FM+-+March+18,+2009

The minutes from this meeting will be posted here soon.

For the discussion about **the future of the ComS Department** please go here.

March 16, 2008 (This document is being distributed in preparation for meeting on the future of departmental hiring and curriculum, March 18, 2009)**
 * Fact Sheet

Completing FERP at the end of the 2009-2010 academic year (summer 2010): David Martin, Shirley Biagi, Virginia Kidd, Barbara O’Connor Completing FERP at the end of the 2010-2011 academic year (summer 2011): Sylvia Fox, Mike Fitzgerald It was requested that I identify other possible FERPs or retirements. That is a little harder to do because I have not received any particular notifications but we do have a number of faculty close to retirement age who may decide to either enter FERP or simply retire outright or stay on for next year.
 * Upcoming Faculty Changes**

We receive a total of 9 units of assigned time for the 08-09 academic year from the Dean. 3 units per year go to the Graduate Coordinator and 3 units per year go to the two course supervisors for TA supervision. In the last round of cuts we lost 3 units of TA supervision and our allocation for graduate coordinator was cut from 6 units per year to 3. Only two departments in A&L receive larger allocations for Graduate Coordinator and they both have substantially larger programs than we do (English and History). We also have faculty who get assigned time from other units on campus: This semester both Gerri Smith and Ray Koegel are on sabbatical. We receive replacement WTUs to hire replacements for them. Any other “assigned time” is self-generated, ie. teach a mega 100A and you technically get 6 units but three are accounted for as assigned time….I don’t understand why either!
 * External Assigned Time**
 * Kimo Ah Yun 12 units per semester (CTL)
 * Jaccie Irwin 6 units per semester (athletic advising)
 * Chris Miller 6 units per semester (GPC and statewide academic Senate)
 * Barbara O’Connor 3 units per semester (Asst. to the President)
 * Mark Stoner 3 units Spring semester (CTL)
 * Diego Bonilla 3 units Spring semester (CTL)
 * John Williams 6 units per semester (Academic Affairs)

I was asked to provide the figure for what percentage of our classes are taught by part timers versus full timers. That is a hard number to know and it has been warped a bit by the use of podcasts in ComS 4 and ComS 5. If you count those as separate sections, then it seriously inflates the number of sections taught in part time. For instance, we replaced 7 sections of ComS 4 (3 units each) with 21 sections of ComS 4 podcasts (1 unit each). Remember we also have up to twelve Teaching Associates teaching up to 24 sections of classes in ComS 2, 4 or 5. We may have to be happy with the knowledge that we have a FT faculty allocation that would allow us to staff 70-75% of our classes with full time but with the external assigned time and sabbaticals that come up, we are more likely in the 55-60% range of full time staffing.
 * Part Time versus Full Time Staffing**

In the 2007-2008 hiring cycle we asked for five positions—PR, Intercultural, Mass Communication, Digital Video, and Journalism. We were originally approved for three hires. We were required to cancel one (Public Relations) mid cycle which was then restored in the 2008-2009 hiring. In this last ranking of possible hires, our digital video position request made the top twenty one, but did not get approved by the Provost. Our request for a journalism position did not make the top 21 positions requested in the College. The Dean has a fairly complex worksheet for justifying new hires and it is absolutely not guaranteed that any lost positions, either to retirement or otherwise, automatically return to the department. In fact they do not even automatically return to the College. Each position has to be justified to the Provost. Factors include enrollments in the area versus staffing, ability to generate FTE, and the availability of a pool of part timers to cover classes. The Provost’s office has not yet asked the Dean for lists of potential positions for hiring during the 2009/2010 hiring cycle for Fall 2010.
 * Hiring Position in the College**

Notable trend: I have signed an awful lot of Major adds for PR in the last six months
 * Majors by Concentration within the Major** (Latest available figures from Fall 2008)
 * General ComS 447 Inc. Intercult/International, Small Group/Interp, and Criticism/PC
 * Mass Comm 184
 * Digital Media 98
 * Org Comm 199
 * PR 191
 * Jour 207
 * Govt/Jour 28

While far from exact, I can tell you that the first classes to go were electives that were not required in any way for graduation within a concentration. Next we cut classes after attempting to offer more slots in mega or mini-mega sections. For instance we might go from six sections of 116 to two sections plus one mini mega section. We next looked for cuts to courses not critical to graduation in which we offered multiple sections, cutting back to perhaps a single section. Finally, we cut classes in which enrollments had not historically been strong, often waiting until preliminary enrollment data came in during the registration period. I have no doubt that our ability to use podcast formats in ComS 4, ComS, and ComS 103 significantly improved our ability to preserve sections within the major because we spent fewer WTUs in part time delivering instruction in the podcast capable classes.
 * Decision Calculus for Cuts**