ReinQuestion | The Harold Lounge

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 17

ReinQuestion? appears every Thursday and is an open thread for members of the HW and CCC community to post questions about the ongoing Reinvention. Any and all questions are invited, and anyone who knows an answer to any question posted is encouraged to answer it in the threads below.

Despite rumors to the contrary, the big Reinvention Reveal is taking place tomorrow! As in Friday, May 6th. Here’s what the (proposed) agenda looks like, from an email from new FC4 President, Polly Hoover (Wright College):

Hello all,

Here is the proposed agenda for Friday’s meeting. Please note that there is opportunity to discuss the proposals during the poster sessions,in the breakout sessions and after the meeting. There will also be additional meeting(s) for those of you who cannot make this Friday meeting. I am hoping that this is the beginning of better communication between District Office and us.

Proposed Agenda

9:00 AM Opening Remarks (30 minutes):
~ Alvin Bisarya will open with general remarks about the work to date and expectations for the day.

9:30 AM Gallery Walk (120 minutes):
~Each task force will have several poster size displays of data and findings from the work they did this semester.
~Attendees are free to walk around read the posters and ask questions of the team members who will be assembled by their posters.
~ Questions can also be placed on Post-it notes at each task force so that they can be discussed in the breakout sessions.
~Food will be provided during the gallery walk to allow faculty to eat while reviewing the gallery.

11:30 AM Breakout Sessions One (35 minutes):
~ Concurrent sessions for each task force.
~ Attendees will be able to attend a specific task force session of their choice which will go into the findings in greater depth and discuss the questions and comments raised during the gallery walk as well as during the breakout session.

12:05 PM Break (20 minutes):
~ Time for faculty to move between rooms in order to attend a breakout session for a different task force during session two.

12:25 PM Breakout Sessions Two (35 minutes):
~ Concurrent sessions for each task force.
~ Attendees will be able to attend a specific task force session of their choice which will go into the findings in greater depth and discuss the questions and comments raised during the gallery walk as well as during the breakout session.

Post-event Activities
1. We will be issuing a set of notes from the gallery walk and breakout sessions.
2. The gallery walk displays will be set up in the Reinvention Center on the sixth floor of the District Office and will be available for faculty who were unable to attend the gallery walk to come and view with task force members available to discuss.

thanks, polly

At this point it looks like HW will be represented by the eyes, ears, and spectacular brain of HWFC President Rosie Banks and possibly some Chairs. If you are interested in attending (don’t forget–the Union Chapter banquet is also scheduled for Friday; maybe you can make both?), let Rosie know ASAP, and at least one of you can be my proxy (sadly, can’t go to either).

And watch for more info over the weekend. Should be exciting.

ReinQuestion–Vol. 16

So it might be that this is the week that Faculty Leadership get a preview of the proposals. The meeting at which they will be revealed is tentatively scheduled for Friday, last I heard, thought there is some possibility of it being pushed back a week.

FC4 Secretary Julius Nadas sent this out early in the week:

Due to spring break some of the plans are still fluid, but here is what his plans are as of this afternoon.

~ Attendees

o All faculty council leadership, both executive and local (~30?)

o All department heads (~30?)

o All academic advising heads

~ Agenda

o Alvin to open with general remarks about the work to date and expectations for theday

o Gallery walk (90 minutes):

-Each team will have several poster size displays of data and findings from the work they did this semester set up in a large room.

-Attendees will walk around read the posters and be able to ask questions of the team members who will be assembled by their posters

-Questions will also be placed on post it notes by the posters so that they can be addressed, if possible, in the afternoon sessions

o Lunch: Tables that center around different task force topics will be set up encouraging attendees to talk to task force members about findings in a more informal setting

o -Afternoon: 1-2 breakout sessions with teams on specific task force work. Attendees will be able to go to rooms each with specific task force teams that will go into the findings in greater depth, allowing for more robust conversations about topics attendees are interested in.

o Wrap up: Talking about next steps for Reinvention

~ What success looks like for the day

o Dialogue is robust between teams and faculty leadership, all parties feel they have been heard

o Feedback on findings is clear to the teams

o General sense of implementation plans, where applicable, is clear to all parties

Look forward to your colleagues’ feedback by Monday afternoon if at all possible.

More as it comes in. And if you have any questions that you’d like me carry along with you, let me know.

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 15

Well, after a big flurry of activity last week and some rather positive reports out of our HW Task Force members, there was but one question last week (from our Distinguished Professor of the Stacks, Sherry Ledbetter):

When will the recommendations be posted and will the rest of us have an opportunity to respond or, at least, edit the data collected?

And I don’t even have to send that one out. Rosie told us yesterday at the HWFC meeting that Friday, April 29th is the big reveal to FC Presidents, at least (and I think Chairs, too, but I might be wrong on that). Circle the date on your calendar. I am expecting that we will have some hard news then. I don’t know how open the process will be at that point to revisions and commentary–hopefully there will be some sort of opportunity for discussion and constructive feedback before final approval–but we should have something to talk about before May hits.

Anything else out there?

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 14

UPDATE: Two more responses came in on Thursday and Friday. They have been added to the previous three.

Again, last week, it was The Realist who posed three questions. I sent them to our HW reps on the Task Forces and these were the responses that I received back, as of this morning:

1. What is the perceived morale of the Task Force Members? Would they mind completing a poll on The Lounge to provide measurable results?

Theresa Carlton: Some days morale is higher than others. We are under stress to get things done quickly, and we are working hard to make sure that quality is not overlooked in favor of expediency. Morale is high when we can all agree on a solution, and begin to move forward with it. Morale is low when we are roadblocked either within our team, by advisers or by the district leadership. Morale is low when we are “urged” to take on a task that the task force team has not bought into. It is always a balancing act, and we have to choose our battles.

I would not mind completing a poll on the Lounge, and I think there would be very few who object. I just don’t think there are many task force members keeping up with the HL, so I’d be happy to spread the word if you do decide to put up a poll.

Floyd Bednarz: I personally think that morale is very good in general, but it depends on each person’s perception. Those with a usual dour disposition won’t think that morale is good ANYWHERE! That said, while we have our frustrations (in our case, it’s getting information and responses from our fellow faculty and staff!), I am on a team (PPR) that is optimistic, works well together and is doing some good work.
The Poll: Over Spring Break, I hope to have the time to complete the poll on the Harold Lounge. (I am so busy with the work we need to do, that I haven’t had much time to talk with everyone to learn about their decisions going forward.)

Lynnel Kiely: I believe the morale of the REI is quite positive. This is primarily because of the quality and quantity of work produced by each task force. It is quite impressive and we all wish that every CCC employee would take a look at our “decks” of information as presented to the Chancellor over the past month. The working environment of our REI task force teams is collegial, collaborative, highly supportive, open, comfortable and progressive. It’s a joy to work in such an environment. The process/approach that CCC used in launching the REI task forces is admirable. They set the stage and we (the players) had the freedom to play our role on stage. We’ve had a great deal of liberty to determine our direction, our efforts and ultimately decisions for recommendations. We kept focused on the concept of “evidence based” data and we’ve produced some terrific data that I believe other institutions of higher ed will be interested in seeing.
It’s wonderful to be a part of the “behind the scenes” research. We’ve learned a lot!

Roberta Bole: In my team, which is Student Support & Pathways, we all seem to have high morale and a positive attitude. Our team leader sets the tone and he is very down to earth and an easy to work with individual. He is an excellent leader and has brought us through a challenging process. I don’t believe that I nor any of my fellow team members would be opposed to answering a poll.

Anonymous Member #1: Based on experience within my task force, morale is high and my team and I are engaged. We have a great team leader who provides support and resources that make our good experiences become great ones, while also providing the support we need when we face challenges.

2. Will the Task Force members complete their tasks by the end of the semester? Will any of them need additional time?

Theresa Carlton: Our job this semester is to research, come up with recommended solutions and a plan for implementing those solutions. I can only speak for my task force – we have done tons of research. We have strong ideas and plans for how to fix the problems we are facing. Some solutions we can strongly recommend, others, we can only recommend that the next team further pursue whether they would be viable solutions or not. No task force will have completed their “task”, but the current teams will get as far as they possibly can by May 15th.

Floyd Bednarz: For PPR, I knew that the shear scope of reviewing all programs in a thorough and meaningful way could not be done in a semester by our small team. So we are focusing on a sub-set, learning as we go how to best find, extract, and distill the information. We will have reviewed some of the occupational programs and will have recommendations by the end of the semester, but much more will need to be done by subsequent teams in the coming semesters. What we plan to leave is a good foundation from which to continue the work and minimize duplication… so there will be more work going forward. Only those who stay on with their original team will continue their current work in the Fall.

Lynnel Kiely: We will all finish sufficiently. With that said, there’s always more work to do and as we know…when is enough research enough? Often times, one piece of a lit review leads to another, so there is a small degree of frustration in not having all the time that you need to do a thorough job. The good news is that every task force has produced impressive data that will result in some very exciting recommendations for cultural renewal. If you think of “Reinvention” as a dynamic or organic process…it should never stop, but instead, create avenues for continual evaluation and revision. In that case, our work will never be done!

Roberta Bole: Our team will make some recommendations. I would further admit that this entire process is a work in process, so I don’t feel it would ever be “complete”. Will there be some positive changes? I am optimistic & hopeful that some great things will come from our work; that will ultimately result in student success.

Anonymous Member #1: All the projects we are currently working on are “works in progress” and we are working diligently to meet our deadlines for submission to ensure that the next phase of REI initiates on schedule.

3. Will any Task Force members stay on for the Fall semester to assist with the transition?

Theresa Carlton: Some task force members have been discussing the possibility of staying on for another semester. I personally think that it makes sense for at least two members to stay on board to help with the continuity of work, and to explain the thought processes behind the recommendations and also what was not put into the recommendations. No one has made any clear decisions on this yet, as far as I know.

Floyd Bednarz: I know that some current members have applied to stay on for the Fall Semester (we all still have to apply… I don’t think it’s an automatic thing). Some of us might also want to continue on as Frequent Collaborators (like me) or as Valued Contributors, but these are individual choices made after considering a number of personal factors. I don’t know of anyone, though, who wants to just stop completely and not be involved with any future Reinvention activities in some way or another.

Lynnel Kiely: Absolutely. After all the hard work we’ve put into our task force goals, it becomes difficult to “leave it.” Some of us have that need to see tangible results to our work….I suspect many will make application in the hopes of returning in the fall.

Roberta Bole: Some task members will apply to stay on for Fall and some will be chosen to stay.Continuity is important to our work.

Anonymous Member #1: The application process for new REI members is currently open and we anticipate receiving a great deal of interested applicants; as of now, discussions between project leaders and task force members are underway to determine the level of interest of current members who wish to stay on for the fall semester. However, nothing has been agreed upon or announced at this point in time.

4. Will there be any Task Force activity during the Summer session?

Theresa Carlton:The last I heard, the task force activity over the summer will be minimal. A few members from each team may stay on to maintain momentum and work on more urgent problems, such as registration or COMPASS test preparation for students. I don’t think that new team members will be brought on over the summer unless absolutely necessary.

Floyd Bednarz: As far as I understand it, some task force members will stay on through the summer to work on implementing some (many? all?) of the recommendations which will have been made and accepted. But the actual current “Reinvention” work will take a summer hiatus until the new team’s begin in the Fall Semester. Then, if all goes as planned and we’ve done a good job of laying the groundwork and documenting our work, the Task Forces will pick up where we left off.

Lynnel Kiely: Yes…I can only speak for my task force (Faculty/Staff Development). We have created a timeline for our Reinvention recommendations that include summer and several years beyond. Work has to continue through the summer. We’ve set specific goals to achieve during May-Sept. and feel confident efforts will be made to accomplish them.

Roberta Bole: My understanding is there will be a very small number of people working on Reinvention over the Summer. I think there will be two people remaining over the Summer on our team.

Anonymous Member #1: It is my impression that there will be minimal activity over the summer, however, information may be forthcoming about specific details surrounding this topic.

Should any more responses flow in, I’ll add them to the post in an update. In any case, I am very grateful to the respondents and look forward to seeing the fruits of their labors.

Please post any new questions in the comments, and thanks, Realist, for the good questions.

ReinQuestion–Vol. 13

Last week The Realist posed three questions for us:

1) Have the task force members had direct contact with our chancellor? (I don’t care if it’s been formal or informal. So long as there’s been communication, I’d like to know how much and how often.)

From PD Task Force member and Wright Faculty Alicia Anzaldo: “Yes. All task forces have (at least once) made a formal presentation to the chancellor. She appears on the 6th floor once in a while. We are expected to present again within the next few weeks.”

2) Any word on what the reinvention task forces have concluded about a district-wide faculty development week? (I’d like to avoid the disaster that was forced upon us last year.)

Also from Alicia, corroborated by Franklin Reynolds (Speech, Truman) of the same Task Force: “We are meeting on April 8th with Academic Affairs to get a final answer on our proposal: 2 days at MXC, 3 days at our respective colleges. We will let the colleges know the response we get as soon as we know.”

3) Why aren’t we responding to the questions to question reinvention? Is this related to low moral and lack of confidence? Do we think that it don’t matter anyway cause decisions are comin’ from the top and those at the top ain’t listenin’ to those down below? I’m serious here. Do we care? What up?

Question 3 is for y’all to answer. I’ll ask the Reinvention Task Force people, too, because they might have some answers.

One colleague of ours signed up to be a frequent contributor to one of the Task Forces. They have had occasional meetings over the last couple of months. They had one scheduled for last Friday. He went. It was him and one member of the task force. Not good.

In any case, if you have any answers (or any more questions), fire away in the comments.

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 12

Nary a question last week. Perhaps this week’s revelations, mentioned at the meeting with FC4 and Local FC Presidents about the direction and developments in regard to nascent Faculty Professional Development Task Force Recommendations among other things will lead to some questions this week. Hopefully? Anyone?

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 11

Your local FC is working to schedule another update with our representatives on the Task Forces–it looks like that should happen somewhere in early April. In the meantime…any questions we can ask for y’all?

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 10

The questions are dwindling…interesting. Perhaps we should all spend a little time this weekend perusing the “Results” section of the Reinvention Web site. Maybe some new questions will arise.

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 8

At our meeting with three faculty members from the Faculty and Staff Development Task Force on Tuesday, we got some answers to our two lingering ReinQuestions:

~Who is the “union leadership” with whom the Professional and Staff Development Task Force is working? According to Alicia and Franklin, they are in regular contact with Perry Buckley about the direction of their research and discussions.

~Can’t the approval and reimbursement process for faculty professional development funds be streamlined (and is there a task force working on this one)? Hopefully. This was raised at the discussion, and it sounds like it has been one of many consistent themes across the colleges that they have visited.

And thanks to everyone who participated in the HWFC PD survey. I’ll be going around this afternoon to make final collections. We had 70 in hand by the time of the meeting and there were some interesting preliminary findings. Conferences and Professional Reading/Journals were named most frequently as “sources of valuable professional development” in the last year, followed by Courses, Peer Feedback/Visitation, and Student Evaluations (all tied).

61 of 70 faculty stated that HW should provide professional development to adjuncts that would help them prepare for and make progress toward full time teaching jobs. 39 of those 61 stated that HW does not currently do so.

Once I get them all tallied up, I’ll post the results here. At the meeting, Franklin and Alicia reminded us a couple of times to tell y’all that there will be another survey from them within the next 2 to 3 weeks asking for more information, ideas, and suggestions with respect to some of the ideas they are formulating.

In the meantime, what questions do you have about Reinvention this week?

ReinQuestion–Vol. 7

Last week’s post drew two new questions:

~Who is the “union leadership” with whom the Professional and Staff Development Task Force is working?

~Can’t the approval and reimbursement process for faculty professional development funds be streamlined (and is there a task force working on this one)?

I will get answers for both and post them this weekend, along with a summary of our visit from the Reinvention team that took place last week. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for a short survey that should be landing in your mailbox sometime this afternoon that is meant to draw out some preliminary information for our meeting with the PD task force next Tuesday (@3:30pm, rm 102).

ReinQuestion–Vol. 6

I have to start this one with an apology. I really, really, really hoped to have a summary of our fruitful, educational, and helpful discussion with the task force members that took place on Tuesday at our local Faculty Council meeting, and then solicit more questions.

Unfortunately, I brought home the wrong legal pad, and so I am without my notes on the meeting. Thus, I can’t do what I wanted to do.

I swear that it will happen, and I promise that it will happen soon.

In the meantime, please mark your calendars for February 22nd (3:30pm, room 102) when your local Faculty Council will host Franklin Reynolds (Speech) and Alicia Anzaldo (Biology) to discuss their work on the Faculty and Staff Development Task Force and get input about FACULTY development–what it is, what it should be, and what it isn’t, in particular. In an email, Franklin described their work as follows:

IN GENERAL, THIS IS WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON:

*Improving the tenure process to make it more meaningful for one’s professional development needs, more useful to improving one’s classroom teaching, and more transparent in its evaluation process.

*Improving the faculty development (broadly, not just our contractual week’s requirement) opportunities for faculty. This includes making faculty development programming more faculty-driven across the District.

*Improving the post tenure experience by ensuring good teaching is rewarded and faculty who have had difficulties communicated to them have the proper tools necessary to succeed.

Please note, we are working with the collective bargaining agreement in mind, as well as consultation with union leadership. Alicia and I are also meeting with as many faculty on all the campuses. Through the likes of focus groups, surveys, meetings with District Faculty Council leadership, and other avenues, we hope to bring meaningful change to faculty development at CCC.

Pose your questions and/or ideas here, and watch for a survey and additional opportunities to contribute your comments, ideas, and definitions.

And if you have any lingering Reinvention Questions, post them up here!

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 5

First off, apologies for the late posting; by way of explanation, I wanted to let the snow closing stay on top for the early birds, in case they missed it.

So, we left off last week with a few lingering questions whose answers required a little patience. They were:

1) What now? (expressed in more specific terms as: A) What is our relationship with the Reinvention Team (RT)? B) Does a member of the RT contact our local president? C) Does our district-wide president communicate with the RT? D) If RT has not contacted FC, do we plan on getting in touch with them? E) Am I being too idealistic or does it make sense to have this relationship in place?)

2A) Will Cecilia [Lopez] make unilateral decisions regarding curriculum? (This question arose due to Cecilia’s calling of a meeting “to discuss English developmental courses” that did not include the members of the Task Force)

2B) Will the task force have any role in curriculum decisions and if not, what is the point?

1) The answer to Question #1 is still evolving, and, again, I should have more information after next week’s HWFC meeting (Tuesday @ 3:30, room 1046 (for now), but it might be moved next door pending turnout), when we will be visited by Theresa Carlton (Remediation Task Force) and hopefully the other HW members of the task forces for updates on their activities and process so far. It will be a great opportunity to hear directly from the task force members and get a better sense of what Reinvention actually looks like.

(Theresa also emphasized that she is willing to take any and all questions and seek out answers from district honchos, fellow task forces, or the powers of the universe, so long as she gets them early enough to direct them at the right people; so if you have a question, post it!)

I think everyone–local FC, FC4, and the Task Force members–is still feeling out how to build effective communication channels and gather and share information. For example, our local FC has been contacted by a couple of members of another Task Force (Staff and Faculty Development) who are going around to all of the Faculty Councils to conduct focus group meetings in order to gather information about faculty conceptions, desires and needs with respect to Professional Development. I will have more information on this meeting for you as we work out the format and logistical issues, but you should pencil in late afternoon on February 22nd if you are interested in hearing/talking about those issues.

As our relationships (and understanding) of the task forces grow, we (HWFC) are still looking at a few different plans for how HW faculty and staff can engage with and take advantage of the process and opportunity for self improvement that the Reinvention represents. Let’s face it–there’s lots of stuff that we’d all like to change for the better. I mean does anyone think that our purchasing process is sensible? Does anyone think the hiring packet is awesome? Does anyone think that the student advising (not just the advisors–I’m talking about faculty advising for classes, ongoing advising by everyone for graduation and transfer, etc) is the creme de la creme? Does everyone love our registration policies and processes? Is there anyone at all out there who thinks that teaching and curriculum and student support could be improved?

My point is that Reinvention–whatever else it is–represents a great opportunity to develop some consensus (locally) about how we’d like things to run. If we can get those ideas into the Reinvention Recommendations, so much the better; if we can’t, well then, we’ll have them at the ready for future experiments and reinventions or possible replacement suggestions should the reinvention recommendations prove ineffective.

We have a few morphing plans for “what’s next” locally under consideration at the moment, but should have something more complete worked out in the next FC meeting. Rest assured, we are trying to figure out something that will work, be useful, and create opportunities for broad participation.

2A) Something of a loaded question here–prior questions that we need to get answered (and are seeking answers for) are a) was there a meeting? b) what was it about? c) who was there? d) what were the results/action goals? Perhaps the meeting led to a consensus about the effectiveness (or lack) of Intcom 100, or maybe it was merely a brainstorming session. Maybe it led to a unilateral decision (which would seem to imply a decision made by AVC Lopez that ran against the opinions and advice of everyone at the meeting (in the world?). Maybe not. In my own experience with her, that has not been her approach to such situations. She certainly has ideas about what ought to happen with respect to certain things, but in my experience with her through four years as a department chair, she has always been very responsive to both well developed counter-arguments and new information/evidence.

Personally, I don’t see the non-presence of a Task Force member at the meeting as a problem. The Task Forces are conducting inquiry, right? They are formulating questions, hypothetical answers to those questions, developing data sources to support or refute their hypotheses. In the meantime, practical decisions have to be made–decisions about the fall schedule for example, and what programs/classes will be offered. The Task Forces will make their recommendations (along with the other advisory panels, don’t forget) and those recommendations may very well overturn the decisions made now, but until they are made and weighed, why include them?

My concern would be if the meeting was about curriculum and had no FC4, Committee A, or local faculty representation. Ultimately, Cecilia is the #2 Academic person in the system, so it makes sense that the penultimate recommendation lies with her (recommended to the Provost, approved by the Chancellor). I would only see a problem if faculty had no input and/or no consensus agreement on the path forward, given faculty (and Faculty Council’s) responsibility for Curriculum recommendations.

This is a long way of saying that we will try to find out what the meeting was about, who was there, and what happened.

2b) As suggested above, I take the point of the task forces to be the conduct of an inquiry process into these various areas, with the goal of them making a set of recommendations. The recommendations will not be the only ones made, which has all of us a little nervous (or should), so their weight and likelihood to become policy is unclear. We should definitely not think of them as being in charge of or making curricular decisions, though. That is downright dangerous. We have a strong, effective, peer-review curriculum process already–one that generations of administrative teams have tried to skirt, ignore, or bullrush in one way or another, sometimes at the behest of individual faculty members, sometimes in contradiction to the wishes of all of them–and we should all work to make sure that process is understood, recognized, and protected by demanding that any and all curriculum recommendations that are made as a result of Reinvention or anything else be subject to that process and, so, be understood and ratified (or modified) by faculty.

Please keep your questions coming, and keep your eyes out for more information as things develop over the next week or so.

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 4

A flurry of questions arrived on our proverbial doorstep last week:

#1 Jen asked whether the Reinvention Teams had gone Radio Silent (and her question was generously answered by “A Voice from Reinvention”)

#2 Heirapparent asked: “What now?”

#3 Realist asked a quintuple header: “A) What is our relationship with the Reinvention Team (RT)? B) Does a member of the RT contact our local president? C) Does our district-wide president communicate with the RT? D) If RT has not contacted FC, do we plan on getting in touch with them? E) Am I being too idealistic or does it make sense to have this relationship in place?”

Taking #2 and #3 together as really being after the same sort of information, I have to beg the patience of both Heirapparent and the Realist until we (Faculty Council) have a chance to talk through the questions and a few possibilities at our meeting next Tuesday (3:30pm, rm 1046).

And of course any and all suggestions, answers, or solutions are welcome in the comments along with any additional questions.

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 3

No bites on last week’s version. Maybe somebody has a question this week? For them or for us (your Faculty Council)?

ReinQuestion?–Vol. 2

CAVEAT: Just to be completely clear from the get go: The Harold Lounge is not, nor do we claim or hope to be,an OFFICIAL source of news or information about “Reinvention.” President Metoyer has advised (rightly so, I think) that the official Web site of the “Reinvention” is the place for the official word on the process, that the official email address for questions and concerns (Reinvention@ccc.edu) is available and active, and that the Lounge and its format can lend itself to the (unintentional) spreading of unsubstantiated rumor and misinformation (it’s true), in addition to things that are true, and sometimes it is hard to tell the difference.

So, keeping all of that in mind and with the understanding that, so far at least, information about the questions that faculty have had about the “Reinvention” has been mostly either, umm…sparse or a little less specific than we’d maybe wish, we’re going to act respectfully against the advice of our President and keep this space open for questions we might have of each other, for our local administration, and/or about “Reinvention” that either aren’t or can’t be answered through the official processes. Please be sure to submit your questions by Sunday night to give us a chance to pose them and John/Reinventors the chance to answer them (if possible). Any questions submitted later than that may be held until the following week. Fair warning.

In Volume 1, two questions were posed, which have since been (partly) answered by President Metoyer:

1) Who will be on the taskforce teams?

In his email on January 5th, our Queso Grande stated the following HWC people would be a part of the following Task Forces:

NAME       POSITION TASK FORCE
~Lynnel Kiely                         Faculty      Faculty & Staff Development
~Floyd Bednarz                     Faculty      Program Portfolio
~Anita Kelley                         Faculty      Program Portfolio
~Roberta Bole                        Faculty      Student Support
~Theresa Carlton                 Faculty      Remediation
~Steven Seidman                  Faculty      Operational Excellence
~Georgina Bravo-Segura   Staff           Program Portfolio
~Kim Bowens                          Staff           Student Support
~Ewa Bejnarowicz                 Staff          Technology
~Irene Castaneda                  Staff           Faculty & Staff Development
~Edgar Gonzalez                   Student      Faculty & Staff Development
~Jared Klaeysen                    Student     Remediation

To date, there has not been an announcement about the full membership of the various task forces, but I wonder if we could put one together, assuming that the other Presidents have announced their own colleges’ participants. (Until all of the Task Force Memberships have been announced, I will be unable to name a winner to our contest, just in case you were wondering.)
2) Are any adjuncts going to be involved in the task force? If so, will they be paid and how?

The list above makes clear that the answer to the first question is “Yes;” the answer to the second came in an email John sent in response to Rosie’s asking of the question: “How they will be paid has been established through memorandums of understanding between their respective unions and CCC administrative personnel.”

So, now that those are settled, what else have you got?