Accreditation Steering Committee Charter
| Group Name | Accreditation Steering Committee (ASC) |
| Type of Group | Shared Governance |
| Description/Purpose/Charge | The purpose of the ASC is to guide all matters of accreditation, ensuring alignment with the ACCJC standards, eligibility requirements, and commission policies, for the ongoing improvement of the College. This includes but is not limited to coordinating the self-study, addressing compliance requirements, and completing ACCJC reporting. |
| Reporting Relationships | The Accreditation Steering Committee is a Shared Governance Committee. The Committee makes regular reports to the Academic Senate, Planning and Budget Committee (PBC), and President’s Advisory Council (PAC). The ASC has one sub-committee, The Accreditation SLO Sub-committee. The ASC has one workgroup, the Shared Governance Workgroup. |
| Decision-Making Authority | The ASC co-chairs (Accreditation Liaison Officer and Accreditation Faculty Chair) have the authority to form and select an Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (ISER) development team(s). The ASC co-chairs have the authority to determine an ISER development plan and timeline. The ASC has the authority to recommend improvements to the College and the District for meeting eligibility requirements, accreditation standards, and commission policies. The ASC has the authority to form and dissolve subcommittees or workgroups to implement improvement plans, execute Quality Focus Essay (QFE) projects, or address ACCJC recommendations. |
| Membership Composition | Co-Chair, Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) Co-Chair, Accreditation Faculty Chair Past Accreditation Faculty Chair College President Academic Senate President Academic Senate President Elect/Past President Vice President of Administrative Services Vice President of Instruction Vice President of Student Services Classified Professional Representative Confidential Professional Representative Student Representative Standard I Representative Standard II Representative Standard III Representative Standard IV Representative |
| Terms of Membership | Per AP 3200, the President shall appoint the co-chairs (ALO and Accreditation Faculty Chair) for each accreditation cycle. Committee representatives are selected at the beginning of the 7-year accreditation cycle by the ASC co-chairs. ASC representatives will serve throughout the self-evaluation and team visit. Following the Commission action, representatives may continue serving throughout the remainder of the accreditation cycle or decide to step down, in which case the co-chairs will select a new representative. |
| Membership Process | At the beginning of the 7-year accreditation cycle, the ASC co- chairs will put out a college-wide call for accreditation participation and complete the following process: Co-chairs will form the ISER development team Select standard representatives from the team Request constituency representatives from their respective groups (e.g., CSEA, Associated Students, etc.) |
| Meeting Dates/Times | During the self-study, the committee will meet on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month from 3 – 4:30 p.m. Post-commission action, the ASC will meet as needed. |
| Meeting Procedures | The Co-Chairs and members of the ASC will adhere to shared governance best practices as follows: Co-chairs will call for agenda items a week in advance of the next meeting. Co-chairs will send meeting agendas in advance of meeting times. Co-chairs will organize meeting agendas to prioritize approvals, actions pending/required, reports. A quorum consists of 9 out of 16 ASC members who are in attendance. A representative may identify a substitute who will attend meetings when the representative is unavailable and notify the ASC co-chairs. A non-voting individual will take meeting minutes. It is the responsibility of the co-chairs to prepare and distribute the agenda, post minutes, conduct meetings, and report on the status of action items. |
| Consensus Process, Decision-Making, and Documentation | Clear agreements and public indications of understanding and support are critical to maintain forward progress for the work of the group. On occasion, and after sufficient dialogue, members will be asked to indicate their agreement to pursue a specific direction or to conclude discussion of a specific topic or action. This agreement will be based on “consensus,” or a general state of agreement. Consensus-based decision-making processes attempt to resolve each member’s concerns before asking for agreement and closing discussion. The consensus-taking process will proceed according to the following steps: 1. Any member or chair may ask for an indication of agreement. 2. Members will indicate their degree of support for the selected direction or action as follows: a) agreement, b) support for the good of the whole without necessarily completely embracing the item, or c) disagreement. A simple method for indicating degrees of support can be used such as “Thumb’s Up” to signify agreement, “Thumb’s to the Side” to indicate support for the good of the whole, and “Thumb’s Down” to indicate disagreement. 3. If there is no opposition indicated, the agreement will be recorded within the meeting minutes and discussion will conclude. 4. If opposition is indicated, discussion continues for an effort to address. To sustain forward progress, it may be necessary to record participant agreement related to a specific item without full member consensus. If certain participants have persistent concerns that prevent them from agreeing to the item, then a majority opinion is recorded, and the minority opinion is also captured in the meeting record/notes. The committee will follow the majority opinion. |
| Communication and Distribution of Materials | The ACS will distribute agendas, minutes and supporting documents to its members via email and by posting them to the Accreditation Canvas page. The ACS will communicate broadly to the College via the Accreditation webpage on the Cypress College website. |
| Charter Established/Revised Dates | Charter established on: September 2023 Charter last reviewed on: September 2023 Charter last revised/approved on: October 19, 2023 |
| Website | https://www.cypresscollege.edu/accreditation-2/accreditation- steering-committee/ |
| Current Roster | Bryan Ventura, Accreditation Liaison Officer Jill Bauer, Accreditation Faculty Chair Liana Koeppel, Former Accreditation Faculty Chair Scott Thayer, President Kathleen McAlister, Academic Senate President Damon de la Cruz, Academic Senate Past President Kathleen Reiland, VP of Instruction Paul de Dios, VP of Student Services Stephen Schoonmaker, (Acting) VP of Administrative Services Ashlynn Smith Ashari, Student Representative Belinda Allan, Classified Representative Kristi Valdez, Confidential Representative Annette Letcher, Standard I Representative Celeste Phelps, Standard II Representative Jose Sanchez, Standard III Representative Damon de la Cruz, Standard IV Representative |
| Brown Act | No |