Share: After choosing an expensive search firm, with less experience and fewer guarantees than others, PCC had to declare a failed, or unsuccessful, search after it witnessed its three finalists for president drop out of consideration. As a result, the college terminated its partnership with the search firm prematurely, bringing PCC back to square one in the process of finding a new superintendent-president. Collaborative Brain Trust (CBT), the consulting firm chosen by the PCC Board of Trustees (BOT) to conduct this past year’s unsuccessful presidential …
Editorial: Board’s failed presidential search fails campus again
Share: Pasadena City College’s (PCC) mission statement claims they strive “to provide a high quality, academically robust learning environment that encourages, supports and facilitates student learning and success.” Yet, as the search for the college’s new superintendent-president comes to a halt, the Board of Trustees (BOT) have yet again illustrated how out of touch they are with the campus community. Follow:
What’s up with PCC’s enrollment going down?
Share: Despite college enrollment more than doubling nationally since 1971, PCC’s enrollment has decreased due to multiple factors, including low unemployment rates, rising housing costs and a tense political climate for undocumented students. Follow:
‘Why I completed your class’: Students describe their positive experiences
Share: Last Monday evening, the Academic Senate board hosted their second student-focused panel called “Why I Completed Your Class,” where students discussed their experiences in class and what motivated them to complete their courses. Last semester, The Courier reported on the first student panel, which was mainly geared towards the idea of why students withdraw. Presented in a similar format, the discussion consisted of students talking about their class experiences and what made them refrain from withdrawing. The event was brought back due to popular …
Academic Senate blasts presidential search, threatens ‘no confidence’ vote and walk out
Share: The Academic Senate has delivered a letter to the Board of Trustees (BOT) demanding that they declare a failed search for the superintendent-president position after concerns were expressed about the selection process and the individual finalist candidate’s fitness for the role. Follow:
Academic Senate to hold meeting over alleged ‘mishandling’ of presidential search
Share: Another rift has opened within the campus community over the alleged mishandling of the presidential search after the Board of Trustees (BOT) narrowed the search down to one finalist, an uncommon occurrence in the community college system, according to the Academic Senate. Follow:
State of California will no longer fully fund U-Building project
Share: The progress to get work done on the Armen Sarafian Hall (also known as the U building) has been dealt a number of blows in recent weeks. The full support of the project from the government has been derailed, and the school is hoping that the state will change its mind before the May Revise when the governor’s proposed budget from January gets an update before it is signed into law by the end of June. Follow:
Students are about to get ‘Starfished’
Share: PCC is about to launch Starfish, a software platform that sends early-alerts to students based on their class performance and faculty concerns, then puts them in contact in real time with the resources designed to help them such as counseling. Follow:
Free textbooks coming soon
Share: The Academic Senate is expected to adopt a resolution in their next meeting that would make PCC eligible for an Open Educational Resource (OER) grant that could replace pricey textbooks with free online resources for students in some course. According to PCC Online, “the OER includes teaching, learning and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and repurposing by others.” With this grant, textbooks would not be mandatory for …
Academic Senate re-elects incumbent executive committee
Share: The faculty reaffirmed its support for the current Academic Senate leadership as it re-elected the incumbent slate in a decisive victory against their challengers, a slate which included former two-time senate president Eduardo Cairo, who has campaigned for the senate presidency each of the last four years. The final vote tally released to faculty last Thursday showed all winning slate members received at least 59 percent support of the voting faculty. The same slate won the presidency by only four votes in last year’s …