“The Senate helps to provide an organization through which the expertise, experience, and skills of the faculty may be engaged in the development of the University as well as providing faculty a means to communicate their views in matters of concern and interest to the University,” Snow said in an email.
Faculty Senate members representing the School of Arts & Sciences are Dr. Durant Frantzen and Dr. Megan Wise de Valdez; representing the School of Business are Dr. Dennis Elam and Dr. Richard Green; representing the School of Education & Kinesiology are Dr. Patricia Holmes and Dr. Kevin Kendrick. Librarian Stefanie Wittenbach also joins the panel.
Biology Professor Wise de Valdez expects the students to benefit from the role of the Faculty Senate.
“Some of what the faculty senate will likely address in the future is the role and expectations of the faculty as the primary educators of the student body and the subsequent support from the administration to facilitate our role as educators. What I foresee in the future regarding how conversations and decisions in the Faculty Senate will impact students is most likely in strengthening our ability to educate and with that comes an improvement in quality of the students’ education,” Wise de Valdez said in an e-mail.
Senators will serve for a two-year term. Additional senators will be elected in Spring 2012 to serve a two-year term.
Wise de Valdez believes the Faculty Senate will play a vital role as the University grows.
“With the advent of a Faculty Senate, we will be able to address many of the issues facing faculty members that are likely to arise as our university grows,” she said.
Snow said the Faculty Senate will support the mission and values of the University and function as a recommending body to the president and provost.
The Faculty Senate will meet for the first time during the second week of May, then follow the schedule as written in the Faculty Senate constitution, “monthly from September through December and February through May,” Wise de Valdez said.
