City College of San Francisco - California Competes

THEME V
The Department needs more equipment and space for labs but is not able to meet its needs because
College resources are extremely limited. Microbiology, for example, needs a new lab. The current lab
only has enough equipment for 24 students. There are eight sections offered and hundreds of students
are turned away each semester. There have been some communication problems with the Purchasing
Department, resulting in equipment being ordered that does not meet the Department needs. There is
some frustration with not being able to get some vendors they prefer on the approved College vendor
list. Computers in student labs are getting old and the Department wishes more support were available
from Information Technology Services for maintaining them.
The Department collaborates with SFSU on a National Institutes of Health grant that has developed Health
Paths for moving students into Biological Sciences, Allied Health, and graduate school programs. CCSF
instructors identify students who are given priority enrollment in Biological Sciences and Allied Health
programs at SFSU. Some CCSF Biological Sciences faculty conduct weekly seminars with their counterparts
at SFSU to discuss a variety of issues including counseling and tutoring needs of students. CCSF, SFSU, and
UC Berkeley also collaborate on a Bridges Program that is designed to enhance the success of students in
the biomedical field. Students participate in a summer research program and receive a small stipend.
Organizational means to evaluate the effectiveness of programs in producing student learning outcomes,
and to make improvements. The Department was in the middle of its Program Review when interviewed
for this essay in Spring 2005. The Department has found the Decision Support System, developed by the
Office of Research, Planning and Grants, easy to use and helpful for finding data for Program Review on
such things as enrollment figures and success rates of their students. The Department would like to conduct
the optional faculty and student surveys but would like to modify the survey forms provided by the
Office of Research, Planning and Grants to tailor them for the Department. Unfortunately, due to work
overload and lack of extra funding, that Office was unable to provide support for doing this or to provide
Scantron forms for the Department to conduct the surveys in classes rather than online. Fortunately, the
Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs agreed to provide the needed funds to complete their surveys. As
the Department reviews the goals and objectives from their last Program Review, they find that some
identified needs for improvement have been met, such as replacement of windows in the Science Building
and the College-wide computer roll-out, but that little progress has been made with other needs, such as
increased needs for lab and clerical support, remodeling and painting classrooms, and improved maintenance
of restrooms. Most of the Department offerings have been severely impacted in the past several
years and they hope that this Program Review will help them make the case for the need for more classes.
The Department representatives expressed some dissatisfaction with the faculty evaluation process. They
feel that instructors do not get sufficient training on how to evaluate their peers and that more professional
development should be provided to train instructors in effective evaluation methods.
The Biological Sciences student success rate has risen from 67.89 percent of students passing with a C or
higher in Fall 1998 to 73.32 percent in Fall 2003. The average GPA for students in all Biological Sciences
courses has risen slightly from 2.67 in 1998 to 2.75 in 2003. Although these figures are slightly lower
than the College-wide GPA, the Department feels that they have “set the bar high” and are pleased that
the overall success rate for the Department has been higher than the overall College success rate. The
Department has asked the Office of Research, Planning and Grants for transfer data to help them determine
how well their students do after leaving the College. They do not at present see a need to develop
common exams for courses or other means to evaluate student attainment of learning outcomes. They
see their increased enrollment as an indication that they are developing a good reputation for offering
a quality program that is drawing students to CCSF. Instructors voiced their desire for students to come
more prepared for biology courses and noted that students are often deficient in English and math skills.
The Department desires and seeks interaction with the Math, ESL, and English Departments to help
students with scientific terminology and computational skills.
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