On November 4, Adjunct Coordinator Kim Ng Southard presented at the NYSUT Community College Conference in Saratoga Springs, sharing the benefits that the FA offers to adjunct colleagues. (photo by Dante Morelli)

Greetings, all! This update covers new contract provisions, the officers meet and greet, assignments, Banner information and your free access to the popular Calm app.

Contract

Our chief negotiator, negotiating team and Executive Council worked hard to secure raises in salary in our new contract:

Effective with the start of the Fall 2022 semester, the adjunct/overload rate schedule shall be increased by an additional 2% each rank. Effective the start of the Fall 2023 semester, the adjunct/overload rate schedule will be increased by and additional 2.85% at each rank. Effective with the start of the Fall 2024 semester, the adjunct/overload rate shall be increased an additional 3% at each rank. Effective with the start of the Fall 2025 semester, the adjunct over/load rate shall be increased by an additional 3% at each rank.

You will see a raise in salary starting with wintersession assignments and a retroactive check in February.

The FA also negotiated compassionate leave for adjunct colleagues:

Starting with the Spring 2024 semester adjunct faculty will be permitted to request a compassionate leave during the semester in which they have a work assignment, which may be granted on a case-by-case basis as determined by the Association and the College.

While we hope you never need to think about compassionate leave, we are relieved and proud to have negotiated it for you.

Officers meet and greet

The officers introduced themselves to the adjunct faculty who attended our Zoom meet and greet in October and listened to the experiences of the participating faculty members. We primarily discussed safety on campus and discipline-preference issues but also touched on seniority and assignment issues. We will host another Zoom meeting on February 27 and hope to see you there to hear your stories and concerns.

Assignments

Assignments were posted on December 1. Here is friendly reminder of the five factors considered when determining assignments:

Sections available

The college creates the schedule of assignments and, with enrollment continuing to decline, this might mean that there may not be enough available sections of the assignments for which you are certified.



Certifications

When you are first hired, your academic chair or area supervisor certifies you for a specific assignment(s) or course(s). Afterward, your chair may opt to certify you for other assignments or courses based on departmental needs and your professional training. These should be filed in the Office of Faculty and Professional Advancement (OFPA).

You also can request to be certified for additional assignments or courses. To do so, write a letter to your academic chair or area supervisor indicating the specific courses/assignments for which you would like to be certified. Provide a rationale for each, citing specific graduate coursework or relevant professional training. An administrative committee determines certifications based on an analysis of college needs. You should know that you may not be certified despite being qualified if the college already has a sufficient faculty supply in that area.

While we recommend speaking to your chair before requesting course certifications, you can also submit the course certification request form to OFPA by the semester deadlines shown on the annual FA wall calendar, and they will forward the request form to the department chairs for review.



NORA availabilities

Adjuncts are offered assignments listed within their stated NORA availabilities. This does not mean adjuncts will get their favorite or preferred assignment or a specific course at a specific time, regardless of whether they have been offered that assignment over a series of semesters. The college has met its obligation by offering an assignment on any day and time listed within stated NORA availabilities.



Seniority

Adjuncts on the A list are offered up to a full complement of courses or credit hours they have requested, then adjuncts on the B list will be offered assignments as the need arises.



Campus preferences

Adjunct seniority is collegewide in the assignment process, which means campus preference does not trump collegewide seniority. For example, an A-list adjunct selects Ammerman as their first choice and Grant as their second choice. If Ammerman does not have an assignment to offer, the adjunct should receive an assignment at Grant before anyone junior does—again, taking into consideration certifications and NORA availabilities.

When completing the NORA form, adjuncts identify their interest in working during the upcoming semester, the days and times they are available for an assignment and their first/second/third/fourth choice of campus. These factors, in addition to official certifications and collegewide seniority status, affect which assignments they may be offered.

With enrollment declining, adjuncts should consider increasing their availability and listing all campuses on their NORA to improve their chances of obtaining assignments. In addition, classroom faculty might speak to their chairs to be certified to teach additional courses. While there may be competition for most courses, chairs sometimes have difficulty finding faculty to teach specific courses. We also advise that you identify all four campuses—Ammerman, Eastern, Grant and online (the latter only if you’re certified to teach online)—to give you greater availability.

Banner 9 Information

Below are the directions to find the adjunct seniority information page in the new Banner system:

Sign into the portal

Click MySCCC Login

Click SSB9 Faculty Dashboard

Under Self-Service Banner 8, click Student Schedule

Click Faculty Services Tab

Click Adjunct Faculty Seniority.

The Calm app

NYSUT, our state union, has unveiled a new benefit this year: free access to the Calm app for you and up to five dependents through NYSUT Member Benefits. Because FA members are also NYSUT members, you can download this sleep and meditation app for free. We hope you take advantage of this great benefit.

To access the app for free, follow the instructions on this NYSUT Member Benefits webpage and please note that to add dependents you must do so on the calm.com site and not in the app itself.