January 12, 2026

I. Call to Order

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Welcome

Shagun Kaur: Welcome back! Happy New Year!!

Erik Woodbury was not feeling well. He attended the meeting online from home. Shagun Kaur chaired the Senate meeting. She thanked everyone for their patience as she navigated through some technical challenges. 

No meeting next Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday

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, the December 1, 2025 meeting minutes, and the consent calendar.

Roll Call Vote (22)

Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, Doli Bambhania, James Adams, James Capurso, Jayanti Roy, Lauren Gordon, Leah Smith, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, Mary Pape, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson , Shagun Kaur, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Sukhjit Singh, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar

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II. Agenda, Minutes, and Consent Calendar

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Approval of Agenda, Minutes from December 1, 2025 and Consent Calendar

Approval of Agenda

Yes 22: Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, Doli Bambhania, James Adams, James Capurso, Jayanti Roy, Lauren Gordon, Leah Smith, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, Mary Pape, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson , Shagun Kaur, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Sukhjit Singh, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar

Agenda approved.

Approval of Minutes from December 1, 2025

Yes 22: Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, Doli Bambhania, James Adams, James Capurso, Jayanti Roy, Lauren Gordon, Leah Smith, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, Mary Pape, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson , Shagun Kaur, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Sukhjit Singh, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar

Minutes approved.

Approval of Consent Calendar

The Consent Calendar was longer than usual because all of the hiring committees listed on it. Voting members were asked to review the hiring committee updates.

Hiring Committees: Faculty Positions in Art History, 3D/2D Design, Anatomy and Physiology, Communication Studies, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science and Information Systems, Business, Political Science, Geography, Comparative Ethnic Studies (CETH)/Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS), Faculty Director for College Life

Yes 22: Angelica Esquivel Moreno, Barbara Dahlke, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, Doli Bambhania, James Adams, James Capurso, Jayanti Roy, Lauren Gordon, Leah Smith, Mark Hamer, Mark Landefeld, Mary Donahue, Mary Pape, Ravjeet Singh, Rusty Johnson , Shagun Kaur, Sherwin Mendoza, So Kam Lee, Sukhjit Singh, Veronica Acevedo Avila, Viviana Alcazar

Consent Calendar approved.

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Public Comment 

Welcome to the Academic Senate Lena from DASG and Angelica Moreno the second division representative from IIS.

Mary Donahue shared information on public transportation to Yosemite.

Yosemite transportation information - marydonahue.org/yosemite-trip-public-transportation

As an alternative to driving, there are various (fee charged) public transportation possibilities to the park and free ones when in the park.

Another option: drive as far as Mariposa, 75% of the way and then take YARTS into the park without dealing with chains.

Angelica Moreno has been involved in supporting undocumented students, faculty, and staff on campus. She brought up some recent social media posts criticizing De Anza for protecting illegal aliens. There have been questions about providing a safe place and the protocol if ICE is on campus. President Torres sent out an email last week reaffirming the college’s commitment to welcoming undocumented students. La Voz will be reporting on this subject. More information/discussion to come. Contact Angelica with questions.

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III. Needs and Confirmation

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District and College Needs: 

De Anza Academic Senate Executive Vice President; 

Urgent need for the spring quarter. This will be a great opportunity for someone to try out this position for a quarter. Faculty interested in serving should apply using the request to serve form. They hope to finalize and onboard someone soon. If no one applies, they will appoint someone from the executive committee.

Hiring Committee: College Director of Fiscal Services - 

Need 1 faculty member, to be confirmed in the next meeting.

Dining Service, RFP (Request for Proposal)

Need 1 faculty member, to be confirmed in the next meeting. They are planning to start this process in early February with a goal to complete the selection of the next dining vendor by June 30, 2026.

Participate and earn points by joining these committees. Use the “Request to Serve” button on the Academic Senate website to volunteer.

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Confirmations

Resource Allocation and Program Planning Faculty Membership [Candidate Statements] 

The Senate voted to elect 1 Non-Instructional Faculty and 1 At Large Faculty.

Non-Instructional Faculty

Cecelia Hui was selected and confirmed.

At Large Faculty

Glynn Wallis was selected and confirmed

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IV. New & Continuing Business

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Quick Notes:

ASCCC Regina Stanback Stroud Diversity, Equity, Antiracism, and Accessibility Award

• Each college or district may nominate one faculty member or one group of faculty members. 
• Contact the senate officers with nominations. 
• Submit nominations as soon as possible to allow time for the application process. The completed application is due by Feb. 8.

 ASCCC AI Conference

• Call for Proposals: due Jan 30
• AI and Academia 2026: Navigating the Future, Costa Mesa. Thu, Mar 19 2026, 1pm - Sat, Mar 21 2026, 12:15pm 
• Conference topics: discipline-grounded practices, nuanced conversations, and actionable solutions for teaching and learning in a landscape where AI use—and potential misuse—is growing rapidly. 
• This is a great opportunity to learn more about AI, AI policies, AI regulations, and the use of AI, specifically in the community college setting.
• A reminder to apply for professional travel funds.

ASCCC Events

• No current events but stay tuned

Somos Unos - Resource Allocation Model Update

• The team, including Erik and Shagun, has completed an intensive interest based agreement training. They will start work shortly. More details to come.

Supplementary Retirement Program (SRP) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) in MyPortal

• See email sent out over Winter break for details. Contact the Academic Senate with questions.

Chairs Meeting

• Jan 14, 10:00 via Zoom. This is an important meeting for information and updates. Reach out to Erik Woodbury for the Zoom link, if needed.

Senate Funds for Faculty

• Funds are available to support faculty events. See the process to request funds on the Senate website

Hayward Award Update

• In the last meeting, the Senate authorized the officers to accept and confirm nominations for this award over the holiday break. Shagun Kaur was nominated for the award.

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Hiring Committee Policy and Processes 

Erik Woodbury highlighted some points regarding the search/hiring committees.

“The Committee shall be established by the department/program faculty in consultation with the Dean.” These are faculty-directed decisions. Faculty should have a strong voice in establishing the hiring committees.

“Search Committees will normally include a majority of Foothill-De Anza tenured faculty who are experts in the discipline or a related discipline.”

“When clear and compelling academic and/or professional circumstances warrant, other faculty, including contract and part-time faculty, may be included on the Search Committee after consultation between the President of the Academic Senate and the college President.”

There was a question and discussion regarding the formation of hiring and tenure committees for small departments. Some departments were able to recruit volunteers from related fields within their divisions.

The FAA agreement says that when possible, no more than one faculty member that served on the hiring committee should also serve on the tenure committee. Therefore, they should be thinking about the tenure committee when forming the search committee.

The EO training has been significantly changed. EO reps may wish to refresh or re-take the training. Go to the website to sign up for the one hour zoom training. It is valid for 2 years. In the new guideline, the EO Rep does not get a vote anymore. 

See Hiring Manual for more information on the process and responsibilities of the hiring committee.

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Proposed Update to By-Laws/Constitution

Term length/term limit for Executive Vice President

Erik Woodbury: The full Senate voted in the spring 2024 election to change the Constitution regarding the term length and term limit for the Executive Vice President and Executive Secretary positions.

The Senate has reduced the term length for the vice president from 2 years to 1 year, the executive secretary from 3 years to 1 year with a limit of no more than 2 consecutive terms in an attempt to get more people to volunteer. But that didn’t happen in the last election. 

This was the first year applying the new term length. Instead of getting more volunteers, they have created a stressful situation where the new vice president has to learn a lot in a short time, without the opportunity to put that expertise to full practice.

Veronica Acevedo and Mary Pape believed that one year with a steep learning curve is far too short. The proposal was to raise the term to a more realistic length. Doli Bambhania suggested staggering or overlapping the leadership positions to ensure continuation.

The body expressed a desire to continue the discussion to explore the options.

The Senate will draft language for updates and put it out for a vote of the full Senate to revise the Constitution.

The Vice President, Executive Secretary, and one of the at-large part time representative positions will be up for election in the spring.  The Senate will need to form the Nomination and Election Committee

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Senate Orientation, Part III

Senator's duties and expectations

In the previous meetings, Erik Woodbury has gone over the following topics from the Intro To Senate 2025​ presentation: 

• The role of the academic senate in the areas of academic and professional matters
• The areas of the 10+1 and Senate Purview
• How are Academic Senate Meetings Organized?
• The Brown Act

Shagun Kaur continued with the final section of the Intro To Senate 2025 presentation on:

• How are Academic Senate meetings run? 
• How to facilitate discussion and group decision-making?
• Robert’s Rules and Consensus

See Slides 28 to 30 for more details on

• Meeting Facilitation​
• Role of the Chair 
• Processes for Handling Motions
• General Rules of Debate 
• Points of Order 

The presentation focused on parliamentary procedures, emphasizing a "Robert's Rules" approach to maintain flexibility and encourage dialogue that leads to consensus decisions. Erik Woodbury clarified that motions can be made by any voting or associate member. 

Associate members of the De Anza Academic Senate are:

• Vice President of Instruction (or designee)  
• Classified Senate President (or designee)  
• Faculty Association President (or designee)  
• Two DASG-appointed Student Representatives

The chair's role is to remain impartial, clarify points, and facilitate discussions without bias. The presentation highlighted the importance of concise motions, clear debate, and the chair's responsibility to manage discussions, including recognizing speakers and ensuring relevant contributions. The session concluded with a pop quiz to reinforce key procedural points, such as the need for motions to be seconded and the importance of addressing remarks to the chair.

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ZTC Update

Updates on De Anza College's progress with Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) initiatives, highlighting the vision and development of open educational resources, their efforts to reduce textbook costs for students and the subsequent impact.

The presentation focused on De Anza College's efforts to build a sustainable culture of open educational resources (OER) and zero textbook cost (ZTC) courses. The ZTC initiative received $1.6 million in funding to convert Degree and CTE certificate pathways to Zero Cost - instructional materials. The college has made significant progress, with 75 sections saving students $470,000 in textbook costs, and plans to expand ZTC options across general education pathways. 

They made progress in creating zero-cost degree pathways across different divisions. The update included information on the number of courses in development, faculty involved, and training provided.

Key challenges discussed included the cumbersome process of marking courses as ZTC and the need for better scheduling systems to inform students of zero-cost options. The team also addressed concerns about textbook costs in specific disciplines, particularly literature, and discussed potential solutions for low-cost alternatives. 

ASK and an Invite

Faculty interested in converting GE courses to ZTC: Participate in spring training and summer project launch

Fill out the Course Marking surveys each quarter and pdate course book orders in a timely manner to indicate Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) or Low Textbook Cost (LTC) status for their courses, as required for state reporting and student information. And ask faculty colleagues to do the same.

Mary Donahue: Our classes that have zero textbook cost can have a ZERO cost symbol in the schedule of classes.  But even when we give notice well in advance, the symbol often does not appear when the schedule of classes comes out, in time for students to make decisions. Can this be fixed?

Explore OER in your field. Contact OER liaisons (Amy Leonard, James Adams), librarians, or Shagun Kaur for OER support and information

The conversation ended with a reminder of the importance of communication in shared governance and the role of senators as conduits for division feedback.

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Good of the Order

Veronica Acevedo: upcoming DALA fundraisers (Posada party and bandulsa sale) for student scholarships.

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Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 4:20 pm.

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Attendance

In person

Shagun Kaur, So Kam Lee

Veronica Avila Acevedo, James Adams, Viviana Alcazar, Doli Bambhania, Christopher Bradley, Dave Capitolo, James Capurso, *Jacob Chen, Barbara Dahlke, Kevin Glapion, Lauren Gordon, Mark Hamer, Rusty Johnson, Mark Landefeld, Sherwin Mendoza, Angelica Esquivel-Moreno, Mary Pape, Christian Rodriguez, Jayanti Roy, Lakshmikanta "LK" Sengupta, Ravjeet Singh, Sukhjit Bob Singh, Leah Smith

Online

*Deborah Armstrong, Mary Donahue, Erik Woodbury

Absent

Yuri Chang, Umar Douglas, Dawnis Guevara, Steve Nava, Jamie Pelusi, *Ram Subramaniam

*Non-voting members