MEMBERSHIP 

Cheryl Cardoza, Lars Jensen, and Amy Cavanaugh staff the NFA table on August 11.

The TMCC-NFA Chapter grew by 20% during Professional Development Days, thanks to several faculty submitting membership applications. We are excited to welcome all our new members and can report that the chapter has doubled in size in one year. Plenty of t-shirts are still available for new applicants, so sign up today! New members should also keep an eye on their campus mail for information on money-saving member benefits.

According to the US Department of Labor, Labor Day is the annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers. And that means you. To help put the celebration back in Labor Day, members of the Nevada Faculty Alliance will sponsor a booth at the 2nd Annual Reno LaborFest from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Labor Day, September 4, in Idlewild Park. The event features live music, food trucks, a beer garden, and a kids’ fun zone.

Representatives from multiple unions, including NFA, will staff booths and share information with participants about the benefits of union membership. Proceeds from the event will go to the Northern Nevada Central Labor Council’s Worker Benefit Corp., a non-profit organization that provides apprenticeship, member, and community assistance.

We invite all TMCC professionals to pack a lawn chair and some sun screen and join the festivities. If you swing by the NFA booth, you may even get a tcotchke for the effort (while supplies last ;-)

All TMCC-NFA members are invited to join their colleagues from northern Nevada when the State Board of the NFA hosts a Happy Hour on the afternoon of September 8 at the Airport Plaza Hotel in Reno. 

The event is being held in conjunction with the NFA State Board's next regular meeting which will be held the following day. 

The reception will include appetizers, and each participant will receive a ticket for an adult beverage at the hotel bar. We also plan to honor some of our important legislative allies from northern Nevada for their on-going efforts to enact laws that support collective bargaining, fair compensation, and due process. Participants will have the opportunity to visit with the legislators and share insights into higher education in Nevada that hasn't been pre-filtered by an administrator. 

Keep an eye on your email in the coming days for an invitation to the event from the State Board of the Nevada Faculty Alliance.

 BOARD OF REGENTS 

There are indications that the Board of Regents will make a final selection for an interim chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education during a special meeting on Tuesday, August 29. In a letter to the Regents, however, the State Board of the Nevada Faculty Alliance expressed concern about the secrecy surrounding the process and lack of substantive input from constituents such as faculty and students. Although Board leadership asked faculty and student leaders to define characteristics they wanted in a new chancellor, they have not shared details about individuals under consideration, nor the process used to solicit and select applicants. 

Since BOR policy allows a person in an interim position to subsequently be appointed to the permanent position, it's highly likely that the next chancellor will not be vetted through a shared governance process. NFA has asked the Regents to make the process transparent and accept feedback prior to the final selection. We urge faculty members to, likewise, share their concerns with the Regents.

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TMCC will be the host of the next quarterly meeting of the Board of Regents on September 7 and 8. The meeting will be held in the great hall of the Student Center and is open to the public.

For tenure-track faculty, this is a great opportunity for you to fulfill the tenure requirement of attending a Regents' meeting. If the Board continues to follow the scheduling format established under the current chairperson, Thursday will be a day for each of the subcommittees to meet, while the meeting of the full Board will happen on Friday.

Although the agenda for the meeting is not yet published, the quarterly meetings always include topics that are of interest to all faculty. We encourage all our constituents to take advantage and observe some or all of the meetings and, perhaps, make public comment. As mentioned before, the faculty only exist in the abstract in the minds of Regents unless we make our presence known. There's no better place to do that than their meetings.

MORE HERE >>

TMCC-NFA Officers

Jim New, President

Amy Cavanaugh, Vice President

Julia Hammett, Secretary

Lars Jensen, Treasurer

Cheryl Cardoza, Past President