize the value of part-time faculty members, many of whom were being laid off due to budget cuts. Since its inception at Merced College, Part-time Code Blue Boxes Faculty Appreciation Month has become a statewide event, as the Sacramento-based Community College Association now pro- Help in Emergencies motes and helps fund events throughout the system. Part-time Faculty Appreciation Month was originally con- Located throughout campus, Code Blue Boxes (yellow in ceived to bring attention to the contributions of our part-time fac- color), are provided for emergencies. These are not payphones ulty members, and also to highlight their challenges. For examples, and should not be used as such. part-time faculty members are required to fulfill the same teach- Al Code Blue Boxes have a RED button for help and ing responsibilities as full-time faculty members; however, students a BLACK button for information. Pressing the BLACK have little or no access to them outside of the classroom because button will provide you connecting options to Dial-A-Ride, they are not compensated for office hours. Part-time faculty mem- Merced Taxi, City Express Taxi, or the Operator. Pressing the bers also have no health insurance, insignificant retirement, and no RED button will connect you to emergency personnel. compensation for work in the areas of grading/prep time, commit- Once connection has been established, speak clearly tee and department meetings, SLOs, and other assessments. through the receiver, state your name, the location, and what Though these challenges exist, we are also thankful that MCFA the emergency is—the more information you can provide, the negotiated a hourly pay-raise, and a new pay structure that includes better. 10 pay periods and an improved 8 step/5 column salary schedule. And, more importantly, try to be as calm as possible and Please join MCFA and the Academic Senate as we share our know that assistance is on its way.