Become a member of CPFA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Leaders of part-time community college faculty from across the state met October 3-4 to finalize the organization of the California Part-time Faculty Association by ratifying a constitution and electing an Executive Council.
The policy and goals of the California Part-time Faculty Association (CPFA) include abolishing the exploitation of part-time faculty by:
seeking legislative remedies;
protecting academic freedom for all faculty;
and acting as a coalition and resource base for various faculty organizations.
California Community Colleges form the largest system of higher education in the world with 106 colleges in 71 districts and a total enrollment of approximately one and one half million students.
It employs approximately 45,600 community college faculty members of which approximately 29,900 are part-time, outnumbering full-time faculty by a ratio of almost two to one.
This distortion of personnel resources results in
(1) an overload of administrative and advisory duties on full-time faculty;
(2) lack of technical support for part-time faculty-often not even the provision of office space for consultation with students; and
(3) adverse effects on student education by over-extended faculty, both full-time and part-time.
The new association grew out of the summit meeting at El Chorro Regional Park near San Luis Obispo last August where plans were laid for the formation of a professional organization to provide this large group of higher education faculty with its own voice.
CPFA's immediate plans include participation in statewide faculty leadership councils and creation of a speakers bureau, an expanded website, a statewide newspaper, an internet listserv, and a systematic rating of community college part-time faculty practices on benefits, wages, and professional working conditions.
Both part-time and full-time faculty are required to meet the same minimum qualifications for employment and to share the same professional responsibility for providing students with the highest quality instruction. Therefore, all faculty should participate in departmental functions, share organizational responsibilities and rewards, and have the same support services, office space, choice of educational materials, and opportunities for professional development and promotion.
At the present time, these conditions do not uniformly exist in the community colleges of California. The slow progress in achieving these goals has been partly responsible for forming this organization to uniquely address these issues of professional equity.
The new Executive Council members are:
Council Chair
Instructor of Philosophy, De Anza College; (Cupertino)
(650) 949-2287
Director of Administration
Emily Strauss; mstrauss@pipeline.com
Instructor of ESL, Mission and San Jose Colleges (Santa Clara and San Jose)
(408) 261-9620
Director of Finances
Timothy Dave; tim@vejurtek.com
Instructor of Physics, Contra Costa,
Solano, and San Jose Colleges
(San Pablo, Suisun, and San Jose),
Director of Membership
Gloria Heller; heller_gloria@smc.edu
Instructor of English, Santa Monica College
Director of Protocol and Public Relations
Lantz Simpson; simpson_lantz@smc.edu
Instructor of English, Santa Monica College
(310) 434-4115
Director of Communications and Publications
Deborah Brasket; dbrasket@hancock.sbceo.k12.ca.us
Instructor of English, Hancock and Cuesta Colleges
(Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo)
Northern Regional Representative:
Mary Ann Ifft; Sophie1662@aol.com
Instructor of ESL, De Anza College (Cupertino)
(408)-739-8070
Central Regional Representative
Instructor of English, Sierra College (Rocklin)
(916) 568- 3100 x 1664
Southern Regional Representative
Richard Lewis; rlewis@saddleback.cc.ca.us
Instructor of Legal Studies, Coastline and Saddleback Colleges
(Fountain Valley and Mission Viejo)
CPFA's website, updated frequently, is http://www.surfari.net/~rsutter/elchorro/
Membership is open to all who support professional equity for part-time faculty in California. Dues are $20 per year. An application form can be filled out at the CPFA website or may be obtained from the Director of Membership by writing to:
CPFA Membership
2118 Wilshire Blvd.
Department 392
Santa Monica, CA 90403
Application forms will also be available from other members who attended the October 3-4 meeting.
For further information or the Speakers' Bureau, contact the Director of Protocol and Public Relations, Lantz Simpson, at simpson_lantz@smc.edu; (310) 434-4115.
Return to The CPFA Forum Opening Page
Last modified by rsutter@cuesta.edu