Department of Composition & Literary Studies
Dr. Wendy Elle: wendy.elle@austincc.edu
The Newsletter for Tuesday, July 8, 2025 is coming at you a day late, but it's still just as great!
If you are finishing up a 5A summer session, celebrate that you made it and remember grades are due by 5pm on Wednesday July 9.
If you started a 5B summer this week, it's gonna be great! And remember to update Lighthouse and submit your syllabi to the Collection Form.
Finally, I want to call your attention to a time-sensitive announcement: Nominations for the Adjunct Faculty Association Executive Council (AFAEC) close Wednesday July 9! If you are interested, see the form below!
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July 7
5B session begins [submit syllabi to the Collection Form by July 21]
July 9
5A session Grades due 5pm Wednesday July 9
Collection Forms for Evaluation Materials
Academic Year 2024-25 Collection
This form is created and maintained by the Assistant Department Chair for CLS's Evaluation Committee (Beth Frye). Use this form to submit syllabi, Faculty Reflection Forms, and self-reported mandatory training for Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025.
Submit Syllabi by the second week of classes (varies by session)
Submit Faculty Reflection Forms (Jan 31, Jun 13)
Submit self-reported Mandatory training (May 30)
SUBMIT HERE Supplemental Evaluation Materials due May 30, 2025
This form is created and maintained by the Assistant Department Chair for CLS's Evaluation Committee (Beth Frye). Use this form to submit Supplemental Evaluation Materials from the 2024-2025 year. (Assessments and Assignments, Peer Dialogue, Values Framework, and Purposeful Change documents)
CLS K.I.S.S Spreadsheet
CLS K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Sweetheart)
This spreadsheet allows CLS faculty to see and understand all required professional development tasks as well as several optional PD opportunities.
CLS Faculty Handbook
The Faculty Handbook can answer many questions 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 change eligibility).
Conference Travel Request Form
File this Travel Expense Request with the LAHC Dean's office to request money for upcoming conference travel and attendance.
Many of y'all have reached out about the rising fall enrollment numbers with concerns about staffing and hiring. I want to take a moment to temper the conversation just a bit. We saw a lot of folks on the waitlists this summer for 1301 and 1302, and with Sue and Anja at the helm, we added several sections and accommodated these students. The waitlist monitoring worked. Wonderful!
For Fall, the college is asking us to add some sections in anticipation of the upcoming enrollments. Honestly, there's been quite the buzz. Here at home, however, we are really not in any kind of buzzy emergency. We are thoughtful. We are mindful. We are not panicked nor unprepared nor anticipating adding tons of sections and hiring rapidly to expand.
CLS Staffing is currently stable - we will be using the draw order to continue reaching out to people about additional classes. That draw order will be maintained as we've always done it.
Any additional non-Dual Credit classes will lean toward F2F and may be evening. If you are offered an extra section, that's probably what it will be. (Also, we typically tweak the schedule in July. This isn't anything new.)
Timewise, July 15 is a big advising day; keep track of the waitlists on your own classes. We will, too.
INRW/Coreqs will follow our protocols under Ursula Parker's sensible plans
Repeal of the Texas Dream Act
In early June, in response to a lawsuit filed by the US DOJ, Texas repealed the Texas Dream Act, which allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at Texas public universities. You can read more about that decision here.
ACC Response
On June 21, the ACC Board of Trustees voted to join a lawsuit aiming "to gain clarity about the recent repeal." You can read more about that decision here.
Help for Students
From the Chancellor's June 23rd email:
If you’re with a student who has questions about possible impacts on their tuition related to this ruling, let them know the College developed a special hotline they can call. That number is 512-223-7548. They’re open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. If they have questions about social services or legal support, they can call 512-223-6139. If they simply want someone to talk with during this time, remind them of our support resources and encourage them to connect with ACC’s Mental Health Counseling team.
We've just published our second annual CLS Profile, a look-book of the past academic year. We've got print copies available as well--and will be sending those out to celebrate our year's extraordinary achievements! Peek inside and see if you can locate Brinda Roy and Amber Clontz clowning around, Chris Gardner with a feat of extraordinary balance, Theo Yurevitch's prom picture and Latasha Goodwyn's glam look from back in the day, and so much more. I am honored to get to rep such an awesome department. Huge shout out to Chris Stayton, Luanne Preston, and Theo Yurevitch for all they did to make the magic happen!
Take a look: CLS Profile, Vol.2, 2025
Did you know only 13% of our faculty are signed up to mentor new colleagues? Are you really going to let that tiny group carry the load? We know you’ve got wisdom (and great ideas) to share, too! The best part? Mentoring has never been easier:
✅Blackboard support: done
✅A new welcome packet and orientation map with essential resources for new hires: no more scrambling to find link and documents
✅Comp I & II course shells: still available as Google Docs during migration to BB Ultra
Plus, mentoring counts as Peer Dialogue. So, you're not just helping a new colleague; you're checking off a Faculty Evaluation requirement. And yes, there’s a stipend too. So, what’s stopping you? Share what you’re great at. Sign up today!
In What Was I Made For? Unboxing Your Mind with Creative Writing and Theatre-Making, teaching artists Rob and Amy Crowl will engage participants in the creative processes of writing and theatre-making to explore different ways to answer the questions that truly matter- Who are we? Why does our work matter? What do we have to offer the world?
Check out details and register for the workshop here.
The Adjunct Faculty Association Executive Council (AFAEC) is collecting nominations for the AY 2025/26 unfilled campus representatives from June 25 through July 9.
The elections will be held shortly after.
The detailed information about these positions, including service expectations and stipends, as well as the nomination submission form, is available at the link below.
View Nomination Instructions Here
Please contact the AFA Election Committee (afa-2025-election-committee@austincc.edu ) for questions, concerns, and/or Comments.
After hours call-in support via Anthology (Spring break 2025 through December 2025)
866-992-5190
In-house support
email blackboardultra@austincc.edu to request help
Kelly Ramsey, a former English & Journalism adjunct, just published Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hot Shot Crew, and the Burning American West , a memoir of her time on a hotshot crew.
Kelly taught at ACC around 2010 and will be returning to Austin during her book tour. She'll be reading at First Light Books at 7 p.m. on Wednesday July 9th. Here's the event page: https://www.firstlightaustin.com/events/kelly-ramsey-wildfire-days.
Composition and Literary Studies is piloting a new program called Incorporating Civic Engagement (I.C.E), which offers students and faculty access to artifacts to address Personal and Social Responsibility in a myriad of ways. Artifact categories include: Civil Rights; Climate and Environment; Corporate and Government Contracts; Education; Policy; Food; Gun Rights; Human Health; Immigration; LGBTQIA+; Libraries and Freedom of Speech; Media and Technology; Refugees and War; Reproductive and Human Rights; and Voter Rights
Mission Statement and Purpose
To provide all ACC students with access to artifacts relevant to our civic education–including media, video clips, images, forms, official documents, statements, etc. Students and faculty can critically reflect on these artifacts in their assignments, formal and informal group and class discussions, workshops, simulations, or other academic pursuits.
Use, review, discussion, and classwork engaging with these artifacts closely align with two of our General Education Competencies:
Personal Responsibility: Identify and apply ethical principles and practices to decision-making by connecting choices, actions, and consequences.
Social Responsibility (Civic and Cultural Awareness): Analyze differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.
Resources
Find out more about the program in Wendy's introduction to Incorporating Civic Engagement or Dean Toño Ramirez's video about the CLS Pilot for Incorporating Civic Engagement.
Understand the VALUE rubrics from the American Association of Colleges & Universities in Dean Toño Ramirez's video how to use the AAC&U VALUE rubrics to assess Civics Education
Learn to integrate the VALUE rubric into your BB page in this video: Blackboard-Integrated AAC&U's VALUE Rubric.
How to get the Incorporating Civice Engagement Bb Ultra Zip File for Fall or Summer 2025
If you want to put a little I.C.E. in your courses for Fall or Summer, you can find the program here:
CLS Faculty Resources--I.C.E. Zip File
Please check out Dean Ramirez's introductory video on how to incorporate this into your course.
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.
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. You can learn more or register here: DE Accessibility Training.
TLED has great resources on its 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!
Trent Griggs shared the following materials related to the ADA Blackboard Compliance Training during a presentation at the CCCs:
Distance and Alternative Learning Website
Blackboard Accessibility Orientation
Examples of Reasonable Accommodations
Austin AI Alliance
Join the AAIA for a monthly gathering where innovators from across sectors connect to shape the future of inclusive, impactful, and responsible AI in Austin.
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 6:30-9 p.m.
Location: Center for Government and Civic Service (CGCS) at ACC Rio Grande, Building 3000
Learn more: https://austin-ai.org/
Admissions and Enrollment designed an internal Google site to support ACC faculty. It has all the information that instructors need about attendance certification, grade submission, withdrawal, reinstating students, etc. The information is streamlined and very easy to navigate. Check it out -- Admissions and Enrollment Instructional Support Site and bookmark it in your browser for future use.
Check out Summer 2025 events on the Creative Writing Events Calendar
A Collaborative Culture magazine seeks submissions from students, faculty, staff, and community members on the theme of Community: Past, Present, & Future.
What does the future look like to you? What have you learned from your past that you can implement in your present to build toward the future you want?
Find details and the submission form at https://sites.austincc.edu/acollaborativeculture/submission-form/
Deadline: August 15
Link to Call for Submissions Flyer
Looking for inspiration at the start of the new semester? Check out the Insights for Success series, which shares data collected from the Change Initiatives Leadership Academy.
Name Connections: The Power of Belonging
Collaborative Group Work: Strategies for Effective Group Work
Redefining Feedback and Motivation: Radical Candor
Make sure that your students know about the resources available through Faculty Advising in Liberal Arts.
Who We Are:
Faculty, who are subject-matter experts in various disciplines such as psychology, communications, philosophy, humanities, government, and more.
We Help Students:
Explore and select a discipline-specific major
Discover possible major-to-career pathways
Develop strategies for college success
Clarify academic and transfer goals
Who We Work With:
General Studies AA majors
Students considering majors in the Liberal Arts
Learn More: https://sites.google.com/austincc.edu/facultyadvising-libarts
CLS Resources
TLED Tech Support for Google Sites
Submit a Mojo Ticket to request support: