Brown Bag: Thank you to Jack Floyd for his presentation on Social Security and to Stefan Haag for his presentation on Partisan / Electoral Change in Texas. Several folks expressed an interest in obtaining a copy of Stefan's slides. If you'd like them, email Stefan at shaag@austincc.edu.
Faculty present: Frank Garrahan, Karry Evans, Stefan Haag, Glen Hunt, Cecile Durish, Judy Nwachie, Lynn Lehle, Charles Miles, Shina Amachigh, Gaye Lynn Scott, Marilyn Mote-Yale.
1. New Full time positions. At present we are waiting for Human Resources to update their hiring guidelines. Once those are updated, the two Government full time positions for 2004-2005 will be posted and advertised by HR. We hope to schedule interviews no later than March 2004, but we are dependent on HR's timeline for posting the positions so that we can then begin the process of weeding through applications and scheduling interviews.
2. There are revised administrative rules regarding adjuncts, MSTAs, HPHs, etc. Some of the changes include:
AR 4.06.013 Adjunct Faculty Workload Limits: 11 LEH is the maximum in Fall or Spring, 5.25 is the maximum LEH for the summer. AF who taught maximum loads in single semester prior to summer 1999 may continue to do so. All others are limited to 8 LEH in Fall or Spring.
AR 4.06.001 Administration of Eligibility Lists (EL). The revised eligibility rule states that new AF are put on the EL when there is a need (at the discretion of the dept chair (DC)). AF can be removed from the EL if they receive a rating of unacceptable on a portion of their faculty evaluation, do not teach in the department for three consecutive semesters, are removed for just cause by the Dean, resign, or request to be removed.
AR 4.06.002 Staffing of Adjunct Faculty. The following will be the priority rankings for AF for staffing purposes: MSTA-Exception (previously termed MSTA IIIs), MSTA (previously MSTA Is & IIs), IA Senior, IA, HPH Senior, HPH, and all others on the EL. As always, all AF assignments are contingent upon availability of sections. There is no guarantee of any particular section, time slot, or location for any AF member regardless of priority status on the EL. Course cancellations that affect MSTAs require the DC to afford the opportunity to select a replacement course first from any unstaffed section then to assume a course previously assigned to an AF with lower staffing priority. Beginning in the Fall '04, any AF member who holds an MSTA for three consecutive years will receive a 3-year appointment that will be renewed each year s/he meets the eligibility standards. NOTE: This is not retroactive; it will begin with the '04-05 appointment.
MSTA: AF receiving this designation can teach up to 5 courses per academic year.
Eligibility for MSTA: All MSTA appointments are granted in the Spring semester for the coming academic year and will follow the completion of the faculty evaluation process.
AR 4.06.003 Adjunct Faculty Participation in Shared Governance. All faculty, FT and AF, may attend and be heard at all departmental meetings. All AF who teach in a department are eligible to serve as voting members. The minimum number of seats designated for voting AF will be equal to the number of FT faculty in that department. AF willing to serve must express their interest in writing to the DC no later than the 3rd week of March. DCs will announce voting members by the end of March. If more AF express interest than the number of seats available, an election will be held.
AR 4.06.004 Placement Credit for Adjunct Faculty. Upon completion of two semesters of teaching at ACC, AF will receive one year of placement credit (on the salary scale) for each 15 LEH of documented, post-secondary teaching experience obtained prior to employment at ACC. (This "probation" period used to be two years and will now be two semesters).
AR 4.06.005 Review of Use of AF. Any AF may request a procedural review of the implementation of a rule re: AF. S/he may request an explanation from the DC re: how a rule was implemented; if not satisfied, s/he may request a written explanation within ten days (this request should be sent to the DC and copied to the Dean); the Dean must respond in writing within 10 days. If the AF is still not satisfied that the rule was properly implemented, h/she may take the issue to the Procedural Review panel, whose purpose is to determine whether such rules were properly implemented. The Panel will make a determination and submit a written report to the AF, the DC, Dean, AVP and EVP.
3. Adjunct Faculty hiring &endash; we no longer MUST interview everyone who submits an application and is qualified. DCs can exercise discretion in deciding when/how often to interview and add to EL. AR allows DCs to determine the need and act accordingly. Placement on EL should reflect qualifications and department need (AR 4.06.001)
4. THECB: Transfer Issues Advisory Committee is working on policies making transfer among institutions easier and more efficient. Current issue: students who have taken an excessive number of lower-division hours prior to transfer from a community college to a university. New rule: two-year colleges must inform students enrolled in academic associate degree programs of maximum number of semester credit hours (66) of lower-division course work that typically transfers to senior institutions under CB rules.
5. ITDL (Instructional Technology and Distributed Learning) online workshops include Blackboard, Streaming media, HTML, Dreamweaver, Selecting Media to Support Instruction. Register at https://workshops.austincc.edu. (You will be asked to log in using your email username & password)
6. New Politics Forum, sponsored by the Annette Strauss Institute for Civil Participation, is a hands-on approach to teaching and learning the fundamentals of political campaign work in Texas. NPF is seeking up to 50 students to attend the Fall 2003 seminar on Campaign Communications (Nov. 6-8) in Austin. www.newpoliticsforum.org Emily Balanoff, 471-7214 or embal@mail.utexas.edu
7. Faculty evaluations. Problems, call 223-7745 or e-mail feo@austincc.edu. Please be sure to stress importance of accurate synonym, instructor ID number (including leading zeros), etc. when students fill out form. 16-week: October 20 through November 7.
8. New Administrative Rule on professional development: "Twenty-five percent of the hours above the minimum requirement may be 'banked' for one year with the approval of the supervisor based on a multi-year professional development plan."
9. Data as of Fall 03: 274 Government majors. Should the Department create a mailing list of Govt majors? The dept would send information re: the degree plan, honors courses, notices of seminars, etc. to our majors. Anyone interested in heading up this initiative, please contact the DC.
10. Streaming video of past Bob Lain Lectures put on by the History Department (fac. dev. hours): www2.austincc.edu/history/boblain.html. Best viewed on a fast machine (minimum 300 mHz and with broadband access).
11. Members of Presidential Search Advisory Committee have been announced by the College. Currently working on criteria for candidates.
12. Travel reimbursements will be on a sliding scale, first come, first served, one per person, until money is gone. $0-250= $100 reimbursement; $251-500= $200, $501-750= $300, $751-1000= $400, $1000+= $500.
13. Speakers Bureau is seeking volunteers for the ACC Faculty/Staff Speakers Bureau. Faculty development hours and community service. Bureau is a free service to the community; topics listed on web and promoted in community.
14. ACC to UT Open House, Texas Union Theater, Friday, November 14, noon to 4:00. Students should sign up online at http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/forms/accopenhouse.html.
15. Teacher prep program begins. Austin Community College has received state approval to launch the Teacher Preparation and Certification program. ACC's program is open to those interested in becoming teachers and who have a bachelor's degree and 24 hours of concentration in math, science, English as a Second Language, and technology applications. For more information, you can visit www.austincc.edu/.
16. Ordering textbooks through eStaffing will begin for adjunct faculty with summer 04. Once AF accept a class, they will be prompted to select a textbook. Guidelines are online at http://www.austincc.edu/ITdocs/eStaffing/Materials/matorfac.html.
17. Great Teaching Retreat: there will not be a Great Teaching Retreat this fall. This issue was on the October agenda of the Professional Development Committee. Ron Brey recommended that an ad hoc committee be formed to review options, their benefits and costs, and report back to the Committee in November. This will give the Professional Development office the opportunity to review the recommendation and for implementation to occur during the spring and summer semesters.
18. Professional Development: The web site of the new Professional Development Office is available at http://irt.austincc.edu/profdev/. The site contains information such as professional development committee membership and reports, professional development opportunities, staff changes, and new phone numbers.
DCs have the authority to approve/disapprove professional development activities for their department members. The process through which DCs choose to document professional development is also up to them. However, they may use the Professional Development Activity reports located at http://irt.austincc.edu/profdev/requirements/PDActivityReport.pdf. Use of this form is not required. For questions, contact Terry Stewart Mouchayleh by email at tstewart@austincc.edu or by phone at 223-7748.
19. Full-Time Faculty Job Description for current faculty: The job description for FT faculty is being revised. One change being considered requires that "FT faculty maintain a presence and accessibility to students exceeding office hours. It is expected that FT faculty will be on campus at least 40 hours per week unless engaged in meetings or other college activities." Contact the Dean for an explanation of the changes being considered or to make comments, suggestions (peebles@).
20. Dept. Committee assignments have been made. The Adjunct Committee will be chaired by Glen Hun(Charles Miles, Stephen Williams, Nort Seever, Judy Nwachie, and Jim Fowler), Faculty Development will be chaired by Karry Evans (Cecile Durish, David Miller, Shina Amachigh, Stefan Haag, Roland Hayes, Kris Mohajer, and Qena McCarty), Faculty Evaluation will be chaired by Marilyn Mote-Yale (Lisa Perez and Lynn Lehle), Student Assessment will be chaired by Frank Garrahan (Vic Garcia, Paul Geary, Greg Harrison, Ann Dillon, Al Belmarez, Paz Pena, Jack Floyd, and Jeremy Abrams).
Adjunct Faculty Committee: Glen Hunt reported that six folks have been interviewed and two of these are now teaching for us.
Faculty Development Committee: Karry Evans asked for ideas for the next forum. Charles Miles suggested a discussion of the impact of Brown given the upcoming 50th anniversary of that decision.
Faculty Evaluation Committee: Portfolios are due December 5 (originally Nov 1). Please remember to complete the On-Line Faculty Input Form early in the Spring semester, even if you are not required to submit a portfolio. Please submit your portfolio in a 3-ring binder or folder with clasps rather than in a file folder or accordion file. Please separate your papers into sections such as syllabus, assignments, handouts, quizzes, exams, etc. If this is a 2nd or 3rd year portfolio, grouping your papers this way will allow the committee to see how your course has developed over the years.
Assessment of Student Learning: Frank Garrahan asked for submissions of student work to be evaluated. Please see the previous memo regarding the particulars on this project.
Travel requests were approved for Paz Pena, Judy Nwachie, Frank Garrahan, Marilyn Mote-Yale, and Gaye Lynn Scott.
Stefan Haag presented an idea for the faculty to consider, namely publishing our own "bare bones" textbook, written by faculty, that would include the basic materials and have Web links for more information. For instance, we could describe the standing committee system and then include a link to the House and Senate sites listing the standing committees. We could designate any money earned from the sale of the textbook to some sort of fund to benefit the Government Department. Since faculty provide much of the flavor and seasoning on any topic through their classroom lectures and activities, a basic textbook could be a viable and popular alternative, it would be affordable, and it would be easily updated.
The Task Force will continue to look at this idea and see if it might be feasible. Anyone who is interested in pursuing this (providing useful Web sites, writing a chapter, developing a template, etc.) can contact the DC (gls@ or 223-4767).