2011-2012 Fall Faculty Convocation

Remarks from Marianna Walker, Chair of the Faculty

The 2011/2012 Faculty Convocation at East Carolina University will come to order. Good afternoon! Welcome to all faculty, administrators, BOT members, students, staff, and visitors. I am Marianna Walker and I am honored to serve you as the Chair of the Faculty again this year. I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the College of Allied Health Sciences. I welcome you back to begin the 2011/2012 academic year. Thanks to Professor John Tucker, University Historian, for providing this montage of images “Diversity at East Carolina University, Fifty Years On”. We truly appreciate these images as we reflect on the history of diversity at our university and the progress we have made in this important mission.

Now, I am honored to introduce Chancellor Steve Ballard, who will provide his remarks to begin the academic year. As you are aware, we postponed this Faculty Convocation so Chancellor Ballard would be able to address the faculty, following a his meeting with UNC President Tom Ross and other Chancellors at UNC General Administration on Monday.

Thank you Chancellor Ballard for your address, for your support for the faculty, and for your overall commitment and advocacy of East Carolina University. I know your open communication and transparency of process will serve us well in our current academic year, as it has in the past. Thank you.

I would like to recognize the current faculty leaders who are all continuing in their roles for a third year. These individuals have committed their time and work in the interest of shared governance and to represent the entire faculty in many settings, including their work on the Faculty Senate.

The Vice Chair of the Faculty, Professor Mark Sprague (Physics); Secretary of the Faculty, Professor Hunt McKinnon (Interior Design and Merchandising) and Parliamentarian, Professor Brenda Killingsworth, (Business). I thank them for all their service and work for the past two years, and for their continued efforts in the initiatives and challenges that we will face in the year ahead. And last, but certainly not least, is Ms. Lori Lee, the Faculty Senate Administrative Assistant. Thank you Lori for all that you do and have done for the faculty and the Faculty Senate.

Also, I’d like to recognize Professor Emeritus John Ellen and his wife Dot. Professor Ellen is the oldest living former Chair of the Faculty. He was Faculty Chair in 1966 when East Carolina College became a university.

Present today are Provost Marilyn Sheerer, Vice Chancellor Phyllis Horns, Vice Chancellor Rick Niswander, and Vice Chancellor Virginia Hardy who have worked collaboratively with the faculty and Faculty Senate. We look forward to our continued work with you this year. Thanks to the Deans and other key administrators for all your collaboration and support.

I’d also like to recognize the SGA Officers whom are a dedicated group of students who are passionate about their service and communication with the student body, faculty, staff, and administration. Present today are: Student Government Association President – Joshua Martinkovic, SGA Vice President – Dan Thornton, Treasurer –Justin Davis, Secretary – Chelsea Roach , and Student Body Chief Justice – AJ Ross. These students were instrumental in establishing the inaugural Freshman-First Year Advocate Awards in recognition of faculty and staff dedication to first year student development. Mr. Charles Clency, Assistant Director of University Housing received the staff award and Ms. Carla Pastor, in English received the faculty award. We look forward to our continued communication and work with these SGA officers.

We heard from Chancellor Ballard on current issues facing us from many different angles including UNC GA; our state and the budget, including legislative matters, and effects on our university budget and program prioritization considerations. In the midst of all these contemporary issues, we are also in the final academic year before we seek reaffirmation of SACS accreditation in 2013. On Monday, Provost Sheerer, Vice Chancellor Horns, Associate Provost Weismiller and I attended nine college convocations. In these visits, we asked the faculty to be engaged in the SACS process and to participate in assessment of student outcomes relative to degree programs. Faculty need to be engaged in the process of not only reviewing outcome results, but to collaborate on how those results can be used to enhance curriculum and improve on degree program outcomes. With new SACS standards, there must be documentation of this process that is “central to student success”. We are truly grateful for the work that had been accomplished with SACS thus far and will be completed this year.

For the past two years I have asked for faculty to “Come Together”, to communicate and express a voice on key university issues and challenges and to collaborate with administration in the spirit of shared governance. Well, the call must have worked, because the amount and quality of work that has been accomplished in the review of the Faculty Manual is truly amazing. Believe it or not, 92 of 132 sections of the Faculty manual have been reviewed and are completed, including needed revisions, deletions, and links to current UNC policies. Only 36 sections have yet to be reviewed by the committees, Faculty Senate, and ultimately the Chancellor. Our university committees have worked diligently to complete standard charges, in addition to reviewing and editing the Faculty Manual. Many have served on multiple academic and appellate committees, SACS committees, many with demanding agendas. Faculty and administrators on these committees have collectively become experts in faculty matters relating to the curriculum, academic standards, program development, and tenure and promotion policies.

This past year, the Faculty Senate endured long meetings, considering Faculty Manual recommendations, an Academic Integrity Policy for both undergraduate and graduate students, a University-wide Faculty Workload Policy, to name a few. I thank each of the senators for their commitment to shared governance and for important unit representation. This year, the senate will be engaged in debate, discussion, and action concerning the budget, program prioritization, distance education training, issues surrounding conduct and academic integrity, tenure and promotion and appellate committee procedures. This is academia at its best!

If you are a current Faculty Senator or Alternate, please stand. If you are a past Faculty Senator or Alternate, please stand. If you are a current member of a university standing academic or appellate committee, please stand. If you are on a SACS Committee or another university committee, please stand. If you are not standing, and are a member of a college or unit committee, please stand. Now, this is evidence of a culture for service! As the Chancellor stated a few months ago, “Faculty are involved in the running of the university”! These faculty, in addition to their typical responsibilities of teaching courses, directing student research, engaging in their own scholarship and creative activities, and writing grants, are passionate and have volunteered their valuable time in service. Our university could not function without dedicated faculty.

East Carolina University is known as the “leadership university” and our motto is “Servire”. A leadership university must recognize the service of its own faculty. We thank you for your unselfish dedication and the service you undertake. We would not be where we are without your dedication.

We all know that the university and its faculty have been under scrutiny regarding faculty workloads, productivity of degree programs, and marketability for university graduates. We have seen articles and commentaries that challenge the very nature of the higher education. What can we do about this? Last year I said that we, the faculty and the university, must “tell its own story”. As Chancellor Ballard mentioned, Mary Schulken, our newest point of contact for public relations, has agreed to assist us with such media and to write needed stories of faculty and students. Therefore, I am formally asking the faculty to submit your own story, or to nominate or suggest student-faculty profiles showcasing classroom or research activities. In addition, I also believe that we must write our own essays and commentaries relating to academia. We must communicate the value and need of education, not only from the professions that may be obtained following completion of a bachelor’s, master’s, or a doctoral degree, but from a liberal arts perspective. What is the value of education? How does the public benefit from having a university in the region? What can the faculty, in their respective disciplines, offer society, the environment, and healthcare? We MUST tell our stories.

In my last two years as Chair of the Faculty, some of my most rewarding moments have been interacting with faculty from diverse disciplines. In fact, just the other day, I met with a group of faculty (actually former Chairs of the Faculty) consisting of a composer, historian, sociologist, geologist, chemist, physicist, educator, and management information specialist! We discussed shared governance, the Faculty Manual, and preservation of the academy. Different views, different disciplines, common interests in shared governance and academia. As I said last year, “the faculty symbolize cohesion in a culture of diverse disciplines and endeavors. Collaboration is the key and communication is the tool. We must all work together to tell our stories, in a way that promotes the missions of the university. We when are able to articulate and communicate our strengths, the outside communities will understand and tell our stories as well”. We must celebrate our academic culture and what we do for society. Perhaps “Tales of Academia” should be our theme for these stories and essays. Possible subthemes could be “Soul in Humanity”, “Art in Practice”, “Science in Innovation”, “Educational Engineering”, or “Pioneers in Health”.

I encourage you to think about ways to demonstrate all the skills and endeavors that you undertake in your daily life as a university professor. We must showcase our programs. Please let me know when you or someone in your department needs to be recognized. We must reward excellence, not only for our students, but for our faculty as well. I encourage you to be involved, to seek collaboration outside your department, and to be innovative in your teaching and scholarship, and giving in your service. We must show the public that the development of knowledge in solving the needs of society and world may reside within the university and of the scholars among our faculty. We must preserve the culture and community of academia.

My key points this year have centered around a theme of communication and the ongoing need of faculty and top university administrators to continue, enhance, and perhaps change our levels and forums of both internal and external communication to meet the needs of our university, and ultimately the needs of our students. We must be unified in our goals, even if diverse in our perspectives.

In the words of Rick Niswander, Former Chair of the Faculty and Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration in his Convocation Speech in 2003 – “As engaged faculty, we can shape our future. It is important we be engaged because we, the faculty of ECU, have a responsibility to ourselves, to each other, and to those who follow”.

I applaud faculty for all they do on a daily basis, in their sharing of knowledge and discovery with students, in working to advance knowledge and application through their scholarship, while engaging in service at the university, college, and unit levels. Without your support, service, and expertise in all these areas, the academy would not exist. We, as faculty, are ready for challenges and value our role at OUR university. I thank each of you for your contributions and dedication to making East Carolina University the best university!

Now to honor one of the faculty’s most important roles and responsibilities, I’d like to introduce our next speaker. 2011 Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching is the highest teaching award presented by the University each year. The recipient’s nomination is forwarded by the Chancellor to the Office of the President. This past spring Dr. John Howard, Associate Professor in the School of Communication, College of Fine Arts and Communication received his award by a member of the Board of Governors at Spring Commencement. Dr. Howard teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels in such courses as Organizational Communication, Organizational Theories, Theories of Persuasion, and Leadership Studies. Dr. Howard was instrumental in establishing the interdisciplinary leadership minor and has been described as a leader in institutional effectiveness and assessment for his unit.

Thank you Dr. Howard for your remarks and wisdom relating to our profession of teaching, mentoring students, and for your discussion of academic accountability. You truly are a leader and a great communicator.

As you know, last year we ended with a “Come Together” theme and we don’t have that level of entertainment for you this year. However, in thinking of possible songs that we could use this year, especially with the challenges we have, a few songs come to mind. Through our work and communication with the Chancellor, including the use of existing structures and shared governance processes, there will be a “Bridge Over Troubled Waters. With all your dedication to the university and your unending service, we will get through these challenges. I will do all that I can to facilitate this bridge, but I will need “A Little Help From My Friends”. I look forward to working with you this year, and to facilitate communication about all aspects of the university that affects faculty and the education of our students. The Faculty Officers, Chancellor, and Vice Chancellors invite all to a social at Winslow’s (5^th Street) each month following the Faculty Senate meeting. Come and join us for and get to know your fellow faculty and administrators and Communicate!

Have a great year! The Faculty Convocation is now adjourned.