Weekly Newsletter: Tuesday Is News Day

CLS Faculty Handbook

The CLS Faculty Handbook is a great resource that can answer many of the burning questions you have about CLS policy, staffing, evaluation, and more! Plus, you can find instructions for badge requests and grade changes. 

The easiest way to navigate the CLS Faculty Handbook is the search field.  Look for the magnifying glass 🔍in the upper right corner of the homepage and type your keyword (badge request or collection form or CLS KISS document).  

Many of our colleagues  worked hard to make the Handbook the best that it can be.  Please honor their hard work by using it! (Shout out to the OG Fac HB folks: Jeanne C, Colin S, Kendall D, Jennifer Z, Carrza D, Sue B, Sean N, and Sarah S!)

If you find information that you believe to be out-dated or if you think we should add something to the CLS Faculty Handbook, please drop a comment on the CLS Handbook Updates form. 

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Check out Proprioception by Prudence Arceneaux 

Proprioception tastes of a feral urgency to time, to presence, a need. The poems move through ideas of race, of fear, of sexuality, of life already lived in low-level terror now amplified, of the weight of responsibility, of the burdens of age—trying to find a way to breathe every day in a now permanent upset of an already shaky imbalance, to find new position in spaces erupting with old hate, old jealousies, old greeds. 

C. PRUDENCE ARCENEAUX, a native Texan, is a poet who teaches English and Creative Writing at Austin Community College, in Austin, TX. Her work has appeared in various journals, including The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, Limestone, New Texas, Hazmat Review, Texas Observer, Whiskey Island Magazine, African Voices and Inkwell. She is the author of two chapbooks of poetry—DIRT (awarded the 2018 Jean Pedrick Prize) and LIBERTY. 

Distributor Website: https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781680034028/proprioception/ 

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Correction: CLS Assessment Meeting, April 11 

Last week we shared the wrong Save the Date! Please make sure to adjust in your calendar. 

Join Rebekah Starnes and the Assessment Committee from 1pm-3pm on April 11 to hear insights about the latest round of CLS Assessments - the ENGL 1301 Research Essay!

More info to come closer to the meeting date.

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Apply for MSTA Status by Friday, February 21

All adjuncts are invited to apply for Multiple Semester Term Appointment (MSTA) through eStaffing.  From your eStaffing Faculty Menu, click MSTA Application and follow the prompts for the application process.  

The CLS department has several new MSTA positions available for the 2025-2026 year.  

For more information about MSTA status, see item 2.1 in Staffing of Adjunct Faculty 

Reminder: 

• If you have held MSTA status for fewer than three consecutive years, you will need to reapply. 

• If you have held MSTA status for at least three consecutive years, you do not need to reapply.  

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Reminder: Emergency Response Protocols

If you missed it during Emergency Preparedness Week, here's a reminder about ACC's Standard Response Protocols

1. Hold (“In Your Room or Area”)

   • Action: Stay in place and clear hallways.

   • Purpose: Safely resolve issues occurring in the hallways without disruption.

2. Secure (“Lockout – Secure the Perimeter”)

   • Action: Move inside, secure doors, and continue normal activities.

   • Purpose: Keep potential threats outside the building while maintaining a secure environment inside.

3. Lockdown (“Locks, Lights, Out of Sight”)

   • Action: Lock doors, turn off lights, stay silent, and hide out of sight.

   • Purpose: Protect from internal threats by making it difficult for an intruder to locate you.

4. Evacuate (To a Specified Location)

   • Action: Follow instructions to leave the area safely.

   • Purpose: Move to a designated safe location away from immediate danger.

5. Shelter (For Hazards)

   • Action: Follow specific instructions for hazards like tornadoes or hazardous materials.

   • Purpose: Ensure your safety during environmental threats by seeking appropriate shelter.

Resources: For more detailed information on emergency preparedness:

o    Visit the ACC Emergency website for emergency procedures and training videos.

o    Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for real-time updates and alerts.

o    Review emergency evacuation plans located near Emergency Procedures posters across campus

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Response to Federal Executive Orders Concerning Immigration 

We've gathered all of the resources and policies regarding ACC's response to federal executive orders in this document: Info on Federal Executive Orders about Immigration.  Below is a condensed version of ACC's official response.  If you work in high schools, be sure to check the document for the policies at your specific high school. 

Steps from ACC Chancellor:

1. If immigration officers come into your workspace (office or classroom), stay where you are, assure them you will comply.

2. Ask them to wait where they are while you connect them with the appropriate help. 

3. Then, immediately contact the Chancellor’s office at 512-223-7598. 

4. The district will be prepared to work with immigration officers directly. 

5. Please continue your work as usual while we deploy our protocols. Our ACC Police will join the immigration officers to notify you of the appropriate next steps.

The Chancellor's email also reminded the ACC community about support available through Employee Assistance Program or the Office of the Ombudsperson. 

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Faculty Info on CLS Webpage

Please double-check your faculty info on our CLS Webpage and send updates or missing items to Chris Stayton

Here's the info that we need from all CLS faculty: 

• Name and Honorifics (let Chris know if you prefer, for example, Dr. Wendy Elle vs. Wendy Elle, PhD.)

• Job Title 

• Degree and University

• Email

If you are Full-time faculty or a Voting Adjunct, we also need

• A short list of interests 

• A photo of you

  • The image needs to be a minimum of 300px wide and 300px tall. Larger is fine. PNG or JPG files are preferred, but WEBP or other formats are okay. If you are unsure what any of that means, send your image, and Chris Stayton will be in contact.  Also, let Chris know if your photo needs any edits (remove glares, logos, or other unwanted objects). 

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Faculty Evaluation, Spring 2025 To-do List 

These five tasks are required components for the Faculty Evaluation process. 

• Submit your Faculty Reflection Form for Fall 2024 classes to the Academic Year 2024-25 Collection form BY JANUARY 31, 2025

• Submit your Syllabi for Spring 2025 to the Academic Year 2024-25 Collection by two weeks after the beginning of your courses.   

• Check the CLS Due List to see if you are in a Portfolio Year for Spring 25.  Remember Portfolios are now due May 30 2025.  

• Finish your ACC Mandatory Training and self-report on the Academic Year 2024-25 Collection by FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2025

• Complete your Administrative Duties (Syllabi and Office hours on Lighthouse!) no later than two weeks after the beginning of your courses. 

If you have questions or want amazingly detailed guidance for each of the required tasks, check out or print Faculty Evaluation Guidelines, Spring 2025, created by Beth Frye, our (AMAZING!!!) CLS Evaluation Committee Chair.

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Attendance Certification

Please remember to certify attendance for all of your class sections.  This process is quick, painless, and really important to our students and ACC. (Plus, they'll come find you if you miss this deadline!)

You will receive an email from the Registrar/Glynis Miller titled "Class roster student attendance certification" with these instructions: 

Student attendance certification is submitted using the MyACC / Course Management / Attendance Certification system. 

1. From the main ACC web page, go to Faculty & Staff and choose MyACC

2. Find the Course Management heading, and then click Attendance Certification

3. Select the desired Term and Course

4. Once in the course, find the View box options, and select the Certify Attendance Roster. 

5. All entries in the drop-down field default to an initial entry of 'Attended' to begin with. Faculty will then change the entry using the drop-down field to 'Never Attended', as needed. A selection must be made for each student.

6. Hit 'Submit' at the upper right corner of the roster to have your certifications recorded.

If you have questions like what counts as attendance? you can check out the Attendance Certification FAQ page. 

Deadlines by semester

12 week - February 27

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LAST CALL for In-Person Registration, CLS Curriculum Conference, Feb 21

This Friday (Feb. 21) is your last chance to register for in-person attendance at the CLS Curriculum Conference.  If you plan on joining us at HLC on March 7 (and you should!), please complete your registration by this Friday.  Registration for virtual attendance will remain open until Feb 28.

CLS Curriculum Conference 2025 has an amazing line-up of presenters and panelists.  During the conference, you can meet with our textbook reps, get some assistance with accessibility and Blackboard Ultra, and eat snacks! Remember that the CCC is open to ALL Central-Texas educators, especially our partners in English and Writing in community colleges, so spread the word! 

When: Friday, March 7, 2025, 12:00-4:00 PM 

Where: Highland Campus (HLC) in Austin, TX

Panels and Workshops: 

Session 1A, Service-Learning Opportunities for Liberal Arts Courses

Session 1B, Ain't Afraid of No Ghost(writers): Can Professional Writing Inform How We Teach Student Writing? (Workshop)

Session 1C, Teaching Students How To Do Research

Session 2A, Corequisites: Demystifying the Partnership

Session 2B, Trauma-Informed Pedagogy and the Power of Voice

Session 2C, Civic Engagement in a Divided Country

Session 3A, Back to Basics: Outwitting AI Shortcuts

Session 3B, Empowering Learners: Writing Adventures and Metacognition

Session 3C, A Beginner's Guide To Global Education and Multicultural Curriculum

Register today! CLS Curriculum Conference 2025 

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Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities

Teaching with AI Book Club 

Event dates: Thursdays February 20, March 6, March 27, April 17, May 8, 2-4pm at HLC

More details: FCLI Book Club, see Meeting Times/Days in the upper right. 

Celebration of Great Teaching

Deadline to apply: March 7 

Event date: April 11 - April 13

More details: Celebration of Great Teaching website and application

Lilly Conference

Deadline for scholarship Application: March 24

Event date: May 19-21

More details: Lilly Conference Website and Scholarship Application

NISOD International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence

Deadline for Proposals: March 21

Event Date: May 25 - May 27 

More details: NISOD Call for Proposals!

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Conference Travel Request Form

Our division (Liberal Arts: Humanities and Communications) has a new, super-suave Travel Request Form. (Shout out to Toño Ramirez and Jean Lauer!) If you would like to request permission and $$$ for a conference, you start with the form. (This is AWESOME because it means it can't get lost temporarily delayed in my emails!)

• Faculty may begin process by submitting this form

• Upon completion, chair will automatically receive notification and be prompted to indicate approval with this form

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Textbook Selection (Summer 25) 

Important: If you opt for ZTC/OER, we still need you to complete the Textbook Selection process outlined below so that we can tag and label your class on the Online Schedule. 

Full-time and Adjunct INRW - Sue sent an email asking for textbooks orders; please be sure to respond.  (We're working on a Google Form for future semesters!)

Full-time English faculty - should have entered their textbooks or ZTC/OER selections on the Summer 25 Sign-Off spreadsheet (you can find the link to that spreadsheet in the Summer 25 Staffing Sign Off email).  Make sure you tell us if you want First Day Access!

Adjunct English Faculty will use the Textbook Selections: Summer 25 form.  Once you've accepted your summer assignments in eStaffing (Feb 20 for Phase 2 adjuncts), please use the drop-down options in the Google Form to choose the textbook or ZTC/OER. You only need to select texts for courses that you are scheduled to teach; ignore the other courses.  

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Accessibility in Blackboard Courses

Moving forward, ACC and CLS want faculty to aim for a BB Accessibility score of 80% or higher. 

Resources for checking and fixing BB Accessibility in your courses:

Please check your BB accessibility score at the beginning of the spring 2025 semester and as you add new items to your courses throughout the semester.  Dean Toño Ramirez made this brief, helpful video to demo Accessibility Reports. If you need help fixing the accessibility of your Blackboard courses, you have resources!   

• Instructional design support is currently offering Workshop Sessions on Enhancing Accessibility.  They have three options: March 12 (Zoom), or April 2 (HLC). You can learn more or register here: DE Accessibility Training.  

• TLED has great resources on their Accessibility information page. 

• Within CLS, we are fortunate to have Amber Clontz helping folks get their Bb documents ADA reader friendly at her Blackboard Q & A Office Hour on Fridays--see the Information further down the newsletter for how those office hours work!.

• At the CLS Curriculum Conference (CCC) (register now!), CLS will have three Instructional Designers on hand to help with ADA Compliance for PDFs. 

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A not-so-gentle nudge: Blackboard Ultra for Summer 25

If you are teaching summer, make a plan NOW for the Blackboard Ultra Conversion! Many of us wait until the last minute, but that is not the best option with this conversion.  There will be growing pains during the process, and ACC may not have the resources to meet all the last-minute demand for trouble-shooting during the May intersession.  Your best bet is to schedule yourself for one of the many training opportunities happening now and through the end of the spring semester.  Your summer courses will be available on BB starting March 10.  

Here are four different ways to get prepared: 

(1) AVC Beth Knight sent an email to all faculty teaching summer courses.  It included the following training options (each session offers four PD hours):

• Using Blackboard Ultra (Face-to-Face): [Sign up here]

• Using Blackboard Ultra (Virtual): [Sign up here]

• Using Blackboard Ultra (Hyflex): [Sign up here]

(2) CCC's will have Instructional Designers on hand to help with Blackboard Ultra training on March 7th. Huge thank you to Textbook and Technology Assistant Dept. Chair, Amber Clontz, who spearheaded that idea!

(3) Following our CLS Dos de Mayo Meeting (End of Spring Semester on May 2, 2025), we are planning a Bb Ultra Workshop in person at RGC. You'll need to sign up for it--more information to come!

(4) CLS-specific training sessions (check the next item for days/times). Recordings of the trainings will be provided.

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Blackboard Ultra Training with a CLS Focus

Join Alex Watkins and your CLS colleagues for a one hour introduction to BB Ultra! During this virtual session, Alex will offer an overview of BB Ultra, walk through the course copy and Ultra conversion processes, and take questions. 

Option 1: Tuesday, February 18 at 6:00 PM 

Option 2: Friday, February 21 at 11:00 AM

Register in this Google Form!

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Blackboard Q & A, Fridays 3pm-4pm 

Need help setting up your Blackboard page?  Have a quick question about a Blackboard function?

Email Amber Clontz for the Zoom invite; she's hosting regularly on Fridays 3-4pm. 

• Can’t make the day/time? Send your availability to request an alternative :) 

Brought to you by the Textbooks & Technology Committee 📚🪱💻

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Call for Faculty! We Need English Ambassadors!

CLS’s footprint at ACC is big–and getting bigger–with increasingly more events where faculty can play a role and make a difference.

As an English Ambassador, you will have the opportunity to participate in and help run these events. This is a fantastic way to connect with students outside the classroom, share what you excel at, network with your colleagues, and serve our community! 

English Ambassadors will get Professional Development hours for all events they attend as well as every ounce of swag that CLS has to offer (fancy shirts, casual shirts, stickers, buttons, pens, and more). The events on the horizon for this semester are:

• CLS Curriculum Conference - March 7th from 12 PM to 4 PM at the Highland Campus

• The Wonder of Literature Event - March 27th from 12 PM to 3 PM at the San Gabriel Campus

• English Major Cookie Party - April 30th from 2 PM on at the Highland Campus

• Vision+Voice - May 3rd, time TBD at the Highland Campus

If you would like to serve as an English Ambassador at any of these events and/or participate in future events, please complete the following form.

If you have any questions, please contact Theo Yurevitch!

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Join the Vertical Alignment Team! (by March 1st)

The Vertical Alignment Team, which focuses on collaboration between ACC faculty and our high school partners to improve student success, will be hosting its third annual Symposium (previously called "the content exchange") on June 6, 2025. 

This event will offer both presentations and networking opportunities, and we'd love your input in shaping the event! Please complete the form by March 1st. 

Should you have any questions, contact Kari Conness or Brian Fonken. 

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Please Promote: Student Research Symposium! 

Final weeks to Submit Work! Deadline Feb. 28!

The Student Research Symposium will take place on April 18, and we are accepting submissions through February 28, 2025. Please submit (with student permission) or encourage your students to submit their best research projects via the LAG website and its online form. We will consider any work that can be turned into a poster, presented on a laptop, or read aloud.

Please reach out to Chris Berni (cberni@austincc.edu) if you have any questions!

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Save the Date: Vision and Voice, May 3

Join us on Saturday May 3rd 10:30am-12:30pm for the 11th Annual Vision+Voice Literary Festival at the Highland Campus! Bring the family for a fun morning celebrating community, creativity, and self-expression starting with literary carnival games and ending with an awards ceremony honoring the winners of the K-12 Vision+Voice Poetry Competition. You can find more info about Vision+Voice at https://k12.visionandvoice.org/ 

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Please Promote: Online Writing Tutor

From Becky Villarreal

Becky Villarreal, ACC English instructor and LELA tutor, assists students with papers via email. They can email her directly at bvillarr@austincc.edu (with their papers in a DOC file and their instructor's directions) or click here to fill out a form. Email Becky if you have questions or check out her website.

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Last Call for Spring 2025 Book Club

From Chris Gardner

Closing time, y'all! If you'd like to join our spring book club, please  sign up for our non-binding interest list by midnight tonight. You're also encouraged to propose a text in the same time frame. Our selection poll will go out tomorrow. 

In the spring, we read a single-author short story collection. We avoid career retrospectives, so think "album" not "greatest hits." 

As usual, we will gather at Easy Tiger by the Highland Campus to discuss at a date to be determined. 

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CLS Profile 2024-2025--Faculty Contributions

Please send us contributions for our next CLS Profile (2024-25).  We'd love to see a picture of you and/or your students, including selfies with students, photos with colleagues at conferences--especially CLS activities! (Don't forget to get photo permission forms from students signed.)  Aside from photos, we are looking for contributions in as many categories as apply to you; you can also nominate a colleague's reading(s) or assignment(s)!  Keep details concrete and short. The first CLS Profile was a BIG SUCCESS! And, we'd love to hear from loads and loads of our faculty for next years'! (Also, we'll ask for contributions through the first part of the Spring Term. This form will stay open--and feel free to share things as they come up)

Share your AWESOMENESS Here: Faculty Contributions for 2025 CLS Profile

Holler at Wendy Elle, Luanne Preston, or Dania Dwyer if you have questions or thoughts!