Senate Standard 2.3
ACC Full-Time Faculty Senate Website
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
We’re a month into the Fall ’20 semester, launching classes, attending the first round of shared governance meetings, and finding our way through all the changes. So far, we’ve had our first Senate meeting, the Faculty Senate Leadership Team has had our first meeting with the Chancellor and his cabinet, and I presented at my first Board of Trustees meeting. We took some early steps to increase our presence on a couple of key committees (see below for the call for volunteers), and we’ve made great progress on setting the FTFS priorities and goals for the year.
Wayne
Senate Meetings / Minutes / Agendas
10/9/20 Senate Meeting noon -2pm – This is the first call for agenda items for our next monthly Senate meeting. Please send items for consideration to me at [email protected] or to your campus senator by Friday, October 2. 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
New FTFS Membership on Information Technology and Instructional Technology Committees – The Information Technology Governance Board (ITGB), “whose mandate is to evaluate, approve, and prioritize information technology (IT) projects and initiatives,” has added the FTFS President to join its meetings. We lobbied for this role when we learned top-level IT decisions sometimes influence student and faculty experiences. We are glad to have a seat at that table.
The purpose of the Instructional Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC) is “to provide a consistent approach and review process in evaluating and making recommendations about the instructional technology that can/should be supported by Austin Community College.” When this committee was first formed earlier in the year, the two FTF representatives were nominated by the Workforce and Academic Transfer AVPs. ITAC has agreed to add two more FTF members, one Workforce and one Academic. These two will be nominated by the Full-Time Faculty Senate. These reps will serve as a liaison between the FTFS and ITAC to keep faculty in the loop regarding instructional technology decisions and represent the sense of the senate on issue before ITAC. Below find info and link to the FTFS Volunteer form if you want to be one of the FTFS’s rep.
Orientation Page for Students – See below for the link to an orientation page created through the collaborative effort of Distance Education, Academic Coaches, and TLED Media Services teams. It includes an introduction by Dr. Cook, an introduction to online learning, support services, and Blackboard navigation. The page is intentionally designed to allow students to easily navigate to topics of interest. Faculty can also select video topics and link them in their Blackboard courses.
Chancellor Rhodes Rolls out AY21 Priorities – Chancellor Richard Rhodes has shared his institutional goals and a few initiatives during the first Virtual Campus Conversation and the 9/14 Board of Trustees meeting. While the official Board minutes are not yet available, you can watch a recording of the September 3 meeting on the Campus Conversation page at https://www.austincc.edu/events/campus-conversations-with-the-chancellor. Some of the key points include:
The Chancellor recommended a 2% raise to the Board of Trustees. When the Board reports out on the meeting, we’ll know more about the fate of that proposal.
The institutional goals include:
- Reduce Equity Gaps
- Modernize ACC’s Technology Resources
- Provide an Exceptional Online Education
- Help Austinites Get Back to Work (revised to “Central Texans” at the Board meeting)
- Increase Course Success Rates
- Foster a Safe Physical and Cultural Environment
We shared our Faculty Senate priorities (Student Success, Faculty Success, Equity, and Faculty Primacy), and we were all pleased that full-time faculty and leadership start the year with some shared goals: Equity, student success, and faculty success via exceptional online education and fostering a safe physical and cultural environment.
New Action Items [please check due dates below!]
Volunteer to be an ITAC Rep [due September 23] – The next ITAC meeting is 9/30, so we’ll want to get our volunteers appointed ASAP. Remember, we’re looking for one Workforce and one Academic full-time faculty member, ones with significant experience with instructional technology and keeps an eye on emerging technologies. Visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSej3TAxBLeP5nBGzgbAGIYiwu4VhZwL4EjcbkTemYdXcXDDxg/viewform on the FTFS home page to sign up to volunteer on ITAC.
Compliance Training Reminder [due October 1] – Employees must watch the compliance training video by October 1st. You can view the video here. consult the Compliance Office webpage for additional information regarding reporting and resources: www.austincc.edu/compliance. For questions, reach out to the Compliance Office at [email protected].
Best,
Wayne