New admin in the college workplace: just not getting it

SOMETIMES I THINK NOBODY GETS IT

At my community college we have a relatively new upper administration. The President is just finishing her 2nd year and the Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) just finished her first year here. Neither one has strong academic background and the VPAA has not yet learned the 'culture' of the College. For example in the Spring semester, she cancelled classes with 9 and 10 students in them (some were required for the students to graduate) and then complained that enrollment was down! 

Virtual Meet & Greet: CPFA, NTT Faculty of the California #CommunityCollege system

... because getting to know one another ~ individuals, groups, networks ~ is part of building an NTT academic labor network and connecting existing networks for contingent academic labor. The fragmentation that has isolated us can become our strength as nodes on distributed networks, interconnected, sharing information and learning from one another, with no single organization, central hub, network or even ring to rule them all. 

I'm starting with CPFA because I grabbed the information when working a recent post. The overflowing feed reader, social media and correspondence make for a sizable if incomplete scratch list, which should be the next post. Feel free to add to it ~ tell us about community online or off in your corner of the adjunctiverse. Suggest new ways to meetup or new twists on old ways. 

California Part-time Faculty Association

Serving over 46,000 Non-tenure Track Faculty in California Community Colleges.

Longest Serving CC president tells Rose to Take a Note: New Era of Openness

Just got back from Westchester Community College. State-of-the-college speech by Dr. Joseph Hankin, world's longest-serving community college president! Boy was that fun. Asked him if he could do anything about the "Facts at a Glance" that appear online and in BOTH the full-time and the adjunct handbooks-the part that claims that there are 175 faculty at WCC. I know, it's only maybe a little off, like maybe 7 or 8 times less than the actual number, but that's just because they left out the adjuncts! Silly, really.

President Hankin did seem surprise, and asked "no part-timers?" I said no, no part-timers. (That's their word for people who can't get full-time jobs at their place because their sections are capped - not his fault, I think: that's my union). So, anyway, he said, "Rose," I think that was the name, "take a note on that." So, anyway, I'll let you know when Rose gets around to that. Or not. But I'm psyched. Have to go teach. 


Cheers, Alan T.
BTW-I am not Ethan Valerick, but that's a cool name, isn't it? Am working on a few fixes here.

Longest serving community college president in the nation!

Well, I was going to go down to Occupy Wall Street, to hand around with the young people and brush up on my drumming and chanting skills—seriously, I approve of drumming and chanting, and I am looking forward to that and will make my way down there Friday—but remembered that today is the day that we will hear, at Westchester Community College, from Dr. Joseph Hankin, our president, who has been on the job since 1971.

Hankin is currently the longest serving community college president in the nation. 

NEH summer programs for Community College faculty

The National Endowment for the Humanities supports tuition-free summer programs for community college faculty. There is also a series for K-12 teachers. Friends who have taken these workshops recommend them enthusiastically. You can follow NEH Education on Twitter.

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NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture: Workshops for Community College Faculty. Application Deadline: March 1, 2011


NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops are tuition-free summer programs for community college faculty. These one-week projects take place at sites of historical or cultural significance across the nation. Participants receive stipends to help cover travel and living expenses.

These projects are designed for faculty members at American community colleges. Adjunct and part-time lecturers as well as full-time faculty are eligible to apply. Other community college staff, including librarians and administrators, are eligible to compete, provided they can advance the teaching and/or research goals of the workshop. An applicant need not have an advanced degree in order to qualify. Applicants must be United States citizens, residents of U.S. jurisdictions, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline.