Update (Apr 4) from Interim VPI
Good Morning Faculty:
I have not written an update for a few weeks. I have been busy with promotion letters, interviews,
meeting with people to get updates on issues and concerns, and just carrying out business. Here are
some items that you should be aware of:
I provided recommendations to the Acting President for promotion and tenure. In the past, the faculty
were not notified until June. However, I am pleased to say that Mr. Alaniz has already reviewed the
recommendations and notified the faculty of his action related to promotion and tenure. I really
appreciate that quick action. I plan to have a reception in the fall for the faculty who received
promotion and tenure and hope that it becomes a tradition at Del Mar College.
You all should have received the Shared Governance Update from me. I ask that all of you read the
update and note the reference to faculty involvement in shared governance. I will meet with Faculty
Council today to discuss how Faculty Council and instructional leaders can work together to develop a
Faculty Council and instructional leaders can work together to develop a Faculty Council structure that
facilitates broad faculty participation and input into decisions that are critical to instruction and to
the overall planning and decision-making processes at Del Mar College.
Several term positions are being converted to tenure-track faculty. Also, there are several tenured
faculty who are going to retire this year. The HR Office, in consultation with other offices, is
working on a process to advertise and streamline the hiring process. I will provide more information as
the process is developed.
I have been in discussion with Deans and Department Chairs regarding the need for an official faculty
handbook. Typically, the faculty handbook becomes the reference book for all matters related to the
faculty and is often viewed as the official document related to faculty. I am informing you of this
because you may start hearing about the development of a handbook and also be involved in discussions
regarding what should be moved to the handbook (from other documents) and what should be included.
This leads me to promotion, tenure, and post-tenure review. The big question that is being asked of me
is: What are you doing with this and what do we tell new faculty? The current policies and procedures
do provide for guidelines related to promotion and tenure - but not post-tenure review. So, we are
covered with some policies and procedures for the current and new faculty; however, we have to continue
the work of the committees to develop the new policies and procedures. I am meeting with some of the
committee chairs, Deans, and Chairs to develop a process for getting this task done. The separation of
promotion and tenure was completed eight weeks ago, and I have had a mountain of things to complete in
regards to reviewing, recommending, and notifying faculty of their promotion and tenure status and
probation status. There were also a number of projects that had to be completed ASAP. So, I am now
focusing on getting this done, and I will keep you posted.
Finally, I want you to know that I uncover little and big gems each day at Del Mar College. There are
so many good things that are being done by our faculty. I want to develop a process where we can print
a one page bulleted list each month of faculty accomplishments. Is there anyone out there who would
like to work on this as part of "service the College" ? For example, I found that one of our music
faculty is having his composition played at a conference in Florida,and one of our faculty recently made
a terrific presentation to a state conference comprised of a packed house of Deans and VPs. There are
many more discoveries out there..........
Have a great weekend and enjoy the nice weather!!
Marjorie
Ms. Marjorie J. Villani
Interim Vice President of Instruction
Del Mar College
101 Baldwin Blvd; Corpus Christi, TX 78404
(361) 698-1205
mvillani@delmar.edu
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