Practical Matters: How to Stay Current in Your Field Without Breaking the Bank, Part II: Faculty Retraining and Development Fund

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Program

Greetings, new members! I hope you managed to survive the snowfall of this weekend without any traffic accidents or lack of electricity, and that today your classes and meetings and daily tasks are comfortably back on schedule. 

Remember our last blog post, when I wrote about Conference Reimbursement? I just want to emphasize how fortunate we are to have a faculty union that negotiated, and continues to protect, our right to funding for professional development. $1700 per person, particularly when multiplied by our membership, seems like a lot of money, doesn't it? And, of course, it is -- but we have to remember that $1700 is intended to stretch across two years. If you're familiar with the rising cost of airfare -- and/or the astronomical costs of staying in "the" conference hotel for the duration of a conference -- you'll know that this $1700 is not going to last beyond, well, one or two conferences (depending, of course, on how long you stay and how far away the conference is located). 

Winter sun. It likes to hide.

In your first years as a tenure-track faculty member, you'll be expected to stay current in your field by attending relevant local and/or regional conferences. There's no magic number -- although I'd suggest that a minimum of one per year demonstrates a comfortable commitment to one's professional development. With each subsequent promotion, however, and as with most aspects of your career, the stakes are raised the higher you climb toward full Professor or PA 2 or Specialist 2. You'll be expected to attend -- and eventually present at -- larger, more widely-recognized events on a national scale.

This, of course, will take money. My trip to LA in March, for instance, to attend the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, will cost well over $1700. Such is life -- it's the premier conference in my field and I'm presenting on a panel, so I've said "bye-bye" pretty swiftly to my conference allowance, haven't I? (Yes. Yes I have.)

SO: if I want to attend the annual Southampton Writers' Conference this summer I'm out of luck, then, right? And I shouldn't even dream about AWP in 2017!

Not necessarily. Because, well, I'm a planner by nature, I anticipated having all of my conference money sucked away by this AWP visit in March. ALSO, I anticipated wanting to attend the Southampton Writers' Conference and finally (FINALLY) finishing the play I've been tooling away at for almost ten years. And yes, I'll probably be attending AWP next year.

The catch is that I had to anticipate most of this almost a year ago -- in April of 2015 to be precise. You see, the Faculty Association has ALSO negotiated an additional amount of money for faculty development and retraining: $30,000 per year, to be exact. Assistance for the next academic period is awarded to faculty who apply by April 15 of each year. The committee that oversees these applications will award funds first and foremost to faculty who require retraining. Then, after retraining needs have been met, those faculty who have applied for assistance for faculty development (like my attendance at the summer writers' conference) are awarded based on the strength of a faculty member's application and the amount of money still available in the fund.

So if you anticipate attending a conference or two next year -- and if you suspect you'll use your entire $1700 conference allowance pretty early, like yours truly -- you should consider applying for Faculty Retraining and Development assistance this spring. One way to make sure you understand the process and follow it correctly is to attend a Faculty Retraining and Development workshop one of our three campuses this semester, held by FA Secretary Marie Hanna (who is also a member of the Faculty Retraining and Development Committee -- so she knows what she's talking about).

The Ammerman Campus workshop was last week -- but that doesn't mean you can't attend on a different campus if you're interested in learning more. The dates for the remaining workshops, held during common hour (11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.) are as follows:

Wednesday, February 10 (tomorrow!) on the Grant Campus in Sagtikos 221.

Wednesday, February 17 (next week!) on the Eastern Campus in Corchaug 18.

Of course, if you can't make either of these workshops, simply email Marie Hanna with your concerns at marie [at] fascc.org. She'll be happy to help. Or ask your mentor, who may be able to answer your questions after having gone through the process him or herself. 

(And if you are interested in attending one of these workshops, give Marie a heads up by registering here.)

p.s. Want to learn more about how to balance professional development and scholarship with your regular job duties? Make sure you attend next Friday's New Member Discussion Series Event:

Friday, February 19: “Taking Your Show on the Road: How to Participate in Scholarship while Teaching at a Two-Year School” Faculty from various departments and disciplines re­flect on finding time for writing, research, and other forms of scholarship at an institution where teaching is the focus. While describing their own personal paths to publication and conference presentations, panelists will offer advice and share resources for new hires looking to balance their day to day duties with professional and scholarly concerns. Mildred Green Room, BSC, Ammerman Campus, 11:00-12:15 p.m.

Practical Matters: How to Stay Current in Your Field Without Breaking the Bank, Part I: Conference Attendance & Reimbursement

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Mentoring Program

By now, hopefully you've settled into your second semester as a full-time faculty member quite nicely. You're fully prepped for classes or you resumed your duties shortly after the holiday -- and now you feel comfortable enough with your regular job duties to venture out to some conferences or seminars for a little professional development.

Maybe you feel like engaging in some pretty major professional development. In fact, maybe the  professional development opportunity takes place in another state. Maybe that state is far away, like, say, California. Maybe the city in California is a fairly expensive city, like, oh, Los Angeles. Maybe you need to stay for three or four days just to attend all of the panel discussions and workshops and poster sessions that would make a trip like that worth the trouble and expense. 

And maybe your bank account will be flat-out busted by the time you're done paying for expenses like registration fees, air fare, lodging, and meals.

Who's going to Los Angeles in March? This girl!

Or wait -- maybe it won't be! 

One of the most beneficial parts of the contract negotiated by our Faculty Association is the part that provides for 1) "T" days that you make take (instead of sick days or personal leave days) for conference attendance and 2) reimbursement for expenses such as the ones listed above. According to our most recent Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), each faculty member is allotted a total of $1700 to attend conferences over the next two years -- from September 2015 to September 2017. In September 2017, the amount allotted increases to $1800. 

How do I access this money? you ask. Great question! The answer is, like at most institutions, slowly and sometimes painfully and through the careful application to the college's administration via forms -- a necessary evil, and one that shouldn't prove too cumbersome or unwieldy provided that you download the right forms and follow the proper steps. 

1. First, you need to submit a request at least six weeks prior to the date of the conference or professional obligation. The request form requires you to estimate the cost of travel, hotel, registration, meals, etc. and support it with documents that prove your intention to attend the event (like a conference registration receipt, or the letter that confirms your participation as a reader or panelist). You can find this form here, as well as the Travel Expense Voucher (see below) on the front page of the college's governance web site. (Wait -- you didn't know we even had a college governance web site? This post is chock full of information, isn't it? More on college governance later -- that's a story for a later blog!)
2. You'll need to have this form signed by your academic chair -- he or she must approve your attendance first -- and then you (or the chair) needs to give the form to your department's administrative assistant. He or she will forward this on to the Executive Dean's office for your campus. 
• Note: Why can't you just forward it to the Executive Dean's office yourself? Well, the administrative assistant for your department needs to know about (i.e. actually see; become familiar with) the request because eventually, after the Executive Dean approves the request and forwards the appropriate material to the Business Office, he or she will need to enter a requisition into Banner for you, which will generate a Purchase Order Number, which will result in you being reimbursed the requested funds. If these steps aren't followed, you won't receive a payment. So long story short is: fill out the paperwork, have it signed, give it to the department administrative assistant.
3. Once the Executive Dean's office and the Central Business Office have finished doing their thing, they'll send you a nice letter in the mail notifying you that your conference attendance has been approved. Also, they'll provide you with copies of the College Business/Contractual Travel Payment Request Form & Instructions, as well as the Travel Expense Voucher. Hold on to these items until you return from your conference.
4. When you attend your conference, you have to note your absence from your campus in your faculty leave report. There's no option for "conference attendance" in that screen, so instead you should type a note to your supervisor (reminding him or her about the approved conference attendance) in the notes section of your monthly leave report.
5. Once home from your conference, you need to fill out the Travel Expense Voucher as well as the Payment Request Form. Once again your academic chair will be asked for his or her signature the Travel Expense Voucher and the Payment Request Form, and then you'll forward those forms, as well as everything listed below to the Executive Dean's office:
• The Payment Request Form
• The Travel Expense Voucher
• Your conference badge
• Your conference brochure (hang on to all of the handouts, people)
• The conference daily agenda or program
• A conference report (an account and evaluation of the meetings you attended along with comments about its usefulness to you as a faculty member)
• Relevant receipts, including those for payment of the conference fee, payment for hotel accommodations, payment for an auto rental, payment for tolls, payment for parking, payment for cab fare if a shuttle isn't available, and payment for airfare or train tickets, etc. If you drive to the conference, you can submit a mileage request form, also available on the college web site.

It's important to note two things: The first is that you should submit your travel vouchers and supporting documentation and mileage requests within two and a half months of attending the conference -- otherwise reimbursement may be denied. The second is that it generally takes a campus Executive Dean's office two weeks to process the paperwork, and sometimes longer. So while you shouldn't expect to be reimbursed instantly, if you follow the guidelines and fill out everything correctly, you'll receive a reimbursement check before too long.

Practical Matters: Making Plans In the Face of Inclement Weather

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Program

Welcome back, new members and mentors! I hope everyone had a peaceful and productive holiday season and/or break, depending on your job duties.

Snow and sand and pine needles: Winter on Long Island

Like me, you probably spent a good amount of your time off (whether a few days or a few weeks) preparing for the new semester and the particular set of responsibilities and requirements it brings. Many teaching faculty, for instance, align course material with the academic calendar and plan a schedule of lectures and assignments. Many non-classroom faculty, too, anticipate deadlines or "busy seasons" based on the academic calendar (especially if you work in a skills center or the library). And committee members begin scheduling their meeting times and dates with an eye toward completing any number of charges.

If there's one thing I've learned about preparing for a new spring semester, however, it's that quite often the best plans are upstaged by the worst weather.

We've just experienced (some might say finally) genuine winter weather on Long Island: low temperatures, a dusting of snow, patches of ice on the road and frost on our cars when we leave the house in the morning. And it looks as though this weekend, while it won't be as much as other parts of the country (HAHAINYOURFACEBALTIMOREANDWASHINGTONDC), we'll be getting more snow, and maybe even more than a dusting -- stuff you have to actually shovel.

If we get more than what's predicted, or if some of it melts and then refreezes and then creates ICEPOCALYPSE on the LIE, we may have our normal class schedule disrupted. The administration really dislikes cancelling classes, but sometimes inclement weather forces a late start or an early closing to the school day. If this happens, you'll be notified a couple of different ways:

1. Facebook will erupt in a bunch of "no school today!" posts. Just kidding. (Well, kind of.) 
2. The school will post news about the closing on the home page. 
3. Also, inside the MYSCCC portal. 
4. Also, also, in an email to your school account announcing the closing. 
5. Also also also in a voicemail message (particularly if the closing occurs during the already-in-process school day).
6. Additionally, on any number of local radio stations, including 97.5 FM or 1370 AM, 102.3 FM & East 95.3 FM, 106.1 FM, 92.1 FM 92.1 FM, 103.9 FM, 103.1 FM, 96.1 FM
7. Aaaaaaannnnnddd: News Channel 12 (As Local As Local News Gets!) on TV

So my point is that it'll be really easy to tell whether or not you're expected, as a Faculty Association member, to report to your campus. If you have extenuating circumstances, though, brought about because of the weather -- such as childcare or transportation issues -- and you need to take a personal day and cancel classes, try not to stress too much about the cancellation. I would advise, however, accessing your Blackboard course space and posting an announcement -- easily emailed to students with the click of a button in the Announcement screen-- as soon as possible, so that your students can avoid driving all the way to campus only to find out you're not holding class.

(You can also access an email list on Banner (if, of course, you can actually access Banner  . . . *le sigh*) under the Faculty Services Menu: select "Class Roster" and then scroll to the bottom, where you'll find a button that reads "Display Email List." Select all of the revealed text, copy it, and paste it into an Outlook email -- and this way you can avoid using Blackboard if you really, really want to  . . . even though it's really, really easy (read: much easier) to use Blackboard.)

Additionally, it might help you to know that many of our students rely on public transportation and/or family and friends to get to campus, and their ability to travel may be hindered greatly. On days when there's really bad weather involved, it's best to be gracious and flexible regarding your attendance policies. And if you're forced to cancel class while the rest of Suffolk spins on, be gracious to yourself, too, and don't have a melt down because you can't cover all of the material you planned originally, pre-snow (like *cough* I did, just a few short semesters ago). Remember that if your students can meet all of the learning outcomes on the college's course syllabus by the end of the semester (you can find all of them posted here), you'll be doing your job -- even if this semester's covered material doesn't look exactly like that of previous semesters.

So, fingers crossed that we have just enough snow to play in over the weekend -- with the bulk of it disappearing by Monday! And best of luck with your first weeks of the spring semester -- even if it doesn't feel very spring-like at the moment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Program

I'm grateful for Murph: veteran, FA mentor, colleague, friend

On my behalf and on behalf of the New Member Program coordinators, I'd like to extend good wishes to all of our new faculty members, and acknowledge how grateful I am for the faculty who donate their time and effort to mentoring. 

Additionally, I'm grateful for the FA and its officers, and particularly for their support of our membership's professional development. Programs like the New Member Discussion Series and The Write Time are important to me personally, naturally; but one of the primary reasons they're so important is that through them I witness community building and information sharing. These two elements are vital not only to our faculty's individual successes but to our college's sustained reputation as a workplace where faculty thrive.

I hope you all have a peaceful, restful Thanksgiving break with your loved ones.

***

p.s. Did you forget to RSVP to the Holiday Party? It's at Villa Lombardi's in Holbrook at 6 p.m. on December 4, and it's not too late to secure your tickets! Send an email to Anita (anita [at] fascc.org) by Friday, November 27, letting her know if you would like to attend. Your ticket this year is complimentary thanks to the FA. I look forward to seeing most of you there!

NMDS Archive: Anticipating and Planning Your Career at SCCC, Part II

Editor's Note: At the end of this week, we'll hold the second event in our New Member Discussion Series program, titled "With Pride and (Surprise!) Joy: My Most Meaningful Projects and Endeavors at SCCC." (Eaton's Neck Room, Babylon Student Center, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.) I hope to see many of you at this event, which aims not only to inform you about the possibilities for your career at SCCC, but to inspire you to think broadly and outside the parameters of your job title and regular role at the college. 

Last year in November, we held an event titled, "The Long View: Anticipating and Planning Your Career at SCCC." One of these presentations was archived on The Undercurrent last spring (you can read it here); the following is a summary of FA EC Representative Teri Morales' presentation on the same topic. 

While it's not always possible to archive everyone's presentation (for instance, PowerPoint presentations don't really translate well to the blog format), we aim to keep a record here that you can return to when you're less busy but in need of some solid career advice.

See you on Friday! 

-- SKG

Important things I learned during my early years at Suffolk…

by Teri Morales,  Counselor and Adjunct Faculty, Ammerman Campus

Presenters Sarah Kain Gutowski (left), Teri Morales, (center) and Bill Burns (right)

Mentoring

It was important for me to have a mentor in my field while at Suffolk. My mentor was Giselle Torres, and she helped me grow both professionally and personally. As a single mom and a novice at Suffolk, I greatly appreciated her help in balancing both roles. I recommend searching out someone in your field and becoming collegial friends. This will prove to be beneficial in understanding the culture at the college and advancing in your profession.

Professional Development

It can be hard juggling work with professional development, but it is important and vital to your career at Suffolk. Don’t fret; every semester there are opportunities and you must remember to volunteer for them. You may get a lot of e-mails and feel overwhelmed by them,  so just try attending a meeting, or volunteer your time assisting in committee tasks. It may not be so overwhelming if you gradually take on small tasks. It all helps to make you more confident and be a part of the Suffolk community.

Networking

It may be hard at first, but getting to know faculty in other departments helped me to become more acclimated and feel a part of the community. As a Counselor, I tried to get to know faculty in all areas at the Grant campus. I attended all the events I could during my first year. I wanted to get a feel for the Grant culture. I am glad I did. I made good friends with colleagues who helped me to “deal” with stressful times. It helped me to be a better communicator, and I collaborated on many more projects that were interesting and beneficial to the student population.

Passion

Never, never, never stop being passionate about your work or your role here at Suffolk. I learned to surround myself with positive people and “feed” off of their passion and enthusiasm. I know that I loved coming to work because I had passionate endeavors that impacted the personal and academic life of students at Suffolk. Keep the faith! You do make a difference!

On Service (With Purpose)

By Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Program

I hope that this post finds all of us well: avoiding those change-of-season-plagues-disguised-as-innocuous-colds, surviving the cramped schedule and MYSCCC/Banner problems that come with Priority Registration, and withstanding the sudden rush of student concerns about grades (midterms will do that to them).

(By the by, if you need to access Blackboard without going through MYSCCC, visit suffolkonline.open.suny.edu. And yes, sadly, a student just brought that to my attention earlier this week.)

November's finally here, y'all.

ANYWAY, one of the things you may have found by this point in the semester is that there's a lot of activity going on at the college regarding assessment, ILOs, and Middle States. Workshops are being hosted via the Office for Faculty and Professional Advancement, deans are making house calls to departments and governance bodies, committees are being formed, subcommittees are being formed, and calls for faculty to chair these committees and subcommittees are becoming more and more regular.

If you've found your role to play in one or more of these processes, congratulations! (And wow -- that was fast, huh?) And if you haven't yet, you might take a welcome break from teaching and grading to consider whether or not now would be a good time to become more involved.

General advice to our first year faculty is always along the lines of, "Focus on your teaching; worry about committee work next year." And this is good advice -- but not always practical, particularly if you're a member of a small department or a small campus (*cough*) that requires representation on a committee. Additionally, you may find that joining one of these committees now will give you a better, broader sense of how the college works, and how faculty and administration work together to accomplish the Herculean tasks beset us by SUNY and/or Middle States (the association from which we receive accreditation) -- and that you'll be able to participate in some new initiatives from the ground up, instead of coming in later when processes are in full swing.

Nevertheless, there are questions you should ask and points to reflect on if you're considering committee work:

1. What's the purpose of the committee? 
2. Do I have expertise or knowledge that will make me a good fit for the committee? 
3. What will be my role on the committee? (What will be expected of me?)
4. What's the makeup of the committee? (Who are its members, and who is chairing?) 
5. Who does this committee report to? (Which administrator or part of the college infrastructure?)
6. What kind of meeting schedule am I committing to? (Weekly, biweekly, monthly?)
7. Do I have to travel to another campus to attend these meetings? (Can I make this fit with my current schedule?)
8. What kind of workload will this committee carry? (Will it involve research? Will it involve writing? How much will be added to my current workload?)
9. Is this considered department, campus, or college-wide service? (Do I understand where this will "fit" on my form for promotion?)

Also, I recommend asking for week or so -- if you have that opportunity -- to think seriously about the commitment you're being asked to undertake. Use that time to talk to fellow faculty, and your mentor, about the committee. They may have insight or perspective that will surprise you, and make it easier for you to say yes or no.

Service to one's department, campus, and college is incredibly important -- aside from being the basis for promotion, it's how a lot of the necessary work at our institution is accomplished. And there's a lot of work -- a lot of different opportunities to become involved -- so it makes sense that you should be deliberate and careful in your choice of committees and projects. No one should (or would, I suspect) fault you for wanting to be more informed when making decisions. Be clear that you're willing to serve, but that you want to serve with purpose.

Practical Matters: Priority Registration

by Sarah Kain Gutowski, Chair, New Member Program

There’s usually some form of “priority registration” at any college or university, so you may have had an idea of what your new colleagues were talking about when they brought up SCCC’s Priority Registration at your department meetings this semester. Just in case you’re still a little fuzzy, though, about what Priority Registration at SCCC encompasses – and what your role in Priority Registration is supposed to be– allow me this attempt to clarify.

Sure, it's darker earlier, but these autumn sunsets are gorgeous.

In recent years, particularly after the award of a Title III grant, the administration has spent a good deal of time attempting to clarify the role of advising faculty when it comes to registration. Teaching faculty are required (again, like most important tasks, contractually) to set aside eight hours per semester, in addition to their regular class time and office hours, for advising students. This doesn't mean you have to cram all eight hours into the next two weeks -- although the administration does encourage you to spend more time in November answering student questions about their schedules, helping them decipher their SAIN reports, and guiding them to take classes that will fulfill their program requirements AND requirements for graduation.

Great, you must be saying in response . . . so who am I advising?

Good question! Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, there is no formal assignment of students to faculty advisors for the majority of our students. (I know, I don’t think it’s the best beginning to advisement, either, but that’s a conversation for another time and another forum.) Some of our programs formally assign advisors, but most do not, and General Studies students are definitely left to fend for themselves. So, in order to make the most of your advisement hours, and in order to actually meet with and help students who would like to be advised, you have a few options.

The first option you have is to canvass the students in your classes. If you haven’t done so already, schedule some of your advising hours over the next two weeks (since Priority Registration officially began yesterday, November 2, and continues until Open Registration begins on November 11). Then make this into some sort of chart using Excel or the table function in Microsoft Word, or simply use the form you find here, http://depthome.sunysuffolk.edu/Liminis/Faculty/FacultyAdvisement/index.html,

the official, college-wide Faculty Advisement Resource for SCCC. (The link to the PDF form is the first link at the top of the page). Announce your availability to your classes, post the hours on your door, and if you're particularly ambitious, post them to your Blackboard course space.

Another option, which you may have discovered already, is to participate in your department’s efforts to hold department-specific advising sessions. Also, you can volunteer to spend some of your hours advising in the Academic Advising and Mentoring Center. (For example, I'm spending two hours in the Eastern campus center this Friday. Sometimes a change of scenery is nice.)

Keep in mind, too, that any hours you spent counseling or advising students before November (or after!) does count toward your advising commitment. We're not often required to turn in an official record of our time spent advising, but just in case the administration does ask for such a record, it's a good idea to keep notes about when and where and whom you advised.

Also, particularly because you’re new to the college or the full-time teaching faculty gig, you should read (or at the very last, scan) the Faculty Advising Handbook that’s available electronically at the link above. There are also videos available on this site that demonstrate useful information like “How to Read a Student’s SAIN report” and “Using Banner for Advising Purposes.”

So that’s my heads-up . . . and be prepared to receive a maelstrom of emails concerning Priority Registration at this time of year. As overwhelming as they may seem, you should pay attention to them, as they’ll help you fulfill your advising duties as a faculty member.