Meeting & Agendas

Welcome everyone and Lynn Lau new full time

Nothing to report on eligibility list. Nothing to report on Faculty evaluation. Faculty interview: Spanish Adjunct positions have been posted all year. We have interviewed several candidates, but have not made any recommendations to hire. Lynn Lau was hired for the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Cultural Center Director & Faculty position. The longest title in the world. Nothing to report on faculty problems.

Foreign language honor society: Last semester, two students became full members of the Foreign Language Honor Society. This semester, applications need to be turned in by October 14, 2022. Please have students contact Julie Kleinhans (jkleinha@austincc.edu) if they have any questions. Nothing to report for new faculty committee.

Nothing to report on outreach and professional development.

Scheduling: • Many sections were cancelled over the Summer of 2022 due to low enrollment, in particular in Spanish. • Vanessa is still waiting for updates on the Spring 2023 Rollover schedule to ensure that the sequence is being maintained from the fall to spring terms. • We are fortunate to add an additional CHIN 1411 section to Fall 2022 thanks to the addition of Lynn Lau as our new AAPI Cultural Center Director and Chinese Professor. • French added a NAD FREN 2311 15 week section for Acadeum students. • Our department will continue to offer the current four options of class format plus an additional HyFlex option: DLS, HYD/HYC, FLX, LEC, and ONL. o DLS - Distance Learning Synchronous o HYD/HYC - Hybrid Distance and Hybrid Classroom o FLX - Hyflex Classroom o LEC - Lecture classes that typically meet twice a week o ONL - Online sections without any required virtual meetings Nothing to report on Spanish for Spanish Speakers.

Special events: The Harvest Moon Festival, organized by Lynn Lau, our new AAPI Cultural Center Director, will take place on Saturday, September 10th at HLC @ 3:00 PM in the Recital Hall in Building 2000. Study abroad: There are two foreign language study abroad programs scheduled for the summer of 2023, a Japanese 1412 program in Osaka, Japan, with an excursion to Kyoto and a Spanish 2311 and Span 1300 program to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with excursions to Uruguay and Iguazú Falls. You can find out more about these programs at https://students.austincc.edu/study-abroad/study-abroad-program. Textbook Inventory: We have updated the FOLA Textbook Inventory for Spring 2023 textbook orders. Raha will complete the orders upon her return to the office.

Approval of the Minutes for Spring 2022. Vanessa Lazo distributed the minutes from the February 11, 2022 Department Meeting for approval. Action taken: The minutes were approved without changes. Committee Reports Vanessa Lazo asked for approval to attach the Committee Reports for Fall 2022 to these minutes. Action taken: It was approved to add the Committee Reports to the end of the minutes.

a. Vanessa Lazo congratulated Scott Gibby for being named eFaculty of the year for 2022, for receiving a NISOD Excellence Award, and for his 3 year QM Scholarship. b. Lynn Lau was introduced as the new Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Cultural Center Director and Faculty member. c. Todd Phillips will be on sabbatical Fall 2023 – Summer 2024 studying gender neutral language in the Romance Languages in France, Italy, and Spain. d. Scott Gibby has agreed to organize the Program Review. The Deans are working on guidelines for online classes. Scott Gibby is working on a group meeting to organize guidelines for FOLA. All online courses need to have at least one class QM certified. Classes that are more than 50% asynchronous must follow QM standards. Assistant Dean Jason Vidrine will organize 3-year QM reviews.

Rosa Dávila shared that advisers had been added to Blackboard for students in her ECHS class. They appeared there without her receiving any information about them.

Christine Stanley encouraged faculty to look for possible grants and explained the grant writing process and the assistance that the college provides. She shared the graphic at https://www.austincc.edu/offices/grant-development-and-compliance/process showing the steps of acquiring a grant. She pointed out that there are many grants offered by the Department of Education and the State Department that may be of interest to FOLA. Faculty can receive release time and Adjunct Faculty are paid the equivalent at the corresponding LEH rate.

Academic Integrity: There was a discussion about whether FOLA should create a uniform policy to deal with cheating, or whether it should be left up to individual instructors. Should the department keep track of which students have cheated so their next instructor knows to proctor them well? Véronique Mazet said that prevention is the best way to deal with cheating, and that it is important to give students clear guidelines on the syllabus about what will be considered unacceptable. Faculty were reminded that the statement of the college’s policy on scholastic dishonesty will appear only on Blackboard starting in the spring, if faculty do not include the college policies on their syllabus. They were encouraged to add statements on their syllabus about their own rules and penalties. Faculty are encouraged to report cheating to the Dean of Student Services, but Tim Altanero shared that he had not been able to get them to help with cheating. It was recommended to use more types of testing on which it difficult to cheat. Action taken: It was decided to leave it up to individual instructors how they deal with cheating Challenge Exams: Vanessa Lazo asked whether we should offer Challenge Exams both online and in the Testing Centers. Action taken: It was decided to offer both online and on-campus testing for languages as needed.

The FOLA Department is considering offering an Asian Studies course. Currently, there is no Asian Studies course for community colleges in the ACGM, so the college would have to petition the Coordinating Board to add it. It was suggested to offer an informal course first to see whether there is enough interest before trying to develop a course for academic credit. Action Taken: It was decided to offer an informal course before considering whether to try to add a course for academic credit.

a. Assessment This semester, we have been assigned Oral Communication and Personal Responsibility for our SACS assessments. More details will be given soon. b. Curriculum Starting in the Spring Semester of 2023, the College Policies from syllabi with automatically appear in the Blackboard menu for each class. Faculty will no longer be required to include them on their syllabi, but they should refer students to the link on Blackboard.

Nothing to report for distance learning. Early College High School: • The Arabic program at the Austin Peace Academy (APA) continues with Arabic II for Fall 2022. Fahim has administered the Course Challenge Exam for Arabic I to all current Arabic II students. • The Native Speaker sections remain cancelled (since Fall 2021). • The Dual Credit sections in Dripping Springs and Wimberly were cancelled this year. • ECHS sections continue to be offered at the following campuses: EGN, SAC, and RVS