douglas college |
Inter Office Memo _ Date: __pecember 18, 1986.

 

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To: Ted James
From: __bes wilson

Re: __ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I have a number of concerns about the objectives of the College-Wide
P.D. Committee. Primarily, I do not believe that we have a need for
a committee of this type as I think the college has evolved to the point
where there are very few professional activities that are common to all
faculty. This is, I believe, the main reason for the poor attendance
in recent years. Perhaps in the early days of the college when many
faculty without substantial teaching backgrounds were hired, and when
the college system was in its infancy, there was a need for common P.D.
activities. However, now that most faculty have been in the system for
a number of years I believe that in many disciplines there is a greater
need for faculty to keep abreast of developments in their specific fields
of interest. For example, in my case as a Geologist, my greatest need
is to spend time attending conferences, field excursions and short courses
on geological topics,on a regular basis. I need time to keep in touch
with other professionals in my field from the oil and mining industries,
government geological surveys and the universities.

It has been my good fortune in the last two years to have been able
to participate in some activities of these kinds. Specifically, in May
1985 I went on a week long fieldtrip, sponsored by the Geological Society
of America, through the Kootenay Mts of S.E. British Columbia to study
field evidence for crustal tectonics; while this November I spent a week
visiting lead/zinc/silver mines in Northern Mexico on a trip sponsored
by the Society of Economic Geologists. I-really believe that these are
essential professional activities that should be carried out on a yearly
basis. In addition, I need time to read scientific journals in my field
and related fields and perhaps some financial support for limited research
projects. Attending college-wide P.D. days, while often an interesting
way to spend an afternoon, is certainly an activity far down my priority list.

Although one month of professional development time is guaranteed
to faculty each year we all know that with course preparations, committee
meetings and general administrative tasks this time often evaporates
or is reduced to a couple of weeks at most. The present level of P.D.
funding ($150 per F.T.E. faculty) is thoroughly inadequate. One only
has to consider the effects of inflation over the last. few years to realize
that this amount is now becoming insufficient to enable individuals to
attend ever local conferences. This is one reason why department P."
funds oft have a surplus at the end of the year. I was able to ati_ad
the meetings mentioned above only because of the cancellation of a number
of already approved faculty conferences. Given the current level of
funding, I should be elegible again in 1996!

In conclusion, I think that the college would be better served by
increasing the P.D. budget in general and by transferring the college-
wide budget to the department level. Activities fund by departments
could, if properly advertised, be of interest to some other college personnel.
I think the Humanities Institute has demonstrated this.

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