The senate president explained the involvement of officer positions and delivered information from the chancellor.
Correction: The next Faculty Senate meeting is 12:30 p.m. March 24.
By Michelle Delgado
mdelgado200@student.alamo.edu
Faculty Senate discussed election cycles and Chancellor Bruce Leslie’s response to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges’ visit, Feb. 17 in Room 642 of Moody Learning Center.
The senate welcomed biology Professor Robyn McGilloway to the senate. She is filling the seat formerly held by history Professor Mike Settles, who retired Feb. 8 after 47 years of teaching at this college because of disagreements he has with district policies.
Faculty Senate President Tiffany Cox Hernandez announced that the senate election cycle would start April 1.
“April is also the month we will start taking nominations from this body to serve as officers,” Hernandez said.
There are three officer positions on Faculty Senate: president, vice president and secretary.
“Anyone who served on a committee this year can say it’s a lot of work,” Hernandez said. “You are the body of people who are eligible to serve as officers next year.”
Hernandez explained that the senate president position is a 12-hour release, but takes more time than that, where you teach one course and attend many meetings.
Time commitment is something you need to think about, she said.
“It’s got as many rewards as it does challenges,” Hernandez said. “It’s not all just about time, it’s an incredible opportunity.”
Hernandez encouraged any interested members to shadow her or the other officers to a Super Senate or Executive Faculty Council meeting to get a feel of what the involvement would be like.
“I would much rather you go into this with your eyes at least half-open rather than being a deer in the headlights,” she said.
The senate members also discussed the latest Super Senate meeting.
Hernandez said she presented a letter to Leslie from last month’s senate meeting, which contained a series of questions regarding the SACSCOC accreditation process.
“I think he’s not particularly concerned about the SACSCOC visit,” Hernandez said. “Not in a way that he just doesn’t care, but he thinks we will work through it adequately and sufficiently, and everyone will have their accreditation reaffirmed without a problem.”
Hernandez told the senate that she asked Leslie why he is pushing to move so quickly for the SACSCOC board to review the packet in June rather than in December.
“He is very concerned about the bond,” Hernandez said. “He wants to make sure we are in the best position possible moving forward as a district and as individual colleges to give the community the confidence that we are in good shape and they can trust their government’s money and our district.”
Leslie did not want the bond to be pushed back another election cycle, she said.
Hernandez explained Leslie’s stance on the new branding for the Alamo Colleges.
“He was very happy with the current branding and does not want to venture far from that branding,” she said.
Leslie cited two studies as the reason.
When Leslie first took over as chancellor, there was a name recognition study for the Alamo Colleges and the only recognizable one was this college, Hernandez said.
After the re-branding, another study was conducted and the results indicate there was equal name recognition across the five colleges.
“We asked for the results of that study and it was never given,” Jeff Hunt, fine arts chair said.
“He is aware of our concerns,” Hernandez said. “He gave me his explanations for where we are at and I don’t think he is going to change his mind.”
The next Faculty Senate meeting is 12:30 p.m. March 17 in Room 642 of Moody Learning Center.