Mission Statement

The Butte College Ceramics Program offers a solid foundation in the technical as well as aesthetics aspects of clay construction. Although ceramics as a creative art medium is emphasized, students also study the interrelationship between industry, business and ceramics. Our staff strives to offer a well-rounded art education including instruction in the skills needed to develop a working portfolio for employment and higher education purposes.

Program Description

The ceramics program has recently undergone major curricular revisions to align with the new C-ID Descriptors and to eliminate course repeatability.  Beginning in Fall, 2013, we have been offering four courses: ART 50, 52, and 56, Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Ceramics, and ART 54, which focuses on low-fire glazes and surface treatments.  Beginning classes introduce and develop fundamental skills, while Intermediate, Advanced, and Low-Fire classes offer students the opportunity to develop techniques and a body of work that will prepare them for transfer and upper-division work and/or employment as artists. Students can earn a Certificate of Achievement and/or an A.A. degree in Ceramics.
Classes are offered in a spacious classroom (ARTS 140) and Glaze Room, which includes an outdoor state-of–the-art laboratory.  The Arts Department Chair, three Associate faculty members, and a lab technician are responsible for the operation of the area.

Student Learning/Administrative Unit Outcomes

Under the guidance of Department Chair, David Cooper, the three Associate faculty who teach in this area, Lynn Facchini, Margie Allen, Cathy Hudin, have done a great job, without compensation, in collaborating to improve student learned in the Ceramics classes for which they are responsible.  Here is an example of an action plan from a previous SLO "deep-dive" report:
1. Expose students to great examples of professional artists who succeed using the various clay-building techniques we teach. This will be done with enhanced digital media presentations, providing guidance to online sources such as artists' websites, blogs, publications, and providing information about great museums and/or gallery openings, etc.
2. Implement EARLY emphasis on the importance of practicing skills outside of class time to succeed, especially through use of open lab hours.
3. Delineate more clearly the time sequencing required to assure timely completion of projects
More recently, several interesting observations have been noted in the Brief Reflection:
1.  Some students enrolled in Advanced Ceramics (Art 56) tended to "rest on past laurels".  We need to find a way to motivate these students to advance their techniques further.
2.  Students in the Beginning classes (ART 50) were achieving all or most of the SLOs at high levels.
3.  Students enrolled in Intermediate Ceramics (Art 52) during Fall 16 were "highly motivated" as a group, meeting all the SLOs for that class.
My own comment:  These Brief Reflections could be improved by quantifying the results of the various assessments done during the semester.  Plan to work with the instructors to insure that this gets some attention.  
 

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (OSLED Departments)

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			144	146	136	122	116
Course Success
-          Overall	PDR	70.6%	70.0%	73.0%	88.1%	84.4%	75.7%	82.5%	79.2%
-          Transfer/GE	PDR	71.7%		73.0%						75%	85%
-          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%	31.6%	33.6%	32.2%	28.2%	32.0%
		(Three-Term) Scorecard	(Three-Term) Scorecard	(Three-Term) Scorecard
Degrees - annual	PDR	1,421		1,475	1	1	3	3	2
Certificate of Achievement (CA) - annual	PDR	814		475	2	2	4	3	2
Local Certificate (CC) - annual	PDR	518
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
-          Licensed Vocational Nursing	SC
-          Respiratory Therapy	SC
-          Paramedic	SC
-          Cosmetology	SC
-          Welding	SC
Job Placement Rates	PIV

   Suggestions for dialogue: The Ceramics Department is in compliance with the standard. Success rates for this program are relatively stable. The department continues to assess SLOs and reflect on and strategize on ways to enhance student success where there are perceived shortfalls. For example, we identified in the past that some students were not completing required projects and an increased emphasis was placed on stating the importance of project completion both for success in classes and professional success in the field. Degree production has increased from 1 to 3 over the past four years. Approximately 20 students have chosen Ceramics as their academic program.  Contact information for these students may be found in the Reports Server at the Institutional Research, Program Review, Students in an Academic Program tab.  We are reaching out to these students and are emphasising the potential benefit to earning degrees and certificates in Ceramics during our class meetings.  Regarding persistence, some student take only one class in the discipline. Nearly 30% take at least one additional class in ceramics. All students are limited to four classes within the Ceramics family.  If we aim to equip students with the necesary skills to become professional artists in this medium, we need to find a way to overcome this limit...    

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (All Other Departments)

Strategic Direction

Implementing a Guided Pathways Model that makes career and transfer pathways clear, easy to navigate, tailored to meet labor market needs, and promotes success after transfer.*
With the presentation of our AA Degree in Ceramics, students are presented with a clear picture of required courses for the major, and an appropriate sequence.
Aligning the instructional schedule with Guided Pathways.*



We monitor enrollment patterns closely to match our Ceramics offerings to demand.  
Completing the implementation of Learning Outcomes (Course, Program, General Education, Administrative and Student Services). *
We continue to monitor, discuss, and report results of our SLO, PLO, and GELO assessments (see above).

Program Review

Therre were no recommendations made in our Program Review Validation Report that specifically focused on Ceramics.  However, the following commendations were offered in support of successes achieved by the Ceramics area:





The Validation Team commends the Art Department on maintaining a high level of quality instruction. Full-time and associate faculty and department staff engage in professional development. They obviously work hard and strive toward making Arts-related subject matter interesting, relevant, and accessible to our students.  
Since the retirement of Idie Adams over 5 years ago, this area has been largely managed by Associate Faculty and Scott Bryson, lab tech., with oversight of Department Chair David Cooper.  Lynn Facchini, Margie Allen, Cathy Hudin, and Scott are to be commended for carrying an inordinate load in keeping this highly successful program going strong. 


The Validation Team commends the department on its efforts to enhance learning opportunities for students, including making strategic decisions relating to “piggybacked” classes and “split” classes in Ceramics. The program is inclusive and attracts and serves a diverse student population, including older and disabled students. Students’ safety is protected, efforts are made on an ongoing basis to increase consistency in students’ experience in multiple sections of courses, and students experience high persistence and success rates. 

Department Goals

Future Development Strategies

Requested Non-Financial Resources

Current Financial Resources

Augmentation Requests

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	Ceramics	Personnel	11-000-512-1-100230	52210	$0.00	$4,500.00
Year-Round Lab Tech Support	All, Restore reduced Laboratory Technician position of Scott Bryson to eleven months per year (Current Salary out of Ceramics, 22,392.48 per year for 10 months)				Resolving health, life, and safety issues Maintaining core programs and services Directly supporting meeting department standards/goals for student achievement and/or supporting the college in meeting its student achievement standards and/or goals Supports Previous Program Review Recommendations
2	CERAMICS	Facilities			$10,000.00	$0.00
Improve ventilation in Glaze Room	Goal: We’d like to improve the ventilation above and along the glaze-making area of the the glaze room, ARTS144. This would improve the safety of students and faculty/staff by more effectively preventing inhalation of fine particulate ceramic materials. This would also greatly enhance the work space and improve student learning by creating a more efficient layout to accommodate more students working simultaneously while maintaining respiratory safety. Problems with existing work space: As it is now, we have a single “Smoke-Buster” filtration unit that works, but is less than adequate. It does not evacuate particles from the room, but rather filters and recirculates the air into the room. It is only effective when working in close proximity to it, however, this work needs to be occurring all along the countertop of the east side of the room. It also uses a large amount of valuable counter space.				Resolving health, life, and safety issues Maintaining core programs and services