By | April 1, 2021
senate logo

THE SENATE STANDARD – ISSUE 2.26

ACC Full-Time Faculty Senate Website 

ACC Coronavirus page

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

We’ve got about 7 weeks left in the semester, and time seems to be flying by. Here are a few highlights from this week’s Standard.

’21-’22 Senator and President-Elect Elections:  Keep your eyes open for an email ballot on April 6th!

Find below a couple of excellent and FREE professional development opportunities.  Provost Charles Cook has offered to cover registration costs for 10 full-time faculty members to attend the ATD Equity in Teaching & Learning Institute.  See the related item below with the link to attend on ACC’s dime.  The NISOD conference will be virtual this year, and ACC has arranged for FREE registration for ACC faculty. 

And, you’ll find several opportunities to get involved with some important ACC initiatives. The Roundtable Discussions on “3 Cs” Tools & Resources project is looking for full-time faculty volunteers. This one is filling up fast, in fact, in record time as far as calls for volunteers go.  So, get your name on the list ASAP. ACC is working on its Quality Enhancement Plan and seeks full-time faculty to join the conversation. You’re invited to participate in a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) on global education and gender. 

Happy Easter!

Wayne

Senate Meetings / Minutes / Agendas

3/12/21 Senate Meeting – The minutes are currently in review. They will be shared once approved.

The next Full-Time Faculty Senate meeting is Friday, April 9th from noon to 1:30PM. Please send agenda items to me at [email protected]

Newsworthy

Student Chosen Name Project Complete! Teams across the college (including IT, LGBT eQuity, and Student Affairs) have continued to work diligently since the release of Phase I: Chosen Name Process this summer to expand the chosen name process to include ACCmail. We are pleased to announce that in addition to the chosen name populating in Blackboard, the Self Service User Profile, and Official Class Rosters — this process is now available for ACCmail thru the MyACC portal. Please note, the name will undergo a brief review process before populating in the system. The college reserves the right to deny requests for chosen names that are offensive, derogatory, or involve repeated requests. Once reviewed, the chosen name should populate within 24 hours. Visit https://conta.cc/3ckmqZi to learn more.  

Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement: This spring, Austin Community College will again participate in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), a national survey focusing on teaching, learning, and retention in technical and community colleges. ACC is also participating in the companion survey, the Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (CCFSSE).  The CCFSSE is designed to mirror the CCSSE and asks faculty about their perceptions regarding students’ educational experiences.  The survey also elicits information from faculty about their teaching practices and the ways they spend their professional time, in and out of class.  The CCFSSE office will send you an email with a link to the faculty survey during the first week in April, and you will have until May 2 to complete the survey online. To learn more about CCSSE or the CCFSSE, visit www.ccsse.org.  If you have any questions about the administration of the CCSSE and CCFSSE this spring, please contact Dr. Richard Griffiths, at 512-223-7606 or [email protected].

NISOD’s International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence (Virtual) , April 28th-30th, 2021 [Registration Deadline April 20, 2021]   Teaching & Learning Excellence Division (TLED) has obtained institutional access for Austin Community College, which means it is FREE to attend for all ACC faculty and staff! Visit the conference webpage for more details and registration information.

Explore Law Program Opportunities for Students [April 9th deadline] We are currently recruiting ACC students for the summer Explore Law program that is a joint effort of the University of Texas, Huston-Tillotson, and ACC.  ACC students participated in this program in 2019 and 2020, and they uniformly praise the opportunity. For an overview, please look at this website. We are fortunate this year to have Dr. Eileen Bumphus assisting us with the recruitment of interested students.  Dr. Bumphus has offered to have information sessions or to work with students one-on-one as they consider and apply for this opportunity.  Students are paid a stipend for the four-week intensive program, and they can also do some follow-up engagement work in the Fall and Spring semester after the summer program (e.g., mentoring from law students, possible internships, etc.).

Earth Week [April 19-23] – It is that time of year again! This year we are celebrating the 51st Anniversary of “Earth Day,” VIRTUALLY! We have put together a list of potential SAFE activities to get ideas flowing. Click Here to Host your own event.

ACC Student Rights & Responsibilities Conference [Friday, April 30, 2021]: I wanted to reach out and share with you the upcoming conference Student Affairs is hosting focused on student rights and responsibilities. The goal is to provide the ACC community the opportunity to deepen the understanding of topics related to student rights and responsibilities (SR&R) and broaden network connections among ACC staff, faculty, and students. Conference Website: https://sites.austincc.edu/student-conduct-conference/

2021-2022 Faculty Learning Communities [Deadline April 30th] – ACC International Programs in collaboration with the University of Texas-Austin Hemispheres Consortium hosts two global education Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) on global education and global gender and women’s studies each year through a unique partnership. Find more information below on each FLC opportunity or read about the Top Benefits of a Global FLC model. GLOBAL EDUCATION and GLOBAL GENDER STUDIES. If you have any questions, please email William Hayden at [email protected].

ATD Equity in Teaching & Learning Institute [Event May 6th and 7th; ACC registration deadline – April 23]  – Colleges and universities have a growing need to center equity-minded approaches in teaching in learning to facilitate the academic success of all students. To support institutions in this imperative work, ATD is offering an immersive, two-day virtual learning event (May 6th and 7th). Provost Charles Cook has authorized ACC to pay the registration fees for ten (10) full-time faculty members!

The ATD Equity in Teaching & Learning Institute is designed for two-year and four-year institutions and will engage participants in:

  • Learning from national experts on inclusive and culturally responsive pedagogy, and other evidence-based practices that build equity 
  • Planning for equity-minded professional learning to support educators across campus 
  • Facilitated conversations and peer learning focused on centering equity in teaching and learning 
  • Applying newly learned strategies to their own institutional and individual practices

If you would like to participate, please complete the Full-Time Faculty Volunteer form on the Full-Time Faculty Senate homepage.  Wayne Butler will compile the list of those interested in participating and share it with Provost Cook so his admin team can process a group registration.

Course Modality Survey Results – Here are the results of the course modality preference survey for current students, applicants, and faculty. You’ll find highlights on slide 2 and the side-by-side comparison for the three target populations on slide 5. Course-specific findings start on slide 15.

The Communications and Marketing Team Creates “Safety & Emergency Communications” site  for additional ACC details during the ongoing fallout from the winter weather event. The page is now live and includes student, employee, and resource information.

Faculty and Staff Mental Health Resources (Stress Awareness Month): Did you know that April is Stress Awareness Month? It is important now as much as ever to keep your wellness in the forefront, and the ACC HR- Employee Wellness Program has a TON of new workshops coming up that will be addressing Stress, Anxiety, Burnout and other concepts around improving our Mental Health. We have 8 NEW, LIVE webinars in April alone dedicated to helping employees manage stress and anxiety! Check out this flyer for a glance at what we’ve got coming up this month.  Full details and descriptions can be viewed HERE.  We hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to invest in your mental well-being. If you have any questions, reach out to Mauri Winters at [email protected].

New Action Items [please check due dates below!]

Invitation for Input – Roundtable Discussions on “3 Cs” Tools & Resources: We hope you’ve heard about the College’s 3 Cs initiative, one of Chancellor Rhodes’ top priorities. It aims to improve ACC’s climate by asking all employees to focus on COLLABORATION, CONNECTION, and CARING in their work with students, colleagues, and supervisors.

A cross-functional subcommittee working on this priority is developing 3 Cs tools & resources for ACC employees. Your input would be very valuable in this effort. Our goal is to get feedback from you about how to make ACC an even better place to work and learn.

You are cordially invited to participate in a one-hour roundtable discussion with other members of the ACC family. We are excited to work with you and hope you’ll join us in this leadership effort.

This opportunity will be limited to the first 50 employees who respond, so grab your spot now.

If you have any questions, please email Missi Patterson ([email protected]). Thanks so much for considering this!

Current Action Items (These are reminders for things I’ve already sent out):

Call for participation in the QEP topic selection process [deadline – April 23]  ACC is in the process of selecting a topic for our QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan). This is a five year project that will be an important part of our SACSCOC (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges) reaffirmation. It will ensure that we maintain our accreditation, and affirms ACC’s commitment to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness by focusing on an issue the College considers important to improving student learning outcomes and/or student success.

Right now, there are TWO WAYS you can get involved with this project. Choose one or both of the options below.

1) The survey will take you no more than FIVE minutes to complete, and will help us get a sense of what type of project would benefit our students and college community.  Complete this brief survey 

2) Submitting a topic idea requires a bit more time and will give you the opportunity to submit a suggestion that will be reviewed by our topic selection committee. If you have a specific idea that you want to be considered as our QEP topic, this is the option for you! Submit a QEP Topic Idea

You can learn more about the QEP, why it matters, and the work of the Topic Selection Committee at the ACC QEP webpage. The deadline to offer suggestions is Friday, April 23, 2021, but the work of the QEP will be ongoing. Feel free to check in on our work by visiting the webpage often.

Best,

Wayne