THE SENATE STANDARD – ISSUE 26
ACC Full-Time Faculty Senate Website
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
Well, we are back, but our students aren’t, and they are counting on us to help with a challenging transition. No pressure, right? I’m here to tell you all that you’ve GOT THIS. You are a creative and gifted bunch of people who all have our students’ best interest at the core of what you do. I know that together, we’ll make this work. Learning can happen anywhere, we just have to think about it in new ways.
Please know that many wonderful things will likely come out of these challenges. We may develop new ways of working with students and each other that will improve our work in the future. We may develop a new respect for our colleagues and administration. Seeing how people handle a crisis can forge connections and trust in ways that “business as usual” can’t. I’m committed to focusing on the silver lining here. I hope you’ll join me.
There is a LOT in this issue of the Senate Standard. Please get comfy and read it thoroughly. I especially want to ensure that you all consider nominating yourself or a colleague for Senate next year. Details are in the “Current Action Items” section. The deadline to nominate is this Friday, and we need a strong team to lead us into the post-Covid world. I’m excited to see what it looks like.
As always, I’m here to help. Let me know your concerns, and I will do my best to get them addressed. We have the rest of this week to get as ready as possible for our students. Let’s do this thing.
Senate Meetings / Minutes / Agendas
3/13/20 Senate Meeting – minutes are in development and will be posted after they are approved.
4/10/20 Senate Meeting noon -2pm – will be held online. This is the first call for agenda items for our April meeting. Please send items for consideration to me at [email protected] or to your campus senator by Friday, April 3.
New Action Items [please check due dates below!]
SCHOLARSHIPS!!! [due MAY 1, 2020 ß note new deadline] The ACC Foundation has ONE APPLICATION for all 700 scholarships they offer our students. Applications are open now, so please let your students know about them. There is help to complete the applications available at every ACCelerator. Students can view THIS PAGE to get the application, and help to apply. The Foundation has extended the deadline to ensure students have time to apply after the extended spring break.
Newsworthy
Transition to Online Work – Many faculty have indicated that connectivity for themselves, other staff, and students are key concerns at this time. I want to share an excerpt from an email I got in response to these concerns. From AVP Susan Thomason –
Faculty/Staff issues:
“Several weeks ago, a survey of faculty was conducted to inquire about technology needs. Over 1300 faculty have responded to date and of those, only 50-60 will need a device or Internet access to work from home. Our office of Instructional Technology has contacted each of those faculty members and made available iPads with keyboards and pens for their use. Matt Evins and his team will distribute these on Monday morning. We know of several sources providing free or low cost Internet access but are also working with Spectrum on the possibility of a college-specific, free or low-cost option for faculty and staff.
The majority of faculty and staff we’ve engaged plan to use their own home computers, Internet access, phones, etc. as contributions to the cause and as part of the effort to keep courses running to support our students. That said, we understand that some may not have those options so we have conducted an inventory of mobile devices that can be checked out through the summer semester.”
Student issues:
“ACC Library already had an iPad loan program for students, and they have extended the loan period for the entire semester. They have identified ~20 still available for checkout, but are running an additional scan to find more devices they can loan. Note: a student survey of technology needs was being planned through student affair to gauge need.”
Schedule for the Rest of the Spring 2020 Semester – The Cabinet decided yesterday that there will NOT be an extension of the current semester. Please ensure that as you adjust your syllabus to handle our missed week of class you note the semester end date remains the same: May 17 will be the end date for the 16 week, 12 week, and 2nd 8 week semesters.
Important Memo from Mike Midgley – At this busy time of transition, you may be overwhelmed by emails. Please be sure you’ve reviewed the important memo entitled “[Full-Time Faculty] Update to this Week’s Faculty Training Schedule” that went out on March 23. Make use of this week to brush up on your online presentation skills.
Sick Leave Pool – Did you know that you can donate your sick leave hours to other ACC employees in need? Many faculty have more hours than they need, while staff might need additional help, especially at this time. Policies surrounding this effort and a form you can use to donate your own excess hours can be found HERE.
AMP Update – The Academic Master Planning process is continuing, but moving online. Please take a moment to learn more about how you can be involved. Details are in THIS MEMO from Rachel Ruiz and Brandon Whatley.
COVID-19 Updates – The college is working hard to keep us all updated on the emerging situation with this virus. Please be sure to check the ACC page regularly to ensure you are clear on current plans and policies.
• Up-to-date information about ACC’s response to COVID-19 is at the ACC Coronavirus page.
Current Action Items (These are reminders for things I’ve already sent out):
***Nominations for the 2020-21 Full-Time Faculty Senate [due March 27 – last reminder]*** It is time to look forward to next year, and to build our Senate. In order to ensure that faculty are well represented in college-wide decision making, we need motivated and engaged faculty to serve as senators. We will also need a collaborative and organized person to serve as our President-Elect. Please take a moment to nominate yourself or someone else to serve in these important roles. Note that you may only nominate a person from your own campus as senator, but you may nominate any full-time faculty member for President-Elect.
Nominate a faculty member for:
• the position of Senator
• the position of President-Elect
The Academic Master Planning (AMP) process will continue on March 27 with the second round of Area of Study meetings. Learn more about it on the timeline portion of the AMP website. Reach out to your department chair or dean if you want to be a part of your Area of Study team!
Donate to the Red Wassenich Scholarship Fund [last reminder] – You may have heard that Red Wassenich passed away recently. Red Wassenich was a librarian for many years and many of you knew him. If you would like to donate to the Red Wassenich scholarship for students, below are the instructions.
Gifts can be made by mail or online at www.austincc.edu/foundation . Click on the Give Now button and fill out the form. Under the “How would you like us to use your donation?” click on ACC Foundation Memorial Scholarship. Under Gift Type, click on In Memory of and type in name – Red Wassenich.
There will be an “official scholarship” at some point and then that will appear in a drop down menu but until that it is established, the memorial fund is the way to donate.
Changes to Testing Center Policies [deadline to submit requests for exceptions is March 27, 2020 – last reminder] – The website to walk you through all the new policies for faculty using the testing centers is now available. Please take a peek.
SAS Survey [due March 27, 2020 – last reminder] – Our Student Accessibility Services colleagues are interested in learning how to better serve both students and faculty. Please complete the Faculty Survey on SAS Testing to share your views.
Stay home if you can, stay healthy, and know that I’m sending all of you my best wishes for a wonderful semester online.
Best,
++missi patterson