Biology Department Meeting Meeting date: October 14 th, 2011, 11a.m. to 1:00p.m. Attendees: Dr. Leandra Martin, Dr. Mark Newton, Dr. Anna Spokoyny, Dr. Sanhita Datta, Dr. Peter D Eliscu, Dr. Margarita Gasparyan, Ms. Rebecca Gamez (1 st 15 minutes) Meeting minutes Dr. Martin introduced Ms. Gamez, the SLOAC representative to the faculty and staff of the Biology department. Ms. Gamez reminded the members of Biology department of the visit of the accreditation committee of the SJCC campus on 8 th and 9 th of November. She emphasized the need for SLO assessments and for ensuring that the SLOs are included in the syllabi. Ms. Gamez left shortly after this discussion. Dr. Spokoyny updated everyone present about the state of the budget for laboratory materials and equipments. She mentioned that she was able to save about $3000.00 by looking for better prices. She mentioned that the state of the Anatomy models was poor and they needed to be replaced. Some models were also lost (possibly stolen by students) and needed to be replaced as well. The savings could be applied to cover part of the cost of the models. She needed faculty input about what models to buy. Dr. Martin mentioned that during one of the weekends, power to the Science building had been cut off by the construction crew on campus. Dr. D Eliscu was in the department at that time and had it not been for his efforts the power would have remained off causing major damage to refrigerated materials like the cadavers. Dr. Spokoyny stated that several plants in the greenhouse had become really big. These could be divided into smaller pots which could be sold in a fundraising event. The money raised could be used to buy other materials needed in the greenhouse. Dr. Martin said that she would look into the necessary procedure for this. Dr. D Eliscu s Bio2 students would do the replanting as part of their class activities. Dr. Spokoyny brought up her concerns about the condition of the autoclave. The autoclave at EVC had recently broken down. The EVC autoclave was the same model as the SJCC one and only 3 to 4 years older. Dr. Spokoyny stated that having only one autoclave was risky. She proposed that the current autoclave be replaced by two less expensive and simpler autoclaves, which had no maintenance needs. There would be a problem with space however as there was currently room for only one. Dr. Martin mentioned that state money for direct instruction might be used for this purpose. Dr. Newton expressed concern that if the money was not used it could be lost. Dr. Martin mentioned that she was not sure where some of the saved money from the microscope maintenance was. She said Ms. Thompson was well versed in these matters and would know what happened to the money. Dr. Newton spoke of the dire state of the supplies and day today materials. The decreased funding for these materials was making it difficult to teach the labs. Dr. Martin talked about the extra $1000.00 in the budget. Dr. Spokoyny said that $1000.00
would barely cover the increased cost of materials without leaving money for the additional materials needed. Dr. Spokoyny and Dr. Gasparyan mentioned that there was no more Mercury in the Biology stockroom. All equipment and supplies containing mercury had been replaced by non-mercury alternatives. Dr. Martin inquired about the status of the SLO assessment reports for the Spring 2011 semesters. Dr. Newton said that he would finish SLO assessment for Bio1 shortly, Dr. D Eliscu would finish it by October 17 th and Dr. Datta would correct the mistakes and resubmit the SLO assessments by October 21 st. Dr. Martin pointed out that the Bio72 curriculum needed to be updated. Dr. D Eliscu said he was going to make that update. Dr. Martin announced that Dr. Hubbard would teach Dr. Antilla s evening Bio21 sections. Towards the end of the semester, when Dr. Cabanilla is going to be on leave Dr. Hubbard and Dr. Johnson would teach her classes as well. Dr. Martin mentioned that a two-page summary needed to be written by October 31 st for the new Biology faculty position. Dr. Joel Stryker will not teach in Spring 2012. Adjunct faculty evaluations were discussed. The final evaluation list is as follows: Dr. Newton will evaluate Prof. Eneigho, Prof. Hallinan and Prof. Fitzgerald Dr. D Eliscu will evaluate Prof. Drazkiewitz and Prof. Hurst Dr. Datta will evaluate Prof. Taylor and Prof. Schriber Phasing out the old Bio 1,2,3 series and starting the new Bio 1 & 2 series in accordance with the articulation requirements with SJSU was discussed. The possible schedule is as follows: Spring 2012: New Bio1 and old Bio2(last time) Fall 2012: New Bio1 & New Bio2 and old BIO3 (last time) Spring 2013 onwards: New Bio1 & New Bio2 Bio1 prerequisites like Chem1A and English1A were discussed. It would have to be finalized at the IPCC meeting. Dr. Newton expressed concern that students who did not have adequate English language skills had problems understanding and following safety instructions. Dr. Newton mentioned that Bio1 curriculum rewrite was almost complete. SLOs for the new Bio1 needed to be written. Dr. Datta s tenure committee meeting was discussed. The tenure committee will meet on November 15 th. Dr. Martin would observe Dr. Datta s Environmental Science lecture, Dr. Newton would observe Dr. Datta s Human Biology lecture and Dr. D Eliscu would observe either Environmental Science or Human Biology lab. The observation dates would be finalized later. minutes compiled by S. Datta
Minutes for the Biology Meeting of November 29, 2011, 5:30-6:30 pm Present: Sanhita Datta, Pete D Eliscu, Mark Newton, Rita Gasparyan, Anna Spokoyny, Roi Ann Thompson and Leandra Martin Leandra informed everyone that she had a request from Bill Dahl with the Workforce Institute that we consider offering additional courses for Health Care Programs. The classes they would like are Bio 021, Bio 071, Bio 072, Bio 074, Chem 032A and Math 013. They are willing to cover all costs incurred. Some of the issue to consider are the need of an additional cadaver, storage of the cadaver, the need of additional models, the need of another Lab Tech if classes are offered on Saturdays and additional student help to set up labs. It was determined that if we were to have an additional Micro class, it would have to be on the same days (TTH) that we currently offer Micro. This is the most expensive lab that we have so additional funds would be needed to cover the added cost. Anna said that she has spent If we were to offer an additional section of Anatomy or Physiology, it would require that we start our current classes earlier in the mornings in order to fit another lab in. There was a discussion about which classes we should offer for Intersession 2012. It was decided that we will offer Bio 061, Bio 063 and Bio 066. There was a discussion about which Program SLO s should be evaluated before the end of the semester. It was decided that SLO # 2 & 3 will be evaluated by all Biology Faculty. Sanhita offered to develop the questions. The SLO s are as follows: 1. #2 Describe the Ideal Scientific Method and use it to design a simple study in biology 2. #3 Use Scientific Instrumentation to measure experimental outcome Faculty chose the classes they will teach in Fall 2012.
Minutes for the Biology Meeting of February 23, 2012 5:00 6:30 pm Present: Sanhita Datta, Pete D Eliscu, Mark Newton, Roi Ann Thompson and Leandra Martin There was a discussion about what classes will be offered for summer. Due to the budget deficit, it is likely that we will only offer half of what was offered last summer. Full-time faculty chose the classes they wanted to teach for the summer session. Full-time faculty chose the part-time faculty they will observe for the current semester. 1. Mark will observe Aneta Drazkiewitz and Jonathan Hubbard. 2. Pete will observe Jude Eneigho and Nathaniel Hallinan 3. Sanhita will observe Karen Hurst and Victoria Wu. Leandra provided a handout with data on student success and retention Full-time faculty will submit their SLO Assessment Reports from Fall 2011 within the next two weeks.
Minutes for the Biology Meeting of March 20, 2012 5:00 6:30 pm Present: Carina Anttila-Suarez, Sanhita Datta, Pete D Eliscu, Mark Newton, Joel Stryker, Roi Ann Thompson and Leandra Martin Discussion about updating the Biology Program Review. It needs to include information regarding Biology Majors classes, Allied Health and non-majors classes and must justify the need for equipment and supplies for the new Bio 004A & Bio 004B series. Discussion on Student Learning Outcome (SLO) Reports from fall 2011. All reports must be submitted as soon as possible so Roi Ann can update the master report for Accreditation. Mark Newton discussed the results of the Biology PSLO. He will send his write up out to the departmental faculty. Reminder that PSLO s & SLO s must be evaluated again this semester. Discussion about the 40% cut that must be made to the summer 2012 Schedule. It was decided that we will only offer Bio 021, Bio 064 and Bio 071. The Workforce Institute has offered to pay ½ of the instructor s salary, $1,000.00 toward a cadaver and 4% for the Summer Anatomy class. They requested that we reserve 7 seats in the class for their students.
Minutes for the Biology Meeting of May 3, 2012 5:00 6:30 pm Present: Carina Anttila-Suarez, Sanhita Datta, Pete D Eliscu, Mark Newton, Joel Stryker, Roi Ann Thompson and Leandra Martin Leandra asked that any needs for biology for the next year be documented so they can be included in our request for the biology Budget for 2012-2013. Our formal requests are due to be submitted next week. Mark suggested that we find out the amount of the supply budget and the number of sections offered for other Community Colleges in the area in order to make comparisons. An update was provided as to what equipment was approved through the Finance Committee. Biology was awarded $12, 286.00 for the purchase of two Electrophoresis Power Supplies, thirty Micropipettes and various models, cultures and videos. Instructors were asked to do a SLO Mapping exercise for course SLO s to Institutional SLO s and course SLO s to Program SLO s. They were also asked to provide a timeline for assessing each course SLO to indicate on-going and continuous assessment. Roi Ann will e-mail the spreadsheets for both to all full-time faculty. Please fill them out and return them to her by May 17, 2012. SLO Evaluation Coordinators were confirmed for all classes for this semester. The coordinators will provide the SLO Assessment questions to all other instructors teaching those particular classes. The coordinators are as follows: 1. Bio 001& 061 Mark Newton 2. Bio 002, 064, 071 & 072 Pete D Eliscu 3. Bio 020, 021, 063 & Env. Sci. 010 Sanhita Datta 4. Bio 074 Ann Daniel 5. Biology Program SLO Assessment -????
There was a discussion about what our strategy should be for discontinuation of Bio 002 & Bio 003 since we will be replacing them with Bio 004A & Bio 004B. The first time Bio 004A will be offered is in Fall 2012. We may offer a concurrent section of Bio 004B and Bio 002 in spring 2013 or have Bio 004B during the day and Bio 002 in the evening. We will have further discussions before a decision is made.