It will be a priority in the near future to identify and employ additional part-time faculty, but ultimately to pursue the addition of a second full-time faculty member for this popular major.

• Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
• Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning

This entire degree program is operated, essentially, on the back of one full-time faculty member. Although there is limited use of part-time faculty, the nature of the fire service is such that their availability cannot be depended upon.

There exists student demand for FSC 4, Fire Behavior & Control that we are not meeting.  Offered only once per year, this class routinely overfills and anecdotal information tells us that many students take this course on-line from other institutions.  Whether we develop it into an on-line class or offer it in the classroom once each semester, either would seem to better meet student needs.  This could free-up the Science Instructor for one additional class in the Sciences if faculty associated with the Fire Science Program taught this course instead. 

Additionally, there is continuing interest in developing on-line versions of various FSC courses.

• Enhancing a Culture of Completion and Academic Achievement
• Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
• Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning

Program growth and specifically the addition of another FSC 4 course are dependent upon the availability of additional qualified faculty. FSC 4 is essentially a chemistry course and requires a chemist to instruct it.

 In order to insure there is adequate leadership for all of the programs and disciplines included with the PSETC, a Chair position which could be responsible for AJ and FSC together is needed.

• Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
• Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning

 Administration of Justice, Fire Technology, the Fire Academy, the Fish and Wildlife Academy, the State Parks Academy and the Basic Law Enforcement Academy are combined under the umbrella of the Public Safety Education and Training Center (PSETC). The Director position for the PSETC has been a 60% position, and is responsible for 2 FT faculty, 3 FT clerical support personnel and 275 PT associate faculty and classified employees. There are no Department Chairs for AJ or FSC, and the PSETC Director has been acting as the Chair for over 4 years. The Director position as it currently exists is a hybrid consisting of the following: 1) Academic Manager; 2) Department Chair; 3) Peer to Deans and Directors, who occasionally serves as Acting Dean and has even served as Acting Vice President in the absence of all other administrators; 4) Subordinate to Deans. The Department has responsibility for 7 different AS degrees, 6 Certificates of Achievement, 5 small certificates, and more than a dozen industry-specific professional certificates. Over the last 3 years, the number of law enforcement academies presented annually has doubled (from 2 to 4), and the ped caps in all AJ and FSC classes are among the highest in the District. Anecdotally, it is noted that few, if any, other community colleges place such a significant load on a part-time hybrid position such as Butte's. Rather, industry practice seems to be based in a clear division of management responsibility based on a separation of the various programs and disciplines. With no Chairs for the academic disciplines, and until recently only a part-time Director, the cumulative responsibilities for all of these programs and disciplines are impossible to keep up with. It has become clear that there needs to be a Chair assigned to AJ and FSC (one part-time chair could handle both disciplines).

 Create new half time (.5) Secretary I position to provide administrative/clerical support to the PSETC.

• Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
• Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning

 The workload in the PSETC has reached a point where the 2 full time secretaries are each responsible for three academies a year + an academic discipline (either AJ or FSC), and the program Assistant is perpetually immersed in processing employment applications, managing the budget and paying bills for all of the Department's programs. As such, the Department has come to depend on Student Assistants to provide front counter/receptionist coverage in the PSETC office. As the Department is very fast paced, and there are a myriad of confidential records related to academy students that must be handled, processed and filed it has been challenging to find students who can keep up with the pace. The addition of this lower level clerical position would insure that there is receptionist/counter coverage during peak hours and reduce the challenge of trying to find students who can keep up with the pace of the office.