The Academic Senate Seeks Local Senates for Relations

September
2006
Chair, Relations with Local Senates Committee

Local senates with and without problems encouraged to seek a match. Single and multi-college districts welcome . No fiscal status denied. No phonies or liars. Must love dogs.

Are you wondering where this is leading? One of the Academic Senate standing committees wants you to ask it for a "date." As the new chair of the Relations with Local Senates Committee, I want to take this opportunity to introduce this committee to you. Local Senates (as we affectionately call it) has the unique challenge of being composed entirely of present or past local senate presidents who deal with the varied resolutions assigned to it and make visits to other colleges. The members serve as liaisons between local colleges and the ASCCC Executive Committee. Members will visit at your request, or they may proactively seek an invite. The Local senate committee's charge is as follows:

The Relations with Local Senates Committee serves to augment the work of the Executive Committee in its efforts to provide an opportunity to share information on issues of concern at the local and state levels. While members of the Relations with Local Senates Committee should be conversant with pertinent statutes and strategies for effective academic senates, their work will be primarily as liaisons and conduits for information and requests for assistance.

The members of the 2006-2007 Local Senates committee will be considering ways to assist local senates in dealing with shared governance issues, seeking to provide assistance to colleges that are facing the inherent complexities of having faculty housed at multiple sites, determining how best to gather data on the strengths and weaknesses of multi-college districts, and exploring new venues for leadership training.

But the most important thing that Local Senates does is visit you-not as a technical visit, or to address a crisis, but to disseminate information and make the important connection between your senate and the state Academic senate.

You need not have a problem or concern to invite us for a visit or for us to contact you. It is through these visits that we inform the field of hot topics and general statewide events, as well as gather information on your issues and concerns. So, please invite us over or accept our unsolicited advances-you can request that certain topics be addressed, or we can provide a vast overview of important issues. For a good time, contact this year's Relations with Local Senates Chair, Michelle Pilati, at mpilati [at] riohondo.edu. We look forward to visiting.