ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart held the July Virtual Employee Town Hall on Friday, July 12, with 857 employees joining the discussion on Zoom.

This month’s town hall included an update on our internal audit, a discussion about employee raises, and more information about the college’s Theory of Change Design Teams. There also were opportunities for employees to share questions. 

Below are highlights from the discussion, with links to read more about some of the topics.

Theory of Change Design Teams

Members of the College’s Theory of Change Design Teams have been selected and the rosters have been posted to the Theory of Change website. A total of 192 employees, including co-chairs, were selected for the 14 different teams. To ensure representation, the teams represent diversity of all sorts—locations, roles, titles, associations, race, ethnicity, and genders. See the full list here.

Nearly 900 employees were nominated for the Design Teams. Those not selected will be invited to participate in the Theory of Change Institute so that they can preview the teams’ direction and provide feedback.

The first step in the Design Team process will be engaging with the individuals and leaders currently working to assess where and how we’re doing. Then, they’ll look at the data and best practices. There will be multiple opportunities for all employees to engage throughout the process. 

Updates on Audits

ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart provided more information about the reorganization of the Security, Safety, and Operations divisions resulting from the audit conducted by external auditing firm McConnell Jones. Learn more and view the presentation Russell shared here.

Employee Compensation

The Chancellor was joined by ACC Executive Vice Chancellor of Finance & Administration Neil Vickers to discuss the employee raise approved by the Board of Trustees for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

The presentation was similar to the one he gave to trustees at their July meeting. You can read a summary of that presentation here.

“It doesn’t fully address the compression, doesn’t relieve all your frustrations, but it does point to our philosophy to do what we can to help you,” said Russell.

Vickers said that the consultant hired to do an overview of our job classification and compensation systems started on July 12. The review will be conducted during the fall and spring semesters.

Rumor Busting

Q: You had previously mentioned in a Town Hall that dependents of employees will be receiving free tuition. How do we make that happen? 
A: Trustees amended board policy to allow the new employee benefit during their May meeting and approved the benefit in the FY24-25 budget at the July meeting. The benefit will be effective starting fall 2024. More information coming soon.

Q: Are we following the University of Texas’ lead in bringing employees back full time? 
A: We need to be thoughtful of how and when we decide our approach. I have asked cabinet to create a rubric for every position. We may integrate this into our compensation study.

Q: Will Continuing Education (CE) be folded into the credit side? 
A: I think we will restructure CE with greater alignment in the college. Vice Chancellor of Instruction Gaye Lynn Scott and her team are working on it.

Q: Is there an update on the future Southeast Travis campus? 
A: We will present a bond update to trustees at their September work session and then we will share it in the subsequent Employee Town Hall meeting.

Q: Can someone share what reorganizations happened in Student Affairs?
A: (Answered by Shasta Buchanan) The announcements were made in Student Affairs and we are working with Swim Digital. The Chancellor is aware of the process that we are undergoing. Swim Digital also is our partner supporting our Theory of Change work. Student Affairs began listening sessions with Student Affairs via Swim Digital, our consultant, last fall. In my memo, I shared that our employees shared that role clarity and duplication of roles were some of the top issues with our organizational structure. This has also been communicated to the Chancellor directly from the consultants as well.

View the recording and the entire Q&A transcript on the Virtual Employee Town Hall web page.