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May 3, 2018

FEP 2018: Elected Areas – Professional Development & Research Projects

In addition to an assessment of these “3 REQUIRED AREAS” (RFP Section 3.5.3.1.) , “AT LEAST TWO ELECTED AREAS” (RFP Section 3.5.3.2.), and other “RELATED AREAS” (REP Section 3.5.3.3.)  may also be selected by the faculty member to review, in order to bring into better focus their full professional involvements at the college or within the District.  Examples include program coordination, research projects, department/division chair responsibilities, student activities-advising/mentoring, professional involvement in the community, professional growth, involvement/projects, professional interaction with colleagues, etc.

  • AT LEAST TWO ELECTED AREAS:
    • Professional Development &
    • Professional Interaction with Colleagues
  • RELATED AREAS: 

    • Involvement/Projects

I could easily write a post about my involvement in our MCLI Grant: Analytics for English Faculty Learning Community and our subsequent research study, Using Data to Improve Student Success in eCourses, but that would be too easy, and I’m not ready to reflect on that yet. So instead I’m going to reflect on my professional development and my professional interactions with colleagues in coordinating this year’s TYCA West conference at Glendale Community College.

This was the first time GCC has hosted the annual TYCA West conference that routinely rotates between Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. I bravely volunteered us while we were in Salt Lake City for the 2016 conference, so naturally, I would be in charge. This didn’t bother me, as I knew we had a great team here at GCC and we would have plenty of planning help. To toot my own horn, we pulled it off.

TYCA-West is the Two Year College English Association for the Western Region. TYCA-West functions under the umbrella of the parent organization, National TYCA. National TYCA is part of NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English). Within National TYCA there are seven regions. TYCA-West serves faculty in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii.

I’ve been a member of the TYCA-West Executive Committee for eight years as the webmaster, which sounds way more impressive than it really is. I designed the site, which runs on WordPress, and then helped keep it up-to-date. After this last year, I passed the torch and am no longer part of the committee. That’s just one of many commitments I’ve given up after this year.

It was a great experience working with my colleagues to put this conference together. It was one of the biggest TYCA West conferences to date with over 150 participants. We had about 15 faculty from the department helping, and I was surprised that our Reading faculty, who are part of our department of 40, chipped in to help, presented and attended the conference. I’d never organized anything this big before, but my best decision was getting taskmaster, Beth Eyres, involved. “Chop, chop!” Truth be told, she really did all the work. Ha! At least the making sure it all got done part.

We started with a list of things that needed to be done. I was amazed at how long that list was. Then we asked for volunteers to pick just one task. When you have a department of 40, you can spread it out like that if people are willing to help. And willing they were. I was surprised by how into it people got. Ray Lira was my favorite. He and Rashmi designed and printed the program, and he was so excited about it. It turned out really good too.

These are the professional interactions with colleagues that I came to GCC for and they delivered for this project and every day since I got here. It’s great to be able to work with a team to accomplish something big.

The conference had a great theme and keynote speaker thanks to Shelley Rodrigo, GCC adjunct and Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Arizona. She came up with the idea the same day we volunteered to host.

The theme for our 2017 conference was “The Measure of Tomorrow: Assessment through the Lens of Race, Diversity, & Inclusion. “Community colleges serve some of the most at-risk students.  Nearly half of all students enrolled in higher education in the United States are enrolled in two-year colleges. Nationally, 58% of two-year college students receive aid, while 72% apply. Demographically, two-year college students are widely diverse in age, race, ethnicity, and income-status (American Association of Community Colleges).

Race, gender and class shape the experience of all people. Therefore it is natural to agree that this should be considered when developing assessments in education, as well as the importance of infusing culturally relevant pedagogy into the academic curriculum. And in so doing, faculty today must consider alternative assessment methods that include strategies of assessment that could be put into practice to include, rather than exclude, students in order to serve more diverse learners.

Shelley also suggested that we invite Dr. Asao Inoue, Professor and Writing Center Director at the University of Washington, Tacoma to be our keynote. His provocative talk was interesting and created an opportunity for great dialogue and set the stage for a great conference.

The breakout sessions were great and the conference was well attended. We set out with a goal to make it the best TYCA West conference yet, and I think we succeeded. It was one of the largest, if not the largest in attendance, and we added in a few modern upgrades: online conference schedule viewable on mobile, a Tweet Wall, CFP closed on time with no extension needed, and the first annual TYCA West Pub Crawl Scavenger Hunt using Goosechase.

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