PDC Annual Report 2015-2016

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (PDC) ANNUAL REPORT

2015 - 2016

 

1. Executive Summary

 

Early in AY 2015 - 2016, the PDC continued discussions it had begun in 2013 about the Teacher Scholar Model (Boyer 1990)[1] and how it might be adapted to San Francisco State University.  Also, in Fall 2015, the PDC offered to serve in a consultative role to the Academic Senate, as needed and if requested.   In addition, the PDC reviewed and ranked two sets of applications for the “Development of Research and Creativity” (DRC) Grants, which are awarded by Faculty Affairs.

Section III highlights the major activities the PDC engaged in throughout the year.

 

2. Charge to Council

 

[From Academic Senate Policy #S99-183]

1. The Professional Development Council, an all-university council, shall:

a) Promote a campus environment supportive of professional development;

b) Exercise leadership in the development of policies and programs in support of professional development

c) Provide a forum for the dissemination of information and discussion of issues relative to professional development;

d) Advise appropriate agencies of the university on the needs of faculty pertaining to professional development;

e) Recommend procedures and changes in procedures to appropriate agencies that facilitate professional development (e.g. distribution of intramural funds to Provost);

f) Formulate and/or revise for recommendation to the Provost and the Academic Senate University policies pertaining to professional development, and refer recommendations having implications for academic policy, to the Academic Senate for action;

g) Invite, evaluate, and recommend funding of proposals pertaining to faculty professional development (e.g. Affirmative Action Grants, Chancellor's Mini and Summer stipend grants, and Vice President for Academic Affairs Assigned Time grants).

2. The Professional Development Council's regular advisory statements and annual report shall be addressed to the President, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Academic Senate.
3. Clerical support for the Council's activities shall be determined by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
4. The Council shall hold at least three meetings per semester.

 

 

3. Activities of the Year

 

Meetings

 

As set forth in the 2014-2015 annual report the PDC was scheduled to meet four times in Fall 2015 and four times in Spring 2016, on the 2^nd Thursday of each month during the Fall and Spring semesters (September, October November, December, February, March, April & May), from 12:30-2:00 PM.  The April meeting was cancelled to allow PDC members more space in their schedules to score and rank DRC applications for the May meeting.

 

Major Activities

This is a report on the work of the University PDC for academic year 2015-2016. The council continued to build on the work it did in AY 2014-2015, and considered ways it might support broader discussions about adapting a Teacher-Scholar Model (TSM) (Boyer 1999) to the context of SF State.  As a part of this work, the PDC engaged in the following two activities.

A)  Offered to Serve in a Consultative Role to the Academic Senate on Matters Related to Professional Development

 

The PDC Chair, Jennifer Shea, attended the October 20^th Senate Executive Committee Meeting to talk about the PDC and offered to work with Senate committees in a consultative role, as needed and if requested.  The Chair of the Senate’s Strategic Issues Committee (SIC) reached out after Jennifer’s presentation to see if there was a way the PDC could be involved, but a fit was not identified at that time.  The PDC remains open to serving in a consultative role to the Senate in the future.

 

B) Contributions to the Faculty Retreat (January 2016)

The PDC hosted an Interactive Workshop titled “Approaches to Striking the Balance:  DRC Awardees Share their Work”? at the Faculty Retreat on January 24, 2016.  It was co-hosted by Jennifer Shea and PDC member and past DRC award recipient Fang-yu Chou.  Fang-yu talked about the work she did with the DRC funding she received and how she used that opportunity to balance her research, teaching, and service responsibilities.  The remainder of the session was a facilitated discussion with attendees, who asked questions about various strategies for striking the balance at SF State

 

In addition, the PDC reviewed two rounds of DRC applications, reviewing 26 applications in Fall 2015 and another 26 applications in Spring 2016.  The PDC came to consensus on the rankings for the top ten applications in each semester and submitted those to Faculty Affairs, who makes the awards.  The PDC spent much of its time this year revising the calls for applications and scoring rubrics to facilitate the review process.

 

 

Committee Member Attendance

 

PDC member meeting attendance remained strong for the second year in a row (it was poor 2013-2014, resulting in limited representation of university units).  Overall attendance in 2015-2016 helped ensure a broad representation of units across campus.

 

Representative Participation 2015-16

HSS                            7 of 7 meetings                       

Ethnic Studies             5 of 7 meetings (conflict with original representative’s teaching schedule in Fall 15)

LCA                            7 of 7 meetings

COB                            7 of 7 meetings

COSE                          4 of 7 meetings (conflict with teaching schedule in Spring 16)

GCE                            7 of 7 meetings

Library                        0 of 7 meetings (seat vacant)

ExCom appointment    6 of 7 meetings

Provost appointment   3 of 7 meetings (excused from meetings where DRC rankings are discussed)

CSL Steering Cmte.    7 of 7 meetings    

CTFD Adv. Board      6 of 7 meetings

Dean of FA                 4 of 7 meetings (excused from meetings where DRC rankings are discussed)

AVP Research            3 of 7 meetings (excused from meetings where DRC rankings are discussed; position vacant for most of Spring 16)

 

 

Future Directions

 

So long as the Chancellor’s office funds the Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Fund for AY 2017/2018, the PDC will oversee a two-tiered process of reviewing applications and making grant awards.  In that process, each College determines its own process for the first level of review and making awards, with the number of awards being based on the number of faculty FTEs in the College.  The second level of review is conducted by the PDC, who awards the remaining grants based on a review of the top-ranked proposals from all of the Colleges taken together.  In AY 2017/2018, the PDC will continue to make improvements to facilitate the review process.

 

Maricel Santos, the CTFD representative to the PDC, was unanimously voted as the Chair of the PDC for AY 2016/2017.  Maricel will also serve as the PDC’s representative to the CTFD Advisory Board.  The PDC will meet on the 2^nd Thursday of each month during the Fall (September 8, October 13, November 10 & December 8) and Spring (February 9, March 9, April 13 & May 11) semesters of the academic year 2016-17, from 12:30 – 2:00 pm. 

 

 

 

PDC Members, 2015 – 2016, as of May 2016*:

 

Name	Designation
Yitwah Cheung	Elected College Rep
Falu Bakrania	Elected College Rep
Deanna Wang	Elected College Rep
Nan Alamilla Boyd	Elected College Rep
Fang-yu Chou	Elected College Rep
Larry Horvath	Elected College Rep
Jennifer Shea	Selected by Community Service Learning (CSL) Steering Committee
Maricel Santos	Selected by Center for Teaching and Faculty Development (CTFD) Advisory Board
Maricel Santos	Selected by EXCOM of Academic Senate
Alvin Alvarez	Selected by Provost
Sacha Bunge	Ex -Officio, Dean of Faculty Affairs & Professional Development
Michael Scott*	AVP for Research and Sponsored Programs

* Alison Sanders served in Fall 15, as Acting AVP for Research and Sponsored Programs