Good evening President Sullivan, Governing Board members, Chancellor Gonzales, CEC members, colleagues and guests.
Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Camille Newton, and I have the privilege and responsibility of representing the faculty of the Maricopa County Community Colleges as Faculty Executive Council President for the coming year.
I began my work in Maricopa in 2012 as residential faculty in English at South Mountain Community College. Over the next 6 years I served as an Assessment Coordinator, an HLC Quality Initiative Co-Chair, and as Faculty Senate President. In 2018 I became one of the Guided Pathway Mapping Team Leads, supporting faculty as they created clear and coherent curriculum maps that lead students directly to their educational goals. For the past two years, I have served as a faculty lead in the District Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation, supporting the work of Curriculum Redesign and the refinement of business processes that institutionalize our Guided Pathways efforts.
I share this history partly as an introduction, but also because I believe my work in faculty and District leadership has prepared me for the work I will do this year. These experiences showed me the power of collaborative, cooperative approaches when working toward common goals. In this spirit of shared governance, I look forward to the coming year of collaborating with colleagues, administration, and the Governing Board to support students, faculty, staff, and the Maricopa Community Colleges.
But tonight is not only about an introduction; it is an opportunity to celebrate recent successful conclusions.
First, faculty want to recognize Rio Salado President Kate Smith for the successful completion of her doctorate. Congratulations, Dr. Smith!
Second, we want to acknowledge and celebrate the work of Ana Chandler, who on July 1st will finish her role as the co-president of Employee Representation. It’s always a challenge to start something from scratch, and for the last two years Ana and Shannon Monge worked tirelessly to build the structure, processes, and practices necessary to create an integrated system for staff representation at MCCCD. Along the way they have consistently collaborated with their faculty and administrative colleagues, by both including us in their efforts and also by supporting ours. In cooperation with their Employee Representation colleagues, they have restored the important voice of the staff, invigorating the shared governance that makes Maricopa successful. I have admired Ana’s work as I’ve been transitioning into my new role; I appreciate her cooperative approach to solving problems, her courage when challenging assumptions and sharing difficult perspectives, and her passionate, unwavering commitment to student support and success. Thank you, Ana, for providing an example of successful leadership and thank you for all that you have done and will continue to do for Maricopa.
I appreciate the opportunity to share some time with you all tonight. Thank you, and good evening.
Camille
Two Down, One to Go!
/in FACPACTWO EARLY VICTORIES!
On Monday, 25 July, the candidate who was hand-picked by Jean McGrath to replace her withdrew from the Governing Board race because he could not defeat our challenge of his petition signatures. Donna Davis is now the de facto winner in District 4!
In District 3, you were able to help us collect enough signatures to ensure that Marie Sullivan was safely on the ballot, and no other candidate was willing to challenge her. Thus, we have won two of three races for Governing Board before balloting even began!
All this means we can reasonably expect a 6-1 education, student, and faculty-friendly Governing Board! This is a far cry from only four years ago when the Governing Board, led by Laurin Hendrix, canceled Meet and Confer and tore up the RFP.
These early victories were secured by the herculean efforts of our staff and faculty volunteers (and their families) who answered the call. They endured late nights and hot mornings gathering signatures. And a specially trained group spent long hours reviewing signature petitions to ensure our candidates could not be challenged off the ballot in November.
While our early victories are sweet, we cannot be complacent. Let’s send a strong message to those who would dismantle our community college system by electing a 7- 0 Governing Board.
Thank you in advance for your support, your participation in putting up signs for Kelli across Maricopa County, and for stepping up when volunteers are needed. We do this together for our students, our faculty and staff colleagues, and for MCCCD.
Barry F. Vaughan
FacPAC Chair
Thank You and Next Steps
/in FACPACA very big THANK YOU to all those who stepped up to brave the heat, spend valuable time, drive long distances, and talk to neighbors to ensure we have great Governing Board candidates on the ballot. Because of your efforts, we reached our goal and submitted over 1500 signatures for each of our three candidates! It is always important that we reach a minimum of 1500 signatures, not just the minimum legal requirement of 1000; it ensures that a candidate will survive a petition challenge if one is brought. Additionally, Marie Sullivan has no challengers and is the presumptive winner! All through collecting signatures. While we have cleared the first hurdle, the race is far from over!
Next Steps
We fully recognize that not everyone is suited, or able, to collect signatures. But, we have a broad spectrum of talent among our members. We are calling on you to take the baton and clear the remaining hurdles so we cross the finish line in November.
We need fresh volunteers to finish the work that remains:
Emails will be coming soon from FACPAC to ask for your help with these specific tasks. Please answer the call when it comes. We need everyone to join in the race!
Again, a BIG thank you to those who helped gather signatures: You Are Heroes!
Barry F. Vaughan
FacPAC Chair
Faculty Agreement Ratified by Governing Board
/in FACULTY ASSOCIATIONColleagues,
Great news! The Governing Board ratified the latest draft of the Faculty Agreement at their last board meeting on Tuesday, June 28th. When we receive the final version of the agreement, you will be able to access it via our website. For highlights of changes to the Faculty Agreement, please see this presentation.
Thank you to the members of the Faculty Administration Collaboration Team (FACT), particularly our faculty representatives Stacy Smith, Ramona Goth, and Jose Aguinaga, for their diligence and perseverance. Thank you, too, to the faculty who provided input and support to make the latest draft possible.
Look for news about the next iteration of the FACT structure, membership, and process in the next few weeks.
Hope you are having a wonderful summer.
Best,
Camille
Governing Board Address 06/28/22
/in FACULTY ASSOCIATIONGood evening President Sullivan, Governing Board members, Chancellor Gonzales, CEC members, colleagues and guests.
Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Camille Newton, and I have the privilege and responsibility of representing the faculty of the Maricopa County Community Colleges as Faculty Executive Council President for the coming year.
I began my work in Maricopa in 2012 as residential faculty in English at South Mountain Community College. Over the next 6 years I served as an Assessment Coordinator, an HLC Quality Initiative Co-Chair, and as Faculty Senate President. In 2018 I became one of the Guided Pathway Mapping Team Leads, supporting faculty as they created clear and coherent curriculum maps that lead students directly to their educational goals. For the past two years, I have served as a faculty lead in the District Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation, supporting the work of Curriculum Redesign and the refinement of business processes that institutionalize our Guided Pathways efforts.
I share this history partly as an introduction, but also because I believe my work in faculty and District leadership has prepared me for the work I will do this year. These experiences showed me the power of collaborative, cooperative approaches when working toward common goals. In this spirit of shared governance, I look forward to the coming year of collaborating with colleagues, administration, and the Governing Board to support students, faculty, staff, and the Maricopa Community Colleges.
But tonight is not only about an introduction; it is an opportunity to celebrate recent successful conclusions.
First, faculty want to recognize Rio Salado President Kate Smith for the successful completion of her doctorate. Congratulations, Dr. Smith!
Second, we want to acknowledge and celebrate the work of Ana Chandler, who on July 1st will finish her role as the co-president of Employee Representation. It’s always a challenge to start something from scratch, and for the last two years Ana and Shannon Monge worked tirelessly to build the structure, processes, and practices necessary to create an integrated system for staff representation at MCCCD. Along the way they have consistently collaborated with their faculty and administrative colleagues, by both including us in their efforts and also by supporting ours. In cooperation with their Employee Representation colleagues, they have restored the important voice of the staff, invigorating the shared governance that makes Maricopa successful. I have admired Ana’s work as I’ve been transitioning into my new role; I appreciate her cooperative approach to solving problems, her courage when challenging assumptions and sharing difficult perspectives, and her passionate, unwavering commitment to student support and success. Thank you, Ana, for providing an example of successful leadership and thank you for all that you have done and will continue to do for Maricopa.
I appreciate the opportunity to share some time with you all tonight. Thank you, and good evening.
Camille
Signature Update
/in FACPACWe are very close to having all three of our Governing Board candidates on the ballot. Please help get them across the finish line!
We’ve set a pace that will reach our goal, but we must maintain our momentum or we could fail. We need you to help us ensure that we capitalize on everyone’s efforts and get Marie Sullivan, Donna Davis, and Kelli Butler on the ballot.
Will you help?
With only TWO weeks left, we need volunteers to give just one hour outside libraries in District 3 (Marie Sullivan) and District 4 (Donna Davis). It’s easy: volunteers just ask patrons who are visiting the library if they would be willing to sign the nominating petition to get these non-partisan, education-friendly candidates on the ballot so that voters have good choices in the fall. Their signatures on the petition are all we need to get our candidates on the ballot.
Directions:
Can’t make the scheduled time but want to do your part to put Marie and Donna on the ballot? Why not spend an hour or so at a library when it’s convenient for you? Here are some great places to show up and gather signatures for Marie:
And for Donna:
If you already have petitions with signatures – even a single one – please put them in the mail NOW (520 E. Southern Ave, Tempe, AZ 85282). Make sure you have filled out the back of the petition before you put it in the mail.
Thank you for your support!
Barry F. Vaughn
FacPAC Chair