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Criterion 5

Meeting Notes

Present: Queta Chavez, Karen Christen, Scott Geddis (for Dorothy Sisneros), Marian Gibney, Marsha Hopkins, Brent Jameson, Morris Johnson, Emily Lander, Nancy Matte, Michael Mitchell, Jesse Mireles, Jeremy Moreland, Jim Moore, Mike Murphy, Denny Sheehan.
Note taker: Patti Schellhase

Absent: Corina Gardea, Darrell Carnahan, Casandra Kakar, Wilbert Nelson, Dorothy Sisneros, Marian Tadano.

Marsha Hopkins provided a short PowerPoint presentation "Circles of Engagement." She noted that HLC is not only a name change, but also a different process we must follow now. The accrediting body has re-defined the culture in which they are operating. Subsequently, this has altered the body's expectations for accreditation, and thus, we must evaluate our culture in reference to this change. This means that our perspective of ourselves and how we conduct the self-assessment much change. At the "heart" of the PC Organizational System, the core relationships are between the student, faculty and the staff. (It was noted that these should overlap in the PowerPoint presentation.)

Assessment must be vision guided and mission directed. Assessment occurs on all these levels: 1) Individual (core relationships), 2) Classroom, 3) Program, 4) Department,
5) Institution, which equals a total internal assessment environment. However, the setting of the mission and goals determining the institutional effectiveness of the institution must also include assessment of the external environment. It was noted assessment moves "in and out", looking at the past and the future, in order to make decisions and act in the present.

This is not a linear process or even a single cycle. The only way for a holistic environment to come into being is by connectedness. This whole is accomplished by "looping" of information. It is in the way that information is perceived, shared, and used that changes the organizational culture. This is what the change from NCA to HLC truly means. The "looping" occurs at each level, between levels and connects in all encompassing feedback. Institutional Effectiveness = Meeting our Mission.

Dean Tadano, Brent, and Marsha meet weekly for about 2 hours to assess and plan accreditation strategies.

A similar PowerPoint presentation will be shown at the All-Employee Meeting(s) by Dean Tadano, November 6th at 7:00 am and 1:30 pm. Hope to have more faculty attend these meetings by adding the afternoon session. In addition, the President has stated that Strategic Planning will be on the meeting agenda. Questions were raised by several criterion chairs and steering committee members about the feasibility of presenting both Strategic Planning and HLC in such a brief meeting. There was much discussion about the actual content that could be shared without being overwhelming. In addition, the committee members believed it might be premature to outline the links between Strategic Planning with HLC since HLC is just beginning and Strategic Planning is at a different stage of development.

Dr. Jessie Mireles mentioned that someone had charged the Creativity Committee to put together a video pertaining to NCA. The approximately 10 minute video was outlined for the committee by Dr. Mireles. The video was to be presented as part of the November 6th meeting. Brent Jameson mentioned that neither he nor Dean Tadano were aware of the video or its content.

Thursday, November 13th, 2:30 - 5:30 pm in E-223 has been set aside for a Criterion Chair Retreat.

Some Criterion Chairs/Committees have met. Reports from Chairs:
§ Denny Sheehan - Criterion 1. Committee will meet for the first time next week, Tuesday, October 28.
§ Mike Mitchell - Criterion 3. Committee held their 1st "meet and greet" meeting and gathered a sense of what they will be doing for Criterion 3. Next meeting is Friday, November 7 to discuss methodology, how they will go about getting their work done.
§ Karen Christen - Criterion 4. Committee met last month and will meet again on Tuesday, October 28, 2:00 pm.
§ Queta Chavez - Criterion 5. Meeting next Monday, 4th Monday of the month. She brought forward the concern of documenting and organizing the work that overlaps the various criteria. How to document the interaction between them all.
§ Nancy Matte - Lead Writer. She and Patricia Zaccardo want to know when the writers need to come in? The decision was made that the writers should come in at the beginning of the process. Criterion chairs were asked to provide meeting information to Nancy and Patricia as any discussion they hear now will be beneficial when they begin the writing process.

Jeremy Moreland is the point man for survey requests from all criteria. The Steering Committee will further serve as the coordinator of the requests. Jeremy said he would begin meeting with the chairs to see what kind of information they need from him.

The new criteria are still not available, but will be placed on a web link from our HLC web page.

Looking for a theme/logo. Suggestions included were "Learning is Loopy" and "Are You In the Loop?" Send any additional suggestions to Marsha or Brent.

Discussion: Plans for content of the November 6th All-Employee meeting(s) centers around Strategic Planning and Accreditation.
Decision: To provide a brief overview of HLC and of each of the criteria because of a lack of time available.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 18, 3:00 pm, Admin Conference room.