Brown Bag Seminar:
Thanks to Jim Fowler for leading a discussion on "The Gingrich Speakership in Context", a paper by David W. Rohde, Michigan State University

Task Force Meeting:
Attending: Lynn Lehle, Marilyn Mote-Yale, Glen Hunt, Lisa Perez, Ron Fletcher, Judy Nwachie, Karry Evans, Cecile Durish, Carolyn Shaw, Stefan Haag, Gaye Lynn Scott, Ed Mullen, Amber Archuleta-Lucero, Vicke Hammond, Hugh Moore, Jim Fowler, Paz Pena, Frank J. Garrahan, Chair.

Committee Reports:

Adjunct Faculty Committee -- The committee members continue to interview applicants. Dr. Nwachie, committee chair, follows through with the Dean (who staffs adjunct faculty) in ensuring that the eligibility list is up-to-date.

Professional Development -- The committee members are seeking ideas for future professional development offerings within the discipline. If you have suggestions or want to help organize either a brown bag seminar or a Saturday professional development symposium, contact Paz Pena, committee chair.

Faculty Evaluation Committee -- The committee members are in the middle of examining adjunct faculty portfolio submissions. Adjunct faculty evaluations must be completed and on the Dean's desk by March 2. If you have not yet submitted your portfolio or completed your online input form, it's now or never.

Assessment of Student Learning Committee -- The assessment instrument was administered in the Fall by 54 Government faculty members (some faculty did not administer the exam). The results are attached. The general conclusion of the committee members and the Task Force is that our assessment instrument is flawed and we need to make some decisions about how to assess student learning in the future.

The committee chair suggested that we consider developing a short answer/short essay assessment test to be administered each Fall semester. One approach for developing and grading such an instrument is borrowed, in part, from Johnson County Community College. In this approach, learning outcomes are defined (and we have already done this), questions are developed based on those learning outcomes, rubrics are developed for grading the assessment questions (the rubric would range from 1 to 4), and a standard of "success" is agreed upon by the Task Force (for instance, 70% of students should score 2 or higher on each of the questions).

In the JCCC rubric (ranging from 1 to 4), 1 reflects lower level learning on a given question (e.g., something is identified correctly) and 4 reflects a higher level of learning (e.g., an ability to analyze, explain, compare and contrast, etc.). See the attachment titled "Culture and Ethics Outcomes" for a fuller illustration of this approach. (Note that this is merely an example, borrowed from the JCCC Georgraphy Department, of how our Government outcomes may be measured.)

Ideas for possible short essay questions are also attached.

At the next Task Force meeting (March 23), the members will make some decisions about all of this. The questions to be considered at that time will include:

• How many sections should take the test? Should all sections be included, or randomly selected sections?
• Should it be administered as a post-test, or should the questions be embedded in faculty members' exams throughout the semester?
• How many short answer questions should constitute a valid assessment instrument?

If you have ideas or opinions on any of this, you are invited to attend the next Task Force meeting. If you cannot attend, please communicate your suggestions to Marilyn Mote-Yale, Committee Chair, at the Northridge Campus (223-4054 or mmyale@).

Chair's Report

Current Reorganization -- Staffing of adjuncts for the Fall 2001 semester will be the responsibility of the Task Force Chair. An online system (eSelf) has been developed for adjunct faculty to communicate their teaching preferences and for the Chair to staff accordingly. Information will be provided to adjuncts concerning when faculty members can go into the system to designate their preferences (the time line will begin with MSTAs, then highest priority to hire, then the remainder of the eligibility list).

The campus-based position of Associate Dean has recently been created and these positions are to be filled by March 1. Most campuses will have two Associate Deans who will be available to respond to student problems (scheduling, instructional problems, cancelled classes, etc.).

Reminders and Announcements -- Check your professional development hours online (a link is available from the Government Department web page). Under current rules, any faculty member who has not completed his/her required professional development hours (four hours for adjunct faculty, twelve hours for full-time faculty) will not receive a step raise.

In an effort to make the Task Forces more democratic, any adjunct faculty member who receives "excellent" ratings on both their student evaluations and their portfolio evaluations this year (i.e., any adjunct who is an MSTA or is on the highest priority to hire list) will be invited to be full voting participants in the Task Force next year. This includes voting in the selection of a Task Force Chair. The election of next year's Task Force Chair will be conducted by the Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences in April.

Summer staffing is currently under way and is being done by the Dean.

The Government Department hopes to hire two new full-time faculty members. Applications are being accepted and interviews should be scheduled by the end of March.

Ed Mullen is developing an honors internship course. See attachment.

The next Task Force meeting is scheduled for March 23. At this meeting we will address student assessment and develop the textbook list for the 2001-2002 academic year. If you have preferences regarding textbooks, please bring them to the meeting or send an e-mail with textbook information (author, title, publisher, ISBN) to Frank J. Garrahan, Task Force Chair (frankjg@).

The annual TCCTA convention will be held in Dallas this year on March 1-3. ACC will reimburse faculty members for registration fees. Rex Peebles will fund one night and one per diem for anyone who attends, "as long as the money lasts".

Schedule for Government sections: Friday, 11:15, Theodore Lowi "The 2000 Elections: It's Not Who Won That's Important &endash; It's What Won" and Stephen Rockwell, "Election 2000: The Role of the Media in the Presidential Election". Friday, 2:30, Karen O'Connor, "Why America Is Not Ready for a Woman President". Saturday, 9:00, Anthony Champagne and Edward Harpham, "Texas Politics in the 21st Century."

Travel Requests

The Task Force approved travel requests for Lynn Lehle, Stefan Haag, Karry Evans, Carolyn Shaw, and Ed Mullen.

Next Meeting: Friday, March 23