Faculty Handbook

Section 1 - Welcome to Bakersfield College!

Page Contents:

Bakersfield College Mission
Meeting the Needs of College Students
The Faculty Handbook: Overview & Purpose
References

Bakersfield College (BC) first opened its doors on the Bakersfield High School campus in 1913, serving 13 enrolled students. In 1956, the College moved to its present location, serving 1,400 students. Today, the College serves over 40,000 students from diverse economic, cultural, and educational backgrounds. One of the distinguishing features of Bakersfield College is its rich history, accompanied by strong community roots. Generations of families have made Bakersfield College their preferred higher education choice. In 2013, Bakersfield College celebrated its centennial year and building upon these 100 years of excellence, Bakersfield College continues to contribute to the intellectual, cultural, and economic vitality of the communities it serves by assisting students to attain degrees and certificates, workplace skills, and preparation for transfer. Our rigorous and supportive learning environment fosters students’ abilities to think critically, communicate effectively, and demonstrate competencies and skills in order to engage productively in their communities and the world. More specific details about BC’s history are available through documents found on the campus website. The most recent Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (ISER) for accreditation, the Educational Master Plan and the Strategic Directions plan are available on the Bakersfield College website.

Bakersfield College Mission

As a public community college in the state of California, Bakersfield College provides opportunities for students from diverse economic, cultural, and educational backgrounds to attain Associate and Baccalaureate degrees and certificates, workplace skills, and preparation for transfer. Our rigorous and supportive learning environments promote equity and foster students’ abilities to think critically, communicate effectively, and demonstrate competencies and skills in order to engage productively in their communities and the world.

We will accomplish our mission by focusing on the following core values:

Learning: We foster curiosity, inquiry, critical thinking, and creativity within a safe and rigorous academic environment so that we might be empowered to radically transform our community into one that gives voice and power to all people.
Integrity: We cultivate an ethical and moral consciousness which places the collective well-being and health above the self; this principled environment allows for open, constructive conversations and teaches us to trust each other’s vision so that we will be useful and effective in providing support, resources, and encouragement.
Wellness: We believe health and wellness to be integral, foundational elements of learning; we understand that a holistic education improves all aspects of society and the individual, including the mind, body, and spirit; through education, we will positively impact the health of the individual, natural environment and the global community.
Diversity: We insist that diversity be valued and promoted, recognizing that multiple perspectives lead to a better education and knowledge of the world; listening and witnessing different experiences helps us to understand and contextualize power and privilege related to ability, gender, national origin, race, religion, sexuality, socioeconomic status in terms of access and barriers to resources and opportunities.
Community: We commit to the well-being of all members of our community; we maintain strong ties with the surrounding community, and we respond to their needs by serving as an open institution which engages all students, faculty, and staff; in our college, we have built and continue to build an environment in which all members participate as a community through democratic engagement.
Sustainability: We recognize our responsibility for continuing and maintaining this institution which has been shaped by over a century of resolute and tenacious labor and judicious foresight, so we unceasingly place our energies into imagining how we might sustain and renew our human, fiscal, and environmental resources into the future.

Meeting the Needs of College Students

As faculty members, however, you may be interested in the student population being served. In general, however, the typical Bakersfield College student is a Hispanic woman in her early twenties attending classes part-time during the day. Like her fellow students across the campus and across the country, this typical student undoubtedly works at least part-time, juggles a myriad of other life obligations, and may lack sufficient academic preparation.

In addition to these external characteristics, typical college students more routinely share other ancillary traits as well. Many of our students have little confidence in their ability because they have little experience in or even expectation about the academic arena. Since they do not know the system, even logistical things such as arranging a good schedule or seeking a waiver or exemption can become barriers to success. At the same time, these adult working students also need to see the reason behind the learning: how will the course content help them in their jobs or to meet their goals? Motivation becomes something faculty members need to help the students master. In short, faculty members need to become more and more intentional and strategic about student engagement with the learning process. That is, faculty must become partners with students in assisting them to become active learners.

Attewell and Lavin (2007) explained that this shift in student needs and characteristics is a shift in expectations about college. In the past—when many of today’s educators were in school—students fit themselves into the academic life. Now, for most college students “a college education is something that has to be fitted into the rest of life” (Attewell & Lavin, 2007, B16). Thus, we see more short-term classes, evening and weekend sessions, and online delivery with its promise of access 24/7. Not only do our students need to adjust to new challenges and tasks while attending classes, but many faculty members also need to adjust their expectations about the students who are sitting in their classrooms.

To engage and motivate students as well as dispense discipline knowledge requires flexibility and creativity from faculty. This shift in expectations is actually the paradigm shift from teaching to learning initially discussed by Barr and Tagg (1995). The basic premise now is to plan not what the faculty member will do in class each day, but what the students will do. These student activities are also now directly tied to student learning outcomes and assessments.

Lang (2007) makes it sound simple: “The best teachers are the ones who take the time to explain to the students why they are learning what they are learning.” Knowles, Holton, and Swanson (2005) suggest that the teacher nowadays becomes a facilitator or change agent who involves the students in the following elements of effective learning:

Preparing the listener,
Establishing a climate conducive to learning,
Creating a mechanism for mutual planning,
Diagnosing the needs for learning,
Formulating program objectives (content) that will satisfy these needs,
Designing a pattern of learning experiences,
Conducting these learning experiences with suitable techniques and materials, and
Evaluating the learning outcomes and re-diagnosing the learning needs.

As an instructor at Bakersfield College, you consistently attend to these elements of learning and student engagement every time you prepare a syllabus and step through a classroom door. You are the one who sets the learning agenda and the learning attitude that will be evident in the classroom. BC appreciates the education, expertise, and experience you bring to the campus and values the passion, commitment, and dedication you share with students. Taken together, this mastery of content and learning strategies become the art of teaching.

The Faculty Handbook: Overview & Purpose

However, there are other elements inherent in effective teaching: the logistics or mechanisms involved with classroom management and record keeping. To make the artistry work, the teacher needs to verify enrollments, so students get credit for what they learn. The teacher also needs to address such matters as copying materials, meeting standards, giving directions, following rules and procedures, submitting grades, being evaluated, parking without getting a ticket, knowing who to call to ask questions, and then asking questions. The mandates that must be addressed are spelled out in the California Education Code and then made operational through the District’s Board Policy Manual.

Frustration levels rise when it takes too much time to find the right form or to determine what office the completed form needs to be returned to. To make things more challenging, although every campus addresses all these mechanical aspects of teaching, no two places will do so in the exact same way. So even if you have been teaching for years and years, knowing all the processes and routines you must follow at Bakersfield College may be new to you. If these logistical matters become overwhelming, they can even start to undermine the artistry each teacher is able to master.

The purpose of this Faculty Handbook, therefore, is to provide answers and overviews about these logistical aspects of teaching that cannot be ignored. This Handbook explains processes and procedures and even provides access to necessary forms. The goal is that this Handbook will anticipate your questions, so you can find answers when you need them. Whether your question is about your paycheck, a field trip you are planning, or how to secure a substitute, the answer will hopefully be in here. Of course, you can always ask your Department Chair and/or your Area Administrator for help too.

Once you master these more mechanical aspects of teaching, you can devote your time and energy to exploring the other opportunities on campus, whether it is attending a campus workshop or participating in a collaborative project. Many of these options are supported by efforts by the Professional Development and the Assessment committees. Most of these opportunities are announced via campus Email—along with reminders about crucial deadlines and necessary regulations. Do you have a campus Email account? If not, you can look up how to secure one in the Handbook!

This is a living document; your feedback on aspects of the Handbook that you found helpful and recommendations for improvements are welcome and should be shared with your Chair and/or Dean.

References

There are a number of documents and bodies that guide the work of faculty, many of which will be mentioned in this handbook. To understand your rights and obligations as a BC faculty member, you need to be familiar with the following:

Academic Senate: Represents the faculty to the Administration and the Board of Trustees with respect to academic and professional matters (AB 1725) outside the scope of the bargaining unit/the faculty union.
Board Policy: The KCCD Board Policy Manual consists of PDF files for 8 chapters specified on the webpage. Policies govern operations, instruction, business services, employment and administrative matters throughout our District including the activities of Bakersfield College, Cerro Coso Community College and Porterville College.
Community College Association (CCA): The Kern chapter of the Community College Association, the faculty union responsible for negotiating working conditions and representing all faculty, full-time and part-time, in the Kern Community College District via the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Kern Community College District (KCCD): Kern Community College District (Kern CCD) serves communities over 24,800 square miles in parts of Kern, Tulare, Inyo, Mono, and San Bernardino counties through the programs of Bakersfield College, Cerro Coso College and Porterville College. Governed by a locally elected Board of Trustees, the District's Colleges offer programs and services that develop student potential and create opportunities for our citizens.
InsideBC: Portal that provides access to documents and other resources for faculty.