THE SENATE STANDARD – ISSUE 13
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
Happy Tuesday, everyone!
Senate Meetings / Minutes / Agendas
SECOND CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS – 12/13/19 Senate Meeting – noon to 2pm HBC 301 – The agenda for our next Senate meeting is now in development. If you have items you wish to be included, please submit them to [email protected] or your campus senator now.
Senate Meeting – 11/8/19 – Minutes are now posted on our website and available for all faculty to review.
Newsworthy
AAUP Redbook – The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is a group devoted to issues of shared governance and academic freedom. Their policy documents and reports (known as the “Redbook”) are important resources for faculty senates. Up until recently, the ACC Library only had the tenth edition of the Redbook. In response to a request from the Full-Time Faculty Senate, the ACC Library has now purchased the most up-to-date, eleventh edition. In addition, they have agreed to donate the now-retired tenth edition to the ACC Full-Time Faculty Senate. There are many historical documents and policies in this book that haven’t changed since the 60’s, so it is great that future Senate leadership teams will have access to this important resource. Many thanks to the ACC Library!
Salary and Benefits – Last Friday, this year’s committee was treated to an educational meeting with Neil Vickers. He explained a lot about how the salary scales work, and how the Senate traditionally negotiates for changes to faculty salaries. We all agreed that there is a need for more education on how faculty salary is determined each year, and will be working with Neil to develop some materials that clarify our processes. In addition, we learned that our Salary and Benefits committee needs to meet with Neil in February / March each year to make their recommendations. If you wish to have input on this discussion, please reach out to a member of the committee and share your thoughts so they can bring diverse perspectives to their meetings with Neil. You can find Salary and Benefits committee members on the senate webpage on committees.
Current Action Items (These are reminders for things I’ve already sent out):
Senator Nominations for Elgin and San Gabriel Campuses. [due 5pm November 22, 2019] – We currently have two senator positions that are open. According to our bylaws, we must hold a special election in December to fill these. If you are FT faculty housed on the EGN or SGC campuses, you should have already received a nomination form in your email. Look for a subject line of “Faculty Senate Special Election- Nominations Close November 22, 2019”, or just complete THIS FORM. Please nominate yourself or someone else to serve so these campuses can be represented in the Senate.
Share your thoughts with students at Graduation! [due December 1, 2019] – Every semester, the Faculty Senate President gives a short address sharing a faculty perspective at the ACC Graduation Ceremony. This year, I’d like to bring many faculty voices to our students on their special day. Do you have some wishes or words of wisdom you would like to share with graduating students? If so, please take a moment to craft a sentence or two that could be a part of this year’s graduation address. I’ll review all submissions and select as many as possible to include. Submit your statement on the “Graduation Speech Suggestions” form.
Comment on new Proposed Senate Bylaws [due December 6, 2019] – The Senate Bylaws Committee, chaired by Jon Luckstead, is in the process of making changes to our bylaws. This effort has been in the works for several years, and we are pleased to be in the home stretch. The proposed drafts are now available online. You can see the red line version to recognize changes, but the most up-to-date version is the clean copy. You can also review a summary of the major changes. Take some time to review the proposed drafts, and then send any comments to Jon Luckstead ([email protected]). Once we’ve heard from faculty and improved the draft, the Senate will be voting on whether or not we should call for a vote of all faculty to adopt these changes.
Pay as you go details – Help spread the word to students [through January 6, 2020] – A new registration process is in effect for students. Known as “Pay as you go,” this process outlines new deadlines for paying tuition. To ensure that students keep the classes they register for, they all need to know about these deadlines. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with this information. Then, consider announcing it in class, or sending an email to your students with a link to this information.
That is all the news that is currently fit to print!
Best,
++missi patterson