Fall Faculty Convocation Remarks
Janice Tovey, Chair of the Faculty
August 18, 2008
Welcome to the 2008-2009 Academic Year at
I’d also like to introduce some people who are
ordinarily on the stage with us. First, our Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor
for Academic and Student Affairs, Marilyn Sheerer. And our Interim Vice
Chancellor for health Sciences, Phyllis Horns. Thank you both. Deirdre Mageean,
Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies is unable to be here today, she’s
having knee surgery. When I asked her if I could announce why she wasn’t here,
she said and I quote “sure go ahead, and tell them you always knew I didn’t
have a leg to stand on.” I promise---
her words! Hope you’re back on your feet soon, Deirdre, crutches and all.
Other special guests joining us today are Pat Dunn,
the Mayor of Greenville and a member of the Faculty in Health and Human
Performance, and the President of the Student Government Association, Drew
Griffin. I’ve had several occasions to meet with Drew and I believe he is a
wonderful representative of the ECU student body.
Just a couple of additional recognitions: first
thanks to 2 people in particular who have given a great deal of time and energy
to their roles in the faculty Senate. Our past chair, Mark Taggart—Mark please
stand. Mark has been helpful and gracious as we make our transition to new
officers. Also, I want to thank, DeeDee
Glascoff who has served as vice chair of the faculty for the past 4 years.
Please stand DeeDee.
Finally, allow me to introduce the other members of
my leadership team: Vice Chair Marianna Walker, Secretary Hunt McKinnon,
Parliamentarian Ken Wilson, And last, but certainly not least, Lori Lee, our
Senate administrator.
Now—to the business of the day. It’s my pleasure this
morning to introduce Chancellor Steve Ballard. [Ballard] Thank you Chancellor
Ballard
One aspect of the ECU tomorrow strategic plan is our
goal to be the
As faculty our first responsibility is educating our
students. The research we do, the creative activity we engage in, and the
service we do to the university community, our professional communities, and
the community at large—all comes back to our roles as teachers. Our own
professional development makes us better teachers and enables us to offer more
to
A part of that responsibility comes in the form of
assessment. Many of you teach in programs that are certified, licensed, or
accredited by an agency outside the university. You already understand the
importance of program review and the assessment of student learning outcomes.
And the rest of us have to understand it as well. As the chancellor just
mentioned, our accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools—SACS—comes up for renewal in 5 years, and we have already begun to plan
for the site visit in 2013. The steering committee was appointed last year and
is meeting on a regular basis and will continue to do so until the visit, but
that’s not the end. This accreditation process is a full time, all the time
process for all aspects of the university and the committee consists of faculty
members as well as staff and administrators.
The SACS review process requires a self study—and we
as faculty have a responsibility for the review of our programs. We are
responsible for establishing the goals and learning outcomes of our courses and
we are also responsible for assessing those student learning outcomes. And each
faculty member must be prepared to attend to the results of any review. That
is, when weaknesses are revealed, when the goals are not met, we must be
prepared to revise programs and courses to ensure those goals are met in the
future. Staff will have their reviews, as will administrators, but faculty have
responsibility for the academic review—that of programs and courses.
Not only do we have a responsibility to our students,
we have a responsibility to each other, to support and guide, as well as
evaluate each other. Unlike many universities across the nation that have
administrators or university-wide committees make tenure decisions, the faculty have the primary responsibility
for not only recruiting and conducting searches for appropriate candidates, but
the tenured faculty have the responsibility
for the reappointment, tenure and promotion decisions. These are not
trivial responsibilities—our advice and our recommendations directly affect the
careers of tenure track faculty and we must be fair and honest in our dealing with
them. I encourage each of you to take these responsibilities seriously;
consider the significance of your actions each time you review dossiers,
evaluate them and discuss them with other tenured faculty. Consider mentoring
tenure track faculty member, especially the newest faculty in your units. A
strong mentoring program can help them to maneuver the minefield of tenure and
promotion processes. We spend a great
deal of time and effort recruiting and hiring the most qualified candidates—so
let’s keep them around.
The chancellor named two additional agenda times in
which faculty and administrators have collaborated recently: the Carnegie
classification and the Phase 2 response to UNC tomorrow. Each of these will
require continued collaboration among faculty, administration, and staff.
I am committed to this collaboration, and committed
to faculty involvement. Shared governance requires your commitment also—members
of the senate and its committees will be discussing important issues related to
our strategic plan, the UNC tomorrow response, SACS accreditation and the
Carnegie classification of engaged university. We need the input from faculty
and the involvement of faculty in order to accomplish the necessary tasks as we
continue our commitments to our students and to our community.
Thank
you.
Now, I privileged to introduce Louis Warren from the
Thank you all for coming. Have a great year.