Program Review Presentation April 13, 2011 PHILOSOPHY Program Review Presentation April 13, 2011

Program Description Philosophy is the love of wisdom. Its ultimate end (purpose) is to improve the quality of our lives by enlightening our minds. The Philosophy Program at ARC provides courses that introduce students to the Great Philosophers as well as the fundamental questions that arise in the various branches of philosophy including: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Logic, the Philosophy of Religion and Social and Political Philosophy. Integral to all Philosophy courses at ARC is the emphasis upon reason and the development of one’s critical reasoning skills. Students learn to think critically for themselves and to develop arguments in order to rationally defend their beliefs. Current Courses Taught: Introduction to Philosophy, Introduction to Ethics, Introduction to Logic and Critical Reasoning, Symbolic Logic, and the Philosophy of Religion. Student Enrollment: In 2009-2010 total student count reached 1,987, while total unduplicated student count reached 1,685. Instructors: David Lopez, Dennis Holden and Four Adjuncts. Brief Description of your program. Who are you? One Slide, 2 minutes

Program -- Strengths The Philosophy Program at ARC remains strong and dedicated to providing students with the highest quality education in philosophy. Exposes students to the major philosophers, philosophical ideas and important areas of study in philosophy. Provides students with the critical reasoning skills necessary to analyze and assess information in order to make intelligent, rational decisions in their everyday lives. Our courses satisfy G.E. requirements for ARC and for the CSU and UC. They are also a standard lower division requirement for the Philosophy major at many four-year institutions.

Program -- Challenges Student Enrollment in Philosophy is on the increase. Total enrollments in Duplicate Student Counts for 2005-2006 was 1,342. By 2009-2010, the total count was 1,987, a 41.36% increase. Total enrollment in Unduplicated Student Counts for 2005-2006 was 1,229 students. By 2009-2010, it rose to 1,685, a 37.10% increase. One current challenge is to try to meet the increasing student enrollment in philosophy courses in spite of fact that we have not been able to increase the number of course sections. The reason for this is due to the current economic difficulties facing California Community Colleges. We simply do not have the funds. In fact, we are currently being asked to cut more sections. Another challenge is to try to meet increasing student demand for more variety in course offerings in philosophy. So far, we have not been able to satisfy this demand. Our current economic difficulties and call for more cuts simply will not permit this.

Planning Implications What are the planning implications? The Philosophy Department remains committed to providing the highest quality education in philosophy to all students. We plan to continue to offer as many sections possible in order to provide for the increasing demand for philosophy courses. When our economy rebounds, our plans will be to increase course sections as well as course offerings. Furthermore, we would eventually like to hire a new Full-Time faculty member in order to handle the greater load.