May 18, 2021

IPBT meeting – May 18, 2021

Tri-chairs: Christina G. Espinosa-Pieb, Mary Pape, Heidi King

Administrative reps: Sam Bliss, Randy Bryant, Alicia Cortez, Christina Espinosa-Pieb, Anita Muthyala-Kandula, Lorrie Ranck, Thomas Ray

Classified reps: Thomas Bailey, Christiana Kaleialii, Heidi King, Lorna Maynard

Faculty reps: Mayra Cruz, DuJuan Green, Terrence Mullens, Mary Pape, Salvador Guerrero, Daniel Solomon, Mark Landefeld

Student reps: Luiza Eloy, Grace Lim, Esha Dadbhawala, Arushi Sharma

Affinity Group Representatives:

Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators (BFSA): Melinda Hughes, Pauline Wethington

The Asian Pacific American Staff Association (APASA): Christine Chai, Khoa Nguyen

De Anza Latinx Association (DALA): Eric Mendoza, Felisa Vilaubi

Absent:

Guests: Lisa Markus, Vins Chacko, Daniel Smith, Francesca Caparas, Elvin Ramos, Anu Khanna, Moaty Fayek, Mallory Newell, Edmundo Norte, Rick Maynard, Ronald Francis, Erik Woodbury, Kat Pursell, Jerry Rosenberg, Pete Vernazza, Lisa Ly, Mary Medrano, David Newton, So Kam lee, Alexander Jason, Down Lee, Eduardo Luna, Claudia Guzman, Jeff Staudinger

Approval of Notes: May 11, 2021: The notes of May 11, 2021 were approved.

DASG Report: The Town Hall scheduled for Thursday, May 13 was canceled. Mallory presented the Midterm Report to DASG. DASG published a statement condemning anti-Semitism. DASG is currently reviewing their By-Laws, Elections code, Finance code, Equity & Diversity code.

CTE Allocation: Action item that is requesting approval for allocation of resources as outlined in workbook presented at last meeting.

Randy added that there can be small changes between exact numbers presented in the workbook today and what is actually spent. Sometimes there is more money to spend (we get more money or departments are unable to spend what has been allocated to them) and wish to be able to assign these funds to requests further down the list into needed items. Each of these changes will be approved by CTE office but should not necessitate approval again by IPBT. Automotive Technologies have requested $25,000,000 for new building. This is a request but no funds were allocated.

This action item was approved with 23 members in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions.

Request from IIS Division:

Dean Edmundo Norte stated the long-standing umbrella name for Ethnic Studies department areas at De Anza College has been Intercultural Studies, which includes African American Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicanx/Latinx Studies, Native American Studies, and our Core ICS courses. As ASAM department did two years ago, last Fall we created distinct department designations for our remaining departments (ASAM, CHLX, NAIS, & CETH) for courses that meet the CSU Area F core competencies. Comparative Ethnic Studies (CETH) is simply the new department name for those long-standing ICS core courses that meet the CSU Area F requirements. Those ICS core courses that do not meet Area F requirements will keep the ICS designation.

No new area study, no new certificate, and no new degrees are being created. Only a change of names to align with CSU requirements.

Edmundo underscored that this request is completely consistent with the equity focus that led to Asian American Studies instructor position being approved by IPBT. The majority of the department’s faculty have voted in favor of the aforementioned reassignment that precipitated this request. Concern of the necessity to publish and to follow the De Anza internal process regarding reassignment was voiced.

This action item was approved with 17 members in favor, 1 opposed, and 3 abstentions.

Dean Jerry Rosenberg answered questions regarding Physics department: Faculty racial diversification is a struggle since among all STEM disciplines, representation of minorities with Masters degree is lowest in Physics. There is also an extreme compensation differential with industry. First step that the department takes in their effort to achieve racial diversification is for the announcement to clarify that the department considers equity-mindedness as important as subject knowledge when hiring faculty. Outreach is focused: National Society of Hispanic Physicists (https://hispanicphysicists.org/), National Society of Black Physicists (https://nsbp.org/), National Society of Black Engineers (https://www.nsbe.org/), Mesa (https://mesa.ucop.edu/ ) . Many local universities publish names and emails of those graduating with a Masters degree in Physics. The department plans to reach out to De Anza College affinity groups to find more ways to increase diversity of Physics faculty pool. Classes offered have large wait-lists. It is very challenging to find instructors to be able to add more sections. If department is unable to replace this retirement position a minimum of three new part-time faculty will need to be hired. Each of these will need considerable on-boarding (De Anza logistics, Canvas, lab protocols). Success rates at De Anza College are no lower than other colleges in California and better than national average. Jerry pointed out that non-STEM major Physics 10 has success rate 83% and equity gap is 7.8%. STEM major Physics has success rates in low 60% range and equity gap is close to 25%. The department is planning to work with MPS program to develop similar program.

Dean Anita Muthyala-Kandula answered questions regarding Environment Science department: Anita stressed that Environmental Science is a relatively new field of study. Currently part-time instructors have been available to meet student demands for classes. They have several support mechanisms in place for students: use of OER, open science resource area (SRC), and Cheeseman Environmental science area (supplanting need for most field trips).

However, after the resignation one year ago no full-time instructor is serving 100% in Environmental Science department. This makes offering individual student support difficult to accomplish.

By the nature of the mission of Environmental Science, the department works closely with regional environmental organizations. These same organizations are able to connect them with a diverse hiring pool.

Jeff Staudinger underscored the importance of a full-time Environmental Science instructor for those students planning to transfer as an Environmental Science major.

Dean Muthyala-Kandula’s made available her complete responses.