June 8, 2026

I. Call to Order

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Welcome

• Shagun Kaur announced 2 last-minute agenda changes that included the addition of a sample schedule and Option C for the time block discussion. She noted that action on these items would be deferred pending feedback from constituent groups.
• The second change was a proposed name change to the Program Vitality and Innovation Committee formerly known as the Program Sustainability Committee.
• Voting members joining online were asked to add "VM" to their Zoom name to help identify them to the public.
• Voting members attending in person and those joining online with their names and meeting locations published on the agenda used the roll call vote link to establish quorum. They also used the same link to approve the  agenda with changes, the June 1, 2026 meeting minutes and consent calendar.

Roll Call Vote (19)

Angela Winch, Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christian Rodriguez, Dave Capitolo, James Adams, Jayanti Roy, Kevin Glapion, Lakshmikanta Sengupta, Leah Smith, Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar, Yuri Chang

Quorum reached

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II. Agenda, Minutes, and Consent Calendar

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Approval of Amended Agenda, Minutes from June 1st, 2026, and Consent Calendar

Approval of modified Agenda

Yes (19) Angela Winch, Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christian Rodriguez, Dave Capitolo, James Adams, Jayanti Roy, Kevin Glapion, Lakshmikanta Sengupta, Leah Smith, Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar, Yuri Chang

Agenda approved.

Approval of Minutes from June 1st, 2026

Yes (19) Angela Winch, Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christian Rodriguez, Dave Capitolo, James Adams, Jayanti Roy, Kevin Glapion, Lakshmikanta Sengupta, Leah Smith, Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar, Yuri Chang

Minutes approved.

Approval of Consent Calendar

Yes (19) Angela Winch, Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christian Rodriguez, Dave Capitolo, James Adams, Jayanti Roy, Kevin Glapion, Lakshmikanta Sengupta, Leah Smith, Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar, Yuri Chang

Consent Calendar approved.

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Public Comment

• Sarah Wilker announced the VIDA Faculty Coordinator position on behalf of Michelle Hernandez, Dean of the Equity and Engagement Division. It is open to full-time tenured faculty at FHDA District or Phase III tenured track faculty. If interested, please contact Michelle.
• Ravjeet Singh and Veronica Acevedo: congratulation to Dr. Jayanti Roy for receiving her doctorate. They were proud of her amazing achievements in earning her degree and her dedication to teaching.

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III. Needs and Confirmation

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College Needs: Deadline 5 pm, June 11th

Jayanti encouraged faculty to fill out the "request to serve" form to participate in the shared governance committees. These are great opportunities for worthwhile work.

• Tenure Review Committee [At Large Members]
• Campus Facilities [3 faculty]
• Equity Action Council (EAC) [2 faculty]
• Professional Relations Committee [3 faculty]
• SLO Committee [1 faculty]
• District Diversity & Equity Advisory Committee (DDEAC) [1 faculty]
• COOL Membership [1 faculty each from Health and Life Sciences, Business and Finance, Learning Resources/Online Ed/Professional Development/Equity and Engagement, Affinity At-large]
• CPR (comprehensive program review) Task Force [1 from each division] - Deadline June 8th

Shagun raised the need for at least 1 representative from each division. They still need some more division voices. All Senators: Prioritize outreach to ensure at least one representative from each division participates in the comprehensive program review committee. 

District Needs

• District AI Work Group - Summer Development [3 faculty], Deadline 5 pm, June 8th.
• Exec Director for Research/Planning [1 FT Faculty], Please apply

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Confirmations

None

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IV. New & Continuing Business

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Program Sustainability Committee: Second Read

• Rename Suggestion: Program Vitality and Innovation Committee (PVIC)
• Revised Document

Ram Subramaniam, VPI

• This was the second read for this proposal. Overall, there has been no change to the processes or anything in the presentation since last week.
• He mentioned several things they have done in response to feedback. 
• The first was a proposed name change to the Program Vitality and Innovation Committee (PVIC) to put a more positive spin on the work.
• The second addressed a comment about marketing support and promotion for new programs. They have included marketing as a resource. 
• The third was a question regarding how it may interface with the curriculum committee process. 
• The curriculum committee has its own process for a new program. When a new program or course is created, it goes to the Curriculum Advisory Team, also known as CAT, that can decide if they need to refer the particular program to the Program Vitality and Innovation Committee (PVIC). .

Veronica Avila Acevedo, RAPP faculty tri-chair

• They have put together a document with responses to a list of questions, concerns, and comments compiled from last week.
• The body liked the name change from the Program Sustainability Committee to the Program Vitality and Innovation Committee

Motion

Mark Landefeld moved to support the committee as described in the document, LK Sengupta seconded. No objection. 

The committee and name change was approved.

Next Step

Ram and Veronica will bring this back to RAPP that has worked very hard all year to form these two subcommittees.

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District Equivalency Policy: Second Read

Revised Document

Dolores Davison, District Academic Senate President

• The policy is back for a second read with revisions highlighted in yellow.
• The revised document is based on feedback from the Senate, conversations with both Academic Senate presidents and discussions with deans who had expressed some concerns.
• Vice Chancellors Dianna Rose and Gohar Momjian have gone through and approved the document from a HR perspective.
• They also had conversations with the FA faculty union representatives. One of the concerns was the process about reevaluating equivalencies. They have removed that process entirely from this document and will revisit it at a later time.
• According to the California Ed Code, equivalency policy and procedure is under the purview of the Academic Senate and the Board. They will definitely return to the Senate with any significant change to the current process.
• Dolores pointed out and explained the highlighted changes under the Equivalency Review Committee section. There will always be a faculty discipline expert from each college unless one of the colleges does not have that program, such as nursing.

Motion

Veronica Avila Acevedo motioned to move the policy forward, Barbara Dahlke seconded.

No objection.

Policy approved

Next Step

The policy would now proceed to the Academic and Professional Matters Committee and then to the Chancellor's Advisory Committee for review.

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Time Block Scheduling Task Force Recommendations: Second Read

• Final Report - Spring 2026
• Appendix A - Guiding Principles
• Appendix B - Timeline & Development of Time Blocks
• Appendix C - Final Membership
• Appendix D - Sample Pathways
• Appendix E - Version 4 Time-Block Model
• Appendix F - Analytical Support and Transparency
• Presentation
• Sample Schedule - 6-6-26
• Option C

Ram Subramaniam, VPI

• This was the second read on the Time Block Scheduling Task Force Recommendations
• Last week, during the first read, they looked at two options, Option A and Option B for the block schedules.
• This week for the second read they have returned with an Option C and a sample schedule to address the concerns and feedback.

History/Background

• The Task Force was formed 9 months ago that included representativwa appointed by the Senate. The task force also included students from various disciplines, including STEM, business and other areas. It also included classified staff and administrators. The task force worked for the entire academic year. They provided periodic updates on the progress of as well as several iterations of the block schedule. After receiving feedback from various constituents, those iterations evolved over time. Finally, after lots of consideration, the task force presented two options. Option A and option B. 
• Option A was the option that was endorsed by the task force, especially with the college hour that the students asked for. It also paid attention to the needs of the evening students, who are working during the day and have to commute from their jobs onto campus in the evenings.
• The block schedule was intended for students taking a full time load without overlapping blocks that would prevent them from taking different classes.

Option C

Option C was put together by a subgroup to address the concerns raised during the first read raised by 2 departments, chemistry and biology in particular.

Sample Schedule

• Ram also shared a sample schedule for three different majors, biology, business, and psychology. They are the three most popular majors out of over 60 possible majors. He tried to plan the annual schedule for these 3 groups of students and was able to fit in all their classes in a reasonable timeframe.
• Ram recognized that there are many different types of students (full time students, part-time students, day students, evening students, student parents who have childcare responsibilities) with all kinds of constraints.
• Ram pointed out Option C will provide an additional layer of flexibility. for both biology and chemistry. He noted that there could be possible overlaps for Biology and Chemistry at certain times.

Option A

Option A was endorsed by the task force. They consulted with DASB. The proposal will go to the Classified Senate for consideration. Two weeks ago, at their first read, the College Council favored option A. The College Council will take their final vote on June 18.

Questions/Answers/Comments

Veronica: Why were Biology and Chemistry not in support of Option A

The labs in option A start at 7:30 in the morning and that was the primary concern. The staff will need to start at 6:30 to set up for the lab. 

Eduardo Luna raised a concern with the 10 minute break time between classes for Biology and Chemistry. The technician will need to set up in the morning or the previous day. In Physics where they have multiple labs, their technicians require an hour to set up and clean up. For Physics 10 minutes would not be enough time. They keep an hour between labs.

Susmita Sengupta, Biology: They used the same lab for different classes. 10 minutes would not be enough time to clean up and set up for the next class.

Viviana raised concerns for people who are still out of the loop on block scheduling that included some areas with many classes.

Ram reminded the body that communication was a shared responsibility. The task force reported to the Senate in January. They came back in April in direct response to questions from the Senate and various scheduling chairs. The information and documents have been shared and posted on their website.They have been providing updates and receiving feedback over the course of 9 months. 

Block SchedulingTimeline

There will be no change for the 26-27 academic year.  The plan was to incorporate some kind of block schedule into the 27-28 academic year. They will start planning the 27-28 academic year this summer. Therefore, they cannot delay the adoption of a block schedule prior to that work.

Viviana maintained that this miscommunication may lead to serious consequences.

Decision Timeline

Shagun; since Option C was loaded just in the morning, they will not take action in this meeting. Senators will have time to take this back to their constituents to gather feedback. 

They will continue the discussion next week. That will be the last Senate meeting for the year. The body may choose to vote for Option A, B, C, or none of the above.

Ram reminded everyone that regardless of the Senate position, the College Council will have the final vote. They will proceed with the College Council recommendation on whether or not they move forward with the block scheduling. 

Ram also reminded everyone that they will schedule more classes on campus. They would like to increase on campus classes from the current 40% to 60% in two years. Without block scheduling they will not have space to accommodate the additional classes.

Viviana Alcazar: What is the timeline for getting feedback from people not in the room?

Option C

Someone asked who was responsible for Option C that was created recently.

Ram worked with one of the deans on the task force. He then ran the option by Shagun and Sam Bliss. They all agreed that there are lots of issues with option C. They were mainly addressing the constraints put forth by the chemistry and biology departments.

Veronica expressed concerns about Option C because that's not what the task force worked on and vetted.

Task Force

Veronica asked if any task force members presented may be able to speak on the topic.

Brett Johnson. Task Force Member,  described the process the task force undertook. They started with a model that they took to constituent groups to gather feedback and data. Next, they brought in different student constituency groups for feedback. Then, they started playing with the blocks to find something that worked. He admitted that it was very difficult to get all of these programs, all of these disciplines and classes to work 100% seamlessly, both for the students and for the faculty. Their recommendation was the best option given the time and feedback.

Patty Guitron, Task Force Member

The committee did a lot of playing with blocks and figuring out what worked. They knew it would never be 100%, but they wanted to give people some options. They appreciated the students' feedback from different areas.

La Voz

Gavin Rust, student reporter, had 2 questions.

What academic disciplines were these students a part of, how many students were on this committee?

Appendix C, has the final list of the committee membership that included student representatives.

Could you shed some light on the analytics that went into the push for more in-person classes? Because some people are very vehemently opposed to a fully in-person schedule.

Prior to the pandemic, De Anza was 85% on campus. He acknowledged that they will not return to 85%. As a community funded college district, FHDA should strive for at least a majority on campus to support the local community and students in the local areas..

To Do

All Senators: Share information about the proposed block schedule options (A, B, C) with their constituent groups, especially department chairs and schedulers, and solicit feedback before the next Senate meeting.

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College Budget Update

Presentation

Farhad Sabit, Vice President, Finance and Administrative Services

Vice President Farhad Sabit presented a comprehensive budget update revealing a structural deficit, where expenditures exceed revenues, with current fund balances projected to decline further.

He framed his presentation around 3 questions.

• Where Were We in 2010/11?
• Where Are We Now and How Did We Get Here?
• Where Are We Going From Here?

He explained how the college's fund balance declined from $5.4 million in 2010-11 to $1.1 million in 2024-25 due to district instructions to spend down reserves and ongoing revenue-expenditure imbalances. 

He outlined solutions including revenue increases, expenditure controls, and building reserves, emphasizing the need for shared responsibility across the campus community to address the financial challenges.

The conversation ended with discussions about the need for transparent communication with constituent groups about financial challenges.

See presentation slides for more details.

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Good of the Order

Veronica thanked Shagun for sending to the senators gentle reminders on important issues. That prompted her to forward the message to her division.

Ram: this Friday 7/12 at 7 PM the Film and TV department will have a student show at the VPAC.

Mary Donahue: Recently, the Philippines had a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the Bay Area had a 3.6. Mary, a Red Cross Disaster Instructor shared some webpages she used to teach earthquake preparedness.

Mary found that her students do not know:

• Always make it a habit to drive with at least a half full tank of gas. When the power is off after an earthquake, during howling winter rain,  windstorms, and rolling blackouts, gas stations can’t pump gas.

Mary shared some links to help everyone get started on being prepared.

• fastest, easiest, cheapest earthquake preparedness projects
• Disaster planning
• earthquake home hazards survey
• Earthquake information sources
• Earthquake and pets advice
• Helping Children Cope With Disaster
• Disaster Supplies
• Store water for after an earthquake
• Babysitter Consent and Contact Form
• hazardous household chemical mixtures
• Home Fire Safety Checklist

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Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 4:25 pm.

Attendance

In person

Shagun Kaur, Jayanti Roy, So Kam Lee

Veronica Avila Acevedo, James Adams, Viviana Alcazar, Dave Capitolo, Barbara Dahlke, Kevin Glapion, Lauren Gordon, Mark Landefeld, Sherwin Mendoza, Christian Rodriguez, Lakshmikanta "LK" Sengupta, Ravjeet Singh, Leah Smith, *Ram Subramaniam, Angela Winch

Online

Yuri Chang, Mary Donahue, Rusty Johnson, Angelica Esquivel-Moreno, Jamie Pelusi

Absent

*Deborah Armstrong, James Capurso, Lisa Castro, Chris Dileonardo, Umar Douglas, Dawnis Guevara, Mark Hamer, Mary Pape, Sukhjit Bob Singh,

*Non-voting members