PCC Pulse

LancerPoint Tech Friday – May 24, 2013

Eric Gamboa — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:11:23 +0000

I wish we had some sort of LancerPoint trophy to give folks, but since we don’t, I’d like to give out two Virtual LancerPoint Trophies. Everyone working on this project is a hero, but two individuals have stepped up to the plate this week and deserve public commendation.

At the eleventh hour it was discovered that we were not going to be able to use DegreeWorks to do pre-requisite checking. For resolving this issue, Elizabeth Wood gets the first Virtual LancerPoint Trophy. She worked tirelessly on Wednesday to get all the pre-requisite rules copied from DegreeWorks into LancerPoint and by the end of the day, they were all in place and registration would work correctly when it went live the next morning.

Thursday was our go-live for LancerPoint Registration. The Admissions and Records (A&R) staff were all busy manning the front lines as students hit the windows with questions. Meanwhile, the help center in L106 was busy helping students activate their LancerPoint accounts and the phone bank operators were helping students with their questions.

Then at 12:03 pm, the phones stopped ringing and it appeared that Administrative LancerPoint (Banner) had gone down. We quickly learned that it wasn’t LancerPoint, but rather the entire network that had gone down. The I.T.S. team quickly went into action to resolve the problem. It was not an easy problem to fix and the network was down for the next five hours. During the outage, the wireless network continued to work and students were able to use LancerPoint from home. Since the computers in A&R are all on the wired network, no one was able to work on Banner to help students.

That was until Ellucian Consultant Antonio Trepesowsky discovered that his wireless notebook continued to work and, since it was specially configured to access our network from off-campus, he was able to gain access to LancerPoint. The second Virtual LancerPoint Trophy therefore goes to Antonio, who for the entire afternoon almost single handedly manned the A&R counter and helped our students on our inaugural day of LancerPoint registration. Despite the obstacles we faced this week, we had a very successful first day of registration.

Here are some statistics that might interest you:

1,095 successfully activated accounts

501 unique registrants by 10:00 p.m.

4,087 registration transactions processed

252 CRNs (sections) with registration out of 592

LancerPoint class schedule search marks achievement for campus

Eric Gamboa — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:02:32 +0000

Thanks to the hard work of several PCC staff and Ellucian technicians, the Summer 2013 Class Schedule Search is the first schedule search to be operating under LancerPoint. The new search function, which can be accessed via the PCC homepage, features an improved layout with additional search criteria to facilitate student inquiries.

The LancerPoint-run schedule was built by the PCC team from scratch and represents the product of weeks of development, tinkering and enhancements. “The people that had the task of building the schedule really stepped up and learned the system, and learned it well…they really took ownership of building something in a new way that was completely different from the Santa Rosa [system],” said Dave Colley, who collaborated on the project alongside his colleagues from several divisions. Antonio Trepesowsky, Mark Gutierrez, Alina Sargasyan, Bonnie Shimasaki, and Roan Garcia were among the team members responsible for the final version.

In addition to expanded search criteria, the new schedule system now includes an internal version that allows faculty to make efficient, timely changes to course listings. The edits can be made online and are paper-free, in stark contrast to the Santa Rosa system in which the developer-to-faculty feedback system was based solely on the transfer of paper documents. “Faculty have access to online documents 24/7 and once we make a change, faculty don’t have to wait to get a report the next day,” said Colley, elaborating on the benefits of the online internal schedule of classes. The internal version, spearheaded by Trepesowsky, will be used for all future academic terms.

Students’ usage of the schedule search is also notably impacted through the inclusion of more practical search criteria such as course attributes. The new “Attributes” criterion will enable students to narrow their search based on factors such as major/class requirements without having to research their options using the course catalog. For example, a student who needs to fulfill a UC-transferrable logic course requirement can use the Attributes section to immediately identify all such courses. “This takes us leaps and bounds ahead in being able to help students look for the things that they specifically need,” Colley explained.

The individuals involved in planning the new schedule system initially faced a daunting task: re-create the previous class schedule search function using an entirely new information program. What they eventually created would not only meet these goals, but also go above by vastly improving upon the old system with the needs of faculty and students in mind.
The LancerPoint-run schedule search can be viewed here: http://schedule.pasadena.edu

Data standards set to streamline LancerPoint usage

Eric Gamboa — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:17:31 +0000

Have you ever utilized a search function only to be inundated with too many potential matches? This is one of the many obstacles that LancerPoint is set to overcome through the implementation of new data standards—an important step in LancerPoint’s development and the focus of the April 15 LancerPoint Coffee Talk.

LancerPoint brings together records and services shared by students, staff, and faculty, so it’s essential that its information is consistent across the board. For example, “Apartment,” “Apt.” and “#” might ordinarily be three common ways to record an address, but LancerPoint will interpret these variations as three separate places.

In order to improve data handling, a new Data Standards Committee has been formed to represent all LancerPoint users who share data. The committee meets every two weeks and will document, develop, and maintain data entry procedures to ensure that PCC’s information is accurate, valid, and complete.

A key component of the committee’s work will be their Data Standards Manual, which will be published in the next few months. For an early preview, check out the Data Entry Standards Draft. The Tip Sheet includes information that will be contained in the manual to ensure systemic consistency and help prevent issues such as faulty inquiry searches and the creation of duplicate records (which can lead to data loss and incorrect search results). Once completed, the manual will be the premier source of standards for data entry tasks ranging from name changes to the creation of non-person records.

The committee will need to take into account every user group’s needs, so if your group is not represented, please contact the committee’s chairperson, Dr. Cynthia Olivo, at extension 7074 to be certain that you’re part of the process.

Stay tuned for more updates and announcements from this crucial component of the LancerPoint implementation.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE DEADLINE!!!!

Narissa B. Liwanag — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:57:23 +0000

All accounts payable payment requests must be in Fiscal Services by Friday, June 28, 2013 at 4:30p.m. to be processed on the last check run for fiscal year 2012-2013. This includes all vendor invoices, travel/mileage reimbursements & independent contractors. Paperwork not received in Fiscal Services (C-203) by June 28, 2013 will be processed after year… Read More »

Classified Senate General Meeting June 5, 2013

Debra A. Krause-Cantarero — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:50:44 +0000

The Classified Senate will hold their Annual “General Meeting” on Wednesday June 5, 2013 in Circadian from 11:30 – 1:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
Agenda includes:
Officers’ Reports
Newly Elected Senators
Classified Senate Educational Scholarship winners for 2012/13

And

The Opportunity Drawing Winner.

All Classified staff are invited to come and learn more about the
Classified Senate.

We look forward to seeing you there!

***************************************************************************************************************

Get your Classified Senate 50/50 Opportunity Drawing Tickets today!!!

Tickets are $1 each
OR
6 for $5 (Great deal!)

See one of the Senators/Officers:
Denise Albright, Diana Ashkenasy, Debra Cantarero, Carole Robinson, Jeannie Sullivan & Jeffrey Wojcik
OR purchase tickets at the Classified Senate General Meeting
Wed. June 5 in Circadian 11:30-1pm.

Don’t miss this “OPPORTUNITY”!!!!!!

Shoprider Streamer Power Chair For Sale

Scott F. Hess — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:47:57 +0000

Shoprider Streamer Power Chair. Like new. Joystick control. Built-in battery charger. 300-lb capacity. Owners manual included. $600 OBO. Contact Scott Hess ext 7519.

MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVANCE

Patricia D. D'Orange Martin — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:43:07 +0000

Memorial Day 2013

Please join the PCC Veterans Club and the Veterans Resource Center on Thursday, May 23rd at noon in front of the Veterans Memorial Wall, in observance of Memorial Day.

LancerPoint Tech Wednesday – May 22, 2013

Eric Gamboa — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:31:33 +0000

It’s Showtime

As you read this, the countdown clock will have less than 24 hours left until registration begins tomorrow, May 23. I know everyone is anxiously awaiting the magical moment when the switch is flipped and students begin to register in LancerPoint. Dina and her staff are armed and ready to handle students. There is a phone bank (626-585-7395) that has been set up to take calls from students who have questions about LancerPoint. The phone bank will be operating from 8:00 am – 6:30 pm. There is a new help email that students can contact, lancerpointhelp@pasadena.edu, and there is a manned help center set up in L106 with 12 workstations available from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

LancerPoint Forum Postponed

Due to go-live activities and the fact that May 28 is the first day of Continuing Students registration, the LancerPoint Forum scheduled for May 28 will be postponed until June 25.

LancerPoint Online Schedule

Students now have a new online schedule to use for planning their registration. The schedule is very easy to use and find. Simply go to http://schedule.pasadena.edu and follow these easy steps:

1. Select the term you wish to search and click the “Select Term” button.
2. Select the Subject(s) you are looking for. You can choose multiple subjects by holding down the [Ctrl] key on your keyboard while selecting. will search all available subjects for the selected term.
3. Select the Schedule Type you wish to search. You can choose multiple methods by holding down the [Ctrl] key on your keyboard while selecting.
4. Select the Instructor you wish to search. You can choose multiple instructors by holding down the [Ctrl] key on your keyboard while selecting.
5. Click the “Search” button on the bottom of the page.

Until next time,

Mark Gutierrez

LancerPoint Training allows staff to gain hands-on experience

Eric Gamboa — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:16:48 +0000

The start of LancerPoint Training sessions (formerly known as Coffee Talks) marked an important step forward in PCC staff members’ preparation for LancerPoint’s upcoming implementation. The inaugural meeting, which took place on Monday, May 20, allowed division/department/deans secretaries and other future “power users” the chance to gain hands-on experience in handling the new LancerPoint system. The three one-hour meetings were each led by Ellucian Technician Antonio Trepesowsky, who guided attendees through tasks the staff members will soon be facing on a regular basis.

The focus of Monday’s meetings was the LancerPoint login process and how to handle student clearances such as registration permits and overrides (pre-requisite overrides, contractual accommodations, etc). The new system is set to replace the previous paper-heavy process, in which documents were transferred back and forth between division/department/deans secretaries and the Admissions and Records staff.

Also reviewed was the usage of new acronym guidelines and a user-tracking feature. An example of the former is the subject code of student clearance requests, whose entries can no longer exceed four digits. Meanwhile, the user-tracking feature will automatically insert computer usernames in order to track the origin of each clearance request. Each of these additions is set to promote the improved handling and storing of student records.

As the meeting progressed, attendees were able to expand their knowledge of technical terms unique to the new system; secretaries and deans alike were eventually utilizing esoteric commands such as “key block,” “next block,” and “roll back” by the end of the meeting.

Instruction concluded with the review of a search feature that will allow users to find results with limited information. Trepesowsky elaborated with an example of an administrator whose record search was hindered by the lack of a student ID or complete student name; in this case the search would allow users to insert a partial name and narrow their search beginning from those that matched the search results.

LancerPoint Training proved to be highly informative, invaluable first look at the upcoming system features. The next training session will be held on Monday, June 3, at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) CC-203. Attendees may choose from three meeting times: 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., or 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

D-Building Water Supply

Cindy Chamussy — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:39:55 +0000

The water supply to the ‘D’ building is still off due to a main line clog. This issue is independent of the CFTA campus wide water pressure issues we experienced this morning. A drain rooter company has been dispatched and currently working to return the rest rooms to service as soon as possible. We have… Read More »

LancerPoint Tech Thursday – May 16, 2013

PCC Pulse — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:54:32 +0000

· Life in the fast lane

· A bump in the road

· LancerPoint Training set to replace Coffee Talks

· LancerPoint student questions

· Registration payment notification

Life in the fast lane

Since next week begins summer registration in LancerPoint, I was thinking about how fast this implementation was compared to my previous institution. From the day the board approved the purchase to the first day of registration, 27 months had passed. Compare that to the nine months here at PCC and you can begin to understand just how quickly implementation is progressing. That said, when things are moving this fast bumps in the road occur.

A bump in the road

We encountered a bump last week when employee names were pushed into our email system with the display name. Information Technology Services (ITS) has a solution. Unfortunately it’s not a quick fix. We will be taking a two-step approach to resolve the issue. Step one: separate the first and middle name. Step two: employees will now be able to choose a preferred first name for email purposes. That will take some time and will need to be hand-entered individually. My hope is that we can wrap up step one this week and begin with step two next week.

Please know that the resolution of this matter is a high priority for ITS. Once we’ve moved past step one, I’ll report what the process is to request a preferred first name.

LancerPoint Training set to replace Coffee Talks

Beginning Monday, May 20, all “Coffee Talks” will be replaced with “LancerPoint Training” for division/department/deans secretaries. Attendees will have their choice of three meeting times each training day (the same material will be presented at all three meetings). Each session is limited to 20 attendees.

The schedule is as follows:

Monday, May 20 – LancerPoint Training for Division/Department/Deans Secretaries

Monday, June 3 – LancerPoint Training for Division/Department/Deans Secretaries

Monday, June 10 – LancerPoint Training for Division/Department/Deans

Location & meeting hours:

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (EOC): CC 203—behind Creveling in the CC Building.

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

LancerPoint Training will allow future “power users” to build upon the success of past Coffee Talks and take the next step in preparing for LancerPoint’s full implementation. For more information, please contact Jo Ellyn at 626-585-7734.

Deans, secretaries, and all staff are invited to attend. Please reserve your seat by emailing jmmcgrath@pasadena.edu. Please provide the date and preferred time.

LancerPoint student questions

As our campus progresses in its implementation of LancerPoint, faculty and staff may soon find themselves dealing with an increasing number of LancerPoint-related inquiries. Please be aware that all questions and calls regarding LancerPoint can be directed/transferred to Admissions and Records at extension 7395. We thank you for your cooperation and patience during this implementation period.

Registration payment notification

Please note that all students are required to pay at least a partial payment of registration fees by Friday, 11:59 p.m. of the week they register or they will be dropped from all classes. Fees must be paid in full by June 21 or classes will be dropped.

Human Resources Office Hours For Friday, May 17, 2013

Yuri Perez — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:48:53 +0000

The Office of Human Resources will close at noon on Friday, May 17, in order to allow the staff to attend the services for Dave Krause. Please plan accordingly.

Thank you!

In memory of Dave Krause

Roger C. Marheine — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:48:15 +0000

Dear PCC Faculty,

Last Thursday, the PCC community lost our dear friend, Dave Krause. The PCC Faculty Association would like to extend its deepest sympathies and condolences to his wife and family. During this time of sadness, let us take the time to remember Dave and the tremendous impact he had on all of us.

As CSEA #777 president, he was a well-respected leader and steadfast advocate for the rights of workers.

As adviser to CLAVE (Chicanos/Latinos Advancing in the Values of Education), he was a constant supporter of students and the student voice.

As an ally to the FA and faculty, he worked tirelessly to maintain a relationship of open communication, trust and solidarity.

As a friend, Dave always had a moment to listen attentively, offer his advice, and cap it off with a smile.

Please honor the memory of Dave by recognizing the invaluable work by our facilities staff as well as the classified staff. Without them, we, the faculty, would not be able to do our job.

Also, please make every effort to participate in the following events:

CLAVE Car Wash in Memory of Advisor, Dave Krause
Thursday, May 16
9AM-4PM

Pep Boys
1135 W. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105
Cross Street: N. Mar Vista Ave.
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Wzpv0

Dave’s students from CLAVE will host a car wash to raise money for his family and funeral services. If you do not have a vehicle or cannot participate at this event, please consider contributing to his fund by contacting Esther Rubio at (626) 644-3864.

Event Flyer: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1vecM4OAfy7US1Jblk4aDU5Zkk/edit?usp=sharing

Funeral Services for Dave
Friday, May 17
1:30pm

Forest Lawn, Covina Hills
Church of Our Heritage, 21300 Via Verde Drive, Covina, CA 91724.
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/vjGh1

The PCCFA will be sending flowers for the service. You can share a memory of Dave with the family here: http://forestlawn.tributes.com/show/David-Krause-95804789

1570 E. Colorado Blvd. CC-204

Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 585-7261

Email: facultyassociation@gmail.com

Web: http://www.pccfacultyassociation.org

Bonnie Shimasaki Wins Unsung Hero Award

PCC Pulse — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:22:16 +0000

Bonnie Shimasaki, Learning Resources/Distance Learning assistant, has been honored by the PCC Academic Senate with the Unsung Hero Award. The award is presented to a classified employee who has made significant contributions to the college and the community, while maintaining a good work record.

“I am honored to be recognized by the PCC community,” Shimasaki said. “Contributing to the extras for the college, especially graduation, is the ultimate honor for me. I look forward to continuing to be of service to this institution.”

Shimasaki joined PCC in 1988. In addition to working with the Study Abroad programs, she is responsible for the brochures, scheduling and informational letters for telecourses, and working with the high schools for off-campus credit classes.

Shimasaki also contributes annually to the commencement exercises and

Christmas festivities by assisting in the decorations and floral arrangements.

Underwood And Camara Announced as 2013 Risser Award Winners

PCC Pulse — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:21:07 +0000

Instructor Shane Underwood has received the 2013 Risser Outstanding Teacher Award for his exceptional work in the English Division, and Digital A/V Production Technician Mathew Camara has received the 2013 Risser Outstanding Support to Education Award for his contributions in the Information Technology Services office.

In order to be nominated for the Outstanding Teacher Award, a teacher must demonstrate a high quality of instruction; be an inspiration to students; show fair, understandable evaluation and grading; and loyalty to the college. Underwood has consistently made students feel as though their voices are worth hearing and their ideas worth speaking about. He is described as intelligent, helpful, understanding, and motivating.

“His expectations of his students and himself are incredibly high, yet he constantly encourages his students to reach out for help when they need it,” a student said. That student went on to receive Honors Superior in English.

“I’m very flattered,” Underwood said. “It’s very unexpected. I’m just glad to know that what I’m doing is resonating with students.”

Students and staff nominate candidates for the Outstanding Support to Education Risser Award. The award is given each year to a member of PCC’s educational support staff whose performance shows exceptional dedication to the goals of the college. The winner has demonstrated quality job performance, service beyond the job requirements, and the attitude and qualities of character. Camara demonstrates all of these and more.

“It was nice to be honored,” Camara said.

Described as devoted, ambitious, talented, polite, and good-natured, Camara “has been a lifesaver for the Television and Radio Department,” an instructor said.

Credited with building and cultivating effective programs and learning environments, Camara is a favorite among students and instructors.

“Mat is always pleasant, provides excellent support and consistently goes beyond the call to make sure our equipment is operational for our productions,” a student said.

Ray Risser, former social sciences instructor and trustee of the college, established the Risser Award for educational support staff at PCC in 1980. A second Risser Award is presented to a member of the faculty at PCC.

Ralph Story Service Award Presented to Krista Goguen

PCC Pulse — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:16:50 +0000

Associate Professor Krista Goguen has been honored with the prestigious Ralph Story Service Award. This award is presented annually to an outstanding faculty member at PCC who has made significant contributions to the field of education, the college, and the community.

“It is a privilege to work at PCC, and certainly an honor to win the Ralph Story Award,” Goguen said.

Goguen started at PCC as an adjunct librarian in 1996.

“It is gratifying to receive an award for my activities at PCC and with the local schools,” she said. “I don’t think my work is exceptional—there are so many hardworking people at PCC.”

High Schools Set Up Community-College Students to Fail, Report Says

Tony S. Juge — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:34:19 +0000

May 7, 2013

High Schools Set Up Community-College Students to Fail, Report Says

By Katherine Mangan

Community colleges’ academic expectations are “shockingly low,” but students still struggle to meet them, in part because high-school graduation standards are too lax in English and too rigid in mathematics, according to a study released on Tuesday by the National Center on Education and the Economy.

Students entering community colleges have poor reading and writing skills and a shaky grasp of advanced math concepts that most of them will never need, the study found.

The center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to college readiness, examined the math and English skills needed to succeed in first-year community-college courses. In a report on the study, the authors acknowledge that their findings are controversial, especially their conclusion that not all students need a second year of algebra.

A typical high-school math sequence includes geometry, a second year of algebra, precalculus, and calculus, the authors note. They say that less than 5 percent of American workers need calculus and that high schools should offer alternative pathways including options like statistics, data analysis, and applied geometry.

In math, students are rushed through middle-school courses without fully grasping the concepts in order to get to more-advanced material, the study concludes.

“It’s kind of like saying the League of Nations is more important to study than the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence because it comes later,” Phil Daro, co-chair of the study’s mathematics panel, said on Tuesday during a daylong discussion of the findings.

What students need to succeed in entry-level college classes is middle-school math, especially arithmetic, ratio, proportion, expressions, and simple equations, the report says.

The authors insist that they aren’t calling for weaker standards, but simply more flexibility, so that students who are interested in vocational fields can take applied math that would be more useful to them.

The entire sequence, from secondary education through college, needs to be better aligned, they say.

“You think of community colleges as Grade 13, and that kids go through a progression with each year building on the previous year,” said Marc S. Tucker, president of the national center. “What I see is kids leaving the 12th grade, going to community college, and beginning back in middle school. That’s not a progression. That’s going backwards.”

A Retreat to Tracking?

The study focused on community colleges because they offer a gateway to four-year colleges for a large and increasing proportion of students, and provide the bulk of vocational and technical education offered in the United States. About 45 percent of American college students are enrolled in such colleges.

The study was guided by panels of experts in the subject matter, and was overseen by an advisory committee that included leading psychometricians, cognitive scientists, and curriculum experts. The project was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The authors selected seven diverse states and randomly chose a community college in each one, focusing on eight popular programs preparing students for careers and for transfer to four-year colleges. They examined textbooks, assigned work, tests, and grades.

The argument that high-school math requirements are too rigid has prompted lawmakers in some states to recommend making it easier for students to pursue vocational paths. In Texas, for instance, lawmakers are debating proposals that would allow some students to graduate without completing a second year of algebra.

The changes are supported by industry and trade groups that are having trouble finding enough skilled workers but are opposed by those who worry about a return to the days when low-income and minority students were routinely tracked into vocational careers. Loosening graduation requirements would mark a retreat, they argue, from the decades-long national push toward tougher graduation requirements at high schools.

Turning to English, the study found that instructors often assume that students can’t understand their textbooks, even though they’re written at an 11th- or 12th-grade level. They compensate by using videos, flash cards, and PowerPoint presentations to summarize the material.

Most introductory college classes demand little writing, and when it is required, “instructors tend to have very low expectations for grammatical accuracy, appropriate diction, clarity of expression, reasoning, and the ability to present a logical argument or offer evidence in support of claims.”

Across the curriculum, “the default is short-form assignments that require neither breadth nor depth of knowledge,” the report says. The exception was in English-composition classes, where students were typically challenged.

Raising the bar too quickly for college classes would be a mistake, according to the study, because so many students are unable to handle current course levels and end up in remedial classes.

Ill Prepared for College

Walter G. Bumphus, president of the American Association of Community Colleges, said the report underscores issues that are already being dealt with by the association’s 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, including the problem that “far too many students are coming to community colleges ill prepared to do college-level work, especially in foundational math and English.”

The president of a nonprofit group that is working to raise academic standards said the report reinforces the importance of Common Core State Standards that have been approved by 45 states and the District of Columbia.

The revamped version of second-year algebra in those standards includes more emphasis on modeling and drawing inferences and conclusions from data—skills that are relevant to all students, said Michael Cohen, president of Achieve.

Scrapping the course requirement altogether could hurt low-income and minority students who would be more likely to opt out and thus be less prepared for college, he said. “We don’t really want to set the expectations for high-school students at a level that reflects what community colleges currently demand,” he added. “That’s not setting the bar very high.”

The neoliberal assault on academia

Tony S. Juge — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:33:42 +0000

The neoliberal sacking of the universities runs much deeper than tuition hikes and budget cuts, notes Barkawi.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/04/20134238284530760.html

Students are increasingly unwilling to take on massive debt for jobs they have little confidence of getting [EPA]

The New York Times, Slate and Al Jazeera have recently drawn attention to the adjunctification of the professoriate in the US. Only 24 per cent of the academic workforce are now tenured or tenure-track.Much of the coverage has focused on the sub-poverty wages of adjunct faculty, their lack of job security and the growing legions of unemployed and under-employed PhDs. Elsewhere, the focus has been on web-based learning and the massive open online courses (MOOCs), with some commentators celebrating and others lamenting their arrival.The two developments are not unrelated. Harvard recently asked its alumni to volunteer their time as “online mentors” and “discussion group managers” for an online course. Fewer professors and fewer qualified – or even paid – teaching assistants will be required in higher education’s New Order.Lost amid the fetishisation of information technology and the pathos of the struggle over proper working conditions for adjunct faculty is the deeper crisis of the academic profession occasioned by neoliberalism. This crisis is connected to the economics of higher education but it is not primarily about that.

The neoliberal sacking of the universities runs much deeper than tuition fee hikes and budget cuts.

Thatcherite budget-cutting exercise

The professions are in part defined by the fact that they are self-governing and self-regulating. For many years now, the professoriate has not only been ceding power to a neoliberal managerial class, but has in many cases been actively collaborating with it.

As a dose of shock capitalism, the 2008 financial crisis accelerated processes already well underway. In successive waves, the crisis has hit each pillar of the American university system. The initial stock market crash blasted the endowments of the prestige private universities. Before long, neoliberal ideologues and their disastrous austerity policies undermined state and eventually federal funding for universities and their research.

Tuition soared and students turned even more to debt financing. Now that bubble is bursting and hitting all the institutions of higher education that depend on tuition. Students are increasingly unwilling to take on massive debt for jobs they have little confidence of getting.

The upshot is to soften the resistance of faculty to change, in part by making people fear for their jobs but mostly by creating a generalised sense of crisis. It becomes all the easier for some academic “leaders” to be drawn up into the recurrent task of “reinventing” the university.

Here is the intersection with neoliberal management culture. Neoliberal managers thrive not by bringing in new resources – since austerity is always the order of the day – but by constantly rearranging the deck chairs. Each manager seeks to reorganise and restructure in order to leave his or her mark. They depart for the next lucrative job before the ship goes under.

One consequence is the mania for mergers of departments and faculties in the US and the UK. In both the university and corporate world, mergers are not only demoralising for staff, but they also break up solidarities and destroy traditions and make staff much more amenable to control from above.

Such projects have little to do with academic excellence or even purposes, and often are self-defeating as the managers and the quislings among the professoriate who assist them have little idea what they are doing.

One of the only things the University of Birmingham was ever known for in the wider world was its Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. In 2002, the Centre was shut down by fiat in an act of vandalism described as “restructuring”. The justification given for this was yet another neoliberal exercise then known as the Research Assessment Exercise, or RAE.

In US terms, post-tenure review is an imperfect analogy for the salutary and depressing tale of the RAE. Invented by Margaret Thatcher’s government, the basic idea is to rank all the departments in any one discipline and channel funding to the “best” departments, while cutting funding to the rest. The RAE was an assault on the basic idea of a university – the universe of knowledge – since universities would lose poor performing departments.

In neoliberal speak, this may sound very sensible. But imagine what happens to, say, physics and biology students, when, as the University of Exeter did, the chemistry department is shut down. Who will teach them chemistry?

More to the point, how do you judge which is “best”? For this, the RAE needed the willing and active collaboration of the professoriate.

When I first held a UK academic post in the relatively early days of the RAE in the late 1990s, academics talked about it as if it were just some form they had to fill out, an annoying bureaucratic exercise that would not really affect us. Others, academic “leaders”, saw it as an opportunity to do down their colleagues in other universities and channel funds to their own departments.

Neoliberal assault on the universities

In this way, the professors themselves helped to administer and legitimate a Thatcherite budget-cutting exercise. Worse, they participated in what they know to be a fiction: that you can rank scholarly research like you can restaurants or hotels so as to determine which departments have the “best” faculty.

Little more than a decade later – and now known as the Research Excellence Framework (REF) – this five-yearly exercise completely dominates UK academic life. It determines hiring patterns, career progression, and status and duties within departments. It organises the research projects of individual scholars so as to meet arbitrary deadlines. It has created space for a whole class of paid consultants who rank scholarship and assist in putting together REF returns.

UK academics regularly talk about each other’s work in terms of whether this or that book or article is “three star” or “four star”. Again, for those attuned to neoliberal ways of thinking, this may appear natural. But remember that the entire point of university research is conversation and contestation over what is true and right. In the natural sciences, as in the social sciences and humanities, one person’s truth is another person’s tosh, and valid knowledge emerges from the clash of many different perspectives.

Somehow, UK professors have become intimately bound up in administering and legitimating a government-run exercise that now shapes more of university life than they themselves do. They have actively ceded their power.

US faculty need to keep this travesty in mind.

Something as apparently innocuous as an accreditation agency demanding that syllabi be written in a particular format, or majors justified in a particular way, can wind up empowering university management to intimately regulate teaching. A meaningless buzzword in the mouth of a dean, such as “new majority student”, might in practice help legitimate the hiring of less qualified faculty. After all, if “teacher ownership of content” is old fashioned, why do you need to hire a professor who can create his or her own course?

The bottom line of the neoliberal assault on the universities is the increasing power of management and the undermining of faculty self-governance. The real story behind MOOCs may be the ways in which they assist management restructuring efforts of core university practices, under the smiley-faced banner of “open access” and assisted in some cases by their “superstar”, camera-ready professors.

Meanwhile, all those adjunct faculty are far more subject to managerial control and regulation than are tenured professors. Aside from their low cost, that is one of the principal reasons why they are so attractive to university managers.

Tarak Barkawi is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics, New School for Social Research.

Classified Day 2013 Technology and Community Information Links

Carole S. Robinson — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:32:43 +0000

Thank You for Making Classified Day 2013 a Success!

Requested links covered in the Technology and Community presentations:

Scott Farrell – Leadership Secrets of the Code of Chivalry http://goo.gl/NMxKM

Jing, Animoto, and QR codes http://goo.gl/4Nwyg
Classified Day Animoto http://goo.gl/g0zYp
Medieval Helpdesk with English subtitles http://youtu.be/pQHX-SjgQvQ
Canvas open lab workshop schedule http://canvas.pasadena.edu
Canvas tutorials http://guides.instructure.com
This is the link to the 2:00 pm CCC Confer presentation recording; I apologize the recording did start until a few minutes in and the program conflict with the dessert buffet: http://goo.gl/G6pZw
Free Desktop technology seminars http://www.onefortraining.org/seminars

Any CCC Confer questions or demo request for your department can go to:

Donna Gustafson, CCC Confer Client Services

Telephone 760-744-1150 ext 1537

Email clientservices@cccconfer.org

Website www.cccconfer.org

See you next year!!

PCC Extension “Summer Session”

Elaine Chapman — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:55:19 +0000

The PCC Extension Summer Session is underway. There are classes for Professional Development, Workforce Training, Personal Enrichment, and Lifelong Learning. Whether you want to enhance skills, learn a new skill, take golf lessons, explore our greater community behind a camera, or practice a foreign language – we have a class for that! New classes include Culinary Arts, Bead and Tapestry Jewelry, and advanced CPR for professionals. Again this summer, all ages may take swim lessons, students in grades 1-8 may take a hands-on class in our STEM Summer Camp, and Good Times Travel has a number of day and multi-day adventures. Check out all that PCC Extension has to offer at pcclearn.org or stop by D108 to pick up a catalog.