News From the Front: A Message from our President
July, 2010
By CCA President Ron Norton Reel
This month, we're focused a lot on election and legislative issues, as the November elections are just around the corner. (Yes, I know it still feels like the middle of summer...but a new semester is upon us, the leaves will begin falling sooner than you think, and before you know it, it'll be time to head for the polls.) Among the issues we're working on is the repeal of some $900 million in annual tax breaks for corporate special interests, as well as the election of education-friendly candidates, from the governor to state legislators and officeholders. Read my entire July President's Message here.
You
will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view "News
from the Front." You can download the
latest version for free by clicking on this
icon.
Special Election Announcement!
The District K position on the CCA Board of Directors will be up for election at the Fall Conference, October 8-10. For more information, read the Election Announcement; then, if you are interested in declaring your candidacy for this position, please download and submit the Declaration of Candidacy form. Candidacy forms must be submitted by September 24.
NEW!
2010 David A. Sanchez
GLBT Award
CCA is proud to announce the establishment of a
new annual award to honor David Sanchez: not only the first Hispanic
CTA President, but also the first openly gay CTA President.
This prestigious award will honor those who have supported, promoted, recognized, and educated our community college family regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) issues.
David Sanchez holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of La Verne. Throughout his career, he has sought to insure that all faculty and students who are involved in the educational process are treated with equality and respect.
To nominate an individual for this award, please complete the nomination form; forms are due on September 15.
NEW!
Distance Education Presentations From our
Spring, 2010
Conference, we're offering you two presentations on the important
and timely issue of distance education.
First, take a look at the overview of distance ed in higher education...then, review the benchmark guidelines to help you design or evaluate your distance education program.
SLO Workshop (Note Date Change)
CCA Presidents and SLO Coordinators (or other designees) should plan to attend CCA’s Student Learning Outcomes Summer 2010 Workshop. The workshop is Friday, September 24 at the CTA Region 3 Office in Santa Fe Springs...and CCA will reimburse each member participating!
For registration information, download the SLO Workshop flyer.
Other Upcoming CCA/CTA Conferences
Region II Leadership Conference: October 1-3, Reno Details Coming Soon!
Region I Leadership Conference: October 15-17, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove Details and Registration
National Commission Needs YOUR Input
Hundreds of thousands of educators continue to be penalized by unfair Social Security offsets, the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision.
Now, a national commission has been appointed to look into entitlement programs such as Social Security--and by extension, laws such as the GPO and WEP. Read more details here...
College of the Month: Imperial Valley Community
College
September, 2010
Read
more about this month's College of the Month
Talk
It Up! Are you trying to find a way to talk persuasively to
your friends, neighbors, or even your legislators
about the plight of our community colleges? Then look to
our CCA/CTA Community College Talking
Points for some great tips on what kind of information to use when
you're trying to show people how important it is to
support our public schools and colleges.
CCA-CCC Unification
Talks appear to be finishing up between CCA and CCC (CFT's higher education
arm) regarding unification. Leaders of both organizations are
enthusiastic over the prospect of establishing an even stronger voice
for higher education as a result of bringing the two groups together.
Word is that the two boards will vote soon, and that the proposal will
go out for a vote to the members of each union before the end of the
year. Read the Unification Statement.
Figuring
Out Your Investment Options Visit CTA's new Educator's
Retirement and Investment Guide website for helpful investment tools geared
specifically for educators.
Be a Photo Hound!
Visit our photos page to see pictures from local,
state, and even national events, from regional
workshops to CCA conferences to NEA annual
meetings, and more!
Orange
County Faculty Do It Again!
After recently kicking off a campaign to unset three incumbents on the district's Board of Trustees, the United Faculty of North Orange County Community College District are at it again.
They just staged a successful protest against the hiring of a new vice chancellor of instruction, at a price tag of nearly $200,000 a year. As Faculty Association president Fola Odebunmi said, "This [proposed hiring] made in the middle of the summer without input from the constituent groups makes us wonder about what your definition of ‘Shared Governance’ is.... How many class sections could be saved with that amount of money?”
Ultimately, the Trustees backed down, the position was cancelled, and the Chancellor issued a marginal mea culpa. For all the details, read the article from the O.C. Register.
Meanwhile, at Southwestern College . . .
.
. . eyebrows are being raised over revelations that college VP
Nicholas Alioto hosted a political fundraiser for contractors who do
business with the college under contracts that he oversees.
According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the event was to
raise funds for two Board of Trustee incumbents "who are facing a
robust challenge from union-supported candidates displeased with the
current administration."
Even though the fundraiser appears to be legal, there are those who see this as a sort of "pay-to-play" situation, where contractors have to donate to a particular political campaign in order to continue doing business with the college.
Comments Andy MacNeill, President of SWC Education Association, "When the person who is vetting all of the bids and the vendors here on campus is throwing a fundraiser and inviting them to support the candidates who will be voting on those bids, I find it a huge conflict of interest.” Read the entire story from the San Diego Union Tribune.
Headlines from Inside Higher Education
Faculty
Overloads: A Question of Fairness? A steady stream of reports
from faculty groups warns of the consequences of having too large a
share of sections taught by adjuncts. Many of those reports also say
that colleges take advantage of part-time instructors, failing to
provide them with adequate salaries and benefits. Based on these
ideas, the major faculty unions and also many disciplinary groups have
called for colleges to hire more full-timers and have them teach more
courses -- while also providing part-timers both with better
compensation and with more respect. A dispute escalating at
Wisconsin's Madison Area Technical College, however, illustrates how
difficult it may be to move on the goal of having more courses taught
by full-timers while also satisfying part-timers. The college is
trying to increase the share of sections taught by full-time
professors to 75 percent, in line with an agreement with the union for
full-time faculty. The method of doing so is to allow full-timers to
teach "overloads" (courses on top of a full load, with additional pay)
before courses are assigned to probationary part-timers. Keith Hoeller,
co-founder of the Washington State Part-Time Faculty Association, said
that "one of the most common and corrupt practices" in higher
education today "is letting the tenure-stream faculty teach overloads,
while refusing to let the part-time faculty teach even up to full
time."
Read
More...
What
Our New Students Don't Know One ritual of the start of
the academic year is the release of Beloit College's annual "mindset
list," which aims to help professors understand what their new
freshmen experienced (and didn't) growing up. While some items on
the list are, of course, related to technology, many reflect the
cultural and political world views of today's 18-year-olds. The list
was created by Tom McBride, the Keefer Professor of the Humanities
at Beloit, and Ron Nief, the former public affairs director. This
year's list reflects a world in which students need not wear
watches, China has always been an economic threat and Sam Walton,
Bert Parks and Tony Perkins have always been dead.
Read
the List here...
About CCA
CCA
is the higher education affiliate of the California
Teacher's Association (CTA), the largest and most
influential professional association of educators in
the state with more than 340,000 members. CCA has
become one of the most powerful voices for community
colleges at the state level, striving to improve the
working conditions of our members and the quality of
the community college system.
Nationally, CCA is affiliated with the National Education Association (NEA), the largest public employee association in the country with over 3.2 million members. Our statewide headquarters are in Burlingame, with regional offices throughout northern and southern California.
You are Visitor Number to our website
Site last updated on 09/01/2010