Suffolk County Community College adheres to the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure as outlined in Appindix B of the Faculty Association Contract.

ADJUNCT FACULTY ASSIGNMENT

After full-time faculty members have been given an opportunity to select overload teaching assignments, adjunct faculty will be assigned courses in their discipline on the basis of seniority. Such seniority will be based on the number of semesters and the number of contact hours they have taught. Adjunct faculty who do not teach for a period of eight consecutive semesters, excluding the intersession and summer terms, are removed from the seniority list.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS

Faculty members are responsible for reporting changes of their address to Human Resources, located in the Norman F. Lechtrecker Building, Ammerman Campus. To make an address change full-time faculty should call 451-4207 and adjunct faculty 451-4201 to secure a new W-4 form.

Please also give your new address to the Office of the Campus Dean on the campus where you are teaching.

COMMENCEMENT

All professional staff members, attired in academic regalia, are invited to participate in commencement exercises. At least one-half of the full-time members of each academic area are expected to be present at each commencement. Academic regalia may be rented through the college bookstore.

FACULTY ATTENDANCE AND TARDINESS

As a public institution of higher education, Suffolk County Community College is subject to periodic audits by agencies of the county and the state. These agencies require that an accurate attendance record be kept for each professional staff member. Such a record is also necessary in order to compute sick days and personal leave days taken and accrued.

To maintain the required faculty attendance records, each full-time faculty member is issued a Monthly Attendance Record Card, which is to be initialed by the faculty member for each day he or she is present and conducting assigned duties. Sick days and personal leave days will be designated per instructions on the card. It will be the responsibility of each individual to maintain and complete this card. At the end of the month, faculty members deliver their time card to the appropriate campus administrator (usually their Academic Chair) who after verification forwards the cards to the payroll office.

An instructor who is absent from a class for illness, or any other reason, must call the appropriate campus office which is generally an office in the building where the class is located on the day of absence. Following administrative approval, the departmental or appropriate building secretary posts an official notice on the classroom door and only this official notice cancels a class.

Depending upon the circumstances, a substitute teacher may be engaged to cover for an absent instructor. The Office of Instruction must approve all substitute teaching assignments prior to the class meetings. (The instructor is not authorized to arrange directly for a paid substitute. See section on "Substitute Teachers.")

If a full-time instructor is unable to meet all of his/her classes on a day, the instructor will record ½ day on her/his time card.

If an instructor realizes that he/she is going to be late for a class, he/she should contact the campus immediately. The class will, in turn, be notified and asked to wait for the instructor's arrival. Unless notified otherwise, students are expected to wait at least 10 minutes for an instructor.

Each adjunct faculty member, as well as each full-time faculty member teaching an overload course, is required to sign an attendance register before class. The attendance register provides the following:

1. documented evidence of the employee's performance of duty as required for the president of the college to certify the payroll
2. quick references to answer questions concerning the meeting of any scheduled class

When an absence is anticipated, the instructor is to seek approval from her/his supervisor, usually the Academic Chair of her/his discipline. Absences beyond the equivalent of one week per course per semester will result in the loss of pay.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

As an integral part of its commitment to promoting faculty/professional development, the college offers a variety of activities and opportunities. The following descriptions highlight some of those offerings:

Tuition Assistance
Tuition assistance for full-time Suffolk County Community College faculty matriculated in a graduate degree program at SUNY Stony Brook is currently available. Those seeking assistance for the fall semester must submit a request form by June 15, for the spring semester by November 1, and for the summer by May 1 to the Office of Academic Affairs (Room 27, Norman F. Lechtrecker Building). Additional funds are available from the State of New York for faculty pursuing graduate education at a SUNY institution. Questions should be directed to the Vice President for Academic Affairs (x4244).

Faculty may apply also for tuition assistance and/or released time for the purpose of retraining into disciplines or areas where growth is expected. Faculty should familiarize themselves with the provisions stated in the agreement between the County of Suffolk and the Faculty Association before applying for a faculty development and retraining leave. Applications must be submitted to the president by March 1. Application forms are available through the Faculty Association Office.

Sabbatical Leaves
Sabbatical leaves are available to full-time faculty members, including professional assistants, who are on continuing appointments after each six (6) years of continuous service at the college. Both one-year and half-year sabbaticals are awarded according to the terms outlined in the faculty contract. The deadline for Sabbatical Requests is October 15.

Teaching and Learning Centers (TLC)
The Teaching and Learning Centers (TLC) at Suffolk County Community College are faculty-managed facilities designed to enhance teaching and learning excellence for full and part-time professional staff. The centers, located on each of the three campuses, provide opportunities for faculty and staff to connect with one another. By providing a variety of forums for faculty to confer on teaching issues, the centers encourage cross-campus peer interaction, sharing and mentoring.

In addition, the Teaching and Learning Centers support faculty learning by providing workshops, mini-courses and other learning activities. Educational resources and state-of-the-art technology are available at each campus teaching and learning center:

• Ammerman: Huntington Library, Room 13
• East: Orient Building, Room 128
• Grant: Sagtikos Building, Room 152

Conference Day
East year a Professional Development Conference Day is held during the spring semester. Conference Day is arranged by the college-wide Professional Development Committee and sponsored by the Suffolk Community College Foundation. An educational theme or issue of interest to the college community is selected as the focus for this day-long event. Classes are not scheduled during Conference Day, and faculty and staff meet for a variety of focused activities. The format for this event typically includes a morning keynote speaker followed by a series of workshops at which faculty and staff can explore various aspects of the day's theme. Faculty and staff are encouraged to provide workshops, seminars and discussion groups to complement the day's offerings.

Master Teacher Seminar
The Master Teacher Seminar is a three-day retreat whose focus is the discussion of innovations and problems of instruction on the college level. Though the name suggests a gathering of great teachers, in truth it is an assembly of dedicated educators in search of the great teacher. The goal of the Master Teach Seminar is to explore ways to improve teaching students at the college level. Discussions, presentations and hands-on workshops encourage participants to investigate new approaches to instruction or discover successful solutions to old instructional problems.

Striving for Excellence Awards
Another opportunity for faculty development is the Striving for Excellence Awards. Sponsored by the Suffolk Community College Foundation, these awards are granted to employees of the college whose proposed projects will have an immediate, direct, positive impact on the students of Suffolk County Community College. Projects are not limited to but can include the following: developing materials that will directly improve current course offerings, developing methods for the implementation of multimedia in class presentations of course content, designing activities that will improve student information literacy, devising procedures for improving the delivery of student services, designing and implementing techniques for the recruitment and retention of minority students, creating ways to enhance student campus life, and devising creative says to reduce student dropout or enhance faculty development.

Teaching Consultation Process
The Teaching Consultation Process is a service designed to assist faculty members in achieving more effective modes of instruction. A faculty member may use the Teaching Consultation Process to enhance or improve an area of instruction. Consultants are trained Suffolk County Community College faculty. This service is tailored to meet the individual needs of the teacher using the Teaching Consultation Process. It is a voluntary, confidential, client-oriented service that must be initiated by the faculty member. All materials used in the process are returned to the client at the end of the consultation. Neither the client nor the consultants may use the Teaching Consultation Process materials for the purposes of promotion and/or tenure. Information regarding this service is available through the campus Teaching and Learning Centers.

LEARNED AND PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

Each professional staff member is encouraged to become a member of one or more learned societies or professional associations relating to her/his discipline or field of study. Reading the journals of these societies, and participating in their periodic conferences, are useful means of keeping abreast of current developments in one's field.

LEAVES OF ABSENCE AND SABBATICAL LEAVES

In order to adequately and properly staff our course offerings, the college administration has established the following deadlines for application for a leave of absence (or extension) or reduced teaching load:

• June 1 for the fall semester
• November 15 for the spring semester

Extensions of the above deadlines will be considered on a case-by-case basis in the event of extenuating circumstances.

Sabbatical request forms must be submitted by October 15.

OFFICE HOURS

In addition to their scheduled class hours, full-time classroom faculty maintain four (4) office hours per week for consultation with students. Members of the English Department, however, maintain six (6) office hours. These hours should be reasonably distributed over the faculty member's work week, but may not be scheduled during common hours. Office hour schedules should be posted or otherwise distributed to students early in the semester and should be approved by and filed with the appropriate campus administrator.

OVERLOAD ASSIGNMENTS

Full-time faculty have first priority in evening, intersession, and summer teaching assignments. Each semester an Overload Request form is distributed electronically through college e-mail to all full-time faculty. In order to be eligible for an overload assignment, faculty members must return the completed form electronically by the date indicated.

PAYROLL

All new full-time and adjunct faculty are required to complete certain personnel forms. Failure to complete and return required forms prior to the end of the first week of classes will delay payroll eligibility.

Paychecks are mailed to the faculty member's home unless other arrangements are made through the Central Payroll Office on the Ammerman Campus.

Overload and adjunct faculty pay usually commences four to six weeks after the semester begins. Checks are distributed on a bi-weekly basis thereafter.

RETIREMENT

New full-time professional staff members must join either the New York State Employees Retirement System, the New York State Teachers Retirement System, or the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA). If a new employee is already a member of one of these retirement systems, he/she may continue in that system or join either of the other systems. Additional information, descriptive literature, and application forms may be obtained from Human Resources located in the Norman F. Lechtrecker Building, Ammerman Campus.

SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS

In each case of faculty absence, the Office of the Dean of Faculty uses the following guidelines to make a determination on the appointment of a paid substitute:

1. the faculty member has been absent for the equivalent of one week of class meetings;
2. the illness or disability reported by the faculty member is expected to last at least one week;
3. the class meeting to be missed is a laboratory or clinical and a substitute can teach the scheduled material;
4. special circumstances exist;
5. the immediate supervisor has recommended that a substitute teacher be hired

A substitute arranged by the department head will be paid only if a prior determination has been made by the Office of The Dean of Faculty to authorize payment of a substitute.

TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS

1. When two or more instructors share the teaching of a single course (i.e., team teaching), the teaching hours shall be prorated among them according to their share of the teaching assignments.
2. Faculty members may be scheduled to teach a course in the college's evening program as part of their regular assignment at the prerogative of the Office of the Dean of Faculty.
3. Faculty members may request overload teaching assignments in the day or evening, during the January intersession, and the summer session.
4. Full-time faculty including but not limited to Guild or Faculty Association members shall be given first priority in any overload assignments.
5. The conditions and salary schedule for overload teaching are stipulated in the agreement between Suffolk County and the Faculty Association.

TRAVEL AND CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE

Funds are available to reimburse full-time faculty members for a portion of expenses for attending one or more professional conferences of her/his choice. Approval of the request for conference attendance must be obtained from the appropriate administrative officer and an Application for Conference Attendance submitted. To insure sufficient time for processing and obtaining the required county approval, it is recommended that professional staff members submit their application at least four weeks in advance. For additional information regarding conference attendance, refer to the faculty contract.