Theory of RelativityHello, Colleagues:
I’m happy to write that it’s been a relatively quiet summer for your Faculty Association officers and negotiating team, and in the spirit of proportionality I’ll keep this welcome back message relatively quiet, too.
Looking back on the summer, there were relatively few labor relations issues. The one most worthy of note is the accretion into the Faculty Association, after almost a year and a half after the initial request to join, of the Laboratory Technician position. The dispute was settled in Lansing on the morning of the hearing. The addition of two lab techs along with six lab coordinators last spring brings a total of eight new faculty members into the Faculty Association through accretion. In consideration for the accretion of the lab techs, I agreed to advocate for revisions of the contract provision that defines which college job positions should be in the Faculty Association bargaining unit.
In the first half of the summer, your negotiating team resolved a couple of outstanding issues, most particularly a memo of understanding (MOU) allocating $40,000 in retroactive pay for release time assignments. That MOU also formally added a number of release time assignments to our bargaining unit. A second MOU this summer clarified the timing of the overload selection process. Last, we reached agreement on sub pay for job training and agreement on a hybrid job position, a job blending non-credit Training Solutions work and credit classes.
In the second half of the summer, your negotiating team took a relatively long break, one that I hope will suffice to energize them for this year’s contract negotiations. Those negotiations, of course, will be the occupation of this academic year, and I expect that by next summer any other issues will relatively pale in comparison to negotiation of wages and benefits, particularly health care benefits. As during last year, I’ll continue to promote the discussion about how our contract should better provide for adjunct faculty, who should number this fall somewhere around 450. Other important matters by early next summer will be state funding of community colleges, talk of a millage, and Board of Trustees elections.
In hiring news, at the top is the search for a new provost, a search in which yours truly is formally participating. Hiring news about faculty is that ten permanent full-time faculty are joining our ranks this semester. I can’t say they’re new faculty because of the ten only one is new to the college. The other nine have been hired out of the adjunct ranks or were temporary full time faculty. In addition, there will be six temporary full-time positions and, if all goes as planned, searches for six new or replacement full-time faculty. This is relevant - not relatively - good news because of the college’s prohibition against nepotism.
A few reminders are:
• The first adjunct and overload pay will be October 6. Our salary increase this year is 3%, which compares favorably with the 3.2% increase in the Consumer Price Index (measured from July 2005 to July 2006 for Midwest cities our size as reported at
http://www.bls.gov/xg_shells/ro5xg01.htm). If you take out the increase in gas prices, it compares very favorably. Relatively speaking, of course.
• Check out the new and improved Faculty Association web page,
www.grccfaculty.com! It’s exceptionally helpful and easy to use.
• Read the Faculty Council minutes that come to you every other week.
• Make a copy of your Faculty Information Form (FIF) after you sign it. If there’s an error on your FIF, try to redo your FIF with the appropriate administrator. Print, check and double-check the accuracy of each pay advice.
• Health insurance co-pays on MESSA premiums will begin in November: single, $40/month; double, $75/month; and family, $95/month. Changes in Priority Health or Grand Valley Healthcare Plan are at page 25 of our contract.
• More than half of the full-time faculty members have completed or at least started the fourth year longevity training credit. Full-time faculty who haven’t earned it yet should do so this academic year. The benefit this year is $1,664.
So - it seems that I’ve set a personal best record for brevity. It’s been relatively short, which allows me to write a second very bad joke about relativity: it’s heir pollution.
If you have any questions or comments about anything other than the bad jokes please contact me.
Cordially, your Faculty Association President,
Fred van Hartesveldt ext. 4356
"It gives me great pleasure to recommend Katie Danko for the NISOD Excellence in Education Award. She has achieved excellence in her teaching as evidenced by many student complements. She uses some very innovative techniques ....Katie has been involved in several campus activities. At one point she presented a paper on the Cherry Commission relative to implementing a Bachelors Degree at the community college. She also did a lot of work in organizing a program on campus, “The Salute to Women”, which recognized outstanding females. In addition she often manages departmental events. Katie has helped several new instructors by giving them materials and explaining the principals of learning and teaching."
dedicated instructor. His student evaluations are exceptional. His average score on the student evaluations which I have reviewed is 4.9 out of 5.0. He demonstrates a commitment to student learning outside the classroom by hosting a Spanish conversation luncheon opportunity that he coordinated with Eric Mullen. ... In fact, as Bernie and I have interviewed adjunct faculty, he stresses a learning-centered approach to them, especially if they are wholly new to teaching. He always says, "When you start to design a class, don't think about what you want to do; think about what you want your students to learn."
