Housed in the Sociocultural Studies Department, Anthropology promotes student success, completion and transfer, and seeks to create lifelong learners who understand and appreciate the significance of culture as a major factor in the lives of humans.
The Anthropology program creates a transfer pathway for students who plan to complete a four-year degree at a California State University. Upon completion of an AA-T degree in Anthropology, students will possess the requisite foundational knowledge as well as the practical skills necessary for subsequent completion of the baccalaureate degree. Upon successful completion of the Anthropology program, the student will be able to: 1. Identify and discuss major topics relevant to Physical Anthropology, including human and primate evolution and variation among hominids. 2. Define culture and apply the concept to a broad cross-cultural understanding of human behavior. 3. Examine past cultural systems through analysis of physical cultural remains. 4. Describe and analyze human linguistic systems and the influence of language on human perceptions of the world. The AA-T degree in Anthropology is a recent development, listed for the first time in the 2014-2015 catalog. Twenty students graduated from this program in the 2015-2016 academic year. Currently, there are sixty-three declared Anthropology majors. The courses that comprise the AA-T degree are also for Butte and transfer General Education. With almost sixty sections offered each school year, Anthropology serves a significant number of students and meets an array of important General Education and transfer requirements. Most Anthropology courses are dedicated to understanding culture process. One course, ANTH 2 Physical Anthropology, focuses on physical/natural phenomena. There are two full-time faculty in the discipline, one of whom will likely retire at the end of the Spring 2017 semester. Six associate faculty teach in the current semester; fifty-eight percent of courses offered in Anthropology are taught by associate faculty.
The Anthroplogy program has two areas of focus, related to outcomes assessment, for the 2017-2018 year:
- Physical Anthropology instructors express dissatisfaction with student performance of SLO A (scientific process) and SLO H (hominin fossils and alternate phylogenies). One suggestion is to include additional in-class lab activities to better demonstrate concepts of the scientific process and to provide opportunities for fossil identification. Longer term strategies are to expand the fossil cast collection so that instructors at both the main campus and Chico Center can provide more hands-on learning activities, and to create a Physical Anthropology lab course. (One possibility for expanding the cast collection sooner than later is 3D printing -- which we plan to investigate.)
- The ANTH deep dive assessment schedule needs to be reset and made to be more sustainable. The goal is to build the schedule around program learning outcomes assessment, so that the same PLO is assessed in both Fall and Spring of an academic year -- thus providing an opportunity for improvements recommended in one semester to be implemented/reassessed in the next semester.
|
Indicator |
Source |
College |
Program |
||||||||
|
2014-2015 |
Standard |
Six Year Goal |
Fall 2011 |
Fall 2012 |
Fall 2013 |
Fall 2014 |
Fall 2015 |
Standard |
Six Year Goal |
||
|
Access |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Unduplicated Headcount |
PDR |
12,691 |
|
|
1,104 |
1,077 |
1,053 |
1,016 |
847 |
|
|
|
Course Success |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Overall |
PDR |
70.6% |
70.0% |
73.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Transfer/GE |
PDR |
71.7% |
|
73.0% |
70.2% |
68.8% |
66.4% |
63.3% |
62.4% |
60.0% |
73.0% |
|
- CTE |
PDR |
75.3% |
|
77.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Basic Skills |
PDR |
51.7% |
|
55.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Distance Ed (all) |
PDR |
62.6% |
|
64.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Persistence (Focused). Note: The Persistence (Focused) that is included in the PDR is a different indicator than the three-primary term persistence indicator, from the State Student Success Scorecard that is used to measure institutional persistence. The Focused Persistence indicator measures the percentage of students that took a second course in a discipline within one year. There is no relationship between the college and program standards in this area. |
PDR |
71.8% |
67.0% |
75.0% |
20.4% |
20.6% |
18.6% |
21.5% |
20.8% |
|
|
|
(Three-Term) Scorecard |
(Three-Term) Scorecard |
(Three-Term) Scorecard |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Degrees - annual |
PDR-AS-T |
1,421 |
|
1,475 |
|
|
4 |
5 |
14 |
10 |
20 |
|
Certificate of Achievement (CA) - annual |
PDR |
814 |
|
475 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Developmental Strand Completion |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
- English |
State |
43.7% |
|
45.0% |
|||||||
|
- Math |
State |
33.8% |
|
35.0% |
|||||||
|
- ESL |
State |
42.9% |
|
45.0% |
|||||||
|
Licensure Pass Rates |
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
- Registered Nursing |
SC |
92.0% |
85.0% |
|
|||||||
|
- Licensed Vocational Nursing |
SC |
87.0% |
85.0% |
|
|||||||
|
- Respiratory Therapy |
SC |
97.0% |
80.0% |
|
|||||||
|
- Paramedic |
SC |
85.0% |
75.0% |
|
|||||||
|
- Cosmetology |
SC |
86.0% |
75.0% |
|
|||||||
|
- Welding |
SC |
92.0% |
85.0% |
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
Job Placement Rates |
PIV |
|
|
|
|||||||
The Anthropology program is necessarily and rightfully classroom centered in its efforts. Faculty are committed to excellence in the teaching of rich and rigorous course content. Surprisingly, there does not seem to be anything in the Strategic Direction that directly speaks to this, our core mission. This comes closest:
Creating a culture of meaningful interactions with students. (2.a.1)
To support classroom efforts, in conjunction with ANTH, HIST, and POS faculty, instructors in Geography participate annually in a Sociocultural Studies Department Forum. The first forum was held in Spring 2015, and included presentations on Reading Strategies, Helping International Students Succeed, and Tried-and-Test Teaching Ideas. Held in Fall 2015, the second forum included presentations on Helping Student Athletes Succeed, No/Low Cost Textbooks, and Tried-and-Tested Teaching Ideas. Forum topics are "just-in-time" -- meant to help instructors with recent and/or ongoing teaching challenges. The most recent forum, in October 2016, included presentations on "Facilitating Difficult Conversations in the Classroom," "Library Resources," and "GIS Applications in SCS Classrooms." The SCS Department Forum supports the college mission to meet this Strategic Direction:
Providing just-in-time and scheduled Professional Development opportunities. (2.b.1)
Intellectual climate and teaching excellence. (2.b.4.a)
Anthropology completed its most recent Program Review in July 2015. The Validation Team provided twelve Recommendations. Due the recency of the last Program Review, there has been limited progress on meeting the Recommendations. Below is an abbreviated version of the Recommendations, with comments.
- Hire two additional full-time faculty members in the discipline (one as a replacement hire). One hire should be a Cultural Anthropologist, the other a Physical Anthropologist. *** Melissa Artstein-McNassar joined the program in the Spring 2017 semester, as a full-time replacement for Mike Findlay. The Program Review recommendation called for a second full-time hire, which would bring the number of full-time instructors in the program to three. Our next request to hire though, will be for a replacement for Ayse Taskiran, who is likely to retire at the end of the Spring 2017 semester. As such, this recommendation (which included a new position) is not likely to be met this year.
- Ensure compliance with associate faculty evaluation timelines. *** The area dean has offered a stipend payment of $150 per evaluation to full-time faculty who assist the department chair in completing associate faculty evaluations as scheduled. However, limited availability of the tenured program faculty (Taskiran) and the arrival just this semester of our second full-time faculty (McNassar) has made it difficult to reach compliance. The department chair will continue to work toward meeting this recommendation.
- Enhance comprehensive SLO/PLO/GELO analysis and reporting by increasing associate faculty participation. *** Still to be addressed.
- Engage in collaborative activities with faculty in other social science and relevant science disciplines. *** Still to be addressed. While important, right now this is a lower priority for the program.
- Maintain breadth of course offerings, especially ANTH 14 and 33 (at risk due to Mike Findlay's retirement). *** Currently, we are still able to offer these two courses because Mike Findlay has made himself available as an associate faculty. However, the prospect for continuing to offer these two courses long-term is uncertain.
- Encourage Administration to approve/adopt the policies and procedures of Archaeology collections. *** Still to be addressed.
- Enhance the relationship with Chico State. *** Still to be addressed.
- Provide opportunities for student learning experiences outside of the classroom (field trips, Chico State events, student club activities, etc.) *** Still to be addressed.
- Lower pedagogical caps in Anthropology courses to encourage the use of more student-centered instructions. *** Still to be addressed. This would be ideal, but likely would be exceedingly difficult if not impossible to achieve. Right now, this is a lower priority for the program.
- Increase the program budget for travel and conference, and media and databases. *** Still to be addressed. Right now, this is a lower priority for the program.
- Advocate with Professional Development to change the policy that currently limits to 50% (75% with dean approval) the FLEX hours awarded for Individual Activity Contracts. *** Still to be addressed. Right now, this is a lower priority for the program.
- Explore the viability of a multidisciplinary Certificate in Museum Studies. *** Still to be addressed.
- Develop and sustain a well-defined program to guide and support students who have declared or who are considering a major in Anthropology.
- Identify root causes of Anthropology's lower than average course success rate or, at least rule out possible causes. This will help us to identify remedies and make progress toward our six year goal.
- Enhance comprehensive SLO/PLO/GELO analysis and reporting by rebuilding the deep dive assessment schedule, and by increasing associate faculty participation in assessment activities and dialogue.
- Develop a Physical Anthropology lab course.
- Hire one full-time Anthropology instructor.
Strategy 1 - Program Promotion
The new associate degrees for transfer award students an associate degree and prepare them for special benefits/guarantees upon transfer to CSU. To maximize student completion and success, the new degree programs must be thoughtfully stewarded in terms of program learning outcomes, supporting curriculum, and scheduling of courses. Students must also be made aware of the existence of the degrees, the potential benefits upon transfer, career prospects, and how best to move through our programs.
Strategy 2 - Course Success Rate Study
During Spring 2017, the department chair will organize a meeting of Anthropology faculty with an institutional researcher to review and analyze student success data, including equity focused data. From the discussion, next steps, strategies and a timeline will be developed for the 2017-2018 academic year.
The success rate in Anthropology is at the low end of the five-year range (62.4%-70.2%). Although we have exceeded our standard, there is a lot of work to do to make progress toward our six year goal of 73%. The first step, for 2017-2018, is to understand the problem. Before any meaningful attempt can be made to improve course success rates, more information is needed on the root causes of Anthropology's lower rate.
Strategy 3 - Enhance SLO Participation
The department chair will facilitate the semester SLO meeting (before the eighth week) -- giving a complete overview of current processes, sharing SLO work completed thus far in the discipline, providing a guide sheet for faculty participation, and soliciting suggestions for making the work meaningful. A tangible product of this meeting will be a refreshed deep dive assessment schedule/strategy for the program.
At the January 2017 Institute Night meeting, Anthropology associate faculty expressed a general unawareness of the assessment schedule and a lack of understanding of the utility of SLOs other than as a checkbox. Additionally, Program Review Recommendations call for the enhancement of the program's SLO work by increasing associate faculty participations.
Strategy 4 - Physical Anthropology Lab Course
The C-ID curriculum includes a Physical Anthropology lab course. The Butte program will create a C-ID aligned course.
Physical Anthropology instructors express dissatisfaction with student performance of SLO A (scientific process) and SLO H (hominin fossils and alternate phylogenies). One suggestion is to include additional in-class lab activities to better demonstrate concepts of the scientific process and to provide opportunities for fossil identification. Longer term strategies are to expand the fossil cast collection so that instructors at both the main campus and Chico Center can provide more hands-on learning activities, and to create a Physical Anthropology lab course.
In addition to helping students to achieve Physical Anthropology learning outcomes, a lab experience would better prepare Anthropology majors for transfer to a four-year program. It would also provide an additional lab option for General Education requirements.
Strategy 5 - Hire Full-Time Instructor
Anthropology has two full-time faculty. One is expected to retire at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year. A replacement hire will be needed to maintain program integrity and for the program to reach student learning, success and completion goals.
Melissa Artstein-McNassar joined the program in the Spring 2017 semester, as a full-time replacement for Mike Findlay. A recommendation from the last Program Review was for two full-time hires, which would bring the number of full-time instructors in the program to three. Our next request to hire though, will be for a replacement for Ayse Taskiran, who is likely to retire at the end of the Spring 2017 semester.
Anthropology is a program that needs adequate full-time faculty to maintain basic operations and to reach student learning, success and completion goals. Although Anthropology is a single discipline, the core program of study for transfer includes four fields: Physical, Cultural, Cultural Linguistics, and Archeology. It is difficult for a single full-time faculty to provide support (curriculum, assessment, extracurricular activities, etc.) in all four areas. Additionally, the most recent Program Review included a recommendation for a Certificate in Museum Studies, which will require stewardship as well. Finally, low course success rates and a high number of majors both demand proactive full-time leadership.
The Butte College General Fund is the sole source of financial support for the Anthropology discipline. The annual budget allocation is $1618.00.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | Anthropology | Personnel | $0.00 | $109,877.00 | ||
| Full-Time Faculty Hire | Melissa Artstein-McNassar joined the program in the Spring 2017 semester, as a full-time replacement for Mike Findlay. A recommendation from the last Program Review was for two full-time hires, which would bring the number of full-time instructors in the program to three. Our next request to hire though, will be for a replacement for Ayse Taskiran, who is likely to retire at the end of the Spring 2017 semester. Anthropology is a program that needs adequate full-time faculty to maintain basic operations and to reach student learning, success and completion goals. Although Anthropology is a single discipline, the core program of study for transfer includes four fields: Physical, Cultural, Cultural Linguistics, and Archeology. It is difficult for a single full-time faculty to provide support (curriculum, assessment, extracurricular activities, etc.) in all four areas. Additionally, the most recent Program Review included a recommendation for a Certificate in Museum Studies, which will require stewardship as well. Finally, low course success rates and a high number of majors both demand proactive full-time leadership. |
|
|
|||