This Week’s Updates: There’s a lot of stuff flowing downhill from FC4 this week, but I’m not yet ready to post it here. Suffice it to say, though that we remain semi-desperate to find some faculty who are willing to serve on the District Wide Faculty Council (FC4). They meet on the last Wednesday of every month at 3pm (I think), usually at Malcolm X, and HW is supposed to have three elected members and one appointed by HWFC. As of right now, one of our elected members (unfortunately for us, but due to good things for her) had to resign and has been replaced by appointee (and awesome person) Jess Bader. Another of our elected members is on Sabbatical this spring and still needs a substitute for the rest of the semester. A third of our elected members notified us this week that she won’t be able to continue serving on FC4, given her duties with Reinvention and so also needs to be replaced. Rosie is our HWFC appointee.
In other words, we have two of four possible votes on the District wide council accounted for and two that need appointing. Any and all interested parties are encouraged to contact one of your HWFC reps. Appointees must be full time faculty but need not be tenured. Let us know if you’re interested.
As for the rest more info will be flowing through the Curriculum Committee and your email in the coming days, I’m sure.
Last “Week’s” Pressing Questions:
~Realist asked: “What should we do about all the talk from Rahm regarding City Colleges? Is my faculty council talking about this at meetings?” In regard to the former, I think that is a question that we’ll be taking up over the next few months in conversations at Faculty Council meetings, at and after the State of the College address, at department meetings and beyond. In regard to the latter, I can say that “Yes” we are talking about it, but we haven’t had a meeting yet (first meeting, 2/14 in room 1046 at 4pm). I’m sure it will be a point of discussion. We might even have some crucial information by then so we can discuss it knowledgeably.
~Mathissexy asked: “Did you have a problem this semester with the textbooks for the class and our bookstore? In particular, were the correct books there for the student and, more importantly, were there enough of them?” My answer (affirmative) was the only one. Anyone else want to weigh in? After the public beatd0wn that Hector received at the Beck’s sponsored luncheon (and subsequent meetings, etc.), I presume that people who are satisfied (or not) would want to post an answer. No?
Post any additional questions (and responses) in the comments please.
The Harold Lounge 
+What are the details of Malcolm X being converted to specialize in Health Care services? Specifically:
What kind of degrees will Malcolm X now be offering? Does this mean the school will no longer provide an AA?
Will departments/programs not directly related to Health Care services (history, philosophy, arts, astronomy, business, etc) be eliminated, relocated, reduced, or unchanged?
+On a related topic, if one school per year is converted to a particular industry, shouldn’t we be receiving information on what these will be? After all, these decisions may have a radical affect on the lives of student and faculty.
It would be in line with the goals of transparency to release this information as soon as it is available.
Actually Malcolm X has always been oriented toward the health industry. I do not know how this “new” designation will change this orientation.