Housed in the Sociocultural Studies Department, Political Science promotes student success, completion and transfer. Political Science seeks to create lifelong learners who understand and appreciate the significance of politics and government, as well as civic engagement.
The Political Science 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 Political Science, 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 Political Science program, the student will be able to: 1. Identify major aspects of governmental systems of the United States, for individual states (especially California), and compare governmental systems on a global basis. 2. Place various governmental systems within a developmental/historical framework. Methods of description, analysis, and theory will also be important factors for students who select Political Science as their major. The courses that comprise the AA-T degree are also for Butte and transfer General Education. With about 55 sections offered each academic year, Political Science serves a significant number of students and meets an array of important General Education and transfer requirements. Currently, there are 2 full-time faculty in the discipline, and 6 associate faculty. In Spring 2019, 64% of sections offered in Political Science were taught by associate faculty.
Political Science completed its most recent Program Review in May 2012. The Validation Team provided three Recommendations, one of which has not been adequately addressed:
- Recommends a full-time faculty hire. *** Cynthia Bynoe was hired as a full-time instructor in the discipline, starting in Fall 2013. She is currently the only active full-time faculty to manage the curriculum or extracurricular work = lack of ability to grow a program that could easily grow and expand, as well as have real world application to our local community and local government/policy makers.
- Develop Political Science as a true program at Butte College, not just as a degree listed in the Catalog.
Strategy 1 - New Faculty Hire
Hire one full-time faculty member.
Currently, there are 74 students who have indicated Political Science as their Academic Program. Last Spring the number was 95; in Spring 2017 there were 83 declared majors. Yet, the number of earned degrees remains low: 3 degrees awarded in the 2017 academic year, 9 in 2016, and 4 in 2015.
With only one active full-time faculty to manage the curriculum and extracurricular work, POS lacks the ability to develop a program that could easily grow and expand, as well as have greater real-world application to our local community and local government/policy makers. With another involved full-time instructor, we can better provide the kind of consistency and support for the discipline that is needed: to oversee curriculum matters; to steward the degree program and mentor students therein in support of Guided Pathways; to form and maintain relationships with high school and four-year programs; to spearhead meaningful assessments and implement improvements, especially around civic engagement; and to meet reporting requirements for Student Learning Outcomes, Unit Planning, and Program Review.
Strategy 2 - Expand Civic Engagement Program
Political Science would like to hire an intern to help with the logistics of growing a civic engagement program. This can be done with Federal Work Study money or existing program funds. The estimated time commitment is 5-8 hours per week.
POS 2 makes up 75% of our course offerings and meets a unique GE requirement for transfer to CSUs and UCs. Expanding civic engagement opportunities for students will increase achievement of course outcomes, as well as contribute to greater course retention, success, persistence, and transfer. An important POS 2 course outcome for students is, "analyze how to effectively participate in politics at the national, state, county and/or city levels." The faculty are excited about Chico State's Town Hall Meeting event, and how well this supports students in achieving this outcome. A planned improvement is to make participation in this event more consistent, and to also try to create more events on the Butte College campus where students are able to discuss their research with policy actors. Currently this involves a lot of outside time for one faculty member to handle alone. One example is that the THM team meets every Friday, and each CSUC course is assigned an instructor and a graduate student. Butte faculty are alone in their preparations, and communications with CSUC’s FYE program to handle all the logistics for Butte Students. The Butte POS program tried this with the Fireside Program, but found it to be too much work and not cost effective for only one active full member to handle.
Political Science would like to hire an intern to help with the logistics of growing a civic engagement program. This can be done with Federal Work Study money or existing program funds. The estimated time commitment is 5-8 hours per week.
The Butte College General Fund is the sole source of financial support for the Political Science discipline. The annual budget allocation is $1617. This money should be spent on growing the civic engagement component of the program, this is the real world application and our only current exposure to transfer institutions.
| 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 | Political Science (POS) | Personnel | $0.00 | $114,000.00 | ||
| Full-time Faculty Hire | Currently, there are 74 students who have indicated Political Science as their Academic Program. Last Spring the number was 95; in Spring 2017 there were 83 declared majors. Yet, the number of earned degrees remains low: 3 degrees awarded in the 2017 academic year, 9 in 2016, and 4 in 2015. With only one active full-time faculty to manage the curriculum and extracurricular work, POS lacks the ability to develop a program that could easily grow and expand, as well as have greater real-world application to our local community and local government/policy makers. With another full-time instructor, we can better provide the kind of consistency and support for the discipline that is needed: to oversee curriculum matters; to steward the degree program and mentor students therein in support of Guided Pathways; to form and maintain relationships with high school and four year programs; to spearhead meaningful assessments and implement improvements, especially around civic engagement; and to meet reporting requirements for Student Learning Outcomes, Unit Planning, and Program Review. |
|
|
|||