Dear Chair Erickson and Board of Trustees Members:
I appreciate this opportunity to submit a brief overview of the activities of the Faculty Senate from Summer 2018 and vision for this upcoming year.
The Faculty Senate is focused on taking action this year to contribute to the University effort to improve student retention. We will also continue efforts to strengthen shared governance. Faculty voice in decision-making is critical for maintaining the academic integrity of the institution, fulfilling our mission, and best serving our students. We are also developing strategies to specifically address faculty morale issues, which directly contribute to students’ experiences at Central. Thank you for including faculty voice in the Summer Board Retreat. We enjoyed the opportunity to hear your thoughts about the future of the institution. We were especially glad to hear your desire to better understand the experiences of faculty and students and to ensure transparency and inclusivity in decision-making. We look forward to engaging with the Board throughout the year. We have three code changes before you for approval this meeting. Senate passed the Code revisions at the last full senate meeting of the academic year on May 30, 2018. These changes to the Code will improve clarity around faculty consultation regarding reorganization and distinguished faculty awards processes. These proposed changes were slated to come forward for your approval Summer 2018. However, the Provost Council raised concerns about the changes, and in the spirit of shared governance, we decided to delay these items and take time to listen to the Provost Council concerns. There are two Code changes related to consultation in cases of reorganization. One is an addition to the consultation section of Code to make clear that reorganization is an area which requires faculty consultation. The second change is the addition of a new appendix to the Code that provides detail about the process of meaningfully consulting with faculty during reorganization. Over the past few years, there have been several proposals for reorganization of academic units which have been inefficient and ultimately unsuccessful due to the explicit lack of information about the reorganization provided during the consultation process. Frankly, these Changes to the Faculty Code: Consultation in Cases of Reorganization
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