StAR November 2012 Instructional Support Technician ART DEPARTMENT Compiled on behalf of the faculty by Thomás Sakoulas
General Proposal Information Proposal Title: Instructional Support Technician Point Person and contact information: Thomás Sakoulas (or current chair of the Art Department for subsequent years) Department: Art Proposal Summary: The Art Department has an urgent need to hire full-time Instructional Support Technician (SL-3, SUNY Title Code: 3255). To be hired on a college-year (or tenmonth) basis to provide instructional support and to assist with studio maintenance. All our Art and Computer Art classes take place in our twelve studios and computer labs. Each studio has unique needs in terms of safety, maintenance, consumables, and regulatory requirements. Our students rely on these studios being safe and available for their classes, and for doing their homework outside of class. Without an Instructional Support Technician the maintenance duties fall squarely onto faculty shoulders and such tasks fall well outside the normal class preparation obligations. This position will greatly enhance the safety of our students and faculty in the classroom.
Proposal Section I - Narrative Proposal significance and objectives. The proposed Instructional Support Technician (IST) is absolutely essential for the safe and smooth operation of our classrooms. It is a crucial missing component from our program. Our Art and Computer Art classes take place in specialized studios and computer labs. The unique nature of each lab is tailored to the course content and dictates that students must also use the studios outside class to complete their homework. The Art Department has twelve such studios (three of them are high-end computer labs) that serve about one thousand students enrolled in our classes every semester. About one third of these students are declared ART or Computer Art majors and minors. While it is convenient to think that teaching faculty will take care of the studios/classrooms, in a popular program like ours this kind of workload falls outside normal class preparation duties. Imagine if a professor had to walk into their classroom to find that they have to fix the three broken chairs, hang their own black board, and put together that desk they spent days researching and ordering. This is a rough analogy of of what Art faculty has to do now with the tools, equipment, and consumables that make their class possible. They do this in addition to the normal class preparation and grading they have to do, and they do it even though their classes themselves sum up to 220 minutes per class, per week. That s a higher contact load than other departments have. Naturally, this kind of class preparation takes priority and displaces other vital professional duties. Other departments on our campus with less declared majors and specialized studios than the Art Department have full-time ISTs so the need is well documented and already recognized by our administration. The objectives and significance of the position fall under four categories: Safety, Quality of Instruction, Regulatory Compliance, and Sustainability. First and foremost, we have made safety our highest priority in the classroom. Years ago, in a conversation with the Associate Vice President for Facilities and Safety, Tom Rathbone mentioned to me that an accident in the classroom would always make the first page of newspapers. Tom Rathbone has repeatedly stated that he supports the hire of an IST. Safety involves facilities, supervision, and training. All three require a qualified person dedicated to maintaining the facilities, supervising their use by students, and training both faculty and students on the safe operation of the tools and machinery. Mentioning that well maintained studios are conducive to high quality instruction is probably redundant. But it is a relentless fact for those of us who have to rely on complex studios and equipment to teach. Perhaps another example can make this multifaceted topic
clear: in order to operate the metal foundry, we need facility preparations that can take weeks. Tasks like ordering sufficient metal, wax, and investment materials must take place weeks before the operation is to take place. Ordering the right materials, mixing the slurry precisely, and prepping the facility takes a trained individual, and considerable time investment. Finally, melting and pouring bronze requires at least two trained people since the whole operation can be extremely dangerous if all details are not accounted for. This is only one small area of the IST s responsibilities. Every single studio and class in our program has its own similar needs. One unique aspect of Art classes is that students must use the facilities in order to complete their homework. Without this ability our students would be at a great disadvantage when they graduate, having to compete with others in the field that enjoyed extensive use of the studios in other institutions. The ITS will be responsible for keeping the classrooms in optimum shape and will directly assisting students as they work outside the classroom. The majority of our students have limited experience with tools and equipment, and supervision during operation is imperative to insure both the safety of the students and the protection of our investment in facilities. In Art, engagement of students in the studio in either group or solitary activities is a primary pedagogical strategy. We want our students to be engaged in the classroom and to spend their entire day there if possible. Having a trained assistant present will be a huge benefit to our students who will use his/her expertise outside the classroom and long after the professors have departed. Our studios remain open and available to our students from 6:00 AM till 11:00 PM. While it would be impossible to man each studio for this entire time, it would be instrumental to have an assistant available at least eight hours per day. With so many industrial tools, equipment, chemicals, and consumables required in our classes, we must be compliant with a host of OSHA and EPA, and other federal and state requirements. Since the ramifications of being remiss can be very serious, compliance with regulations it is a monumental task that requires constant attention. So far, through our faculty s hard work during their extra time all our inspections have found minimal issues. It does help that our facilities are relatively new, having undergone renovations just four years ago, but maintaining this level of compliance and safety record for years to come requires the full time attention of an IST. Maintenance and calibration of our equipment by a full-time IST will also be instrumental with sustainability. Equipment that is not maintained on a regular basis can be dangerous at worst and wasteful at best. Given our current focus on sustainability having an IST will actually help us save money in the long run through frequent calibration of tools, more efficient use of consumables, and more extensive research when placing orders or when repairing equipment. The IST will also be responsible for keeping track of our inventory that contains hundreds of small and large items. It goes without saying that use of expensive equipment by untrained, or with little experience operators is a sure way to see them to their demise.
Skeptical minds would undoubtedly think, How does the Art Department function now? For decades faculty in each area took the initiative and maintained their respective area studios. This is normal, and given that they are the outmost authority on their processes and facilities, it is fitting. This is not going to change after we hire the IST. Faculty will still have the extended responsibility for managing the studios. But with our number of declared majors ballooning in the last ten years, and with the added general education students we serve, the task has become overbearing. All we ask is for a little help from one person (IST) that will lend a trained help to eight full-time faculty, nine adjuncts, and about a thousand students per semester. The current part-time position that pays just about a minimum hourly wage for highly specialized work is only a stopgap solution. It predates the increase in studios and student population and it is ripe to be replaced with a full time IST. Given the part time nature of the current position we are in danger at any moment of losing the assistant and the ramifications of that would be severe for our program. Training someone for the extended list of jobs they have to perform can take years. A lot of our equipment is old and temperamental and act like old Volkswagens (for those old enough to remember these days). It s not enough to know how to use them; you have to understand their temperament. For example t takes years to learn how to get a kiln to behave the way it should and you can t teach that kind of skill. Hence the need for a fulltime dedicated IST to replace our current part-time hourly position. A. Contribution to the strategic plan, other campus wide or divisional priorities. o Teaching Learning and Scholarship: The addition of an Instructional Support Technician will contribute to this goal. See significance and objectives above o Student Engagement: The addition of an Instructional Support Technician will contribute to this goal. See significance and objectives above o Sustainability: The addition of an Instructional Support Technician will contribute to this goal. See significance and objectives above B. Linkage to the 3-year rolling action plan. Academic quality & rigor: Yes. The IST will be a major contributor toward this goal Experiential learning opportunities for students: Yes. Students will be engaged with expert help. External revenue generation: No Faculty growth, success, and retention: Yes. Absolutely! The addition of an IST would allow faculty to spend time on growth, professional development, curriculum development, and service. We will be able to recruit and retain better faculty by
minimizing the job s overhead studio maintenance work, which should not be solely on their shoulders. Quality of undergraduate experience: Yes. Will enhance the experiential offclassroom learning engagement of our students. See the narrative above for more details. C. Impact on students, faculty, and/or staff. The addition of a full-time Instructional Support Technician will have a major impact both for students and faculty. Without repeating the pertinent paragraphs from the Objectives and Significance above, the IST s responsibilities will be directly linked to classroom instruction. The IST will ensure that the classroom is optimally prepared for each class, will work directly with faculty in and out of the classroom, and will directly assist students on a one-to-one basis when they use our facilities outside the class. For our faculty, it will be the first time in decades that they will be able to dedicate more time to their professional development, to growth, and to curriculum review, course development, and assessment. D. Impact on operational efficiency and effectiveness. As mentioned in the narrative above, creating this position will have major ramification on the operational efficiency and effectiveness of our classroom environment. E. Opportunity for collaboration. Last, I should mention that the addition of a full time IST would enhance our department s collaboration with the Mass Communication department. Their major need is for a computer lab to teach their Video classes, and for a place to keep their expensive cameras in an equipment cage so they can be maintained and checked-out to students. We have already made out computer lab available to the Mass Comm class, and we have committed to maintaining their cameras in our own tool cage once we are have the IST to do it. This will further save money since both our programs can use the same cameras, so pooling our resources makes sense. We attempted to apply for a joint 50/50 IST position recently, but given that we will be in different divisions and that the Art Department needs outnumber their needs by an order of magnitude, we decided not to apply for a joint position this time around. Besides, a 50% assistant would put as in a worst position than we are now. F. If applicable, please describe how your unit's assessment process contributed to the decision to make this request. N/A G. How the activity will be assessed, using measurable, documented outcomes The IST will have a direct impact in the student s ability to perform to our expected level. Therefore, the results of his/her work will be directly visible in the existing SLO assessment process.
H. Implementation strategy and timeline. We will write an ad and search for a qualified individual who can do all the jobs we want them to do. Given the diverse areas they would have to serve (from metal foundry, to printmaking, to woodworking, to inventory control, and printer operation, to name a few), finding a person with all the skills will be difficult. That s one of the main reasons it s important that this is a full-time position. But, we will find the right person, and we will provide the necessary training. The IST will spend time with each faculty member, mapping their classroom needs and learning the necessary skills to do the work. We will assign the IST to specific studios where and when we know the is the higher need throughout the day to provide direct support to students and/or faculty in the classroom. He/she will also be available by appointment to students who need help outside these blocked times. Timeline: o Spring 2013: Executive team gives consent to hire full-time IST, and the Art Department hires IST o Fall 2013: IST begins work. I. Additional information if necessary. Section II - Funding Request This proposal is rated higher than the Artists in Residence (Also submitted by the Art Department) proposal because we could not possibly start any new initiatives without adequate studio support. Section II - Funding Request A. Recurring and or one-time costs. We request that the starting annual salary for the Instructional Support Technician be $38,000. In any case, the salary should be in line with an SL-3, SUNY Title Code: 3255, or similar positions on our campus. See Lisa Winck s feedback in Section III. B. Potential revenue generation as a result of this program/initiative. None C. Potential savings as a result of this program/initiative. There will be savings by eliminating the current hourly position that we currently have. As mentioned in the narrative, we anticipate savings from the increased maintenance and calibration of our equipment and classrooms. D. Unit/department contribution to the cost of the program/initiative. None
E. Existing grant funding or other external funding that will contribute to the cost of the program/initiative. None Section III - Consultation Please complete Appendix A to confirm that proper consultation has occurred where applicable. For example, if your proposal includes the creation of a computer lab, consultation with the Chief Information Officer is required. The Chief Information Officer has reviewed this proposal and verified potential costs as it relates to technology: [ ] Yes [ ] No [X] Not Applicable Comments: The Associate Vice President for Facilities has reviewed this proposal and verified potential costs as it relates to facilities: [X] Yes [ ] No [ ] Not Applicable Comments: This application was sent to the Associate Vice President for Facilities for his review and feedback. His feedback is: I would support any program which enhances student safety. The Budget Director has reviewed this proposal and verified potential costs [ ] Yes [ ] No [X] Not Applicable Comments: Other consultation: The Senior Executive Employee Services Officer has reviewed this proposal and verified potential costs as it relates to human resources: [X] Yes [ ] No [ ] Not Applicable Comments: The proposal was forwarded to Lisa Wenck. Her feedback was: I have read through your second proposal. I agree that the duties and responsibilities of the position would be an SL-3, Instructional Support Technician. The minimum salary for the position as a College year, 10 month professional position is $35,901.
Appendix B Routing Steps Step 1 Forward original proposal to Department Chair / Director and copies to Dean or equivalent level and Vice President or equivalent level. Step 2 Department Chair / Director ranks all proposals coming out of his or her Department and forwards to next level. Rank numerically: 1 of 2 (no ties or split rankings) Signature and date: 11/19/2012 Step 3 - Dean/Assoc. Dean/Assoc. V.P. (if applicable) ranks all proposals coming out of his or her area and forwards to next step. Rank numerically: of (no ties or split rankings) Signature and date: Step 4 - Vice President ranks all proposals coming out of his or her Division and forwards to Executive Team. Rank numerically: of (no ties or split rankings) Signature and date: Step 5 Executive Team reviews and ranks.