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Liz Williams

President's Article: An Invitation to Dialogue


by Lisa D. Hobson, Ph.D., President of the Texas Association of College Teachers

Greetings. Thank you for allowing me to serve as your President! I am grateful to serve in this capacity and have gained much professional and life value in being a member of and board member in the Texas Association of College Teachers.


We hope you are having a great fall semester! If you are like me, your schedule has been busy, busy, busy, and even busier. As you are aware, these times tend to remain consistent in how we typically function in our higher education settings. Consequently, we service a multitude of stakeholders with a multitude of expectations, demands, timelines, policies, and preferences. Beyond the task side of our work, we make a difference and we have a real impact on scholarships, academia, teaching, and our communities.

As we continue into this 2019-2020 academic year, I am writing with a special request. The Texas Association of College Teachers board members visit Austin twice per year to emphasize higher education needs and our respective organization members’ general foci. We meet with the legislative team members in the House of Representatives and Senate on issues that impact our members and our profession. We will continue participating in these important visits.


Additionally, for this year, I want to hear directly from you and am providing my direct email (lisadhobson@gmail.com) to solicit your thoughts and feedback on important areas that impact our overall membership. Let’s have continued conversations and dialogue on what you understand to be important topics for our organization. In the past, we discussed campus carry, Hazlewood Act mandates, and dual credit options as examples. What are other topics and strands that you find impact our broader membership?


Last, given the multiple duties, roles, expectations, demands, and challenges we face, I want share a motivational quote to reflect on what I believe could be an individual and organizational point of departure as we continue into the fall semester. The following quote is from Dr. Maya Angelou. “We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay - and rise!”


We’re in a climate in Texas where we are under a figurative microscope in higher education. Everyone has an opinion on what we do as well as a values assessment. We have a variety of stakeholders watching what we do and instructing us on how we should do it. Understandably, we are open to discussion with and feedback from our respective stakeholders. Moreover, true power comes in self-examination and reflection as well as rising to perform those tasks which propel us forward. We’re up for the tasks, hence we can concur (say yea) or object (say nay) and rise!


Serving together,

Lisa D. Hobson, Ph. D.

TACT President

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