A focus on faculty professional learning, given the challenges that California community colleges and students face, must remain a high priority and continue to evolve. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) has long been an advocate for the development of robust professional development policies as part of senate purview…

The Rostrum is a quarterly publication of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Effective Participation in Governance: Policies and Practices (Julie Bruno); (2) TOP Code Alignment Project and Impacts on Local Coding (Craig Rutan); (3) Focus on Transfer: ADTs, UCTP Degrees, and…

The purpose of this literature review is to examine the differences in the use of sabbatical leave among the arenas of general higher education, industry, and professional-technical/community college. The purposes and policies applied to sabbatical leave, along with the cost of using sabbatical leave in these three environments are compared and…

A community college librarian from Southern California describes her semester-length sabbatical on the Pacific island territory of New Caledonia, and how the professional, cultural, and language experiences changed her outlook about her job back home. Working at a local library on several projects organizing and processing special collections of…

In 2007, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges adopted the paper "Sabbaticals: Benefiting Faculty, The Institution, and Students." Based in part on survey results, it reiterated the fundamental value of the sabbatical leave concept, but uncovered wide disparities in implementation among California's community colleges.…

Sabbatical leave has a long and distinguished history in academe, both at universities and community colleges. By virtue of its traditional benefit to professors, institutions, and students, sabbaticals may appropriately be considered as a "right" by the professoriate. Even so, during statewide budgetary crises, sabbatical leave was…

Considers how a community-college professor's long-awaited sabbatical not only stimulates new thinking about projects and goals but also offers a foray into that forest of self that lies behind the trees. Discusses the author's experience with the time she spent on her sabbatical. (SG)

Describes a survey of chief academic officers at 65 randomly selected community colleges that assessed perceptions regarding faculty sabbatical leaves. Reveals that administrators agreed that sabbaticals contribute to a sense of rejuvenation and renewal, among other things, but tended to disagree that they help faculty become better scholars and…

Information on existing sabbatical leave policies at 38 Illinois public community colleges was gathered in order to assess the current policy at the College of DuPage and to generate recommendations for revisions. Data were collected on years of service before eligibility for leave, permissible reasons for leave grants, maximum length of leave…

Attempts to identify the impact of one sabbatical recipient's leave on those around the faculty member, including fellow faculty, department chairs, deans, other administrators, and students. Examines outcomes in relation to teaching, campus citizenship, and research. Research instrument is appended. (Contains 15 references, two figures, and three…

Presents citations on recent program ideas and rationales for including faculty development at community colleges. Reports that some authors view faculty development as necessary to growth, and others see it as beyond the needs of two-year college faculty. Adds that nevertheless, community colleges still attempt to contribute to faculty…

Noting the diminishing interinstitutional mobility among community college faculty, this paper examines current staff development practices and outlines recommendations for improving staff development at Valencia Community College (VCC). The paper first argues that traditional staff development activities, such as sabbatical leaves and research…

A study was conducted at Vista College to compare the sabbatical leave policy of the Peralta Community College District with those of other districts and to develop alternative policies that would permit a greater number of faculty to obtain sabbatical leaves. Policy statements were received from nine of the twelve districts surveyed, and…

Papers from an Arizona State University conference on "Professional Continuing Education"--including the fields of business and industry, labor, education, allied health, and government--are presented. A variety of perspectives on the needs of professionals and opportunities for continuing education are provided by such contributors as a dean of…

Lake Tahoe Community College's (LTCC's) Human Resources Development Program is designed to foster professional development through in-service activities for instructional, administrative, classified employees, and the governing board. The comprehensive program is intended to support the instructional process, improve student success, enhance…