Decision Making Document
The Decision Making Task Force was given the task in the 2009-10 academic year of documenting how decisions are made at the college and to recommend ways to improve the decision-making process. They released their draft with recommendations on September 1, 2010 and the document has undergone tweaks to the language in the committees section since then. No changes to the recommendations have been made to the September 1st recommendations. They are listed below. The DMTF document does not include the Educational Master Plan, so a link to it is provided below.
- Link to final November 16, 2010 version (PDF document). This is the final version of the report approved by College Council and the Academic Senate. It does not include the Education Master Plan, so select the link below to view it.
- Educational Master Plan
- Bakersfield College Organization Chart (PDF dated August 2011).
- District's Elements of Decision Making Document (PDF dated October 2011). Talks about how decisions are made at the districtwide level. It is like BC's Decision-Making Document. No financial numbers in here though. This is also posted in the Accreditation Standard IV.B evidence folder (evidence file IV.B.02) on the accreditation SharePoint.
Below are the recommendations from the DMTF September reports. Give feedback to your College Council representative.
Recommendation 1
Adopt the following process developed by the Task Force when making a decision or approaching problems and issues:
Identify:
- What is the issue/problem?
- Who could be affected and should they be consulted?
Solve
- What are some possible solutions?
- How do the solutions support the mission and goals of the college?
Communicate
- How will the decision be communicated?
- With whom shall the decision be communicated?
Recommendation 2
All governance committees should develop a process for forwarding written input, suggestions and proposals to College Council to assist the president in the decision-making process. The Bakersfield College Academic Senate “Guide for Effective Senate Proposals for Change” (located in Public Folders under Academic Senate---select the link to download the Senate's change proposal Word document; you'll need to login to Outlook Web first) is one tool that could be used to generate a written proposal.
Recommendation 3
All governance committees should provide an update or annual report to College Council that may include recommendations generated throughout the year, explanations of the committee’s progress toward implementation, or a list of the work that should continue into the next academic year. Written annual reports will be placed on the College Council website, making them available for consultation purposes.
Recommendation 4
Based on review, analysis, and comparison of results of the surveys conducted in spring 2010 and subsequent years, College Council should re-evaluate all of the following:
- the decision-making process;
- the utility of this document; and
- related training and communication
Recommendation 5
College Council or the president should share examples of successes related to the decision-making process with the campus community in an appropriate venue.
Recommendation 6
Review and update governance committee charges, scope and authority in accordance with the college goals and values.
This page was last updated: April 12, 2012
Contact for this page: Nick Strobel
