Practical Matters: The FA's Community Outreach Program

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Mentoring Program

Did you know that the A-form (our application for promotion) specifically asks about your involvement in our community? (To wit: "Professionally related community activities in cultural, educational, and benevolent organizations")

While promotion shouldn't be your primary reason for contributing to your community, it probably helps to know that the college cares about and values your service to our community outside the college. So if you were hesitant to do community service, and wondering about whether or not you could or should sacrifice any of your hard-earned down-time, consider that you will benefit from donating that time -- although I'm pretty sure our community partners will benefit more. And yes, union-organized community service events count.

Finally, some beautiful spring weather.

What kind of union-organized community service events am I talking about? I'm glad you asked. (Okay, I'm pretending you asked.) They include:

• Suffolk AHRC (Association for the Help of Retarded Children) plant sales on the Ammerman and Grant campuses during the spring and fall semesters.
• Participation in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks in October of each year.
• Professors on Wheels, our home-grown community outreach program that provides mini-lectures, classes and workshops on a variety of topics to local nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and libraries.

Obviously, the first two options are very specific in terms of date and time and content. If you're interested in volunteering for a future AHRC plant sale, email anita [at] fascc.org and she'll make sure you're on the list for next semester. If you'd like to walk to support breast cancer research on behalf of the FA, make sure you read The Word when we return in the fall to be informed about where and when the FA will be participating in the Jones Beach walk, as well as how to donate money towards this important cause.

Professors on Wheels, however, offers you a little more flexibility in terms of time and subject. When you participate in Professors on Wheels, you pick the topic, presentation-type (i.e. lecture or workshop), and length of your "course" offering -- most faculty play to their strengths and choose topics that are related to their field or discipline but appeal to a general audience. A 100-word description of the course, along with a brief biography, is required as an application -- this write up is then passed to our community partners, and they decide, based on their participants' interests, which workshops or lectures they'd like to bring to their location.

Professors on Wheels has received a lot of praise and won some well-deserved attention from local news outlets -- it's a high-profile, highly-engaging and rewarding way to donate your time and expertise to the surrounding community.

If you'd like to become part of Professors on Wheels, visit fassc.org and click the link under "Community Outreach" to download the application. Send it to Ray DiSanza (disanzr [at] sunysuffolk.edu) or Anita, and they'll make sure you're added to the roster of participating faculty.

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!)