English Professor Lennie Irvin, chair of the curriculum committee, moves that the Faculty Senate develop a format for more efficient email communication Sept. 15 in visual arts. The next Faculty Senate meeting will be 12:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in visual arts. File
The senate welcomes four new members and three new officers.
By Sergio Medina
smedina104@student.alamo.edu
Lennie Irvin, English professor and Faculty Senate president, proposed exploring ways to ease communication between faculty departments and the senate at the faculty Senate retreat Aug. 24 in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Student Center.
“One of our primary things is to try to open up channels between the Faculty Senate and the faculty in the departments,” he said in an interview after the retreat.
The idea is for faculty to be more easily aware of issues as well as providing them with a more practical way to communicate issues to the senate, Irvin said.
“We can try to carry that forward to administration,” he said.
In previous years, the college did not have effective means of communication between faculty and senate because of the difficulty in setting these systems up with this large an institution, Irvin said.
During the gathering, Irvin said each department would have a senator as a representative to form more practical communication.
The list of department representatives is on the senate’s temporary website at sites.google.com/view/sac-faculty-senate.
The website also provides contact information for senators, tasks and updates on issues.
The senate will begin an exchange by sending surveys to faculty asking for any concerns or comments they may have, Irvin said.
Irvin said senate officers — president, vice president and secretary — meet with President Robert Vela twice a month to discuss issues or proposals.
Irvin proposed bringing along a few senators to each meeting, cycling through members to foster more varied exchanges.
“Over the course of the year, I’m going to invite you all to join with us in these meetings so it’s not just the three of us,” he said.
He also suggested the whole senate meet with administration.
“I want us to try to have a whole group meeting with administration, with Dr. Vela,” he said. “I think that’s a healthy thing to do.”
The senate also welcomed its new members, including speech Professor Esther Pais, chemistry Professor Jennifer Caraway, music Professor Martha Fabrique and nursing Professor Olivia Sandoval.
Math Professors Gerald Busald and Ruby Martinez are the new vice president and secretary of the senate, respectively.
Irvin said he has been at this college 25 years, and this year will be his third year on the senate, though first year as president.
