The Academic Senate completed their rankings for the new faculty position requests that were presented by certain departments at City College on Wednesday, Oct. 19.

Faculty members from many departments had the opportunity to explain to the Academic Senate why they are looking for additional support in those specific areas. In the last month, the senate has met every week to complete this process, ending with 24 positions to be ranked.

“What we do in the hiring cycle matters. It shapes the school for decades to come,” Academic Senate President Melanie Eckford-Prossor said.

The school will be allotted anywhere from 12-16 new faculty members for this school year which is significant in comparison to last year’s hiring process. 

The requests are analyzed and ranked separately by both the senate members and the deans, which are then finalized and ready to proceed to the next stage of the hiring process.

The senate uses a randomized voting method used to give a fair and accurate ranking for all 24 positions. This method goes through three rounds where each round sorts a top 25% and a bottom 25%. Then, they put each separate round rankings together to get a list with highest to lowest priority, as ranked by the senate.

After hearing the faculty presentations, all of the senate members did extensive research on why each of those departments within City College should receive additional staff members and how each position would benefit the good of the student body and college as a whole.

The senate took into consideration the needs of the campus, of the students, and if the department would still have the ability to function without the addition of new staff. 

The final results from the senate showed the top five departments to receive a position were Associate Degree Nursing, Umoja, Marine Diving, English as a Second Language, and Cosmetology.

The rankings from the dean differ slightly with the top five given to Associate Degree Nursing, Umoja, Academic counseling, American Ethnic Studies, and Biological Sciences.

ADN department chair Mary Sullivan discussed previously in her presentation to the senate how dire their situation is without enough faculty members. The nursing program is nationally accredited and regulated by the California Board for Registered Nursing. The lack of faculty in this department hinders the productivity and safety of the whole program.

“Our success rate is high and we would like to keep it that way,” Sullivan said. “We need to keep our faculty numbers at a level that ensures students’ success.”

Since the City College is hiring an unusually high number of faculty members, more departments are going to be gaining new faces.

The Academic Senate will reconvene on Wednesday, Oct. 26.