The Teaching & Learning Excellence Division (TLED) has many offices under its umbrella, all of which focus on support services for faculty in one form or fashion. Throughout 2017 TLED has been working to reorganize these areas and communicate these changes and innovations to the college at large.
This month, we’re featuring the “Behind the Scenes” work of the Faculty Evaluations Staff. Led by Raja Faris, Faculty Evaluations Supervisor, this team works year-round to distribute, process, and report student evaluation results to faculty.
The faculty evaluation process gives ACC students an opportunity to express their opinions of the instructing faculty member and structure of the course toward the end of the semester. Then, the Faculty Evaluations staff receives, processes, and returns result reports to our instructors. A faculty member can use their results to improve their course and better their teaching for future students. This is our analytical approach toward leading as a model of excellence in higher education. This resources truly empowers faculty to improve their learning environments and advance student success.
Austin Community College is required by the State of Texas to conduct student evaluations for each course offered by the college for all semesters. With a mere three staff members, the faculty evaluations team manages to expertly process anywhere from 3,500 to 4,500 evaluations packets each semester. That’s a lot of pink packets!
A webcast featuring Faculty Evaluations will be available on Wednesday, December 13th at 10:30am. Tune in online to learn about the services from this area, the new Faculty Evaluations Task Force, and more.
Get to know the Faculty Evaluations staff below.
Raja Faris, Supervisor
Raja Faris is the Faculty Evaluations Supervisor, who spends his days supporting the faculty evaluation staff and when needed, advocating for the office with administration and faculty. Raja has worked with ACC for almost 14 years, picking up new skills and learning the various processes that go into ensuring students and faculty meet their goals. He has been in the faculty evaluation department since 2012 and finds that “being able to think that [we] are assisting to make ACC a better place for students,” makes this often tedious task, rewarding. Raja finds joy from the ACC academic environment in the camaraderie he feels when faculty find a true appreciation for evaluation work. Read more…
Norma Ruiz, Specialist
Norma Ruiz is a Faculty Evaluation Specialist here at ACC. She’s worked in this department for more than 7 years. She began working on the Eastview Campus over 16 years ago and moved to a few different departments before landing in the Faculty Evaluation room. In the years Norma has worked with ACC, she finds her work to be rewarding and expressed, “I love working in academia, and feel that I contribute a bit in participating in the success of students.” Norma finds the faculty to be both cordial and professional and enjoys aiding them in becoming more effective communicators and educators. Read more…
Rene Gonzalez, Specialist
Rene Gonzalez is a Faculty Evaluation Specialist here at ACC, assisting his fellow co-workers with the day to day operations in the office. Though Rene has only been with Faculty Evaluations for about a year, he has worked in various departments of ACC for almost 10 years with both students and faculty. When asked why he enjoys working with faculty, Rene answered, “I enjoy their straightforwardness and honesty about who they are and their passions.” Rene is very detail oriented and boasts that “massive amounts of paperwork don’t scare me” which, considering the amount of paper in the office, is a great attitude to have. Read more…
Tags: academia, academic, austin community college, evaluations, excellence, faculty, higher education, staff, student success, teaching and learning, webcast
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