VCU Faculty Senate

Dr. Joe Marolla , Vice Provost for Instruction, has sent us two
documents that we should read before his visit with the Faculty
Senate at our November 6th meeting.

These are the Core Curriculum, as it was presented and accepted by the
University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UUCC),
and a transition document which they are using to accept courses
into the Core.

Please share these with your school or department faculty and
bring questions or concerns for discussion at our next Senate
meeting with Dr. Marolla.

--Dan Ream
VCU Faculty Senate President, 2007/2008

Posted by at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The VCU Faculty Senate's ad hoc Adjunct Faculty Committee is being chaired by
a recent past president of the Senate, Judy Lewis, and will be looking into
whether adjunct faculty's needs should be better represented by the Faculty Senate.

Senators who know adjunct faculty in their school or department who
might be interested in participating on this committee should have interested
adjunct faculty contact Judy at jalewis@vcu.edu We hope to have adjunct
faculty from a variety of schools and with a variety of experiences at VCU
participate on this committee.
.

Dan Ream
VCU Faculty Senate President, 2007/2008

Posted by at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As discussed in our Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday, we would
like for all faculty senators to solicit and collect comments from
their school or department's faculty about the quality of VCU
bookstore services on both campuses. Faculty should send their
comments to their senators, who may then report them on the
Faculty Senate's Blackboard discussion area that has been labeled
"VCU Bookstore Services". Only senators and alternates can post
here, so please DO NOT ask your faculty to do so themselves.
Faculty senators may post anonymously, as was requested.

The immediate beneficiaries of this collection of comments will be
Bob Andrews and Patricia Selinger, who are representing the
Faculty Senate in the current evaluation of prospective VCU bookstore
management companies. These prospective vendors are seeking
contracts to run our VCU bookstores from 2008-1013, with renewal
options after that. Faculty comments about current and recently past
bookstore services will enable them to better spot potential problem
areas and strengths in selecting our next vendor.

Our Faculty Senate Academic Support Services Committee, chaired
by Valerie Robnolt, may also use these comments in their design of
a faculty-wide survey regarding VCU bookstores to be administered
later this fall.

The Faculty Senate Blackboard page can be found on all senators'
and alternates' Blackboard pages after login at
http://blackboard.vcu.edu/

Thanks for your help in this information gathering process that
may lead to improvements in the VCU bookstores services to
our students.

--Dan Ream
VCU Faculty Senate President, 2007/2008

Posted by at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At Tuesday's Faculty Senate meeting I referred several times
to the Intellectual Diversity/ Academic Freedom bill that was
proposed at the 2007 Virginia legislative session.

The text and history of this bill can be read online at
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+sum+HB1643

The summary, as introduced, reads....
"Requires each public institution of higher education to annually
report to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
(SCHEV) the steps the institution is taking to ensure intellectual
diversity and the free exchange of ideas. SCHEV must compile
the information and report to the General Assembly by
December 31 of each year"

It was left in the Education Committee of the House in 2007,
but may return again in 2008, so please take a look at it.

For editorials, analysis, etc on this bill, see these
Google search results at http://tinyurl.com/398lz6
At least the first two screens of search results are
on this particular legislation.

--Dan Ream
VCU Faculty Senate President, 2007/2008

Posted by at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Faculty Senators-- please review for discussion at our November Senate meeting.

--Dan Ream, VCU Faculty Senate President, 2007/2008

From a message posted by provost Stephen Gottfredson on 9/30/2007....

Earlier this year, the University Equity and Diversity Committee,
with the aid of the VCU Survey and Evaluation Research Lab, conducted a
survey of all faculty and staff to help evaluate the working atmosphere
of the University as it relates to diversity. Of the 4,672 full-time
faculty and staff at VCU, 2,051(44%) responded to the survey.

The results of the survey are now available on the University Equity
and Diversity Web site at http://www.vcu.edu/eeoaa/uedc.html. Also on
that site is the report of an outside consulting firm, Kinzey and Day
Market Research, which conducted focus groups in an effort to further
elucidate some of the issues identified in the University-wide survey.

Overall, the survey results show that we have much to be proud of --
94% of respondents reported being proud to work for VCU, and 89%
of respondents would recommend VCU as a place to work.

But we also found that we have areas for improvement -- for example,
in retaining and promoting women and minorities, and in ensuring that
classified staff feel valued as vital members of the VCU community.

The University Equity and Diversity Committee will be hard at work
in the coming months, translating findings into an action agenda.
I'm pleased to report that Dr. Henry G. Rhone, Vice Provost for Student
Affairs and Enrollment Services, has agreed to chair the Committee
this year. He follows Dr. Beverly Warren, Dean of the School of
Education, who ably led the Committee throughout the development
and implementation of the Climate Survey and an initial draft of a
University Strategic Plan for Diversity.

I am also pleased to announce that Dr. M. Njeri Jackson has agreed to
serve the University as Special Assistant to the Provost for Promoting
Diversity. Dr. Jackson comes to this role following nine years as
director of the African American Studies Program and chair of the
Department of African American Studies in the College of Humanities
and Sciences. Dr. Jackson was instrumental in building the African
American Studies Program into a free-standing academic department,
and in gaining University and SCHEV approval of the bachelor's
degree in African American Studies. She is an associate professor
of Political Science in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government
and Public Affairs, and holds degrees from Georgia State University
(BA), Atlanta University (MA), and Clark-Atlanta University (PhD).
An accomplished teacher and scholar in the areas of race, class and
gender, Dr. Jackson has received numerous awards.

Finally, I extend my sincere appreciation to all of you who
participated in the Climate Survey and Focus Groups.

Sincerely,

Stephen D. Gottfredson
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Posted by at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)