As students return to school routine of buying text books, back packs, writing supplies, and other essentials, Fresno City College administration, faculty and staff kicked off the 2009/2010 academic session, with a convocation in the college theater last Thursday to prepare for the many changes taking place.
Tom Crow, Chancellor of the State Center Community College District and later, Cynthia Azari, FCC President, reviewed issues affecting the college, particularly the impact of the economic downturn as well the institution’s plans for coping with the shortfalls.
Describing the budget as the “worst California has ever passed”, Crow called it “very challenging”. Among the implications of the present budget is an elimination of growth incentive which previously rewarded high performing colleges. There has also been in a cut in categorical funds and further cuts are expected. “We’ll be seeing mid-year cuts,” Crow said. He added that the district is looking at its long-range impact. Crow identified the districts primary goals as SCCCD goals as “maintaining student access, the permanent staff, and a balanced budget.
Dr. Cynthia Azari, President of Fresno City College explained that the college’s funding is 2.5 percent or $1, 824,497 million less than it was last year. FCC normally operated at nearly $88 million-a-year budget, and previous cuts had reduced that budget to $72, 979,869. This year’s budget is $71,155,379.
She added that FCC has already made the cuts needed to reduce its budget and is prepared in case an anticipated mid-year cut reduces the budget by 3.5%. Among the steps the college has taken are not filling or delaying some full-time and three part-time positions that are vacant, reducing co-curricular budgets by 10 percent and the student aides’ budget by 15 percent. Additionally, library hours and tutorial services have been reduced, and the Spring.2010 schedule has been pared down. There will also be a fewer banquets dinners; instead, “We will host receptions that offer snacks,” Azari said.
Tony Cantu, Vice President for Academic Affairs, introduced retiring and new faculty and staff, newly tenured faculty as well as significant accomplishments achieved by faculty and staff in the last year. He said the college will begin its self study in preparation for the 2011 Accreditation process.
Representative of FCC’s three constituents briefly addressed the faculty: Ernie Garrcia, president of the Classified Senate, Linda DeKruif for the Academic Senate and Sergey Saluschev of the Associated Student Government
Don Lopez, the director of technology, went over the further integration of the internet to help the school meet its budget into the schools emphasizing a strong reliance on email communication as “how we will communicate with you. It should have been how we did it years ago.” To facilitate these plans all the staff already have a district email account and students are receiving one upon admission to the college. He did address the concern that not everyone would be comfortable in the change of communication system saying, “for those of us that don’t like email, get over it.”
Maggie Taylor, nursing instructor, gave an overview of CurricuNet, the system that FCC will be using for curriculum updates and revision. Christin Miktarin narrated a slide show review the progress of construction on the Old Admin Building since it began last August.
The updates came to a close with Merilin Gehring and Sean Henderson unveiling the centennial celebration’s new logo and a sneak peak at the events being planned. a fundraising ball on December 31, 2009 will ring in the new year and kick of Fresno City College’s 100th anniversary celebrations.
Also planned are a 10k run from FCC to FSU (which started on the FCC campus), a Cen-Tree walking tour with information about historic trees on campus, and a joint library dinner hosted by FCC, FSU, and Fresno County Libraries. Other ideas to commemorate the centennial include a coffee table book, a statue, and a time capsule.
