FA President’s Update

by Mary Gross

Welcome to the 2022/2023 Academic year and the first of several newsletters coming your way. I am privileged to work with an outstanding Executive team and Faculty Assembly Council, and we have had a busy start to the new academic year.

As you may know, our FA Council meetings are scheduled on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month from 12-2. We will have one meeting per month on-campus and one via Zoom. Your attendance is welcomed and encouraged! We are also planning to have one FA Education Luncheon event each semester, and the first is scheduled for Friday, October 14 during our regularly scheduled FA meeting time. Be on the lookout for an invitation coming your way soon.

We have also reorganized our committee structure to allow for each council member’s active engagement in the various areas of work we conduct. In this newsletter, you will get a glimpse into each of the committees’ work and some goals and action items for the upcoming year. Council members were introduced to the new structure at our first meeting of the year, interacted with the Exec members assigned to each, and had the opportunity to reflect and identify which committee they thought they would best contribute. Committees are already beginning their work, and you will see some of that unfold at our event, in the Newsletter, and at our Council meetings.

Negotiations have been on-going with the District and have resulted in several MOUs that impact full- time faculty. We worked to clean up and clarify the Evaluation Article in the contract, extend the Cultural Curriculum Collective, allow for flexibility in-ground requirements for classroom and non-classroom faculty, grow the work and access to Online Mentors for the year, and more. You can see all the current MOUs and our contract by visiting the FA website’s Documents page. We have also been in negotiations with the District in an attempt to resolve the District’s PERB Petition to remove Faculty Director positions from our bargaining unit. Our goal is to retain these positions first and foremost as faculty through a negotiated settlement with the District. We have been working closely with the FA Attorney throughout the process and expect closure before the end of the semester.

It has been great to reconnect in person with so many faculty at All-College Day, various Department and Committee meetings, or simply bumping into one another between classes or at the cafeteria. I am regularly on-campus and happy to schedule a time to meet with you personally. I look forward to a collaborative and productive year ahead!

-Mary