Sound Thinking: ASCCC

Admin 101 Resources for Collaborating with Faculty

The State Academic Senate is an amazing resource for early career administrators in addition to faculty. As administrators, we rely on input from the ‘regulars,’ those faculty who steadfastly serve on committees. In addition to their insight, a similar group of informed, committed, and fantastic faculty contribute to ASCCC. My short work with ASCCC included working with Randy Beach and Janek Jario on an ASCCC paper related to Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and presenting at the ASCCC Accreditation Institute. This memorable affiliation occurred before I transitioned from instructor to administrator. The ASCCC is a professional, organized group of volunteers; let’s do a quick introduction and then explore their resources.

About ASCCC: Formed in 1970, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is a 501(c)6 nonprofit organization. Created for the promotion and advancement of public community college education in California, its general purposes are:

1. To strengthen local academic senates and councils of community colleges;
2. To serve as the voice of the faculty of the community colleges in matters of statewide concern;
3. To develop policies and promote the implementation of policies on matters of statewide issues;
4. To make recommendations on statewide matters affecting the community colleges.

Rostrum: The ASCCC Rostrum is a collection of short articles that address important topics and denote ASCCC perspectives. The articles are informative, well written, and support understanding of vital topics from the faculty perspective. For myself, I need current faculty perspectives to help me balance the ideas of respected administrative colleagues who last taught years ago, if at all.

For example, I assumed faculty support the 50% law because it intends to fund teaching personnel over administrative management. However, in their article, Revisiting the 50% Law: Its Intent and Its Future, faculty authors Curry, Howerton, and Litzky call for change, “The goal is to redefine instruction under a holistic student support model that reflects the realities of student needs for personalized support to achieve their educational goals.”

In the article Taking Stock of CCCApply, faculty authors Chaves and Vélez respectfully remind and detail what we all know and grapple to fix regarding challenges students face in the application process. How can we still be having this conversation? The article serves as a call to action.

My recommendation is, rather than read through LinkedIn posts (yes, even this one), that you bookmark the ASCCC website. The Rostrum articles are the pulse you need to inform an equity-minded perspective and instruction-centric decision-making process. You will agree with some points the authors make and take exception to others. To consider, assess, critique, and expand your interpretation of stakeholders in our off-kilter ecosystem, that’s the point.

In addition to the Rostrum articles, ASCC offers meetings and events, leadership resources, support teams, and technical assistance. Early career administrators often struggle to navigate between faculty and their administrators. I offer that this struggle is commonly exacerbated by a couple of specific faculty and one or two multi-tasking supervising administrators. The opinions (aka agenda) of a total of 3–5 colleagues nearby dominate rather than the perspective of faculty or administrators across the college, district, and state. The ASCCC website and organization serve as an essential guide to faculty pulse, concerns, and priorities. In true academic-speak, ASCC rocks!

Thanks, Kelly