Faculty Convocation
Catherine Rigsby, Chair of the Faculty
August 2005
We’ve
come through an exciting and transforming year as a university. We’ve had an almost complete
transformation of the upper administration.
And, I am pleased to say, FACULTY played a large and important role
in the process – at least ˝ of all of the major search committees where
comprised of faculty members. Thanks to
of you for your hard work on these committees and I thank the faculty at large
for participating in the on-campus portions of those searches.
I’m
also pleased to be able to say that we now have the most transparent and
inclusive system of shared governance that has ever been seen at
ECU. Faculty are
involved in almost all aspects of university operations and decision
making. This is because of the volunteer
spirit of the faculty who accept appointments to committees – Faculty
Senate committees, administrative committees, search committees, and ad hoc
university-wide committees.
It
is also because of the attitude of our new administration. One sign of the change in “administrative
tone” is the inclusion of the Chair of the Faculty on the Chancellor’s
cabinet. This puts increased
responsibility on the faculty Chair, but it offers an unprecedented information
conduit between the faculty and administration.
Having
this voice gives the faculty the opportunity to be heard, to better
understand the rationale behind decisions, and to work toward compromise on
contentious issues. But, this new
inclusiveness also comes with new responsibility:
when we
are asked to participate we must not withdraw;
we must
come to the table with our ideas, options, and suggestions – we must come
prepared to debate and negotiate.
To
do so, demands increased faculty participation on our committees. If the faculty do
not participate, we lose our opportunity to contribute to this change.
I
can give you a few examples of the kind of change I’m referring to . . .
Last
year we finally passed a new Serious Illness and Disability Policy. This was done through the hard work of the
members of the Faculty Welfare committee in cooperation and collaboration with our administrators across
campus – including John Toller and his staff in Human Resources and several of
our university attorneys. The bulk
of the hard work of understanding both the constraints AND the possibilities
presented by OP’s demand for a new policy was done by the faculty. The faculty on the committee were willing and
able to stand up for faculty needs by working collaboratively (&
negotiating) with the administration to insure that only the best
possible policy be approved. This
process, to me, involved an unprecedented level of openness and inclusiveness
for ECU.
A similar level of shared
governance is currently being exhibited in regards to faculty input into the
design and placement of new facilities and the environmental/ecological
maintenance of the campus. For example,
·
Faculty
have been asked, by the VC of
Student Life (Garry Moore), for input regarding to the expansion of the
·
And, over the
summer, a new faculty/administration committee – one that was prooposed
last Spring by a Faculty Senate resolution – was implemented,
jointly, by me (as Chair of the Faculty) and the VC of Facilities and Finance
(Kevin Seitz). This committee – the
Greenspace Committee – will provide oversight of use of campus green
spaces as well as input into all major campus-wide projects that could
have an impact on the environmental quality of our community.
Through these
examples, I believe we are glimpsing a new university:
·
a university
where faculty work not only to enhance their own research, teaching, and career
goals, but also to facilitate the success of our colleagues;
·
a university
where faculty work to redefine our sense of place by making ECU more
outward-looking and inclusive of the challenges to the community;
·
a university
where faculty work with the administration and the community to use our
tools and expertise in the transformation of eastern North Carolina socially,
economically, and environmentally into more sustainable, more livable, place.
We do, however,
still have major challenges ahead – both regionally and on campus:
·
The Faculty
Mentoring study we started last year (in an effort to facilitate the success of
all faculty) remains a major priority. This semester, additional faculty input will
be solicited and the Faculty Welfare committee will have membership on the
administrative New Faculty Orientation Task Force.
·
The discussion
of University-wide Standards of Excellence that we started last year still
needs work. A report prepared by an Ad Hoc
Committee will be considered by the Faculty Governance Committee. Although the question of Provost-level tenure
and promotion committees remains a difficult one, we all agree that
across-university standards of excellence are a given and that any administration-level
committee must be vetted by shared-governance processes.
·
The Educational
Policies and Planning Committee will work to revamp Part V, Section III of the
Faculty Manual – the section on curriculum development – to bring it in line
with current policies and practices and (not incidentally!) to make it make it
more comprehensible. They will also
continue – as they did last year – to work with the Provost’s Academic Program
Development Collaborative Team to carefully evaluate both the academic quality
and the “readiness” status of proposed new programs.
and,
·
Although the
budget situation is better now than we thought it would be,
the University Budget committee will continue to provide input to VC Seitz and
the rest of the administration on matters of resource distribution. During the summer, the Budget committee was
consulted several times and was given complete information – about
everything from the state-level budget situation to the Provost’s draft
compensation plan. The committee will continue
to be the main information conduit for budgetary issues and will have input
as critical, on campus, decisions are made about budget issues. Increasing budgetary transparency will make
us all more comfortable with, and more confident in, the
process by which on-campus decisions are made.
It will also give us greater responsibility – the responsibility to pay
attention and to speak up on issues of importance to the university community.
We must step up to
the challenge that this new openness and inclusivity presents and continue to
improve our university and our region.
To do this, requires
2 things:
·
increased and
sustained faculty support for shared governance,
and,
·
the willingness of administration (at all levels) to
recognize the value of service and the value of applied research.
By service, I mean
both service in the field, where faculty provide unique resources to the
community AND the service to the university that is essential to keeping
the transparency and the collaboration alive.
By applied
research, I mean quality, peer-recognized, research that can aid in
the transformation of our region.
We, the faculty,
have the tools, the expertise, and the talent to create a renaissance on our
campus, and in our city, and in our region – all we really need is the
excitement and enthusiasm to make happen.
If we are to
continue to grow as a research university, to expand our graduate offerings,
and o attract and retain the best research-active faculty, we must work to
transform ourselves, our policies, and our community – we must be able to
compete with other major research universities, not only in the realm of
salaries and benefits (no, we’re not there yet . . .), but also in our level of
service to the community, our quality of life, and the state of our local
environment.
I
urge you ALL to participate this year in shaping our university and our
region.
With
your participation we can form good policies that encourage faculty development,
improve the status of our university, and enhance the quality of our
community.
Look
beyond your offices, labs, classrooms, and studios.
See
the whole university.
See
the university’s place in the community and the region.
Offer your
expertise on matters of community significance.
Offer
to serve on a university-level committee.
Be
willing to help shape the future of ECU and of eastern
by
helping us build first from our greatest strength – by using the expertise of
the great faculty sitting in this room.