Glendale
Community College
NCA
Self-Study Report, January 2002
Human Resources—Staff Demographics
During Fall 2001, GCC employed over 550 full-time employees and over 650
adjunct faculty. Employees belong
to one of the following groups: Residential Faculty (RFP), Professional Staff
(PSA), Management, Administrative and Technological (MAT), Maintenance and
Operations (M&O), Crafts, College Safety, Specially Funded, Athletic
Specialist, Chancellor's Executive Council (CEC), Adjunct Faculty, and student
workers. The employees of the College work under the
policies of their respective employee groups. Information is available on the web at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/hrweb/emplrel/polhtml/index.html
Each policy manual
outlines compensation, benefits, working conditions, avenues for grievance,
evaluation requirements, professional growth options and resources, and other
policies of importance to each group.
In addition, there are policies that apply to all employee groups found
in the “Common Pages.” Additional
information is available on the web at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/hrweb/emplrel/polhtml/pol0002/allempol.html
|
Employees by
Gender and Ethnicity
(10/26/2001) |
|||||||||
|
Employee Group |
Male |
Female |
White |
Black |
Hispanic |
Asian |
Native American |
Not Identified |
Total |
|
Residential Faculty |
131 |
130 |
218 |
12 |
16 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
261* |
|
CEC (President) |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
MAT |
21 |
27 |
40 |
0 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
48 |
|
PSA |
45 |
123 |
112 |
13 |
38 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
168 |
|
M&O |
27 |
9 |
16 |
0 |
18 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
36 |
|
Crafts |
8 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
|
College Safety |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Specially Funded |
6 |
5 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
|
Athletic Specialist |
2 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
|
Short-term Non-Faculty |
5 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
|
Totals |
247 |
307 |
418 |
26 |
85 |
10 |
9 |
6 |
554 |
Source: District
HR Office
* 245 budgeted
faculty positions of which 232 are RFP and 13 OYO/OSO, plus 16 OYO/OSO
unbudgeted, for a total of 261
Faculty
All instructional
faculty are certified by the State Board of Directors for Community Colleges of
Arizona (State Board). Faculty
teaching academic courses must have a Master's degree or higher from an
accredited college/university, with at least 24 semester/36 quarter hours of
upper-division and/or graduate-level credit in the discipline taught. Faculty teaching occupational courses
must have a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university, with 3 or
more years of directly-related occupational experience in the discipline being
taught, or an Associate's Degree/64 semester hours from an accredited
college/university with 5 or more years of directly- related occupational
experience in the discipline taught.
Presently, faculty must complete “The Community College Course” (EDU250)
before the Lifetime or Regular teaching certificate can be issued by the State
Board. In several disciplines,
such as Computer Science, Counseling, Electronics, Library, Mathematics,
Nursing, and Religious Studies, the Maricopa County Community College District
Governing Board has approved additional requirements based on the
recommendations of their respective Instructional Councils. The State Board certification
requirements can be viewed in detail at
http://www.stbd.cc.az.us/aztchcert.htm
The
educational level of residential faculty is concentrated at the Master’s (64%)
and Doctoral (26%) degree levels.
58% of permanent, residential faculty have been employed by MCCCD for 10
or more years. The majority of
faculty positions are designated as instructional (95%), with the rest
classified as service faculty, primarily librarians and counselors. Over the past 10 years, the number of
budgeted faculty has increased by 20%, from 204 to 245, plus an additional 16
OYO/OSO faculty in 2001-02. During
Fall 2001, full-time faculty generated 70% of daytime FTSE (full-time student
equivalent) and 30% of evening FTSE.
Educational background data are also available for non-teaching staff.
|
Residential
Faculty by Age (10/26/2001) |
||
|
Age |
Number of Faculty |
Percent |
|
20’s |
7 |
3% |
|
30’s |
45 |
17% |
|
40’s |
64 |
25% |
|
50’s |
109 |
42% |
|
60’s |
35 |
13% |
|
70’s |
1 |
0% |
|
Total |
261 |
100% |
Source: District
HR Office
Achievements
since 1992
·
Increased the
number of faculty by 20% from 204 (1991-92) to 245 budgeted positions in
2001-02
Team Analysis
Team 4 conducted an
initial analysis of factors likely influencing areas of improvement and their
relationship to the measures of success, which included faculty and staff
demographics that reflect the diversity of our community and students, student
satisfaction with faculty and staff, and faculty and staff satisfaction with
their working environment. The
inflexibility of salary and classification schedules and District’s
time-consuming and cumbersome staffing processes were seen as weaknesses. Even though salary for adjunct faculty
is increasing, the team agreed that non-competitive salaries for adjunct
faculty pose a threat, while the dedication of faculty and staff is a definite
strength. A potential opportunity
is represented by the wealth of knowledge of retired persons living in the West
Valley, perhaps to contribute in ways such as tutors, guest lecturers, or as
adjunct faculty.
Areas for
Improvement
·
Increase diversity of faculty and staff
Recommendations
· Encourage the Governing Board to increase
adjunct salaries, provide medical benefits for adjuncts (not family), and
recruit more diverse adjunct faculty
·
Request
District evaluate salary schedules and job descriptions for all employee groups
Content
Area Validation
GCC
has an experienced, qualified faculty with the credentials and certification
mandated by the State Board to teach in their respective disciplines. The College will need to set targets
for diversity of faculty and staff based on one or more of these reference
points: community diversity, current student diversity, projected student
diversity, or others to be considered.
Human Resources—Staffing
Each
department and unit requests funding for new positions through the annual
budget process. The College
Faculty Staffing Advisory Committee considers the specific faculty staffing
requests from each department and recommends priority order to the President. The Budget Development Committee (BDC)
and its subcommittees recommend the number of faculty to hire, along with all
other staffing requests, to the President. Among the criteria considered in this process is the
relationship of each request to the mission and strategic planning goals of the
College.
Faculty positions are
also considered in relation to the ratio of department FTSE to full-time
faculty (FTTE). According to RFP
policy, the day program (sections starting on or before 4:30 p.m.) must be
staffed by residential faculty at 90% of the average enrollment for the fall
and spring terms. GCC’s faculty
ratios for Spring 2001 and Fall 2001 exceeded the 90:10 requirement. Of the 245 budgeted faculty, 215
faculty positions were required to meet the 90% staffing level.
The College is
committed to provide equal opportunity for qualified employees and applicants
for employment. In addition to the
District’s diversity hiring practices, the College advertises for full-time
positions in a variety of publications and formats to attract “the best and the
brightest.”
The District's Office of Employee Services
facilitates the process for full-time employees, while screening committees are
formed at the College and are usually chaired by the hiring manager. Information is available on the web at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/hrweb/index.html
GCC endorses and adheres to the District's
principles of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) that encompass both the letter
and spirit of the laws that prohibit discrimination in employment. Information is available about
Maricopa's EEO program (including procedures for filing a complaint of
discrimination), and its commitment to affirmative action in hiring at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/legal/eeo.html
The College puts forth
a variety of efforts to reach its affirmative-action hiring goals. The efforts are multidimensional and
address both the internal and external communities. Part-time and adjunct positions are advertised locally as
needed. In addition, an online
recruitment page for adjunct faculty positions at the College can be found on
the web at
http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/hiring/
Adjunct faculty
positions are filled from a pool of applications maintained by Human Resources
and/or each department in which the applicant is seeking employment. Practices related to recruitment,
selection, and hiring of non-faculty employees are consistently applied. Residential faculty personnel files are
maintained at the District HR Office and adjunct faculty files are maintained
at the College HR Office.
Achievements since 1992
· Established in 1996, the Commission on Diversity's goal is to effect additional improvements. Consisting of students, faculty, staff, and community members, the recommendations of this commission have been evaluated and, where appropriate, implemented
· Instead of the District Office, GCC now conducts its own advertising for all faculty and staff positions
· The College implemented a bi-annual Adjunct Faculty Job Fair to recruit adjunct faculty
Team Analysis
Team 4 conducted
an initial analysis of factors likely influencing areas of improvement and
their relationships to the measures of success and determined that the
College’s new hiring procedures, complicated by District practices and
reorganization over the last several years, affected the quality, quantity, and
availability of diverse applicants.
An inadequate district-wide pay rate for adjuncts and a lengthy and
cumbersome hiring process were seen as weaknesses. Pay issues in general seem to generate much discussion and
some negative comment. The College
is hampered by its lack of control over these issues.
Areas for Improvement
· Improve quality/quantity of applicant pools
· Increase employee diversity and retention
· Improve working conditions and pay for adjunct faculty
· Compensate employees for committee work (where appropriate)
· Encourage managers to allow support staff to participate in hiring processes
Recommendations
· Encourage the Governing Board to increase adjunct salaries, resources, offices, and benefits
· Expedite the District Office’s hiring processes
· Increase recruitment efforts for all job categories
· Request timely hiring processes at District and College
· Develop “Grow our own” faculty and staff programs
Content Area Validation
GCC is proportionately
understaffed compared to other colleges its size. A combination of strategies to increase budgeted amount per
FTSE in order to add new employees and to relieve overworked personnel needs to
be pursued.
Human
Resources—Planning
At present, human
resources planning is tied to the annual planning and budgeting cycle of the
District. Each year, College
departments review their accomplishments from the prior year, examine the plans
for the current year, and project needs and strategies for the upcoming
year. Requests that clearly and
concisely meet the mission of the College are funded, taking into account the
budget constraints placed on the campus.
Currently, however,
many department chairs and managers think in multi-year terms to better
anticipate new needs. Department
chairs know, for example, that when they go before the College Faculty Staffing
Advisory Committee that they must report not only enrollment shifts over the
past several years, but they must also outline what they see in the way of
program needs for the future that will require full-time faculty
leadership. Unfortunately, they
must often build a program with adjunct faculty in order to eventually justify
the need for full-time faculty.
As new buildings have
been added to the campus, new operational dollars were added to the College
budget as well ($3.13 per remodeled square foot and $12.50 per new construction
square foot). In many instances,
these dollars have helped to fund additional grounds and custodial personnel,
have helped to pay for the increased supervisory responsibilities of the
department chairs (per RFP formula), and have helped to pay for the adjunct
faculty to staff many of the classes.
The formula was not designed, however, to fund the full-time,
non-teaching personnel often needed to support the added capacity. Despite funding increases, the
resources allocated to the College by the District budget formulas do not
provide the staffing ratios the College prefers. This will remain an important strategic item, moving the
College and the District into a planning process that spans multiple years.
Achievements since 1992
· The College has experienced tremendous growth, adding 41 RFP faculty and 63 non-faculty employees
· Compensation for all employee groups, including adjunct faculty, has improved. Salaries and benefits are among the best in the state’s and nation’s community-college districts
· Bi-annual Adjunct Faculty Job Fair to recruit new faculty
Team Analysis
Team 4 conducted an
initial analysis of factors likely influencing areas of improvement and their
relationships to the measures of success, identifying the adequately-trained support
staff and the high percentage of courses taught by full-time faculty during the
calendar year as strengths. The
team also noted that the number of unfilled PSA, Crafts, M&O, MAT, and
Safety positions could provide information to assist in human-resource
planning. Threats include the
College’s uncompetitive salaries in several employee groups and its inability
to increase resources to fulfill desired community expectations. These are important, especially when
making budget decisions regarding human and financial resources. The team agreed that the quality of the
staff and its continued development were addressed adequately in the current
budget processes and funding. The
area of training and professional development does offer opportunities.
Areas for Improvement
· The current one-year planning cycle does not meet personnel planning needs
· Unbudgeted salaries and those for additional adjunct faculty deplete the majority of the College’s carry-forward funds, limiting other projects
· Continued growth in the West Valley, operation of the UCC at ASU West, and opening GCC North have raised issues about continued staffing and support for new sites and programs
· Adjunct faculty members in many disciplines (e.g., Computer Science, Mathematics, and English) have lucrative opportunities in education, business, and industry. Retention demands market-based salaries to attract and retain competent adjuncts
· A balance of personnel functions performed by the College and/or the District must be achieved. Since GCC is one of the lowest budgeted per-FTSE colleges in the District, it demands more from its employees. Continued emphasis must be placed on appropriate staffing, compensation, and use of technology to improve efficiency and maintain a capable workforce
Recommendations
· Lobby District through Meet and Confer to improve adjunct-faculty retention, e.g., competitive salaries, a step increase every fourth semester
· Encourage and extend employee service by extending the Active Retirement Program
· Consider longer planning cycles
Content Area Validation
The College will
continue to offer employee development opportunities and seek adequate staffing
ratios. The College needs to
consider a much more formal structure in adjunct faculty recruitment,
orientation, and long-term employment.
Human
Resources—Compensation and Benefits
Compensation and Benefits are administered
at the District level for all full-time and permanent part-time personnel, with
annual input through the Meet and Confer/Collaborative Policy Development processes
of all Employee Policy Groups. See
Policy Manuals on the web at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/hrweb/
The
Chronicle of Higher Education recently identified GCC as having the highest average faculty
salary in the state of Arizona, due in part to the large number of faculty who
are at the top of the salary schedule and also to the comparatively high salaries
paid to faculty.
Adjunct faculty,
part-time/temporary staff, and student workers do not receive any
health/absence benefits from either the College or the District. Their compensation rates are basically
determined at the District level, with the flexibility on campus to pay higher
minimum rates depending on departmental and/or unit needs for budgeted wages.
The District has, over the years, provided
consistent increases in salary for its employees. A history of negotiated increases and the impact on the
District budget is available on the web at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/business/budget/Meet&Confer/data/History.pdf
In addition, a comparison of salaries with
inflation can be found on the web at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/business/budget/Meet&Confer/data/10yr_chart.pdf
A
classification study will be conducted for all District MAT employees to assess
current salary and grade levels and titles during 2001-02, resulting in
possible changes in compensation.
The contract should be issued early Spring 2002.
MCCCD offers a
comprehensive Flex Benefit Program, developed by the Employee Benefits Advisory
Committee (EBAC). This committee
is comprised of representatives from all colleges and employee groups and works
closely with Human Resources to design the benefits packages and to select the
insurance providers. EBAC has to
make difficult decisions regarding costs, polling the various employee groups
on many occasions to gather feedback to make its recommendations to the
Governing Board.
The Flex Benefits
Program allows employees to select “cafeteria style” from an array of coverage
options. Each employee has a fixed
flex dollar amount and the cost of each service is deducted from that
amount. The balance is allocated
to the employee through payroll as a flex cash-out addition. Over the years, the amount of benefits
and percent of the cash-out have been adjusted to meet the rising costs of
insurance. More difficult
decisions regarding health benefits are on the horizon. Some of the newer MCCCD benefits
include family leave and benefits for unmarried partners. The Flex Program has been a positive
factor in recruiting new employees.
Achievements since 1992
· Implementation of variable salary scales for student and temporary employees allows supervisors to pay workers appropriately
· GCC piloted and is currently the only college using Kronos, an automated timekeeping system that reduces use of manual time cards for many of our larger departments
· The Flex Benefits Program provides for a Compassionate Leave bank, allowing employees to donate up to two hours of vacation or sick time to assist employees in need
· In 1999, the District implemented PeopleSoft--a human resources relational database software application
Team Analysis
Team 4 conducted an
initial analysis of factors likely influencing areas of improvement and their
relationships to the measures of success, which included increasing the size
and diversity of applicant pools for positions, reducing the number of
one-year-only (OYO) and one-semester-only (OSO) hires, and providing competitive
pay rates for adjunct faculty.
Major factors identified as affecting the measures of success include
the threat of competition for hiring teachers, technical experts, and certified
safety officers. The continued
provision of numerous paid holidays and accrued vacation hours and the
mechanism/process for determining increases to salaries and benefits were
viewed as strengths. Decreased
medical coverage and increased costs were seen as definite weaknesses. Wherever possible, the College will
have to address these key factors to improve equitable compensation and
benefits for all employees.
Areas for Improvement
· Addressing reduced numbers of qualified and diverse applicants
· Adapting PeopleSoft HR system to educational setting
· Competitive pay discrepancies on the Westside, primarily for adjunct faculty
· Mechanisms to pay adjuncts a higher rate than residential faculty for overloads
Recommendations
· Create partnerships with industry to help fill OYO and OSO positions
· Aid in recruitment and retention of faculty through partnerships and other exchanges
Content Area Validation
Compensation and
Benefits, as administered by the District, have provided salary increases,
inflation adjustments, and a competitive benefits package to all board-
approved employees. GCC must
provide creative planning and recruitment efforts to compete in an increasingly
competitive higher-education market.
Human Resources—Professional and Staff Development
Staff Development--New Employees
The Employee and Organizational Learning
Team provides “New Employee Orientations” monthly at the District Office. All new MCCCD employees are invited to
the orientation following their board approval date. These workshops are designed to familiarize employees with
MCCCD practices and policies and to acquaint them with their benefits package.
The College offers a
number of training opportunities throughout the year to support staff
development. The GCC Training and
Employee Development Department (TED) offers monthly Desktop Project Orientation
sessions for new and existing employees who need an office computer or an
upgrade. These sessions explain
the processes, as well as acquaint employees with the technology network. New employees also attend phone and
MEMO (e-mail) training, computer software applications training, and compliance
and diversity training.
The GCC Faculty
Development Committee hosts a “New Faculty Orientation” workshop during the
first week of accountability in August for new residential and OYO and OSO
faculty. Additional workshops are
scheduled throughout the year to acquaint new residential faculty and staff
with College policies to assist them in their assigned responsibilities.
Staff Development--All Employees
GCC’s professional
development programs include workshops, seminars, publications, projects, and
networking opportunities that provide the means to help all college employees
excel to achieve career growth, thereby improving the instructional process.
Professional
development activities are designed and supported by College departments (TED,
Innovation Center), committees (Faculty Development), and District-wide
initiatives (employee-groups’ Professional Growth, Faculty Development, Visions
Project, Creative Pathways, and Employee Renewal). Each employee group at the College has
professional-growth opportunities funded through District committees made up of
individuals from the respective employee groups.
Each employee policy
group encourages continued professional development and education through tuition
assistance, support to attend seminars and workshops, paid education leave or
sabbaticals, and funding for professional- growth projects. To distribute District-wide
professional-growth funds, each policy group has an application process
(described in the group policy manuals) and a committee made up of the
colleges’ representatives who evaluate the applications and award or deny
funding. These are largely on a
first come, first served basis.
The following chart shows the actual professional-growth expenditures by
GCC employees in 2000-01.
|
Employee
Group |
District Funds
Available |
Maximum Award/Year
per person |
GCC Employees Awarded |
Total Funds Spent by
GCC |
|
Faculty Campus
Travel Registration/Summer
Projects Sabbaticals |
$275,600 $259,400 $725,000 |
$2,500/3 yr varies $57,192 |
80 62 2 |
$54,184 $30,461 $9,520 |
|
Adjunct
Faculty |
$64,000 |
$500 |
20 |
$8,569 |
|
MAT |
$465,000 |
$1,200 |
20 |
$16,454 |
|
PSA |
$185,209 |
$1,000 |
25 |
$10,419 |
|
Crafts |
$85,000 |
n/a |
9 |
$6,548 |
|
M&O |
$68,000 |
$2,000/event |
31 |
$8,419 |
|
Safety |
$13,000 |
$1,200 |
0 |
$0 |
Source: GCC Business Office Travel Records
Professional
Development--Residential Faculty
The MCCCD Faculty Professional Growth
committee has 2 GCC representatives, each with specific responsibilities. One representative assists faculty in
advancing on the salary scale through a variety of academic and non-academic
efforts (graduate courses, attendance at conferences, workshops, and seminars,
and work-related experiences) and provides assistance in preparing sabbatical
proposals. The second
representative assists in preparing and submitting conference and workshop
applications for payment of registration fees and also assists with applications
for summer projects. These
activities are part of the “Registration/Summer Projects” portion of District
faculty funds.
The District allocates the College faculty
travel funds on a formula basis that are administered by a campus Faculty
Travel Committee. This committee
evaluates applications for travel costs associated with workshops, conferences,
seminars, and other projects. GCC
allocates a maximum of $2,500 in travel funds over a three-year cycle for each
faculty member, pending availability in any given year.
Professional Development--Adjunct
Faculty
Certified adjunct
faculty currently employed by the College are eligible to apply for
professional-growth funds in the semester they are teaching. All funds are on a reimbursement basis
only. Current adjunct faculty are
also eligible for tuition waivers at any MCCCD site, up to 6 credit hours per
semester.
Staff Development--Management,
Administration and Technology (MAT)
MAT employees are
eligible to apply for tuition and book reimbursement, workshops, conferences,
seminars, sabbatical leaves up to 6 months in duration, and degree stipends-at
the rate of 1 horizontal step, or a one-time stipend equivalent of a step, for
those at the top of the horizontal scale.
Staff Development--Professional Services
Staff (PSA)
PSA employees have
access to Professional Development to provide an incentive to encourage the
employee to maximize his/her knowledge.
Individual financial assistance may be given to eligible employees
taking upper-division courses at accredited institutions.
Paid Educational
Leave: The purpose of the Paid Educational Leave Program is to provide
employees the possibility to further their career and employment opportunities
through the completion of a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctoral Degree. An employee may take a maximum of a
one-year leave and will receive full (100%) salary from the District during
that leave. The District will
provide a pre-determined allocation to the College for personnel replacement
costs.
Internships: The
Professional Staff Internship Program is offered for employees who are
interested in professional development or technical training that will be
helpful in preparing them for administrative, management, and support
opportunities within the MCCCD. In
the Internship Program, an employee identifies areas of interest and designs
his/her own work plan under a mentor or mentor group where the program will be
directed and monitored in order to receive varied experiences and to integrate
community-college processes with practical experiences. An internship program may vary in
length but may not exceed 12 months.
An intern is not guaranteed a new position in the College/District by
virtue of program completion, but will be better prepared to compete for
available positions. The
Professional Staff Internship Program was funded at $139,500 to cover financial
assistance to employees in 2000-01.
Summer Conferences:
Each summer a conference that focuses on teaching tangible skills and tools
that can be brought back to the workplace is held for all District PSA
employees. Conference topics
motivate employees, and the District-wide meeting provides additional
opportunities to network.
Staff Development--M&O,
Crafts, Safety
Professional-growth
opportunities for M&O personnel include tuition waivers and funding for
seminars. Employees also have
salary increase incentives for continuing-education units. In-house training on special topics
(safety, etc.) is sometimes offered.
Flexible work schedules are available for employees who wish to attend
GCC classes. Cross training is
available for employees wishing to expand their job skills.
Achievements since 1992
· A major emphasis has been in the areas of training, including technology training and support and web-based information systems. Additional information can be found at the following web sites:
|
TED |
|
|
District |
|
|
“In the Loop” |
|
|
Web-based Testing |
|
|
Palette |
· An
overall increase in professional-growth funds for all employee groups
· Professional-Growth
funds made available to adjunct faculty in 1994
· Change in the focus of the PSA summer conference, from a primarily social event to a focus on professional development, offering the attendees job-related and personal-development skills
· The Faculty Development web page, which can be found on the web at
http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/facdev/
· Added Employee and Training and Development Department (TED) to provide more learning opportunities; TED offered 163 training workshops that were attended by 727 employees; 160 employees benefited from TED2U training in 2000-01
· Initiated the Desktop Project in 1996 as a way to improve employees’ technology skills
· All adjunct faculty given access to an Instructional Palette account and Virtual Office, providing access to Microsoft Office Suite and e-mail
Team Analysis
Team 4 conducted
an initial analysis of factors likely influencing areas of improvement and
their relationships to the measures of success, which included staff and
professional development programs, the number of participants, and employee
satisfaction. Occasions for
employee participation in meetings and other work-related events, including
wellness and fitness activities, are strengths and positively impact longevity,
career development, and promotion.
The lack of time to participate on committees, a lack of opportunities for
non-faculty and adjuncts, and insufficient funding were seen as
weaknesses. Inadequate time to do
necessary work is another weakness and impacts longevity, career development,
and promotion negatively.
Employees suffer burnout and do not have time to participate in
career-enhancing activities. A
lack of accountability and benefit for serving on committees were also seen as
weaknesses, but linking staff development with student learning offers an
opportunity.
Areas for Improvement
· Insufficient allocated to all professional-growth and development activities, especially considering that all colleges compete for these funds; District has been quite flexible in allowing the transfer of unused funds to areas with higher needs
· Cumbersome application process, with some employees not always knowing procedures or how to follow them
· More autonomy for faculty developing individual professional growth plans; in part necessary due to the increased costs of travel, registration fees, and increased opportunities to enhance professional development through distance learning
· Filling adjunct faculty positions with high-quality instructors and keeping them is a challenge because of limited development funds
· Currently, the District recognizes “specially-funded” in its own policy manual. They are not provided professional-growth funding. MAT has taken this issue to the Governing Board on several occasions, without resolution
· Although seminars are advertised on bulletin boards in the M&O office and in the shop, only a small number of these employees take advantage of seminar offerings and tuition waivers. With the exception of Crafts, funds available for professional growth are under-utilized. The perception among employees may be that getting release time for seminars is difficult
Recommendations
· Offer online training with facilitators
· Increase funding and offer training incentives for all groups
· Streamline professional-growth application processes
· Bring training to campus to minimize travel
· Fund a dedicated professional development day and time
· Identify and make available opportunities for professional growth
· Provide focused training for new staff, faculty, and adjunct faculty
· Increase the number of faculty mentors
· Encourage sharing professional-growth materials from conferences and workshops with others
· Create flexible delivery/off-campus training opportunities
· Use assessment results of professional-growth activities to apply new skills to increase student learning
· Encourage more use of Creative Pathways to cross-train staff
Content Area Validation
A wide range of
professional development programs and opportunities is available to all
employee groups. The formal
professional-growth application process and lack of time to attend activities
can be limiting factors in participation.
The competition for the District-wide allocations per policy group can
also limit funding opportunities.
To address some of these issues, GCC has developed an active training
and development department that provides a wide variety of on-campus programs
for those employees with limited time and funds.
Human
Resources—Performance Evaluations
In accordance with
employee group policies, performance evaluations for each employee are
completed on a regular cycle, according to the employee group policies. Employee groups include: RFP Faculty
(each year for the first 5 years, then every 3 years); Professional Staff
(annually); Management, Administrative, and Technological (annually); M&O
and Crafts (annually). Faculty
conduct annual Student Evaluations of Faculty Performance. These are maintained in the department
by individual faculty. Various
employee evaluation processes and forms are available on the web at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/hrweb/emplrel/polhtml/index.html
Achievements since 1992
· Implemented new Faculty Evaluation Plan (FEP) process, allowing full-time faculty to create their own evaluation plan after the first 2 years
· Developed and implemented a new PSA evaluation process
· Revised the staff evaluation process to provide ample opportunity for setting goals and enhancing performance
Team Analysis
Team 4 conducted
an initial analysis of factors likely influencing areas of improvement and
their relationships to the measures of success, which included the percentage
of evaluations completed per employee group and the low number of evaluation
appeals or challenges provide indications of a successful
performance-evaluation process.
The value of evaluations is sometimes questioned and viewed as a
weakness. Consideration should be
given to allow other individuals to participate in the evaluation process of
all employee groups. This would
provide further valuable information for the individual being evaluated.
Areas for Improvement
· Ensure that employees understand the evaluation process--a training session is needed to review the importance and processes of evaluation
· Develop systems to make sure employees are evaluated regularly
· Lack of Chair supervision of faculty evaluations after the first 2 years of employment. (After that time, each faculty member creates his/her own evaluation plan, focusing on areas for improvement. The Department Chair verifies the FEP has been completed and copies are sent to the Dean of Instruction.)
·
Recommendations
· Conduct research to discover where and how evaluations are effective
· Utilize multiple methods of evaluation (forms or formats, individuals and teams)
· Consider Department Chair input in the follow-up evaluation process
· As employee evaluations can and do enhance performance and support College goals, they should be an integral part of the College’s assessment efforts
Content Area Validation
The College should
consider linking part of its strategic planning processes to employee
evaluations. This would encourage
employees to set goals based on past performance evaluations and may enhance
all areas of performance and quality.
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Last revised 1/8/02. Direct feedback to l.hawbaker@gcmail.maricopa.edu. See Legal Disclaimer.