Accreditation - Hartnell College!!

Institutional Self Evaluation – 12-05-12
Excellence (formerly the Digital Bridge Academy), in March 2012 (after being here in
September 2008 to assist with the rollout of the program at Hartnell); and a workshop for the
entire college on October 13, 2011, on Systems Thinking and Race by professor john powell
(his name has no upper case letters).
The college also has sponsored several events and learning opportunities designed to do
double duty as professional development and community building. For instance, since 2008,
the college has sponsored more than 90 faculty and staff to take the eight-day Faculty
Experiential Learning Institute, which serves as the foundation course for the Academy for
College Excellence. In April 2008, flex day consisted of an Agriculture Tour for all faculty
and some staff members. This day-long bus tour gave faculty and staff a better sense of the
economic engine that drives the Salinas Valley, and the employment opportunities that exist
for their students in the high technology world of agriculture. In September 2008, the college
held an all college two-and-a-half day retreat, conducted by the Monterey Institute of Social
Architecture at the Naval Post-Graduate School. The college also sponsored a semester-long
Spanish for Professionals class, taught by a Salinas Adult School teacher. In addition to
paying for the classes that ran three hours per week, employees were given 90 minutes of
release time to take the classes.
Both classified unions‘ collective bargaining agreements provide for professional growth, and
increased pay after completing certain milestones of growth. Additionally, the CSEA
agreement contains a tuition waiver program, allowing its members to take classes at Hartnell
at no cost. All employees who earn degrees during the school year are recognized in the
college‘s graduation program and at a separate employee educational recognition celebration.
The college recognizes that, for an activity such as professional development to become a
part of the culture, it must have a home, both organizationally and physically. It started that
planning when the ―new‖ library was conceived. Included in the Library and Learning
Center, which opened in 2006, is a Faculty Resource Center, open to all faculty and staff. It is
a walk in, staffed, training area designed to be a space where employees can learn basic and
advanced technological skills. This center was built for the specific purpose of providing
professional development, training, and support of faculty and staff. Also, during the
redesdign of the college center, a seldom-used classroom space was repurposed to be a
faculty and staff lounge. This is sometimes the site of committee meetings, brown bag
sessions, and impromptu workshops. Finally, in the redesign of the first floor of the CAB
north building, the HR space will include a work area with computer stations for employees
to come and take online courses, training tests, and to work on particular work-place skills,
either individually or in small groups.
Hartnell re-established a Staff Development Committee in the fall of 2012 as part of the
shared governance process. This function unintentionally disappeared from the committee
structure when the new shared governance model was created in 2008. The purpose of this
committee is to plan professional development activities for all staff. The committee
submitted a grant proposal to the President‘s Task Force for funding in fall 2012.
Self Evaluation
Page 216