Academic Senate

Membership

All full-time and part-time faculty are members of the Academic Senate. Membership begins with employment as a full-time or part-time member of the faculty, and continues throughout employment.

The Senate Orientation PowerPoint provides an overview of the Foothill College Academic Senate.

Membership Dues

All full-time and part-time faculty are asked to contribute monthly membership dues ($5.00 for FT faculty and $3.00 for PT faculty) to help fund the work of the Academic Senate, which includes funding travel and registration expenses for the officers to attend statewide meetings. In addition, the Academic Senate offers annual scholarships to students and hosts a part-time faculty appreciation dinner when funding is sufficient to support these efforts.

Membership dues can be deducted monthly from your paycheck. To sign up for automatic payroll deductions please download and fill out form below, and return it to the Academic Senate Secretary/Treasurer, Robert Cormia (cormiarobert@fhda.edu). If you are not sure if you are currently paying dues, we encourage you to fill out and send in the form (this will not result in a duplication of dues).

Sign-Up Monthly Deduction Form

Stop Monthly Deduction Form

Membership Responsibilities

As members of the Academic Senate, all full-time and part-time faculty are expected to participate in the formation of college and district policies by supporting a strong and active Senate. You can do this by:

supporting the officers and elected representatives of the organization through informed suggestions, recommendations, and feedback on issues under discussion;
informed voting on all issues presented to the Academic Senate;
volunteering to be an active member of at least one sub-committee of the Academic Senate and/or Senate rep on a governance council or committee; and
paying all dues.

The Executive Committee (a.k.a. "The Senate")

The Foothill College Academic Senate acts through its Executive Committee, often referred to as “the Senate,” with elected faculty representatives from every instructional and student support division, as well as two part-time faculty representatives, representing all part-time faculty in every division. As of June 2021 the Executive Committee also includes a voting position for the ASFC President or delegate, the Classified Senate President or delegate, the Faculty Professional Development Coordinator and the Faculty Chair of the Committee on Online Learning (COOL), in addition to a non-voting Administrative Liaison position.

Division representatives are referred to as “Senators,” and generally hold two-year terms. The leadership of the Academic Senate and the Executive Committee consists of four officers: the President, the Executive Vice President, the Vice-President of Curriculum (who also serves as Faculty Co-Chair of the College Curriculum Committee) and a Secretary-Treasurer, all elected by the full membership of the Academic Senate to serve two-year terms.

The Role of a Senator

Your senator performs the following duties as a member of the Executive Committee:

Votes on policies and procedures regarding academic and professional issues.
Ratifies all faculty appointments to committees and task forces.
Maintains constant oral and written communication with:
- the division
- the faculty at large
- adminsitrative staff, the Board of Trustees,
and the FA as requested by the President.
Brings division's concerns to Executive Committee,
Attends regular Executive Committee meetings which are held every other Monday from 2 to 4 p.m.
Provides an alternate with proxy vote if the senator can not attend.
Serves on a minimum of one major committee.
Serves for a term of two years.

Senate Officers 2025-26

Position	Officer	Email
President	Voltaire Villanueva	VillanuevaVoltaire@fhda.edu
Executive Vice President	Stephanie Chan	ChanStephanie@fhda.edu
VP Curriculum Faculty Co-Chair	Ben Kaupp	KauppBen@fhda.edu
Secretary Treasurer	Amber La Piana	LaPianaAmber@fhda.edu

Division Senators 2025-26

Division	Representatives	Email
Apprenticeship (APP)	Nate Vennarucci Stephen Schnell	Natev@smw104jatc.org stephan@467jatc.org
Business & Social Sciences (BSS) (includes KCI)	Filsun Jama Tiffany Rideaux	JamaFilsun@fhda.edu RideauxTiffany@fhda.edu
Counseling (CNSL) (includes Student Affairs)	Jue Thao Vacant	ThaoJue@fhda.edu
Disability Resource Center & Veterans Resource Center (DRC/VRC)	Vacant
Fine Arts & Communication (FA/COMM)	Kristin Tripp Caldwell Hilary Gomes	TrippCaldwellKristin@fhda.edu GomesHilary@fhda.edu
Health Science and Horticulture (HSH)	Jarod Middleton Adam Thompson	MiddletonJarod@fhda.edu ThompsonAdam@fhda.edu
Kinesiology & Athletics (KA)	Rita O'Loughlin Katy Ripp	OloughlinRita@fhda.edu RippKaty@fhda.edu
Language Arts (LA)	Allison Herman Vacant	HermanAllison@fhda.edu
Learning Resource Center (LRC)	Jeremy Peters Vacant	PetersJeremy@fhda.edu
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM)	Brendan Mar Rachel Mudge	MarBrendan@fhda.edu MudgeRachel@fhda.edu
At-Large PT Faculty Senators	Michael Chang Lynette Vega	ChangMichael@fhda.edu VegaLynette@fhda.edu

Additional Members of the Executive Committee 2025-26

Organization	Representative	Email
ASFC	Kayla U. Nguyen
Classified Senate	Vanessa Santillan-Nieto	SantillanNietoVanessa@fhda.edu
Faculty Association (FA)	Nicole Gray	GrayNicole@fhda.edu
Faculty Chair of Teaching with Technology	Allison Lenkeit Meezan	MeezanKaren@fhda.edu
Student Learning Outcomes Coordinator	Dolores Davison	DavisonDolores@fhda.edu
Faculty Prof Development Coordinator	Vacant
Faculty serving other roles	Evan Gilstrap	GilstrapEvan@fhda.edu
Dean of Equity (advisory vote)	Laurie Scolari	ScolariLaurie@fhda.edu
President's Cabinet (advisory vote)	Stacy Gleixner	GleixnerStacy@fhda.edu

Academic Senate Reps to Governance Councils & Committees 2026-26

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