THE SENATE STANDARD – ISSUE 35
ACC Full-Time Faculty Senate Website
ACC Coronavirus page
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
I hope your summer is off to a great start! I took a few days off to recover from the Spring semester, and that is why you are hearing from me on a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday. For the rest of the summer, I plan to be back on the normal Tuesday schedule.
I do want to let you know that I will be working a very limited schedule over the summer. I’m still here for all of you, and will be working several hours each week on Senate issues. That said, I may be a little slower to respond than usual. If you don’t hear from me in a few days after sending an email, please do resend to give me another chance at it.
There are no new action items this week, but there is a LOT of news. Read on to learn about changes to our QM certification process, an update on Covid-19 in Austin, and the results of a student survey.
Thanks for your patience – and have a terrific summer.
Senate Meetings / Minutes / Agendas
6/12/20 Senate Meeting noon -2pm – This is the final call for agenda items for our June meeting. Please send items for consideration to me at [email protected] or to your campus senator by Friday, June 5. Details for how to join this meeting online can be found on the Senate Calendar. You can also add the event (and online joining details) to your own calendar by clicking the link above.
Newsworthy
Travis County Covid-19 Report – On May 20, I participated in a webinar with Dr. Mark Escott, the Austin Public Health Medical Director. He spoke to a group including the ACC Cabinet and presidents of all the employee associations. His talk outlined current stats on Covid-19 in Austin and the rest of the state, and he focused on our concerns about best practices for safety on campus in the Fall. While most of our classes will be online, there will be some students, faculty, and staff returning to campuses. You can see the slides Dr. Escott shared in his presentation if you are interested. He also shared the plan for safe reopening that Austin’s leaders are using to structure the city-wide return to business as usual. We are currently at stage 3.
Change in QM Certification Deadline – Faculty should be aware that the Fall 2020 deadline to obtain QM certification to teach distance education courses has been extended indefinitely. Faculty who are already working toward certification will be supported to complete the process. Any other faculty or departments who wish to go through the training and certification process to be ahead of the future deadline can request support as well. Administration will stay in contact with faculty to ensure they have ample warning about a new deadline for certification once it is established. If you have questions, you can reach out to Erasmus Addae at [email protected] .
ACC Student Phone-a-thon Results – Willie Martinez and his team recently completed an effort to reach out to students to learn how the transition to online worked for them in the “Student Wellness Check-In Call-a-Thon.” Here is a note he shared about the process: “Overall 50+ staff called 5,000+ students over the first week in May. There were about 25% (1,200) that responded/talked to us, which is pretty good for cold calling. This document has the results of this effort.
Current Action Items (These are reminders for things I’ve already sent out):
ACC Online Commencement – ACC graduation is going online! Please join us on Saturday, June 6, 2020 @11am as we celebrate the class of 2020. They’ve been through a lot, and deserve to be recognized. Follow the link above to learn more. Remember to share this information with your students, too. Hope to see you there!
Teaching and Learning Academy [applications due June 15] – You might want to consider participating in the 2020-2021 Teaching and Learning Academy. Anchored in the ACC Faculty Values and developed by twenty-five faculty for faculty, the Teaching and Learning Academy (TLA) contributes to student success by expanding faculty teaching practices. Essential to the Teaching and Learning Academy is the creation of a cohort of faculty who will learn from each other by exploring the scholarship, art, and passion of teaching.
The Teaching and Learning Academy offers faculty 4 courses. Each course is 15 hours that includes 12 hours of asynchronous online coursework. The remaining 3 hours are completed in a Cohort Meeting the last Friday of each course from 8:30 to 11:30 AM. Applications are now being accepted for Fall 2020.
Annual Educational Level Adjustment [due July 31] – Human Resources is now going through the process of updating faculty education levels. If you received a new degree this year, please review the announcement and the form for more details.
Best,
++missi patterson