THE SENATE STANDARD – ISSUE 28
ACC Full-Time Faculty Senate Website
ACC Coronavirus page
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
Well, we’ve been online for more than a week now. I hope you are thriving in this new “work from home” world we are living in.
This week’s Senate Standard is full of INVITATIONS. We invite you to our next meeting. We also invite you to review the work we are doing to preserve Senate history, and to help determine how we distribute emergency funds. We even invite you to listen to a podcast!
I will be in touch later this week with details about our General Election, inviting you to cast your ballot. Please keep your eyes peeled for that.
So now, I invite you to read this week’s Standard, and when you are done? I invite you to step away from your screen, shake off the muscle tension, and take a deep breath. You are DOING this incredible thing – bringing education online to people who need it – and you deserve a moment to celebrate that.
Senate Meetings / Minutes / Agendas
4/8/20 Senate Meeting with Provost – The agenda is now posted on the Senate website. Please note that this meeting is only open to Senate Leadership Team and other invitees.
4/10/20 Senate Meeting noon -2pm – This meeting will be held online. Please consider joining us. We will have several guests, including VPs Shasta Buchanan and Mike Midgley who will give us an update on ACC’s transition to serving students fully online.
• The agenda is now posted on the Senate website. All Full-Time Faculty are welcome, and will receive professional development credit for attending.
• The link to participate is at the top of the agenda, and also on the Senate calendar on the Senate website.
New Action Items [please check due dates below!]
Senate Resolutions ONLINE – In an effort to ensure that Senate records are available to all, we’ve been working on a project to get past Senate resolutions online. We’ve now completed this project and are excited to announce the resolution repository is LIVE. Please take a peek! If you have access to information from the years we are missing, please email [email protected] so I can add it. Many thanks to our Administrative Assistant, Cassie Olivo and Senate Communications Officer, Eva Thomsen for their incredible work on this project.
Call for Emergency Fund Committee Members [due April 17] – At this time, when so many are struggling, we need some help determining how to distribute funds from our Joint Employee Association Emergency Fund. If you are willing to serve, please fill out our volunteer form by April 17. I’ve not yet been told how many seats the Senate will get, but I would like to know how many people would be interested in serving in this way.
Newsworthy
Most Recent Update on ACC’s Transition to Online – You should all have received an email from Dr. Rhodes on April 6 – “ACC COVID-19: All Summer Classes Move Online & Remote Work Extended”. In this memo, we were informed that ACC will be fully online through the summer. Pass/No Pass grading will be extended as well.
How to Cope During a Crisis – ACC Faculty member Sarah Porter was a guest on a podcast covering how to cope during a crisis. I share this with all of you and hope you’ll find it helpful. Congratulations to Sarah. https://collegehoodadvice.com/podcast/how-to-cope-with-crisis-with-dr-sarah-porter
Current Action Items (These are reminders for things I’ve already sent out):
Sharing Online Teaching Successes As all of us navigate the new challenges of transitioning to online, there are bound to be “uh-ohs” and “whoo-hoos”. I would love to hear your successes, in hopes that we can all learn from each other. Please share best practices or other successes on this document, and read about what your colleagues are doing. It is my hope that as this document grows you’ll find some inspiration here. Keep it positive, focus on the GOOD, celebrate your students and your colleagues, and let’s make learning happen online at ACC.
Review Bylaws – We will be voting on these starting April 10, so now is your chance to get a good read on them before casting your ballot. You can review the document that summarizes all of the major changes in our proposed bylaws. It also has links to the redlined and clean versions of the proposed bylaws.
Changes to Testing Center Policies [deadline to submit requests for exceptions is April 17, 2020ß note new deadline] – The website will walk you through all the new policies for faculty using the testing centers. Please take a peek.
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. Students can view THIS PAGE to get the application, and assistance with applying.
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.
Emergency Funds for Students and Faculty
Times right now are tough. I know you or other people you know may be struggling. Remember, there are funds to help ACC employees. In addition, students may be struggling too. If you have the resources to help students or faculty, here is the way to do that.
Student Emergency Fund – Keep a Dream Going
• To donate to help students: austincc.edu/donate
• Students in need should go to: austincc.edu/sef to apply for aid
Faculty Emergency Fund – Support for ACC Faculty
• Learn more at: https://www.austincc.edu/facstaff/emergency-funds/faculty-emergency-fund
• Donate to help faculty (note that the fund is VERY low right now): https://docs.google.com/a/austincc.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=YXVzdGluY2MuZWR1fGFjYy1mb3Jtcy1pbnZlbnRvcnl8Z3g6Nzg3NjIyZWE5YWQyNDA1Yg
• Faculty in need can apply for funds here: https://docs.google.com/a/austincc.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=YXVzdGluY2MuZWR1fGFjYy1mb3Jtcy1pbnZlbnRvcnl8Z3g6NjNjMDMwYzNkOWRhZDlhYg
Best,
++missi patterson