Weekly Newsletter: Tuesday Is News Day

CLS Semester Start Meeting, Jan. 15, 1-3pm 

Join us in-person or on Zoom to start the Spring 2025 semester right! As always, we'll begin our meeting by approving the minutes from our End-of-Semester meeting.  You can review those minutes here: CLS End-of-Semester Minutes

When: Wednesday January 15, 1-3pm

Where:  RGC Multipurpose Room (Building 1000)

Zoom Link: https://austincc.zoom.us/j/89380215108?pwd=WkhjUZuEbGHX3nuv93Z4ljpzqDvAns.1

• Meeting ID: 893 8021 5108

• Passcode: 720739 

Agenda: 

1. Approval of the Minutes (1:00)

2. Welcome to New Hires 

3. Passing of Christie Carr (1:05)

4. Introducing Chris Stayton (1:10)

5. CCC’s is in the Works–Please Plan to Attend and Share the Love 

6. Ursula Parker, Coreq Summit & INRW (1:15)

7. Anja Ketcham, Tuesday is Newsday Newsletter (1:20)

8. CLS Faculty Handbook Reminders (1:30)

   • Grade Change Form

   • What Counts for Prerequisites

   • Syllabi Checks

   • K.I.S.S

9. What to Do When You Think a Student May Have…(1:45)

   • A significant personal problem

   • A complaint about your teaching

   • Used Generative AI

   • Committed Other Academic Dishonesty

10. Beth Frye, Faculty Evaluation Processes (1:50)

11. Jill Bosche, Mentoring; Mental Health Website (1:55)

12.  Jeff Chan, Learning Lab Folders (2:00)

13. Anne-Marie Thomas, Honors Update (2:05)

14. Theo Yurevitch, Revitalizing the Major Update (2:10)

15. Brian Fonken, Vertical Alignment (2:15)

16. Creative Writing Announcement (2:20)

17.  DCAA and MSTA Announcement forthcoming (2:25)

18.  Adieu! Keep an eye out for the Semester Start Letter (2:30)

-----------------------

INRW Semester Start Meeting Recap

INRW faculty met on Monday 1/13 at 10am to discuss INRW developments and the upcoming semester.  

You can review the INRW Spring 25 Agenda and the INRW Spring 25 Program Meeting slideshow

-----------------------

Reminder: Assessment Meeting, Jan. 15, 10am

If you submitted your CLS Portfolio (3rd year) in November, you'll participate in the assessment of assignments this spring semester.  Look for details in an email from Rebekah Starnes titled "Assessment Meeting Reminder: Wednesday, January 15 at 10am." 

And thank you for participating in the important task of departmental assessment!

------------------------

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.

------------------------

Save the Date: CLS Curriculum Conference--CCCs, March 7

Save the date for Austin Community College's second CCCs (CLS Curriculum Conference). 

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

Where: Highland Campus (HLC) in Austin, TX

Coming soon: the full schedule of panels and presenters, plus the registration form.  

HONESTLY! There will be more details at the meeting! Probably the form--It wasn't quite ready for today's newsletter. But you really do NOT want to miss this! 

I know It's not all official yet, but here a few of the super-cool-party-people topics that we are featuring include phrases like "trauma-informed pedagogy" and "etymolojourneys" and "service learning" and "AI" and...y'all we are so LEGIT!

------------------------

Call for Mentors: As Rewarding as Teaching, but without the Grading

We know your time is valuable, and mentoring doesn’t have to be time-consuming. We’re making mentoring easier than ever with prefab QM shells and Blackboard support from Instructional Designers, plus a new welcome packet that includes essential resources for new hires. What’s more, mentoring is Peer Dialogue. So, you’re not only helping a colleague succeed but also checking off a key requirement of Faculty Evaluation. (Full-timers, Peer Dialgoing is required; adjuncts, it's optional.) And as a thank you, mentors receive a stipend for their service. Share what you’re great at! Get those $$$!  Sign up today.

------------------------

Accessibility in Blackboard Courses 

In response to the on-going conversations about the accessibility of Blackboard courses, CLS encourages all faculty to investigate their BB accessibility scores and begin the process of addressing scores below 80%. 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 Accessibility Training sessions on January 15.  You can register here: DE Accessibility Training.  

• TLED also 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.  You can email her for tips on Bb related matters.

------------------------

Reminder: Grade Changes Are Now Online

Beginning Spring 2025, Grade Change requests will be submitted online through the My ACC Faculty Portal.  The Records Office has put together this detailed how-to: Grade Change Instructions for Faculty.  The online requests are sent directly to the Department Chair for review.

------------------------

CLS Creative Writing Group, Jan. 25 

From Rob Crowl

We'll meet on Friday, January 25th, from 12pm-1:30pm, so come write and share some of your winter break stories with us. This month, we'll be focusing on techniques for creating memorable characters. If you'd like to join our email list, click HERE. Hope to see you there!

Join Zoom Meeting:  https://austincc.zoom.us/j/86259698669?pwd=7ZEvoBZTzY9SuYbl3pMZvCKVsxYbkb.1

Meeting ID: 862 5969 8669

Passcode: 046444

------------------------

Spring 2025 Book Club

From Chris Gardner

Reader, it's cold outside, so it must be time to pick a Spring Book Club text! Help us pick something great so that we can read by candlelight when the lights go out next month. 

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. 

You are encouraged to sign up for our non-binding interest list to keep receiving emails or propose a text if/when you feel the urge, and you can always visit our website to see where we've already been.

Two Reminders: 

1. We are an open group. The invites go out to CLS, but you can always bring a +1 or forward this to interested parties. 

2. Book Club will be paired with a book swap. Bring a book or books you are willing to part with, and let's spread some stories around. 

Happy reading, readers. Hope to see you there!

-----------------------

Congratulations to Honors Student Eva Ritchie 

Eva Ritchie, Honors World Lit 1 Student from Wendy Elle's Sense, Sex, and Transcendence class had her paper, Good Grief: Confucius and Cicero's Expressions of Bereavement accepted into the  2025 Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium! She will be traveling to Baltimore this spring to present it at Johns Hopkins--repping Honors and CLS!  

-----------------------

Please Promote: Student Creative Writing, deadline Jan 31

Encourage students to submit their work to the 2024-2025 Margaret Walker Memorial Prizes in Creative Writing! 

Contest Description

The Margaret Walker Memorial Prize in Creative Writing Contest is open to any student, graduate or undergraduate, who is presently attending a College Language Association college or university—an institution where a member of CLA is employed or is a retiree emeritus. 

Students may submit original, unpublished, creative works of drama, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or translations. Those who place are invited to attend the annual CLA convention and may have the opportunity to read an excerpt of their winning piece or their work in its entirety. 

Submission Form here

Questions?  Email Alana King at alanacking@gmail.com 

-----------------------

Please Promote: Student Submission to Hothouse Literary Journal

Encourage students to submit poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to Hothouse Literary Journal -- the official literary journal of UT's Department of English.  You can share this announcement from Editor-in-Chief Charlie Sharpe: 

Dear undergraduates,

We're happy to announce that the official literary journal of The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of English, Hothouse, is accepting submissions for the 2024-2025 print edition! We accept submissions from undergraduate students all over Texas. We are looking for fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

Though we accept submissions on a rolling basis, you must submit your work by March 15th, 2025 to be considered for the print journal.

If you would like to review the full guidelines, including how to format your writing, you can find them on the Hothouse website, https://hothouselitjournal.com. 

If you have any questions about the submission process, feel free to contact us at uthothouse.editor@gmail.com.

We look forward to reviewing your submissions!

------------------------

Please Promote: Student Submissions to Innovate, deadline Feb. 16

Innovate is a literary competition where students (including our Dual Credit students) can submit up to three short stories and three poems. Winners will be celebrated at ACC’s Vision Voice Literary Festival in April and published in our Literary ebook. First place winners will compete nationally for cash prizes 1st $500, 2nd $200, 3rd $100 and will be published in the League for Innovation Literary Journal; in the last several years ACC students have been winners of these prizes. 

For more information or to submit, visit https://innovate.visionandvoice.org/

Submission deadline has been extended to Feb. 16

------------------------

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!

------------------------

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 📚🪱💻