TACCSAA’s 2023 Conference

The TACCSAA Conference was held at Austin Community College, Highland Campus on June 8 – 9, 2023. As always, this event helps members stay connected and committed to providing student affairs administrators with information and support to better serve our community college students.

A huge thank you to the Conference Planning Committee for their hard work!

LOGISTICS

This year’s conference was held at Austin Community College’s Highland Campus, 6101 Highland Campus Dr, Austin, TX 78752. Once you make it to campus, the conference will be in Building 2000 room 2-1550 (Presentation Hall).

Lodging — While no hotel rooms are reserved for the event, hotel information is provided below with locations convenient to the Highland Campus.
Parking — Parking is free at Highland Campus. Participants can park in any street parking, but it may be best to park around the corner in the area marked in purple that says HLC South Garage. Here is more information including a campus map.
Meals — For the opening day (Thursday, June 8), snacks will be provided, Dinner is provided for those participating in the River Cruise (limited to first 40 registrants). For the second day of the conference (Friday, June 9), breakfast and lunch is included.

AGENDA

Day 1: Thursday, June 8, 2023

12:30 p.m.	Registration Opens
12:45 p.m.	Tour of Austin Community College / Highland Campus
2 p.m.	Welcome and Opening Remarks
2:15 p.m.	Presentation: Starving the Imposter: A Guide for Mentoring New and Aspiring Leaders Dr. Jana McCarthy, Advising Supervisor / Austin Community College; President Elect, Texas Academic Advising Network (TAAN) This workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to evaluate the support they provide to the burgeoning leaders at their institutions and will produce conversations about individual techniques that can be employed to starve the imposter that holds our strongest staff back from volunteering. Through mentoring, programming, and transparency, administrators can set the example and forge the path for their staff to grow with confidence!
3:15 p.m.	Presentation: 140 Days and Sine Die: What Happened in the 88th Texas Legislative Session Beaman Floyd, Lobbyist / Texas Community College Teacher’s Association Interactive discussion about the recent legislative session and the impact to community colleges and faculty in Texas.
4:15-5:30 p.m.	Break
5:30-8:30 p.m.	Evening Options
	Option 1 Riverboat Cruise — Available to the first 40 registrants (based on conference registration) with dinner provided. More information will be provided including the option of carpooling to the event. Participants should plan on arriving at the cruise at 5:30 and it will conclude at 9 p.m.	Option 2 Dinner Groups — Be on the lookout for sign-up sheet at the registration table to sign up for a dinner meet-up with your colleagues at local restaurants.	Option 3 Adventure back to your room and relax before the amazing day of speakers on Friday.

Day 2: Friday, June 9, 2023

8 a.m.	Registration Opens / Breakfast and Mingle
8:45 a.m.	Welcome / Opening Remarks
9 a.m.	Presentation: BRIDGES to Success Richard M. Rhodes, PhD, Chancellor / Austin Community College District Community Colleges are emerging from the Pandemic and building toward the future. We will engage in a discussion of the emerging themes and opportunities to stay relevant and essential to our communities, state, and nation.
10 a.m.	Presentation: Navigating Courageous Conversations Dr. Cynthia Ganote, University of Louisville Assistant Professor When we raise our own awareness of workplace-based microaggressions and learn how to effectively address them when they occur, we can often help our students and colleagues to resolve conflicts and exist more peacefully together. In order to do that, we can learn about and practice microresistance. Microresistance techniques allow us to address microaggressions in productive and educational ways that attempt to open, instead of shutting down, dialogue. In this interactive session, we will discuss a variety of microresistance techniques and then practice them in a low-stakes environment, so that we are more prepared when they occur in our own workspaces.
11:30 a.m.	Presentation: Supporting Student with Children Steven Christopher, Associate Vice Chancellor Student Accessibility and Social Support Resources / Austin Community College Student parents typically make up between 25% and 30% of any community college’s student population. They are typically less resourced, less likely to complete their degree of study and likely to carry up to 3x’s the amount of college debt as do students without children. Institutions CAN support this hidden-in-plain-sight demographic and move the needle on key institutional metrics, like semester to semester persistence and completion, by instituting college wide family-friendly policies and procedures. Participants in this session will learn about strategies to change their institutional culture to better support parenting students by reviewing and revising long standing policies and practices that many times create unintentional barriers to success for their student parents.
12:15 p.m.	Lunch and Business Meeting
1:05 p.m.	Presentation: The Sound and the Fury: Where is Generative AI Taking Us? Dr. Christine Berni, Profession of English and Chair of Curriculum and Literary Studies Department / Austin Community College; and Susan Meigs, Adjunct Professor of English and Instructional Associate / Austin Community College This session will delve into the ethical and practical challenges posed by generative AI, particularly large language models like Chat GPT. We will explain differences between Instructional and Generative AI and discuss the implications of both for academic integrity, student learning, equity, and future workplace norms. We will share guidelines and policies adopted by the Department of Composition and Literary Studies at ACC as well as the outcomes of faculty and student surveys regarding use of AI. We will also present classroom assignments and activities employing AI and discuss learning outcomes.
2:15 p.m.	Presentation: The Future of Funding: The Implementation of House Bill 8 Ray Martinez III, J.D., President and CEO, Texas Association of Community Colleges In 2021, the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 1230 to establish the Texas Commission on Community College Finance. The Commission was tasked with making recommendations for consideration by the 88th Texas Legislature to establish a state funding formula and funding levels sufficient for sustaining viable community college education and training offerings throughout the state. The twelve appointed commissioners held seven public hearings, with the final hearing on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, where they unanimously approved a set of final recommendations which were memorialized in House Bill 8 this legislative session. This presentation will explore the new funding model and how it moves away from a static allocation method to one that is dynamic and provides colleges with predictable funding based on their own student success. The presentation will also provide a preview of the immediate next steps for successful implementation as Texas community colleges adapt to the innovative model.
3:15 p.m.	Presentation: What We Have Learned: Best Practices for Virtual Advising Services Kathy James (Moderator), Executive Dean of Advising and Special Programs / Austin Community College Description coming soon
4:15-4:30 p.m.	Wrap up / Final Raffle Drawing

HOTEL INFORMATION

All conference sessions was held at the Austin Community College-Highland Campus. For those needing hotel accommodations, the following are convenient to the Highlands Campus.

Holiday Inn Midtown

6000 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin Texas
Phone: 888/465-4329 Front desk: 512/451-5757

Doubletree by Hilton Austin

6505 Interstate Highway 35 North, Austin TX
Phone: 855 /611-1023