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Agendas Minutes ASCCC Affiliation Curriculum Committee Senate Approved Documents Senate Council Faculty Awards SLOAs

Academic Senate

Welcome to Cuesta College's Academic Senate!  What work are we doing right now?  

Please see our Agenda and Minutes page to find out, and join us by attending one our public Senate meetings occurring on the third Friday of the month.

Student and teacher

Board Policy 2510 requires the Board of Trustees to "rely primarily" upon policy and procedural recommendations made by the Cuesta Academic Senate Council with respect to:

  1. Curriculum, including prerequisites and placing courses within disciplines.
  2. Degree and certificate requirements.
  3. Grading policies.
  4. Standards or policies regarding student preparation and success.
  5. District and College governance structures as related to faculty roles.
  6. Faculty roles and involvement in accreditation processes, including self-study and annual reports.
  7. Policies for faculty professional development activities.
    Board Policy 2510 obligates the Cuesta College Administration (Superintendent/President) and representatives of the Academic Senate to reach mutual agreement on recommendations concerning:
  8. Educational program development.
  9. Processes for program review.
  10. Processes for institutional planning and budget development
    +1.  Other academic and professional matters as agreed upon.

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) was formed in 1970 in order to promote and advance public community college education in California.  Its authority derives from the California Code of Regulations, Title IV Section 53026.

Its mission includes  fostering the effective participation of community college faculty in all statewide and local academic and professional matters.

The Cuesta College Academic Senate has designated the Senate President as the voting delegate to the ASCCC's Fall and Spring plenary sessions.

Cuesta College Faculty are represented in professional matters by two distinct groups: the Cuesta College Academic Senate and the Cuesta College Federation of Teachers (CCFT). In 1995 these two groups created an agreement (updated in 2005) that clarifies their separate but sometimes overlapping functions and responsibilities. 

The Senate and the Union acknowledge their shared responsibility and have pledged to work together to promote the interests of the Cuesta faculty.

Senate & Union Liaison Agreement

Founding Documents

Academic Senate Constitution  (Revised and Approved Fall 2016)

Academic Senate By-Laws (Revised and Approved Spring 2023)

Title V Summary

Purpose of the Senate

"Academic Senate" means an organization whose primary function is to make recommendations with respect to academic and professional matters. Local Academic Senates are established by and derive their authority primarily from the California Code of Regulations, Title V. Section 53200 charges the local Academic Senate with making recommendations to the Board of Trustees on policy development and implementation in the following "10+1" Academic and Professional Matters:

  1.  Curriculum including establishing prerequisites.
  2.  Degree and certificate requirements.
  3.  Grading policies.
  4.  Educational program development.
  5.  Standards or policies regarding student preparation and success.
  6.  College governance structures as related to faculty roles.
  7.  Faculty roles and involvement in accreditation processes.
  8.  Policies for faculty professional development activities.
  9.  Processes for program review.
  10.  Processes for institutional planning and budget development.
  11.  Other academic and professional matters as mutually agreed upon. 

History of our Local Senate

Until the fall semester of 2001, the faculty at Cuesta College made its professional decisions through a Senate Council, composed of nine at-large elected representatives. Those representatives were advised by a body called "Town Hall", which was composed of divisional representatives. 

In the spring of 2001, Cuesta faculty voted to restructure the Senate so that it would be one body composed of divisional representatives, at-large representative, and elected officers.

The Role of "Summit"

The Senate has a venue for informally and directly discussing issues with the Administration, known as "Summit." Historically, these meetings involved the Academic Senate President and Vice President meeting twice per month with the College President and Vice President of Academic Affairs.  Currently, Summit meetings include the College President, Vice President of Instruction, and Vice President of Student Success and Support Programs with the ASC leadership. Faculty can bring concerns to the Senate and request that they be raised at Summit. No final decisions are reached at these meetings; all substantive issues are reported back to Senate for discussion and action.

We collectively acknowledge that Cuesta College occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of both the Salinan and the Northern Chumash who are the original, current, and future caretakers of the land upon we, as guests, work, teach, and learn.