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What’s the deal with this whole New Deal?
Over 100 of our members watched us on Professional Development Day as we slowly but surely made our way around the tables during lunch, briefly describing the New Deal for Students campaign and asking folks to sign on as supporters.
We want to take this opportunity to let more members know what this New Deal for Students campaign is all about, who stands to benefit from the campaign and how you can support the campaign.
What’s it all about
As shown in our logo, at the core of this campaign is student success. Of course we understand that any college worth its salt is dedicated to student success, but this campaign aims to develop a variety of collaborations to ensure faculty voices are central to the decisions that will help ensure the success of our students, the college and our union moving into the future.
We know our students best and we must have a voice in the college’s future directions.
There are multiple ways to achieve this, of course, but again as shown in our logo above, we believe that more effective mentoring, improved student support services, offering more fair and equitable opportunities to students as well as some strategic hiring of new full-time classroom faculty are key.
Who benefits
The structure of our New Deal for Students website emphasizes who benefits from our campaign efforts. We believe this is a winning proposition all the way around:
- A win for students — Udya Dewanamuni is a current biology major at Ammerman. Having once felt unsure of whether she would feel a sense of belonging at SCCC, Udya is now incredibly involved in campus life and holds an internship at BNL while remaining deeply dedicated to her studies. Like Udya, when Daniel Gomez was in the Eastern Campus Honors program from 2009-11, he also was very involved in student government and other clubs and activities. Daniel went on to Stony Brook, eventually earned his teaching degree and is now working at Southampton High School where he encourages his own students to get their start at SCCC.
Review our win for students page to see the ways in which various elements of our New Deal for Students campaign will continue to benefit wonderful students like Udya and Danny.
- A win for the college — Assistant Professor of Mathematics Rachael Millings knows what it means to work hard at the college. Having graduated from SCCC herself before going on to earn a master’s degree from Columbia University, Rachael understands our student population as well as how to motivate and inspire them. Because she is so thoroughly involved in various governance and college committees, however, time is always an issue. Having more full-time colleagues improves collaboration and innovation.
Read our win for the college page to learn how this New Deal for Students can bring improvements for the institution.
- A win for the community — Given SCCC’s long history in Suffolk County, we know that successful graduates are the foundation of Long Island’s future. Katelynn DeLuca came to the Eastern Campus from Riverhead High School feeling a bit uncertain about college. It wasn’t long, however, before she was actively involved in the life of the campus, then moving on to Stony Brook for a master’s degree, followed by a PhD from St. John’s. Now a full-time English professor at SUNY Farmingdale, Katelynn continues to be a proud Riverhead resident.
Click over to our win for the community page to see other ways our campaign can help benefit the many communities that make up Suffolk County.
- A win for faculty — As noted in Cynthia’s DE article in this issue, our faculty know that student success is central to all we do. They are the reason we are here. John Capurso, instructor of accounting, is very dedicated to his students’ success in multiple ways that extend far beyond the classroom. This is why he feels grateful to have earned a full-time line after four years of teaching as an adjunct faculty member. Having both an MBA and a CPA, John works at all hours to mentor and advise business and accounting students, setting them up in internships across the island and cheering on their successes. John will tell you that moving from an adjunct line to a full-time line was critical for him to best serve students in the way he does.
Learn more on our win for the faculty page about the various ways our FA members stand to benefit from our New Deal campaign.
How to support the campaign
Given the multiple, overlapping benefits of the New Deal for Students campaign, it is easy to see why over 100 faculty have already signed up in support—and we thank you for that!
If you haven’t yet signed up, you can quickly and easily do so. Just follow the link at the bottom of our the New Deal for Students campaign homepage or go directly to our New Deal for Students Supporter Form.
As we roll out various aspects of the campaign, we will call on our supporters to see who is available and in what ways. We do not expect you to be able to engage in all of the campaign’s various actions. However, for example, if we put out a call for an email campaign to local elected officials and you are happy to sign on, you can do that. Or we might have a public event on campus or in the community, and when we put out a call to our supporters, we would love to see you if you are available that day. Or we might ask you to send an automated letter via the NYSUT Member Action Center, etc.
There will be a variety of ways to participate, and it will be your choice which ones you can do. We do hope, though, that you will stand strong in support of our New Deal for Students. |
