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A focus on faculty professional learning, given the challenges that California community colleges and students face, must remain a high priority and continue to evolve. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) has long been an advocate for the development of robust professional development policies as part of senate purview under Title 5 §53200, colloquially referred to as the 10+1. Indeed, as student populations within the California community colleges become more diverse, colleges seek to improve student success and close the opportunity gap for marginalized communities. The ASCCC has passed numerous resolutions in support of intentional learning opportunities to address diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism throughout the curriculum and college cultures. Such intentional learning must be a significant component of faculty professional learning and development. The goal and purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of faculty professional learning that is necessary to improve student success as well as the role local academic senates can play in such efforts. The paper will examine the issues from both a philosophical and practical point of view.

The primary purpose of this paper is to emphasize and reiterate the centrality of the faculty role in tutoring and learning centers, where peer-to-peer, discipline-specific collaborative learning is the primary objective. This paper provides a breadth of content for practitioners in the field and also assists those seeking to understand the unique role of the tutoring and learning center and the faculty that develop and lead these services. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges asserts that faculty, preferably full-time, tenure-track faculty, should oversee tutoring and learning centers. The tutoring and learning center is a crucial instructional space on campus that should be supervised and led by faculty. [Written in collaboration with the Transfer, Articulation, and Student Success Committee 2020-2021.]