Updated 9/7/2022
New Holly will hold instruction this fall
English Language classes will resume at the New Holly Learning Center for fall 2022 as planned. Thanks to the efforts of Presidents' cabinet, we have addressed many of the health and safety concerns brought forward this summer, and we have reasonable interim steps in place for the concerns that could not get immediate, permanent solutions.
The biggest ongoing concern is the need to replace the entire HVAC system for the Learners' Building. Seattle Housing Authority holds responsibility for overseeing that work, and they are working on it. In the meantime, they have outlined steps they will take to provide air filtration, adequate heat, and--most likely for spring/summer of 2023, adequate air conditioning. I expect that those interim steps will be similar to the air conditioning units they provided this summer, which generally provided enough cooling to allow instruction to move forward. I'll be learning more in the coming weeks and I'll share a fuller update in the fall. Thanks to everyone who brought forward concerns and helped assess the needs.
To confirm, the plan for fall includes day and evening sections of English levels 1, 2, and 3, all of which will be delivered 100% in person. Enrollment has already been strong enough that we plan to offer two sections of level 2 in the morning, and our intake (EI) sessions for new students are full. This all looks very promising!
Updated 8/22/2022
New Holly update
Thanks to Rosie, Sayumi, Julienne, Craig, Vanessa, and Matt for coming to New Holly last Tuesday for an in-person review of needs. For people wanting to connect titles to names, Acting Chancellor/President Rosie Rimando-Charensap, Vice President of Instruction Sayumi Irey, Vice President of Administrative Services Julienne Degeyter, Director of Facilities Craig Grosinger, Director of Auxiliary Services Matt Dimeo, and Executive Assistant Vanessa Johnson. I was there, too. Below is taken directly from the summary of goals, actions, and next steps.
Goals
- Overall: New Holly becomes a clear and integral part of the South Seattle College profile
- Short term: Ensure New holly learning environments are operational for fall quarter and the coming weather seasons. Strengthen South Seattle College presence at New Holly.
- Medium term: Prepare to expand uses of and activities within New Holly to the benefit of the community we can reach there. Strengthen South Seattle College presence at New Holly.
- Long term: Fully activate New Holly as a South campus with a strong sense of presence and educational and auxiliary (rental) activities.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) is fully responsible for facilities maintenance and operations (HVAC, doors, repairs, etc.)
- SHA is also fully responsible for Security
- South provides custodial services for our floor
Fall 2022 Operations to prepare for
- 3 day classes (9:00-11:50)
- 3 evening classes (6:00-8:50)
- Neighborhood House continuing rental of office suite
- Possible East African Community Services after-school program rental (between day and evening South courses)
- Heat is currently on a back-up system. Need:
- Confirmation of contingency plan if backup fails
- Confirmation or status update on HVAC system repair (also needed for AC)
- Ensure SHA will provide security coverage for our instructional and working times at New Holly 8 am to 9:30 pm
- SHA confirm or repair exterior door locking mechanism, to open when needed and lock when needed
- Revise custodial support assignments to match operation needs (adjusted for summer, will be ready to adjust if needed for fall)
- Delineate and confirm the roles of the BTS faculty coordinator (currently Carolyn Stern), the site manager (Matt Dimeo), and the dean (John Bowers) in identifying and responding to on-going operational needs
Deadline to confirm these things: Mid-September to allow time to make Fall 2022 course offering decisions
- Replace “schoolie” desk tables with Brockey surplus schoolies ASAP
- Move South’s front desk presence to lobby front desk area, address security needs for this workspace (locking drawers, etc.)
- Address custodial closet/server proximity issue ASAP
Have a good break
Thanks again to everyone for sharing thoughts on coordination and needs of the division. I want to respond to the final round of emails I received since my last blog post, but unless I hear urgency, I think it will make sense to pick the conversation up after the summer break. Thank you for being fantastic faculty for our fantastic students.
Updated 8/5/22
Health and Safety at New Holly
Thanks to everyone for voicing support for New Holly. I visited the site yesterday to assess the health and safety issues. My goal is to create a consensus on the exact issues that I can present to leadership so we can ensure everything is fully addressed. I'd welcome input and feedback from everyone.
Click here to see the New Holly Health and Safety report (opens in a new tab)
I received a request from summer faculty--and students on site yesterday :) --to resume classes this summer if possible. I will work directly with the summer New Holly faculty to see if we can reach agreement on whether the site is currently safe and healthy. I will then see if campus leadership (and specifically the facilities team) agrees we are ok to move forward.
Setting summer aside, a number of the issues at New Holly impact fall, winter, spring, and beyond, so I really encourage everyone to provide feedback. This is a critical part of our work, and I do believe the facility deserves some attention.
Coordination update
Thanks again for everyone who is engaging in the coordination conversation this summer. I have two updates to share. First, I've been asked to provide coordination duties for all faculty coordination for review by the AFT. This request did not come directly to me, so I don't know what exactly is being reviewed. I hope to learn more soon, but in the meantime I will hold off on finalizing coordination duties with all coordinators for 2022-23. I don't see this as a major concern, as those duties do not begin until fall, anyway. I will be more concerned if I can't get that clarity prior to fall. More to come.
Regarding the Transitional Studies Coordinator, I appreciate the engagement. Because this would be a new position for the division, I do not feel the same urgency to have it begin at the start of the quarter. The other positions--ESL Assessment, ABE Assessment, and High School 21+--have responsibilities that must take place in order to enroll students for class, so finalizing these positions will be a priority.
For the Transitional Studies Coordinator, I will bring this to our fall division meeting--when I know everyone is back (given that several faculty take summer quarter off)--with the intention of responding to any questions, finalizing the position, and establishing a process for moving forward. I will do my best to take into account all the feedback I've received so far, which appears to includes questions about the position's purpose and duties as well as a call to honor the faculty voices as they appeared in the spring voting process.
Contractually, I use your input to make a recommendation to Sayumi and Rosie about this position. I honestly need time to consider all the input I've received before I could make any recommendation in good faith.
On mediation
I want to acknowledge the faculty who have told me our division could use an outside mediator, perhaps through a series of meetings, to help us center our core values. I believe I have a funding source for this type of work, and I am consulting with equity leadership to see if we can find the right person (or people) and approach.
On care and respect
I also want to acknowledge that several faculty have asked about fostering care and respect in our division. This is an important value, and I want to provide a personal reflection on how I'm trying to strengthen care and respect in my work with you all.
I've heard that some of the past ways I've tried to provide care and respect have left some out, so I'm trying to change that. As I try new things, I feel I'm hearing that people who felt cared and respected by my old approaches are feeling left out. That concerns me too. It's confusing, contradictory, and often stressful, and I hope I'm up for the challenge. I mention this because if you've observed or experienced changes in my approach, I want you to know that it's not that care and respect have fallen away for me but instead that I'm hoping to grow the care and respect in larger and new ways. I may not be succeeding, but I'm going to continue to try.
I want to thank those who have been honest with me about what they're experiencing--even if honesty meant making me uncomfortable. I value (and need) your courage. I also want to thank those who took a moment to say they saw me trying, even if they didn't feel it. I have a responsibility to get this right for everyone, and I genuinely believe I haven't done it as well as I need to in the past, so I'm trying new things. I have a deep respect for you all.
On transformation and chaos
I also have recently heard from faculty that this moment calls for a complete transformation, but they are concerned about the chaos of a "tear-it-all-down" approach.
Personally, I have an affection for the "tear-it-all-down" approach, acknowledging that there's a certain hubris in believing that we will land in a better place even if we don't see that right now. I hope my affection is rooted in my overall optimism and a cornerstone belief that creative, well-intentioned, and hard-working people can figure things out in the end. I also believe it's the definition of a true leader who takes people over a hill even when they don't really know what's on the other side. So there's a part of me that says if I'm supposed to lead as a dean, over the hill we go. At the same time, I understand that we have real responsibilities to each other. We have to take that seriously if we accept that the other side of the hill may turn out to be full of ravenous, highly organized, and surprisingly well-armed bears.
For what it's worth, I consider our wonderful High School 21+ program a great example of a complete tear-down and rebuild of a faltering GED-focused model. I-BEST similarly blew things up when people dared to imagine that our students might be successful in college-level training programs without going through years of language prep. I think those are both examples, however, where things were thought through extensively before the actual tear-down took place. So perhaps I'm ultimately joining those who want at least some vision and possibilities we can aspire to, but to me that vision is always a rough draft and you know more when you get there. Tear it down!
Mailing student evaluation for remote L 1-3 students
We will again mail student course evaluations for 100% remote English Language students in levels 1 through 3, at the request of faculty. If you'd like the office to mail evaluations to your students (with a stamped, return-addressed envelope), email John or let the office team know.
Updated 7/29/22
Further coordination discussion/response
Thanks again to all who have been chiming in on coordination. I again want to provide my responses here, and again I'll do an edited Q&A. If any of my edits overlook or remove key ideas, let me know.
Many faculty have expressed concerns that the expectations and qualifications for the Transitional Studies Coordinator haven’t been clearly articulated, nor is the expectation for co-coordination clear. You write that you intend on moving forward with this new, undefined role. Why?
I'm not opposed to stopping and revisiting the Transitions Coordinator position. I've been informed that I've been asked to analyze all the coordination duties in BTS, so more will come. Specific to this question, I want to respond in three parts.
a) Why I wrote that I'd move forward.
I was attempting to follow past practice as well as follow the process I had previously outlined. Broadly, past practice has been to follow faculty recommendations. In the faculty survey from June 6, 11 of 16 faculty supported the position. As I said in my blog on June 10, I was also moving forward with the position because I see a clear need. I feel many divisional processes--including this very process--took longer this year because faculty want to engage in ways I believe are fuller and more authentic. I believe a divisional coordinator could help get that done in a more timely manner. Again, that doesn't mean the position will move forward. Expect more on that in a future blog.
b) The expectations for the Transitional Studies Coordinator.
Forgive my repetition, but I drew the expectations for the position from similar positions at Central and North, adding some that I found relevant to South. As with all coordination, my intention was to provide proposed duties that would be discussed and finalized with the coordinator(s) upon their selection. By way of example, the proposed duties for the ABE Assessment Coordinator and High School 21+ Coordinator were both recently updated with input from Jon Nachman and Jane Harness. I hope that further illustrates my effort to collaborate with faculty around defining these needs.
I want to thank Annette Stofer for her feedback on the proposed duties, which I value and will consider if/when this moves forward. I want to affirm that I did not intend to create duties that were vague or general. When I noted that some of the duties might work for an assistant dean or other position, I literally thought about the (possibly former) basic skills director at Central, which I understood to be an exempt position. I take responsibility for what I wrote, and to the extent that it wasn't clear, raised concerns, or was done in error, I apologize and seek to correct. Again, more to come.
c) Co-coordinating
As far as co-coordination, I also stated on June 6 that I'd make a decision once we learned who was actually interested in doing the work. Given that we were down to one individual (Rebecca Yedlin also withdrew), I intended to proceed with Jill McDonough, the remaining vote-getter. By comparison, I also stated on my blog that I intended to split the ESL Assessment Coordinator, but when only one person received votes, I moved forward with the one.
I don't mean to be inflexible. Yes, I'm hoping to communicate clearly, and, yes, I equally hope that I can stand by what I state when I outline these processes. But I don't want to lose sight that my greater goal is to get faculty recommendation on these positions. I'm willing to adjust if that doesn't appear to be happening. That is my sense right now.
I support having part-time faculty in all division meetings.
I'm not opposed, but I am concerned about compensation. The division does not have funds to pay part-time faculty to attend all division meetings. The start-of-the-quarter division meeting is paid in lieu of assigned class time (or by stipends to those who are not expected to teach that day). No other meetings for part-timers are regularly paid or budgeted. I consider attending meetings work, and I understand full timers to be paid for this work as part of their professional obligations outlined in article 6.8.
If my understanding of the contract is off, I'll seek to correct this. I also believe this issue came up in another division some years ago, when a dean refused to allow part-time faculty to participate in a meeting. In that case, my memory was that it was contractually ok to allow part-time faculty to participate as long as they are informed whether their time will be paid or not. I'll take a look at this.
I support co-coordination.
I support this, too. I hope we can have the discussions we need on co-coordination the coming year.
More reflection on our conversations and racial equity
I again want to thank everyone for their courage in speaking out. I remain curious about how race intersects with this conversation. Specifically, I experience that this process is both about coordination and about untangling ourselves from former/current practices rooted in white supremacy and harm. Some faculty have told me they find it hard to speak. If it helps to know, it takes me quite a while to figure out what message captures my values. One colleague who participated told me that it took them quite a long time to arrive at their message, too.
My struggle makes me think we're talking about racial equity and white supremacy. At the end of the day, I want everyone to speak. I wonder about the best way to foster/support that while still keeping the work moving forward. It feels contradictory to me at times. Sometimes I think we're interrogating our processes as a way to avoid talking about race. Sometimes I think we're exactly talking about race when we interrogate processes. Sometimes I think both are true.
If you are nervous about speaking, please know that I hear you and I want all of us to engage. To the extent this helps, I'm just doing my best, and I get nervous every time I send out a blog post to 40+ people including my boss (hi Sayumi!), knowing that this could be read by anyone in the world with internet access and the right link.
If that gives you a little more willingness or courage, more power to you. I believe we are untangling processes and procedures that are generations old. I don't expect it to be easy or quick. I also don't want us to drag our feet or avoid.
New Holly will close* for the remainder of the summer
I have some important news. The college is closing the New Holly Learning Center for the remainder of the summer, starting immediately, to address health and safety concerns. I want to be clear that there was not a specific health or safety event/incident that led to this decision (that I'm aware of), but rather the culmination of a variety of concerns around air conditioning, ventilation, general cleanliness, and the like. As such, we will move all the ESL classes to 100% remote starting next week.
This decision was made today, and I've reached out to the impacted faculty. We will rapidly put plans in place for distributing Chromebooks, hotspots, student packets, and any other needs. Some faculty and staff may be working on site for a limited time to distribute these resources or to otherwise help students. Beyond that, the college is moving to aggressively assess the situation and determine what needs to be done for classes to resume. More to come.
* I've been asked to clarify/confirm that we suspending instructional/college operations ("closing" was my word choice) for the New Holly Learning Center--specifically the second floor of the Learner's Building. The college does not have authority to close the entire Learner's Building, and specific to the second floor, non-college usage, such as the ECAS summer camp, will continue.
Updated 7/24/2022
Dean's account of the recent coordination emails
I want to thank Zahra Alavi for her courageous addition to our dialogue. Like others, I, too, want to do better when it comes to speaking out against injustice in our division. I hope to approach this with humility, as I strive to remain someone who's listening and learning, and as I recognize myself as someone with privilege who has caused harm. I acknowledge that my blind spots may cause further harm--even though my words here search for healing and understanding. But my silence is contributing to harm so I'm speaking out.
Recap
I want to start with a brief, factual account of what I witnessed in our vote for the 2022-23 New Holly Faculty Coordinator.
- We followed our past practice. Positions were proposed. Nominations made. A vote took place.
- For the New Holly position, Carolyn Stern was the top vote-getter.
- Carolyn Stern had previously let me know that she did not want the position. Because I would not recommend a Carolyn for a position she did not want, I did not make an announcement.
- Because Carolyn had self-nominated for the position, I contacted her to clarify. She confirmed that she did not want the position.
- I then reached out to the next highest vote-getter, Zahra Alavi, to confirm that she was interested.
I want to pause here and say, to my experience as dean, everything that took place to this point was completely normal and consistent with past practice. Then I began to experience things that were different from the norm.
- While the communication with Carolyn and Zahra was in progress, I was asked to provide the results of the vote. I did.
- Before Zahra responded to me about her interest in the position, I witnessed an interrogation of our past practice and a call for a re-vote.
- Further, I witnessed an interrogation of Zahra's qualifications to serve as the New Holly coordinator.
Systemic racism and good intent
I want to examine this sequence of events, and particularly the variation from past practice, for systemic racism. I want to re-affirm that I'm learning while I outline a few key points. If these are familiar to you, forgive me. I do not wish to discount our collective knowledge and values.
- While I call on us all to be personally responsible for our individual actions, when I talk about systemic racism, I invite us to analyze these events as a system we are all participating in.
- We are all responsible for this system.
- I want to acknowledge good intent. I genuinely do not believe there are malicious actors.
- I also want to acknowledge the limits of good intent. I believe we had the best intentions. I also believe we caused harm.
- How do we want to address this?
Now, to be explicit, let me share ways in which I believe I'm witnessing systemic racism that's resulting in harm to Zahra Alavi, a BIPOC leader in our division.
- Zahra offered to bring her talents and expertise to New Holly.
- Because Carolyn no longer wanted the position, it was offered to Zahra.
- I experienced a flood of voices calling on me, as dean, to vary from past practices. Regardless of our intent, I experienced this as a call to change the rules for a BIPOC leader in our division.
- I witnessed Zahra asking to be seen and for an end to the harassment and bullying she is experiencing.
- I see her referring to similar experiences she's had in our division in the past.
I want to affirm that this is not the only example of systemic racism in our division that I have witnessed. And while I provide this systemic frame, please know that we all should be doing our personal work in understanding racism as well. In other words, I encourage you to examine whether these events help your personal growth along with the collective improvement of our systems and processes.
We can do better
I believe we live in a society and world that is still tangled up with white supremacy. I believe part of the problem is that we've been systemically taught not to speak about it. In my experience, as I get more comfortable about talking about racism, I start seeing it more. I'm grateful, because I think that lets me start to untangle it more, but it's not easy. It's not quick. It's not simple. Many have told me how they're struggling to speak authentically about this. I have that experience, too.
To that end, some have told me that they didn't even see the systemic racism I described above until I outlined it. My goal is to share this here to see if others also see it, even if it was not the intention and even if they did not see it earlier.
We swim in a sea of white supremacy. It is what we have inherited in our society. I am encouraged and inspired as I see us engage in the hard work of upending white supremacy. To be clear, I do not want us just to reflect. We need to act. To that end, I am encouraged by the calls I heard that say this never should have happened as well as the calls for improvements and change. Yes, we need to do this. No, judging by some of the efforts I've seen so far, it will not be easy.
We need to do this work together in order to become an anti-racist department. Our students, communities, and colleagues need for us to be a division who can stand up for each other with courage, humility, and a willingness to learn. We need to be able to learn about ourselves and how our students receive us, whether or not we intend to do harm or good.
I know we can do this. Tonight, this is my account of what I witnessed. I need to reflect on this more. I am encouraged by our honesty, vulnerability, and willingness to engage. Let's continue to do more. Let's go further.
Some quick Q&A
1) Why didn't I speak out sooner?
I feel a responsibility as your dean to craft a response that will, hopefully, lead us to better understanding healing. As part of my process, I definitely consult with my EDI mentors and other leaders, and they are not always available on a moment's notice. I also think there's a value to reading things deeply. I want to re-read Zahra's email, for example, when I have time and space to think hard.
2) Why didn't I voice Zahra's qualifications for New Holly?
Maybe I'm stubborn, but I feel like I shouldn't have to. Zahra's more than qualified to serve as New Holly coordinator, and I find the insinuation that she's not qualified insulting to the point that it doesn't merit a response. Zahra, to the extent that you would have felt supported if your dean if I responded, I apologize. For what it's worth, I extend this to other BTS faculty when their qualifications are questioned (which happens).
3) Why didn't I voice Zahra's qualifications for New Holly? Number 2
I try to take the contract seriously, and part of that effort is to avoid guiding or shaping the advice faculty give me. I'm struggling to decouple the harm I hope to stop from feedback I value and want to foster. In some ways, it may be inauthentic to decouple these two. But to be clear, I am not trying to sway anyone's vote or silence feedback. I am trying to stop harm.
Latest coordination update
With Zahra's decision to decline coordination duties at New Holly for 2022-23, we have no willing coordinator. I'm inclined to ask Carolyn to extend her service and to see advice from the division next fall. The goal would be to find a coordinator as quickly as possible.
We also no longer have anyone interested in co-coordinating for the Transitional Studies Division Coordinator. I intend to proceed with a conversation with Jill McDonough about serving in the role without a co-coordinator for 2022-23.
More to come.
Updated 7/19/2022
Coordination update
I've received quite a bit of feedback about faculty coordination for 2022. I will attempt to respond here. Send further questions my way. I would like to respond to them on the blog so we all have a record we can refer to. If there were comments that I felt were similar, I grouped them. Before I begin, I want to frame my response with language from article 4.6.C in the CBA, which discusses the selection of faculty coordinators:
Selection: All affected unit faculty will have the opportunity to provide input to the Unit Administrator regarding the selection of faculty coordinators for their administrative unit. Part-time faculty may be selected as faculty coordinators. The Unit Administrator’s recommendation will be sent to the campus president (or designee) via the appropriate vice president for final selection. Faculty coordinator appointments are intended to be made on a regular college year basis, but a shorter term basis is permissible. Summer appointments are optional based on the Unit Administrator’s assessment of need; these appointments will be made in accordance with Article 4.6.
There are two important points I read in this language. First, faculty "have the opportunity to provide input regarding the selection of faculty coordinators." I hope the three-step process we just completed, which we have followed in the past, has given you opportunity to provide input. I hope to maintain a collaborative approach, so I'm happy to continue to accept input, but this leads to the next point. Second, this process calls on me to make a recommendation to our president via our vice president of instruction. While I want to acknowledge that past practice--to my memory--has been I've always followed the input of faculty and always had my recommendation accepted, I do not read anything in the CBA that states this is ensured. To my read, the CBA process is meant to generate input from faculty and a recommendation from the dean.
- Carolyn Stern was the top vote-getter for New Holly coordination. Why has she not been announced?
Carolyn Stern emailed me last week to decline the New Holly coordinator position. Prior to the vote, she (and Tina Miller) had spoken to me about having a full-timer serve in the role at New Holly for a variety of reasons. Yes, Carolyn did submit her self-nomination and, yes, since she submitted it, I included her in the vote. Following the vote, I called to ask her intentions given our earlier conversations. I want to acknowledge that this is very, very common part of my experience when incumbent faculty coordinators decide to leave some of these positions. I recall having a similar conversation with Tina Miller, who had served as longtime New Holly coordinator before Carolyn. It's happened elsewhere, too. So as a rule, if someone has expressed reservations or explicitly said they don't want a position, I call to confirm their plans before announcing them, even if they are the top vote-getter. If I should change this practice in the future, I don't have a problem.
- Jill was the top vote-getter for BTS division coordinator. Why has she not been announced?
As I'll discuss further below, I expected to split the BTS division coordinator into two positions. I hoped to confirm the potential co-coordinator when announcing the result for Jill. I also wanted to acknowledge that it's possible that position will not split, and I felt I needed to resolve that as well before making an announcement.
- Faculty members chose to put themselves up for election based on what was already described (a single coordinator role with all the duties listed), and a good turnout of faculty voted to fill the position on that same premise. Splitting it now into co-roles changes the vote after the fact and is obviously problematic in many ways.
- If we want to vote for a split TS coordinator position, then those discussions and decision need to be made before the vote instead of after the vote.
- The vote was for a single coordinator, and the faculty were only allowed to self-nominate and vote for one position.
The announcement of the coordination vote on my spring blog (opens in a new tab) included the following: In the nomination process, I proposed potentially splitting the ESL Assessment Coordinator and the Transitional Studies Division Coordinator. I only received one nominee for the ESL Assessment position, so I do not expect to split that position in 2022-23. I will await the vote for the Transitional Studies position, but I expect it may become co-coordinators.
This was my effort to announce that I "expected" to split the Transitional Studies position, information I agree needed to be provided ahead of the vote. I further agree that changing after the fact is problematic, which leads me to affirm that "I expect it may become co-coordinators." To be clear, I seek a collaborative and transparent process, so my choice of language in stating that "I expect it may become co-coordinators" was meant to acknowledge that those voted into the position should have input into the duties and responsibilities and I envisioned that this input could include input on whether or not splitting the position even made sense.
The observation that even if the position was expected to split faculty only were allowed to vote for one position is, I think, a fair consideration. I imagined that any coordination that was to be split would simply be divided among the top two vote-getters. I can appreciate that I was not explicit about that. (For what it's worth, I did receive at least one write-in that specifically voted for two people.)
- Since there was little support (only 14%) for the 2nd vote-getter for the NH coordinator position, I support reopening this position so that there is a strong vote of confidence for the faculty member elected.
I am happy to consider this. To my memory, it would deviate from past practice where, if the top vote-getter declined the position, it was given to the next top vote-getter. It would help to understand why past practice doesn't work in this case. Is this unequitable? Was this a problem in the past? Help me understand.
- I don’t think any faculty member should simultaneously hold two coordinators’ positions.
I don't anticipate that I am going to recommend this, and I can't recall if this has happened in the past.
- All of this should have been resolved during spring quarter.
I want to affirm my goal of having this resolved in spring every year, as it's been done in the past. I intend next year and in future years to start this process in winter quarters to ensure more timely resolutions. Further, I think a winter vote supports other divisional goals, such as providing a clearer potential "shadowing/training" period for faculty who want to step into coordination roles but do not put their name forward because they do not see how training/transitions would work.
- I'd also like to see the comments (not just write-in nominations) from the process since it isn't clear to me how this position would be split or how many people suggested a split.
- How many people suggested that the TS coordinator position be split into ABE and ESL positions? I am wondering how EL part-time faculty feel about this since ABE already has 2 coordinators who do much of this work.
I can't speak to how EL part-time faculty feel, but I want to acknowledge the question. Regarding the vote on splitting positions, as I shared in my my spring blog (opens in a new tab), a small majority rejected this idea. At that time, I responded that I was still considering this possibility for the reasons I shared, specifically "to allow more opportunity for new people to be trained/qualified for these positions and, by default, reduce the risk of loss of institutional knowledge if someone holding one of these positions decides to move on." I still believe these reasons are valid. In the spirit of transparency, you can click here (opens in a new tab) to view the results of the survey regarding coordination needs--which includes the feedback on splitting. You can click here (opens in a new tab) to view the Excel document with comments, though the comments are not readily formatted for easy reading. To my memory, our division practice has been for me to summarize these results in my blog, which I did this spring. I'm hearing that there's a preference to share full results on the blog in the future, which I'll do.
- I'm curious if there is normally 20+ faculty voting for coordinators.
This spring we had 23 voters for faculty coordination (though I don't think everyone voted for every position). Last year we had 9. I don't know what accounts for the higher voting this year. In spring, we had 29 faculty with assignments, though I want to acknowledge that there are often at least some faculty who are part of our division who may not have taught in spring and who may have voted. Prior to Covid-19, we often had 30 or 35 faculty with assignments, but even then I don't recall such strong turnout. I don't have those earlier records on hand because we used Survey Monkey at that time, which we no longer use. Basically, I don't know what "normal" is, but 23 votes this year seems super high.
- I would like to see the job description for the TS coordinator please.
Below are job duties I included in the nomination and voting process for the Transitional Studies Division Coordinator.
As with all coordination positions, my intention was to finalize these duties with the candidate. To provide context, I was invited to consider this position for our unit. It's broadly meant to align with similar "division coordinators" elsewhere on campus. In the spirit of transparency, I will share that I drew ideas from the BTS coordination position at North (opens in a new tab) and the BTS coordination position at Central (opens in a new tab). My goal is not to draw scrutiny to those positions, nor should you consider these definitive examples from other campuses, as they may have changed. My goal is to be transparent about my process.
- I’d also like to ask about the new Transitional Studies Faculty Coordinator position. Since the faculty recommended it be a co-led position, and only one faculty got the overwhelming number of votes, how will you proceed?
To be clear, I did receive some recommendations for co-coordination for the division position, but when asked about co-coordination overall, a small majority opposed the idea. Still, I continue to see value in this. I will reach out to the next highest-vote getter for the Transitional Studies faculty coordinator and confirm interest. I don't see much need to recommend co-coordinators to Sayumi and Rosie if the faculty who were put forward in this process do not have an interest in co-coordination. If they do, I'll convene them to review and take input on the duties and procced from there.
Thank you. I think that captures the feedback I have for the comments I received. If I overlooked something, let me know. Thank you all for the amazing work you do on behalf of our students.
Updated 7/13/2022 (with additional info added on 7/18/22)
Fall schedule
Click here (opens in a new tab) to view the most recent version of the fall schedule. This schedule now includes all part-time priority-hire faculty as well as part-time faculty who have not yet reached priority hire. This summer, I will search for faculty interested in Landscaping/Horticulture I-BEST, Culinary I-BEST, and the On-ramp to Aviation Maintenance Technology class (held at the airport and co-taught with Aviation faculty). If you know anyone who might be good for these positions, let me know.
Coordinator vote
Thanks to everyone who voted for 2022-23 Faculty Coordinators. The results of this advisory vote include:
- ESL Placement/Assessment Coordinator: Kris Lysaker
- ABE Placement/Assessment Coordinator: Jon Nachman
- High School 21+ Coordinator: Jane Harness
I am still following up with faculty who were nominated/voted for the New Holly Coordinator and the Transitional Studies Coordinator to confirm people's interest and availability. I intend to split the Transitional Studies coordination into an EL Transitional Studies coordinator and an AE Transitional Studies coordinator, based on faculty advice about that position. More to come!
Click here (opens in a new tab) to view the coordination vote results without the write-ins. Click here (opens in a new tab) to view the write-in votes. I put the write-in results up rather quickly, based on a request from faculty. If/when I get a chance, I'll see if I can format them better.
Send drops to Amber and Teresa
Please send any of your summer drops to Amber and Teresa, if you haven't already. We want to make sure the rosters are as accurate as possible.