March - Mt. SAC - Campus News

will appoint members to the Task Force, in addition to their current appointees tothe Budget Committee.) Vice President Mike Gregoryk will chair the Task Force.The assessments, conclusions, and recommendations of the Task Force (its finalreport) will be advisory to me and to the Board of Trustees.The charge of the Task Force will be to develop recommendations for institutionalchange and expenditure reductions, based on a comprehensive assessment of allprograms and services and guided by our core mission, which the Legislature isdefining as transfer, career technical education, and basic skills, combined with aheightened expectation for student outcomes, or success. (I recognize that thedomain of collective bargaining also may have a direct role in mitigating the fiscalcrisis, and we have separate venues and protocols for that work.) The firstassignment to the Task Force will be an exercise in consensus building, for ashared understanding of the fiscal facts we know and anticipate and for aninterpretation and application of the core mission to the processes ofcomprehensive assessment.The Task Force will ask the four area teams of the college - instruction, studentservices, administrative services, and human resources - under leadership of thevice presidents, to conduct comprehensive assessments of all programs andservices, resulting in a written report that includes analyses, conclusions andrecommendations for change and expenditure reductions. To accomplish thework, the vice presidents will convene groups representing all constituencies fromwithin their teams to conduct the assessments. (College constituency leaders willappoint members to these groups.) The work will be informed by guidelines thatthe Task Force develops from its work on mission priorities and fiscal facts.Once their work is completed, the area teams will present their reports to the TaskForce, which will then use the data, analyses, and recommendations from the teamreports to develop an integrated, master report, with recommendations. Finally, Iwill use that master report in working with the Board of Trustees on decisions thatwill inform the 2011-2012 budget and future of the college. The work of the TaskForce should be completed by May 20, yielding an actionable plan for the college,regardless of which fiscal scenario becomes our reality. The first meeting of theTask Force should occur as soon as possible, and I will be conferring with leadersof the college constituency groups about appointments to the Task Force nextweek. Clearly, many details for the process remain undefined, but I believe thisapproach to the challenge we face represents the best values of the Mt. SAC family.I look forward to collaborating with you.JSN