Practical Matters: Being Prepared for Your First Promotion

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Program

You may have noticed that yesterday you received an email blast from the Faculty Association about the annual spring promotion workshops held on all three campuses. 

Why, yes, I am, Sean Tvelia! Thanks for asking!

Also, you may have ignored that blast, thinking, "Oh, I don't need to worry about that. I have such a long time until promotion!"

Actually, you don't. You'll be surprised at the speed with which that first promotion will sneak up on you -- really. One day you're confused about where to find chalk or how to fill out your leave report, and the next you're receiving a letter from your Campus Executive Dean reminding you that you're eligible for promotion in rank. 

To help alleviate the natural stress and anxiety one can feel over promotion, one should be as prepared as possible. One way to do this is to actually attend the promotion workshops in your first year -- there, you'll hear our union's Vice President, Sean Tvelia, speak alongside your Campus Executive Dean about the process: how to apply, the timeline of promotion, what to consider while filling out your A-form. For those who are about to fill out the A-form, this will be reassuring and procedural. For new members, however, this should be strategic. Now is your time to plan:  what kind of items will I need to write on my A-form? What can (and should) I do at the department, campus, and college level to successfully fill out my A-form?

Guess who's gonna be busy this summer? This gal!

Another way we intend to help you anticipate and prepare for that first promotion is through our New Member Discussion Series. At the end of April, we'll hold our final event for the year, and I think it may be one of our best yet: "The Art of the A-Form: What You Can Learn from My First Promotion Cycle." This event, held in the Mildred Green Room of the Babylon Student Center (Ammerman Campus) from 11-12:15 p.m. on Friday, April 29, will feature three to four classroom and non-classroom faculty who will share the good and the bad parts of applying for promotion. Part inspiration, part cautionary tale, these faculty will give you advice on what to do -- and what to avoid -- as you ascend the promotion ladder (and the step scale) at SCCC.

If, by chance, you can't make your campus promotion workshop AND you can't spare time for that Friday event in April, take some time at the end of your first year here to peruse the FA's web site and the promotion materials available there. Just looking at the A-Form (and the observation forms that your chairs or supervisors will need to fill out) can give you a good idea of what to expect in that crucial year -- because the process, from start to finish, is almost a year long.

Also, remember that your faculty mentor is a great resource for candid conversations about promotion. Ask them about their experiences, and let them know what your plan is -- sometimes another point of view (particularly an experienced one) can help you navigate (or completely avoid) problems you didn't even know were possible. 

And then, once you've covered the basics and established a good plan, breathe a little easier and appreciate the fact that you're ahead of the curve. (And enjoy the springlike weather this week -- a new season is almost here!)

Observations, PPCs, and CPCs

by Sarah Gutowski, Chair, New Member Mentoring Program

 

You may be so busy at the moment, so caught up in the semester, that you failed to notice September 21 marked the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. If you missed the actual date of the solstice, then maybe you were reminded of autumn by the changing color of the leaves, the slightly cooler weather, and/or the gradual shortening of the days. OR you may have been reminded by another harbinger of fall: the scheduling of observations.

Changing Leaves, Eastern Campus

By now, whether you are teaching or non-teaching faculty, you may have received an email from your academic chair or direct supervisor alerting you to the fact that you’ll be observed at some point during the next few weeks. (If you haven’t yet, be on the lookout). Observations in your first semester are routine (you are being considered for retention – not promotion or continuing appointment/tenure – at this point) and conducted according to our contract.

 

Being observed, much like beginning a new job, involves LOTS OF FORMS – only this time, you aren’t the one filling out the forms! Yay! (There’s just that little matter of having someone watch your every move for a select period of time . . .but no big deal, right?) These forms are all kept neatly for you to peruse on the FA’s website. If you scroll down the page you’ll see two different dropdown boxes. The one on the left holds all of the blank forms, ready to be downloaded and filled out. The one on the right holds all of the sample promotion forms, so you can get an idea of what your own promotion form will look like one day.

 

When you are contacted regarding your observation, your supervisor will provide you with the names of your department’s Peer Personnel Committee (PPC) members. These are colleagues you can request to be present during your observation, because – again, according to the contract – you have “a right to be evaluated by a colleague within [your] own discipline.”  He or she will observe you and fill out the “B” form (your direct supervisor/academic chair will fill out the “C” form).

 

You aren't required to do this, but I recommend -- the FA recommends, just about anyone would recommend -- that you do this. First, it makes good sense to have a second perspective where retention, promotion, and continuing appointment is concerned; and second, I've always found it valuable, in terms of fine-tuning my teaching and/or professional development, to have feedback from more than one person, and I think you'll find it valuable, too.

 

And by the way, you have a College Personnel Committee representative. If he or she hasn’t contacted you yet, you and your CPC rep should have a chat, so look him or her up and send him or her an email, because he or she will need copies of all those observation forms – your supervisor’s, and your peer’s. The CPC reps, like your Peer Personnel Committee members, are there to help you, offer advice as necessary, and act as watchdogs during the observation & promotion process – one of their charges is “to attempt to ensure that all personnel actions are fair and unbiased.”

 

And as we said in the orientation, that first promotion can arrive faster than you think. Take a look at the rest of the FA’s promotion page so that when it does arrive, you’re not completely taken aback with surprise.