Dear Shoreline Faculty and Staff,
We are writing today with an update about our annual request process for full-time faculty tenure lines. In early October every year, we update each academic unit so that they will have an opportunity to submit proposals for full-time faculty positions. In late November we indicated the number of lines we believe we can fill, and at that time the College shared we could most likely fill 10 full-time faculty lines. The deans presented the requests in early December within a process where each of the deans and Faculty Program Coordinators (FPCs) are able to provide ratings related to the requests. There were a total of twenty-one (21) full-time faculty tenure-line requests.
The team met and prioritized fifteen (15) requests, assuming that there would be at least ten (10) available for hire and possibly more. The Executive Team (ET) approved ten (10) positions to go forward. The deans and FPCs are in the middle of determining the specific disciplines that will be brought in for permanent and pro-rata positions.
As we know, having additional faculty to support our academic programs and create new opportunities for our students is critical for the College. With the current state of our budget (rapid decline of enrollment including this current quarter), the Executive Team (ET) determined a longer-term plan is needed to bring back all seventeen (17) additional faculty. As we move into the next couple quarters, we will assertively engage in enrollment growth activities and continue to monitor enrollment trends. If enrollment begins to move in a positive direction aligned with the budget outlook, we will revisit faculty prioritizations to consider bringing hiring on a mid-year cycle and will also certainly examine doing so in the next cycle (2024-2025). We, of course, are disappointed about not replacing to the maximum amount to fulfill our fiduciary responsibilities. That said, we are very excited about moving forward with these first ten (10) positions as we recognize this brings us closer to closing personnel gaps among the faculty ranks.
As we prepare the 2023-2024 budget, we will be working with campus partners (including the Strategic Planning Budget Council) to identify additional mechanisms that are necessary to ensure we bring a balanced budget to the Board of Trustees. We will continue to keep the campus apprised of this as we move forward.
We would like to call out one particular and important request for this College. There have been many conversations locally and across the state about the importance of developing robust Ethnic Studies programs as an important foundation to support institutional DEI goals. In our experience, coming from colleges with large Ethnic Studies programs, we can tell you how much these programs genuinely transform the lives of students and provide new learning opportunities as well as access and belonging opportunities in a unique and crucial way.
Therefore, in the spirit of the developing DEI strategic plan, president’s goals, and commitment to DEI, the Executive Team (ET) will be supporting a FT position in Ethnic Studies in the next round (next fiscal year 2024-2025) of hires. For this year (2023-2024), this program (Multicultural Services) will receive a pro-rata position to develop curriculum, and work with campus leaders to develop support from the greater community and lay the groundwork for success in this crucial area for community colleges and for Shoreline.
-Phillip King, Jack Kahn, & Melanie Dixon, on Behalf of Executive Team
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