Welfare Note #22
Another offering in a series of "Welfare Notes" that has been created by the Welfare Committee which are intended to ensure that all members of the Faculty Association are educated, informed, or updated in terms of welfare-related concerns and their rights contained within the Contractual Agreement.
Coordination Concerns for All Faculty
There may be a change in coordination assignment coming, especially with people being asked to be area coordinators. If you are contemplating becoming a coordinator or are asked to perform some administrative duties you should read the contract carefully. The following will provide an overview but is not intended to replace reading the contract.
Coordination is an annual assignment with some load reserved for summer. Duties and load calculations are detailed in contract section D 7.5, page 29. There are two types of coordinators. Program coordinators are involved with COD Associate degree or certificate programs. Area coordinators are involved with disciplines, labs, groups of related courses, offerings using are particular delivery mode, or some combination of these.
Besides the coordinator duties listed in the contract there are three key characteristics of Program and Area coordinators:
- The assignment is voluntary
- The associated load must be full load (never overload, although a coordinator can choose to teach a class for overload just like any faculty member)
- Only full-time faculty can be program or area coordinators
Coordinator load is not simply more office or clock hours, the load is designed to
adequately replace teaching load for the coordinator tasks and has nothing to do with how
much time is needed to complete the associated tasks. In other words, coordination can be
performed in any location required, including sometimes at home. Some time must be
regularly scheduled, however, so others (students, faculty, etc) will know when to contact
the coordinator. The regularly scheduled hours are flexible and mutually agreed to with the
Associate Dean or Dean and the coordinator.
Coordinator load is calculated according to the contract and no one should accept the assignment for less than the contractual load; no one should make individual deals for this type of work, even if asked to do so by an administrator.
Some coordinator load is a fixed amount, like general program coordination. Performing some or all of the duties listed in D 7.5a1 is allocated four annual load hours for everyone (three load hours for area coordinators, as described in D 7.5a2). The load for other categories, like class scheduling, vary with the size of the program or area. In addition to general coordination the other categories a coordinator may receive load for include:
- part-time faculty mentoring and, D 7.5b
- scheduling of classes and faculty, D 7.5c
- student graduations, D 7.5d, or student admissions and graduation, D 7.5g, but not both D 7.5d and D 7.5g
- caring for labs, D 7.5e
- budgeting and purchasing, D 7.5f
- clinical or similar experiential sites, D 7.5h
- single full-time faculty programs/areas, D 7.5i
- a new program, D 7.5j
- other adjustment factors (like program accreditation and major facility renovation), D 7.5k
The contract allows for a Coordinator to receive load for all of the sections that apply
to a program or area or just some of them. If load is not received for an applicable section
or sections of D 7.5 then the coordinator does NOT perform that work. In this case it is then
up to administration to see that work for those sections is performed. For example, an
Associate Dean could be assigned to perform the budget and purchasing functions of D 7.5f,
but then that means the coordinator does not handle those tasks. In other words, the c
oordinator would not determine what needs to be ordered for the program and then tell the
Associate Dean to order those items—the work is in figuring out what to order and from
whom, not in just filling out a requisition.
It is also possible for one or more faculty members to split the load for a program or area, provided all the faculty members volunteer, are full-time faculty, and the Associate Dean/Dean agrees. What has usually happened in the past in these situations is that there is one Coordinator who decides or agrees to share specific sections of D 7.5 with another faculty member. It is also possible to have a Program and an Area Coordinator for the same program as there has been, for example, for an occupational program were the Area Coordinator handles the online offerings.
As always, first, read the section (D 7.5 Faculty Coordinator Assignments p. 30-37) in the Contractual Agreement between the Board and the Association! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact any member of the Welfare Committee.
Welfare Committee Members
Marty Attiyeh (M121C) (x2065) (Chair, Grievance)
Brenda Alberico (M155D) (x3035) (Chair, Welfare)
Jim Huggins x3275
Chris Kickels, x2313
Chris Monnier x2438
Mike Drafke Welfare Vice-Chair x2075
Lew Jones x2039
Tom Tallman Grievance Vice-Chair x2369
Tom Tipton x2570
Ben Whisenhunt x3144
