January 30, 2025

Welcome and Meeting Structure Moving Forward

Dr. Torres welcomed attendees to the College Council Meeting. 

Dr. Torres asked members for feedback on the location of College Council meetings and suggested that they be held in person. Members agreed that the meetings should be in person, with a virtual option available.

Moving forward, College Council meetings will be held in a hyflex model. Members are encouraged  to attend in person when possible.

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Approval of Minutes

Minutes will be approved at the next meeting.

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Personnel Hiring Recommendations from RAPP

RAPP recommends the positions in the attached prioritization list for hire; 8 instructional and 2 non-instructional positions. More information on the background, initial ranking, prioritization, and how positions are placed in the buckets can be found in the attached link.   

Dr. Torres asked for clarification on whether any positions from last year’s evaluation that were listed as recommendations carried over, and whether these positions were included in the collective ranking or placed into buckets. Hearn noted that the process began in the spring, and any vacancies up until fall, along with new positions from the summer, were all compiled and ranked as high, moderate, or low. There were also leftover positions from last year that did not receive funding, which were initially ranked as high. However, these positions did not necessarily remain in the 'high' category but were discussed and appropriately placed into buckets.

Members discussed the 50% law and how funding is allocated to De Anza. The RAPP Tri-Chairs noted that they had asked the district for clarity on the breakdown between both colleges regarding contributions to either side of the 50% law calculation. Ultimately, the district determines if we are in compliance. RAPP continues to proceed with its own ranking based on previous sources of funding.

Dr. Torres added that he had a conversation with Chris Dela Rosa regarding the 50% law, noting that the intent was to hire more instructional positions in alignment with the district's expectations.

The RAPP Tri-Chairs asked College Council for direction on the next steps. Given that there is enough funding for 11 positions, should they go back and select one more position, or do feel they had enough information for the 11th position. Members noted that they had enough information. RAPP will begin the next round of personnel requests in the Spring Quarter.

Members moved the recommendation for review and approval by Dr. Torres.

Dr. Torres will review the recommendation and communicate his decision via memo to avoid waiting until the next College Council meeting.

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President’s Update – January Budget, 1/13 Board Meeting, and Accreditation Overview

Dr. Torres presented the Governor’s January Budget for the 2025-2026 academic year to College Council. The presentation will be posted on the College Council website.

Dr. Torres highlighted the authorized passing of Proposition 2. Funds will be available for 31 projects, including De Anza’s Physical Education Complex renovation. Dr. Torres will work with Athletics, Martin Varela, the senior leadership team, and the new Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services to support planning for this renovation. The search for the Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services position is currently in process and will close in mid- to late march. A public forum will be held, and the recommendation will be forwarded to the April board meeting for ratification.

Dr. Torres will work with the Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services and Martin Varela on the framework for Proposition 2, which includes 75% funding from statewide bond and 25% funding from the local community college district. This is a $40 million renovation, and the FHDA district, in support of De Anza College, will need to come up with about $10 million dollars.

COLA, Noncredit, and the student centered funding formulas were also discussed during the presentation.

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Dr. Torres reported on De Anza board items submitted to the January 13, 2025, Board of Trustees meeting and encouraged attendees to review the board items presented, which include change orders for projects at the De Anza campus.  

• Dr.Torres congratulated the Curriculum Committee and Academic Senate on completing Phase 1 Common Course Numbering (CCN).
• Change orders with the ongoing work with the demolition of the Flint Center.
• Strong Workforce Program - Year 9; our partner in this work is Cabrillo College which represents the Bay Area Community College Consortium. Item was approved.
• Request to provide additional funding for Athletics due to changes in their competition schedules. In the future, post-season travel, playoffs, and other extra costs will be taken into account when submitting the board item.
• The next Board Meeting is scheduled on February 3, 2025.

Dr. Torres asks members for feedback on providing a report of De Anza Items from the board meetings to the College Council.

Dr. Torres congratulated Dr. Newell and the entire campus for the work in achieving reaffirmation of accreditation. We are currently addressing the recommendations related to Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI). RSI Part 1 training was started in the fall and Part 2 training will continue to meet the deadline.

A more formal presentation by Dr. Newell will follow at the next meeting on the new accreditation standards that went into effect in 2024.

The next report from the college will be the Midterm Report, due in about three years (October 15, 2028). More details will be provided at the next meeting regarding what that process will entail. Dr Torres will work closely with the College Planning Committee (CPC) and report back to the College Council.

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Highlights from Report Out

Please read and share with your constituents.

Dr. Torres asks that invitations to attend or speak at graduation events be coordinated with Nathaly Aguilar. 

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Winter Enrollment Update

Hearn noted that enrollment is up across campus by around 2.8%, mentioning that during registration time, we were down. One of the main reasons for this last year was due to the number of fraudulent students enrolling in classes. Nazy Galoyan, Lisa Mandy and ETS worked to address this. With the support of ETS, a better filter has been put in place to prevent fraudulent students from enrolling.

Hearn thanked faculty for adding students to their classes, and divisions for offering a great array of classes. She also thanked outreach, counselor, and retention staff for contributing to student success.

Dr. Torres noted that Dr. Newell has been working very hard behind the scenes to reevaluate how we are collecting our data from an enrollment management perspective to better align with the student centered funding formula.

Dr. Torres also mentioned that we will be more proactive with enrollment management strategies and tracking in regard to FTS generation as we look to the future.

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Good of the Order

Guitron highlighted comments in the chat:

• BFSA – Black Graduation on June 18 at the VPAC.
• Equity Champion awards on June 11

Shannakian noted additions to DASG report-out.

• The Finance Committee reviewed submissions; it will go through the Senate for questions and deliberations. It takes two confirming votes for board approval in May.
• Applications for 25-26 officers is this coming Monday, elections are on Feb 24 to March 7.

Hernandez noted the February 5th Partners in Learning Equity Series. 12-1:30 MLC 255

Dr. Torres welcomes suggestions for future meeting topics and asks members to send requests for agenda items to the tri-chairs at least few days before the meeting date.

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The meeting was adjourned.