Meeting & Agendas

The minutes from the January 21, 2025 WOLA Department meeting were reviewed.

Action taken: The minutes were approved without corrections.

This semester we are beginning to use the new evaluation system. Everyone has already submitted the required documents and has likely noticed that the process is more involved than in the past. The reason for this change lies in the system’s main purpose: it is designed to be more formative.

Because of this, instructors are now expected to provide more information about how we conduct our classes. In the past, student ratings were the primary factor in faculty evaluations. Under the new system, student ratings are balanced with the way instructors respond to student comments, and 50% of the evaluation is based on instructional performance. For this reason, the documentation we submit must be substantial enough to give reviewers a clear view of our teaching practices.

The committee will complete the evaluations of all Adjunct faculty by mid-October, with the final deadline for submission to the Dean’s Office set for November 7. After that, we anticipate distributing a survey to gather your feedback and suggestions about this new system. While it is a college-wide mandate and our ability to make changes is limited, we do have some flexibility with the Instructional Checklist and the percentages assigned to each category.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Jan Emberson or to Talía Loaiza directly. Jan has graciously agreed to replace Mariela Prato-Williams as Co-Chair of the committee and ADC of Evaluation.

Faculty Hiring & Interviews            

• We had postings open in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. 
• We hired William Weihe in German, David Roby in French, and Patrick Lawrence in Spanish.
• David Roby has moved to another position.
• The French, German, and Spanish positions are closed.
• The Japanese Adjunct position remains open

 Faculty Problems

Private. Nothing to report to the faculty at large.

Applications for the Foreign Language Honor Society, Alpha Mu Gamma, will be due October 20 this semester. Please have interested students contact Julie Kleinhans Hooks (jkleinha@austincc.edu) for more information. (It costs $35 for Lifetime Membership, or $10 for semester / Associate Membership)

 New Faculty Committee

This fall, we welcome Patrick Lawrence, a new adjunct professor of Spanish.

Outreach

Nothing reported.

 Professional Development

The College now requires each of us to complete four training workshops each year before August 1st. This past year was the first time this schedule was in place.

The four workshops are:

1. Accommodating People with Disabilities

2. Preventing Harassment & Discrimination: Non-Supervisors Clery and Title IX

3. Cybersecurity

4. Active Shooter

Each one must be completed by August 1st of the academic year. In the past, some of the trainings were every two years, but now it's an annual requirement.

Is there professional development credit for attending General Assembly?

Yes, there is professional development (PD) credit for General Assembly. Up to five hours of PD credit is available: three hours for the morning program and one hour for each afternoon breakout session attended. PD credit is self-reported.

 How do I report my professional development credit in Workday?

Professional development credit is self-reported in Workday. For instructions, please review this PDF.

• All sections made. Most importantly, all 2311 sections across all 10 languages made it through the Endangered Sections Review.
• Only two sections (both Spanish) were cancelled, as suggested by the dean, the week before classes started.
• We are still experiencing an upsurge in enrollment—up 13-15% since last year. I'll remain vigilant of the enrollment until 8B begins.
• Thanks to the enrollment surge, we are offering an additional 1411 section in the 12-Week session of: Chinese, German, Italian, and Korean. We are waiting for approval to add French and Japanese.
• This year's 8-Week campus-based pilot has moved from NRG to HLC. 
  • The enrollment looks strong for the 1st 8-weeks with 18/20 students enrolled in SPAN 1411.
  • Margaret Dunaway is teaching the 8-Week series of SPAN 1411 8A followed by SPAN 1412 8B.
• Rosa's newly redesigned Spanish III for Spanish Speakers is full with 28/28 students enrolled.
• Ramiro Juárez is offering a new Spanish I Honors course with a focus on The Music, Images, and Language of the Mexican and US Border.
• The majority of our classes are DIL (DLS and ONL). Some figures:
  • Arabic has three campus-based (LEC) sections and one DLS. This has been revisited for the Spring 2026.
  • Chinese, Italian, Korean, Latin are 100% DLS
  • French has one LEC section and eight DIL sections (89% are DIL).
  • German has one HYC section and five DIL sections (83% are DIL)
  • Japanese offers four campus-based sections (HYC, HYD & FLX) and six DIL sections (60% are DIL).
  • Russian is 100% FLX
  • Spanish offers 30 campus-based sections (35%) and 56 DIL sections (65%). 
    • 45 ONL sections and 11 DLS sections
    • 16 traditional campus (LEC, HYC & FLX) and 14 ECHS sections

 Spanish for Spanish Speakers

Spanish III (SPAN 2313) for Spanish Speakers this fall is full.  We will offer Spanish IV (SPAN 2315) for Spanish Speakers in the spring of 2026.  

 Special Events

On Friday, March 7th, WOLA hosted the Central Texas Learning Festival at HLC.  We had festive, internationally themed decorations and tables representing our languages. The turnout was small but the faculty and student volunteers enjoyed the event. 

 Study Abroad

Two study abroad programs were offered from the WOLA department during the summer of 2025 – Japanese 1412 in Tokyo, Japan, and Spanish 2311 and 1300 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Emi Schuster was the faculty lead for the Japanese 1412 program to Tokyo, Japan, with a two-day trip to Nikko, Japan.  Here is the brochure for the 2025 Japan program.

Jan Emberson was the faculty lead for the Argentina Spanish 2311 and 1300 program that took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina with side trips to Uruguay and Iguazú Falls. There were 11 students who participated. It was a beautiful group. Students were very unified and happy about the trip. Here is the 2025 Argentina program brochure

Textbook Inventory

All language lead instructors were contacted for updates for Spring 2026. 

The Committee Reports that had been sent to faculty prior to the Department Meeting were presented for approval. 

Action taken: The Committee Reports were approved to be added at the end of these minutes. 

 Review of Committees 2025-2026:

Vanessa Lazo asked faculty to send her and Raha any request to change the committees they wish to serve on.

 Introduction of New Faculty and Staff:

New adjunct faculty members were welcomed to the WOLA Department: Aylin Amore (French), William Weihe (German), Patrick Lawrence (Spanish), Jenny Covarrubias (Work-Study). The department’s new work-study assistant, Jenny Covarrubias presented herself, and Vanessa Lazo reminded faculty that Jenny could help with office tasks related to the department

Alex Watkins encouraged faculty to have WOLA students submit work for publication in the ACC student academic journal for Liberal Arts, Curiositas, and she shared some submissions that were published last year. Curiositas publishes academic essays, artwork, digital artifacts, class projects, and musical compositions. The submission process is simple, and more can be learned about it at https://curiositas.acclahc.org.

Visit from the Dean

Dean Antonio (Toño) Ramírez joined the meeting to greet faculty and to express his support for WOLA. He announced that he would have weekly office hours this semester on Zoom on Tuesdays, 10:00 – 11:00 am, during which faculty can discuss concerns or share ideas with him.

John McMinn-Reyna corrected an incorrect announcement he made at the January 21, 2025 meeting that Latin 1411 and 1412 had been added to the core curriculum. It was approved by the ACC Curriculum and Programs Committee, and was sent to the Texas State Coordinating Board for final approval. No decision has been made by the Coordinating Board.

Talía Loaiza and Jan Emberson shared the Evaluations in a Nutshell document and described the new evaluation system, explaining that evaluations are meant to be formative to help faculty improve as instructors. There are four components to evaluations, each with different weights.

1) 50% for Teaching and Student Learning, which is largely based on the new Instructional Checklist

2) 25% for Student Feedback and Faculty Reflection

3) 15% for Professional Responsibilities and Administrative Performance

4) 10% for Professional Development and Growth

Ratings are based on a total number of points from the four components valued at the indicated weights.

There was a discussion about whether the four hours of required professional development for Adjunct Faculty and the twelve hours for Fulltime Faculty include the four mandated workshops or are additional hours of required professional development. Cathy Angell said she believed that they included the four mandated workshops, and she said she would check to make sure.

Scott Gibby discussed the transition to Blackboard Ultra during the summer, and he reminded faculty to fill out the survey he sent on department needs to meet accessibility requirements.

Talía Loaiza shared that the Google AI tool NotebookLM can convert videos to podcasts.

 Reminders

Vanessa Lazo reminded faculty the following. 

1) By state mandate, all syllabi must be posted on Lighthouse within the first seven days of classes.  

2) The WOLA Department partners with Continuing Education for all languages, except Spanish and Italian. This allows Continuing Education Students to convert Continuing Education hours to college credit.

3) Instructors cans send students Inspire Academic Alerts if they are not doing well in a class. You can learn how to do this at https://tled.austincc.edu/about-tled/current-projects-and-initiatives/academic-alert.

1) The department is planning to resubmit the proposal to the Curriculum and Programs Committee to add Portuguese to the WOLA curriculum for the 2026-2027 academic year.

2) The Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural Center has the following events planned this fall 1) the Chinese Calligraphy Circle 2) Mahjong & Mingling, 3) AAPI Book Club (Reading Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by José Antonio Vargas). You can find more information about these events at https://sites.austincc.edu/aapi/events/.

3) Ramiro Juárez is hosting a Spanish Conversation event at El Centro on September 23. It will also be on Zoom.

4) Michael Hydak shared that the Blanton Art Museum is hosting the exhibit Spirit & Splendor: El Greco, Velázquez, and the Hispanic Baroque, and Tuesdays are free. He also pointed out that the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas is currently displaying Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait.

X. Study Abroad

The WOLA Department is sponsoring two study abroad programs in the summer of 2026.

1) Emi Schuster will take a group of Japanese 1412 students to Tokyo, Japan, June 14-July 5.

2) Jan Emberson will take a group of Spanish 2311 students to Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 18-July 4. Students will get credit for both Spanish 2311 and Spanish 1300 (Spanish Conversation).

More information about these programs is available at https://students.austincc.edu/study-abroad/study-abroad-program/.

This academic year, we will be assessing ORAL COMMUNICATION / (Speaking) in 1412 classes and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in 1411 classes in Spring 2026. In addition, we will be assessing READING COMPREHENSION in 2311 classes in the Fall 2025 semester. Last Spring 2025 semester, we assessed 1412 reading comprehension. Here are the percentages of students that received 80% or higher on the assessment: Arabic = 80%; Chinese = 76.5%; French = 86.1%; German = 84%; Italian = 78.6%; Japanese = 71.4%; Latin = 100%; Russian = 88.9%; Spanish = 86.4%. We also assessed Visual Communication in 1411 classes. Here are the percentages of students that received 80% or higher on the assessment: Chinese = 100%; French = 95%; Spanish = 84%. In addition, we assessed Personal Responsibility in 1411 classes.

Here are the percentages of students that successfully completed the surveys: Chinese = 87.5%, French = 91%; German = 92%; Italian = 90%; Japanese = 100%; Spanish = 94%.

Curriculum 

• We plan to resubmit the proposal to add Portuguese to the WOLA curriculum, as approved by the department at the September 13, 2024 meeting. The proposal was sent back by the Vice Chancellor of Academic Programs the first time it was submitted. 

• The college-wide guidelines for master syllabi now require all syllabi to include a Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy. The following policy was proposed and approved in a vote through email during the summer. All faculty should include it in future syllabi.

Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy
Department of World Languages

Introduction
This policy outlines the rules and expectations for the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) tools in this course. This course is designed to help students develop their language proficiency through personal effort, practice, and engagement with course materials. In order to preserve academic integrity and support authentic language acquisition, the use of GAI tools is not permitted for use in drafting, editing, translating, or completing any coursework unless specified otherwise by the instructor. All assessments—including written assignments, class exercises, quizzes, and exams—must be completed using your own original language skills. The use of GAI in these assessments constitutes academic dishonesty. Submissions will be evaluated for evidence of authentic language production, and suspicious patterns may be subject to further review. Instructors may check whether students using vocabulary and grammar beyond the level of the course understand their use.

 

Definition
Generative Artificial Intelligence refers to any software or application capable of producing human-like text, translations, or corrections based on prompts or inputs. This includes, but is not limited to:

• AI language models (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Bing Copilot, Gemini)
• Machine translation tools (e.g., Google Translate, DeepL, Reverso)
• Browser translation features (such as in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and others)
• AI writing assistants or rewording tools (e.g., Grammarly, QuillBot, Wordtune)

Students are expected to use their textbook, course notes and handouts, dictionaries, or other reference materials to complete assignments. 

Consequences for Violations
Violation of this policy is considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in the following consequences:

• A grade of zero on the affected assignment or assessment
• A formal academic misconduct report filed with the College or university
• Failure of the course and additional institutional disciplinary action

Repeat violations may result in more serious penalties as determined by institutional policy.

Exceptions
Exceptions to this policy may be made only with prior documented approval from the instructor. Exceptions may include approved accommodations through Student Accessibility Services  or explicit instructor-approved use of GAI for specific tasks (e.g., comparing machine translation with human translation as part of a guided activity). 

If you have any questions about what constitutes appropriate or inappropriate use of GAI, or about potential breaches of course policies, please consult your professor for clarification.

c. Distance Learning 

When you have questions about Blackboard Ultra, you can contact Scott Gibby and/or email blackboardultra@austincc.edu which will set up a ticket and usually an answer within a few hours. You can also consult our Ultra FAQ google doc at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NNtu3jCVgSW2Xtb0mOvnxD25-psjwyl-Hi_6VW-ksyI/edit?usp=sharing

Scott Gibby is collaborating with the Office of Distance & Alternative Education on a project that brings faculty together to address accessibility concerns in World Languages and explore pathways forward.

Contacts for ECHS were emailed in July to check in about the Dual Credit/ECHS textbook adoption for Spanish. 

ECHS courses being offered this semester are: 

SPAN 1411: 

1 class at Elgin

3 classes at Colorado River Collegiate Academy

4 classes at Del Valle

2 classes at Akins

2 classes at Leander

Dual Credit Arabic I is still being offered at Austin Peace Academy.

 Eligibility List

For the first time in many years, this spring there were two open Spanish MSTA positions. A request for applications was sent out but none of the applicants met the criteria, so the positions were not filled. The changes in the Faculty Evaluation system have meant that the timing of many things has changed. In March we were told that the evaluation process for this year will be finalized at the end of the Fall 2025 semester, and the College will again open the MSTA selection process in the Spring 2026 semester. This would follow the traditional timeline for MSTA/HPH decisions for the 2026 - 2027 academic year. If we receive any new information about changes to the process, the Eligibility List Committee will let you know.