Good afternoon, Faculty!

I am writing with some great instructional updates from the past month. Much gratitude goes to our Deans and Faculty Program Coordinators (FPCs) for their contributions in compiling data, input on presentations made in FPC meetings, and aligning these requests to Area Reviews completed last year.

This appreciation also goes to many of you. I know this has been a hectic quarter, but I am so proud of our progress and collaboration these last few months. We have all done a tremendous amount of planning and work related to Area Reviews, the accreditation site visit, the outcomes assessment, and the support of our tenure candidates.

Full-Time Faculty (FTF) Requests for 2024-25

The following 11 positions have been approved for recruitment; successful hires will begin their employment at our college in Fall 2024.

• Accounting
• Business
• Dental Hygiene
• English as a Second Language
• Ethnic Studies
• Librarian (2)
• Math
• Medical Lab Technology
• Nursing
• Studio ArtsI will also collaborate with VP Joe Mazur and the Business Administration team on a review of our budgets and planning; if there is potential to recruit additional FTF positions, I will advocate for those positions using the data we gathered in December 2023 and then follow up with you to confirm (last year we received two late approvals for positions in History and Math).

Pro Rata Faculty Requests for 2024-25

Leveraging the process and collaborative work used to gather requests for FTF positions, we recently notified the Faculty Union that the following three pro-rata faculty positions will be advanced for recruitment:

• Music Tech
• Nursing
• Political Science

Following the completion of our next Area Review cycle on March 15, our deans and FPCs will again review data and prioritize additional pro rata requests to help us balance workload and scheduling needs as enrollment continues to trend upwards. Please look for an update on this from your Dean and FPC in late April/early May.

Instructional Equipment Requests

Every year, our college allocates funds to purchase equipment that supports and enhances student learning and engagement. These funds are gathered from four budgets associated with the VP of Instruction’s Office, Perkins Grant, Worker Retraining Grant, and earmarks from student technology fees.

This year, we funded 33 equipment requests totaling more than $418,000, which are now in the process of being purchased. These requests, and I know many of you supported these too, were submitted by Kristofor Boustedt / Duygu Monson, Robin Ford, Matthew Jorgensen, Derek Levy, Esther Lim, Dave Phippen, Rachel Rawle, Christine Shafner, Lori Simicich, and Kira Wennstrom.

Thank you for your work in connecting these requests to your annual review processes, building strong instructional programs, and making the justification easy for all of us to fund and purchase these requests!

Sabbatical Approvals for 2024-25

First, I want to thank our 2024–2025 Faculty Sabbatical Selection Committee for their work: Matthew Allison, Tony Doupé, Shannon Flynn, Cynthia Okawara, Lori Simicich, and Brooke Zimmers.

Congratulations to the following faculty members on their successful applications. I look forward to learning more about your wonderful projects and research in the coming year as well as celebrating your return to campus following your sabbaticals:

• Emanuela Agosta – two quarters
• Steven Bogart – one quarter
• Eric Hamako – one quarter
• Davis Oldham – one quarter
• Trevor Pelletier – two quarters
• Annamaria Winters – two quarters

We appreciate each of you for leaning into the collaborative work, contributing to the conversations with your FPC and Dean, and all the great work you do to support our students!

Best wishes,

Lucas Rucks
Acting Vice President of Instruction