President says administration ‘realignment’ to come

Though the State of the College address is meant for the president to address several topics, it was one topic in particular on Sept. 28 that drew the most attention of those in attendance.

That topic was a goal adopted by the Board in September that could result in a total restructuring of the administration.

“There is one goal I want to pause on for a moment because it involves everyone in this room,” said PCC President Mark Rocha during the State of the College speech in the Creveling Lounge. “It implies new strategies for working together in shared governance.”

What Rocha was referring to was a goal in a list of ten that were adopted by the Board of Trustees to be “achieved” in the 2011-2012 academic year, according to a handout given at the meeting.

The goal is a realignment of the “administration and staff that includes the division of instruction” as well as streamlining “the administration and staff to reduce costs and improve efficiency and service.”

“The overwhelming advice I was given was to speak straight, say clearly what I think we should do and why I think we should do it,” said Rocha when addressing realignment. “Plain and simple, we need to align the administrative structure with our college mission of student learning and success.”

Rocha then went on to list the four major reasons to implement the goal: to highlight shared governance and better communication through all levels of faculty and staff; to take down artificial boundaries that “divide academic disciplines and intellectual free trade;” to continue to be cost effective in non-classroom services so that classroom instruction remains a number one priority; and to align the administration structure in a way that will allow students to meet their goals.

The speech was followed by a question and answer session in which several members of the audience referred back to the realignment plan.

With the aim of managing academic programs, Rocha said that having faculty department chairs who are elected by members of their departments is being considered, but was quick note that the change has nothing to do with criticism of the deans.

“[Having faculty chairs] is the normal model in California Community Colleges, the CSU’s and so on,” Rocha said. “So alignment means not just a restructuring to save money, in fact it may not do that. Alignment means to align the work of the college so that it advances students’ progress towards a degree.”

Among the realignment of administration and staff, other goals listed were improvements in technology, sustainability, revenue enhancement and revising basic skills instruction. The state budget was also addressed, but not as the “main problem,” Rocha said.

“The real problem is one that money alone can’t solve,” he said. “Our primary effort must be to relight our imaginations and create a culture of innovation.”

Despite concerns from members of the audience on some topics and realignment in particular, Rocha was confident that PCC will pull through.

“I have every confidence that we will make astonishing progress this year on these goals,” Rocha concluded.