Meeting & Agendas

Vanessa welcomes everyone for the new spring 2026 semester.

I. Approval of the Minutes: 

The minutes from the September 13, 2024 WOLA Department meeting were reviewed.

Action taken: The minutes were approved without corrections.

II. Discussion of Committee Reports:

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. 

III. Review of Committees 2024-2025:

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

IV. Introduction of New Faculty:

New adjunct faculty members Jenny Riojas (Korean), Claire Meadows Parrish (Spanish), and Carmen Keithly (Spanish) were welcomed to the WOLA Department.

V. Announcements

a. Vanessa Lazo reminded faculty to upload their syllabi to Lighthouse.

b. Vanessa Lazo announced that the Department’s assessment procedure and reporting had received a rating of exemplary, and she congratulated Julie Kleinhans Hooks for her continued excellent work. Julie reminded everyone to submit results from Fall assessments if they had not already done so.                         

VI. Curriculum Updates

John McMinn-Reyna reported that Latin 1411 and 1412 had been approved to be added to the Core Curriculum. He also explained that the application to add Portuguese to the ACC WOLA curriculum was not approved by the Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Programs. We are looking for data about the need for skills in Portuguese in the Austin area and demand for the courses to support a reapplication.

VII. Evaluation Committee Updates

Mariela Prato-Williams described the new evaluation process, and asked faculty to go ahead and upload their Student Survey results and reflexion form for the fall semester. Evaluation cycles will be based on academic years, instead of calendar years. The deadline for the remaining evaluation materials is the first Friday of September. Vanessa Lazo showed the Box setup for submitting required evaluation documents.

I. Approval of the Minutes: 

The minutes from the September 13, 2024 WOLA Department meeting were reviewed.

Action taken: The minutes were approved without corrections.

II. Discussion of Committee Reports:

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. 

III. Review of Committees 2024-2025:

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

IV. Introduction of New Faculty:

New adjunct faculty members Jenny Riojas (Korean), Claire Meadows Parrish (Spanish), and Carmen Keithly (Spanish) were welcomed to the WOLA Department.

V. Announcements

a. Vanessa Lazo reminded faculty to upload their syllabi to Lighthouse.

b. Vanessa Lazo announced that the Department’s assessment procedure and reporting had received a rating of exemplary, and she congratulated Julie Kleinhans Hooks for her continued excellent work. Julie reminded everyone to submit results from Fall assessments if they had not already done so.                         

VI. Curriculum Updates

John McMinn-Reyna reported that Latin 1411 and 1412 had been approved to be added to the Core Curriculum. He also explained that the application to add Portuguese to the ACC WOLA curriculum was not approved by the Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Programs. We are looking for data about the need for skills in Portuguese in the Austin area and demand for the courses to support a reapplication.

VII. Evaluation Committee Updates

Mariela Prato-Williams described the new evaluation process, and asked faculty to go ahead and upload their Student Survey results and reflexion form for the fall semester. Evaluation cycles will be based on academic years, instead of calendar years. The deadline for the remaining evaluation materials is the first Friday of September. Vanessa Lazo showed the Box setup for submitting required evaluation documents.

Study Abroad:

Two study abroad programs are being offered in the summer of 2026 – Japanese 1412 in Tokyo, Japan, and Spanish 2311 and 1300 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Emi Schuster is the faculty lead for the Japanese 1412 program to Tokyo, Japan, with a one-day trip to Hakone, Japan.   Here is the brochure for the 2026 Japan program.

Jan Emberson is the faculty lead for the Argentina Spanish 2311 and 1300 program that will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina with two-day side trip to Iguazú Falls. Here is the 2026 Argentina program brochure.

Textbook Inventory:

Language leads were contacted for changes for the Spring last semester. This semester, we will begin contacting leads for the next academic year later.

The minutes from the September 5, 2025 WOLA Department meeting were reviewed.

Action taken: The minutes were approved without corrections.

The Committee Reports that had been sent to faculty prior to the Department Meeting were presented for approval. There was also a discussion of combining the Outreach and Special Events Committees.

Action taken: The Committee Reports were approved to be added at the end of these minutes with the correction of two misspelled names. It was decided to keep the Outreach and Special Events Committee separate.

There are two committees without a chair, the Professional Development Committee and the Eligibility List Committee. Anyone interested in chairing those committees should contact Vanessa Lazo.

Julie Kleinhans Hooks reminded faculty that this semester, we will be assessing Oral Communication in 1412 classes, Reading Comprehension in 1412 classes, and Personal Responsibility in 1411 classes. These assessments are required. Also, we will be assessing Cultural Awareness / Cultural Project and Visual Communication on a volunteer basis in 1411 classes. If you are having your students do a Visual Communication Culture presentation, please let Julie know if you would like to participate. In the Fall 2025 semester, we assessed Critical Thinking / Reading Comprehension in 2311 classes. All languages had assessment results with at least 80% of students receiving scores of 80% or higher on the reading comprehension activity.

Chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart discussed the State of the College Address he will give on February 19, at 5:30 – 8:00 PM at Rio Grande Campus, in which he wants to let the community know who we are, what we do, and our successes. He talked about the implementation of the bond projects in response to a question Lynn Lau asked about when the Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural Center will be moved to its new location. Fahim Idais asked how the immigration situation has impacted the college. Chancellor Lowery-Hart explained they consulted two retired ICE officers on what to do in case ICE officials come to detain someone in our classes, and they decided that faculty should ask the officers to wait and call the Chancellor’s Office. Tim Altanero expressed concerns about calling the Chancellor’s Office with ICE officers in the classroom. Chancellor Lowery-Hart responded that faculty need to do what they feel is right for them at that moment, and his job is to make sure it never happens. He explained that ICE has been engaging students off campus at places like bus stops, rather than on campus.

   Chancellor Lowery-Hart also explained that ACC was the only community college to sue the government over the rescinding of the Texas Dream Act. ACC lost and is in appeal. To help immigrants who can no longer get in-state tuition due to the rescinding of the Texas Dream Act, we lowered our out-of-district and out-of-state tuition. An anonymous donor also gave ACC $500,000 for scholarships.

   Vanessa Lazo asked about how transfer students who come to ACC just for their language requirement affects HBA funding. Chancellor Lowery-Hart and Vice Chancellor Scott said languages courses are not one of the disciplines with strong concerns for HBA funding. If there were a problem, they would meet with us and let us know.

Erica Breedlove reminded faculty that she, Devynn Devilbiss, and Donald Jackson can help with HR questions. Erica is over campuses in the north, Donald is over campuses in the south, and Devynn is over the central campuses.

Vice Chancellor Torrico asked about why students want to learn the various languages we teach, and several faculty members shared what their students tell them. Faculty also shared student success stories, why they like teaching at ACC, and how learning languages helps them become a different person.

There was a discussion about what to do when students do not show up for appointments for challenge exams. Most faculty expressed willingness to give students a second chance. Vanessa Lazo will create a no-show policy statement, which she will post as a Google Doc for comments and a final online vote for approval.

Vanessa Lazo explained that she usually adds students to classes during the first week of a 16-week session. If it would be an overload to the class limit, or it is the second week, she checks with the instructor. Faculty commented that this policy seems appropriate. Vanessa said that it is helpful for instructors to copy her if they respond to a student saying it is okay to add their section.

Vanessa Lazo asked if we should continue with informal transfers. No concerns were expressed with the current policy, except difficulties when they are between classes with different session lengths. Faculty decided to continue with the current informal transfer policy.

Vanessa Lazo asked if we should we accept three-hour credit courses as the same prerequisite as our four-hour courses if students covered the same material in the course. It was decided to create a process for students to appeal a prerequisite if they had a three-hour course with a grade of A or B that covers the same material as the ACC four-hour course. The department will try to develop online forms that require students to indicate what they covered on a checklist and to upload supporting documents such as their transcript, the course syllabus, and the table of contents of the textbook.

We hosted three tables at the Holidays Around the World event on Friday, December 12, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Military Families Center on the Highland Campus. Talia Loaiza led a crafts table, George Solano hosted a games table, and Theresa Oh and Rosa Dávila staffed an additional games and information table. It was well attended by many ACC families. 

We are currently working on a gathering to celebrate the retirement of our beloved colleague Cathy Angell this semester.  

A. On Friday, March 6, there will be a celebration for Cathy Angell’s retirement.

B. On Tuesday, February 24, the WOLA Department will participate in an ACC College and Career Fair 12- 2 PM at Round Rock High School. Ramiro Juárez is organizing this for WOLA.

 C. The Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural Center Book Club is reading Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People.

D. The study abroad program for Japanese in Tokyo has made for this summer. We still need students for the Spanish III and Conversation program in Argentina. Please publicize it in Spanish 1412 classes, and remind students that there are scholarships available.

E. Ramiro Juárez has a painting at an exhibit at the Mexic-Arte Gallery 6-10 pm tonight (January 30).

F. ACC will be hosting a conference for Russian instructors. There will be more information about it to come.

Blackboard Ultra in Summer 2025.  Our faculty and staff facilitators, instructional designers, and educational technologists are here to support this transition, and I am thankful for their work and the continued commitment of the Learning Management System (LMS) Transition Team.

The new Ultra interface is a significant improvement, offering enhanced functionality and a more streamlined user experience. However, as with any shift, you may need more assistance than you anticipate, especially as the upgrade date approaches. We expect our support demand to increase as we near Summer 2025, so I encourage everyone to start getting comfortable with Ultra now to ensure a smooth transition - I strongly recommend that you start building courses in Ultra View using your Ultra Build Out (or UBO) course, which can be found by selecting ‘Ultra Build Out Courses’ from the ‘Terms’ menu on your Blackboard Courses page.  Note: Blackboard courses for Summer 2025 sections will appear in your account, in the Ultra view, around March 10, 2025.   

To assist, we are offering several training sessions tailored to meet a variety of learning and schedule needs.  Please use the links below to sign up for the learning session that works best for you:

• Using Blackboard Ultra (Face-to-Face): Sign up here
• Using Blackboard Ultra (Virtual): Sign up here
• Using Blackboard Ultra (Hyflex): Sign up here

To support and encourage active engagement with UBO courses, we’re excited to announce that three users will be randomly selected from the group who have at least 10+ actions with UBO courses. Drawings will take place in 2025, including once in mid-January, February, and March. The prize? Conference registration for Anthology Together 2025, an incredible learning opportunity for all levels of Blackboard users, taking place July 14–16, 2025, in Las Vegas!

With the commitment and collaboration of our instructional community, I am confident that we will make the Summer 2025 upgrade a success. Let’s keep the momentum going and continue to work together to make this transition as seamless as possible.

I look forward to all the great work we will do together this semester in preparation for the exciting changes ahead.

Here's to a Spring semester full of eager and engaged students who keep all of us on our toes!

Gaye Lynn

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3)  TLED offers interesting workshops each semester.  You can find information about them and the way to sign up for them through the TLED site, https://tled.austincc.edu.

4)  We just received information from Human Resources about changes to the way our required training workshops are presented and managed.  It's important information for all of us. 

Leadership Vacancy
The Chair position for this committee is currently vacant following a recent retirement. Faculty members interested in serving in this leadership capacity are encouraged to contact Vanessa G. Lazo for further information.

eStaffing & Calendar Procedures
The Master Staffing (MSTA) Calendar process remains accessible via the official eStaffing Calendar page. Members are encouraged to review the established timelines for the upcoming cycle.

Evaluation & Appointment Continuity
Following the conclusion of the most recent evaluation cycle, the committee does not anticipate any structural changes to current appointments. All positions will roll over to the 2026–2027 academic year in their current state, unless a formal notification of change is submitted.

The first round of evaluations using the new system concluded smoothly, with no major issues. Thank you all for your timely participation.

Over the next few weeks, the Adjunct Faculty Evaluation team will send reminders about documents that need to be uploaded to BOX for evaluation purposes.

Active Postings: We have postings open for Adjunct faculty in both German and Spanish

Full-Time Search: We have a new Full-Time Spanish position 

• The position went live on January 16 with a March 2 closing date
• The search committee has been formed and is awaiting approval by the dean.
• Noting to report on faculty problems

Endangered Sections Review: * The Scale: We entered the review cycle with 37 sections on the endangered list.  Through strategic management and advocacy, only one section was ultimately cancelled on the official Review Day.

• Preemptive Action: Most 1411 and 1412 sections with fewer than 10 students were cancelled early to streamline the schedule and protect higher-level offerings.
• The 2312 Milestone: We are proud to report that 100% of our 2312 (Intermediate II) capstone sections across all languages were successfully retained.
• Advocacy Win: Latin IV (LATI 2312) was initially cancelled, but through the combined advocacy of the instructor, students, the SI, and the Department Chair, we successfully petitioned for its reinstatement.
  
  Strategic Note: While we saved all capstone sections, it was a very close call for several of our 2312 offerings. This narrow margin indicates a need for us to pivot in new directions moving forward to ensure the long-term sustainability and robust enrollment of these upper-level courses.

Enrollment Growth & Expansion:

• New Sections: Strong waitlist demand compared to Spring 2025 led us to add 1411 sections in Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
• Late-Start Options: Due to the continued upsurge in enrollment, we created new 12-week 1411 sections in Chinese, French, and Spanish.

Pilot Programs & Special Offerings:

• HLC 8-Week Pilot: The campus-based pilot at Highland (HLC) is performing well. We are running full series (1411/2311 in 8A followed by 1412/2312 in 8B). An additional 1411 8B was added to meet demand.
• Honors Curriculum: Marcel Pons Ventura is launching a new Spanish I Honors course: Ritmos del Caribe: The Music, Slang, and Culture of the Caribbean.

The majority of WOLA courses continue to be offered via distance learnging. Here are the current percentage of courses for each modality.

Assesment:

Once again, our department received an Exemplary rating on our Discipline Assessment report for the 2024-2025 academic year. This semester, we will be assessing Oral Communication in 1412 classes, Reading Comprehension in 1412 classes, and Personal Responsibility in 1411 classes. (These assessments are required.) (Also, we will be assessing Cultural Awareness / Cultural Project and Visual Communication on a volunteer basis in 1411 classes – you are not required to assess this, but if would like your students to do a cultural project, please let me know.) In the Fall 2025 semester, we assessed Critical Thinking / Reading Comprehension in 2311 classes. These percentages of students received 80% or higher on the assessments: Arabic = 100%; Chinese = 83.3%; French = 75% (but 100% of students present on the day given received 80% or higher); German = 92.9%; Italian = 88.9%; Japanese = 85.7%; Korean = 83.3%; Latin = 88%; Spanish = 95.1%. All languages had assessment results with at least 80% of students receiving scores of 80% or higher on the reading comprehension activity.

Curriculum:

We are currently waiting on market research from the college for the need for Portuguese in the Austin area to procede with the application to add it to our curriculum.

We are also still waiting on the Texas State Coodinating Board for the decision on whether Latin 1411 and 1412 can be added to the core curriculum.

Distance Learning:

Last semester, Instructional Designers were assigned to all WOLA faculty to assist with accessibility issues. Please reach out to them if you need help. Also feel free to ask questions in the WOLA group email (are they still called listservs?) at wola_faculty-l@austincc.edu because our colleagues have quite the combined knowledge base. If you are not sure who your ID is, contact Scott Gibby (sgibby@austincc.edu) and he can help find out.

Early College High School:

ECHS classes are being offered at the following campuses/schools this semester: 

Elgin: 1 Class

Colorado River Collegiate Academy: 3 Classes

Del Valle: 4 Classes

Crockett: 2 Classes

Akins: 2 Classes

Leander ISD: 2 Classes

lifetime member, students must have received at least 2 A’s in their language classes ($35).) (One student became a full member in the Fall 2025 semester.)

We hosted three tables at the Holidays Around the World event on Friday, December 12, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Military Families Center on the Highland Campus. Talia Loaiza led a crafts table, George Solano hosted a games table, and Theresa Oh and Rosa Dávila staffed an additional games and information table. It was well attended by many ACC families. 

Leadership Vacancy The Chair position for this committee is currently vacant following a recent retirement. Faculty members interested in serving in this leadership capacity are encouraged to contact Vanessa G. Lazo for further information.

The FY26 Compliance Training
The training is now live and must be completed by the deadline stated below. Faculty are encouraged to login to Workday and scroll down to Learning. The ACC Compliance Training will be the first window you see. Here are some additional details:

• Deadline: February 28, 2026
• Requirement: 5 Mandatory Courses (Cybersecurity Awareness, Active Shooter, Accommodating People with Disabilities, Building Supportive Communities: Title IX and Clery Act, and RespectEdu for Supervisors and Non-Supervisors: Preventing Harassment and Discrimination)
• Who: All ACC employees must recertify for FY26, regardless of when they completed their FY25 trainings 

ACTFL Convention & Expo

• The 2025 Conference was held in New Orleans from November 21-23, 2025
• The 2026 Conference will take place in San Antonio from November 20-22, 2026

Pacific Northwest Council for Foreign Languages Regional Spring Conference

• Conference Theme: Bridges and Beyond: Languages, Cultures, and Connections
  Dates: April 9-11
  Location: Portland, OR