The U-M faculty’s Senate Assembly will choose three new members of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs at its meeting Monday.
The three top vote getters will serve three-year terms that begin May 1.
The full University Senate is scheduled to elect a secretary at a separate meeting, also Monday. The secretary serves a three-year term, and is charged with maintaining records for U-M’s faculty governance panels and with keeping the minutes of meetings of the University Senate, Senate Assembly and SACUA.
The full Senate meeting is set for 3:15 p.m. in the Great Lakes Rooms of Palmer Commons and will be followed by the Senate Assembly meeting at the same location.
Besides the Senate secretary election, the full Senate will be asked to consider a proposal to allow a one-time electronic Senate vote on rules changes that are expected to be proposed at a future date.
The University Senate consists of all professorial faculty, librarians, full-time research faculty, executive officers and deans. The Senate Assembly consists of 74 elected faculty members from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses. SACUA is a nine-member executive arm of the University Senate and Senate Assembly.
Additional candidates for secretary and SACUA seats may announce their intent to run up to the time of the election.
As of Record press time, one candidate has indicated he will run for University Senate secretary and five candidates have entered the SACUA election. Biographical information and position statements supplied by the candidates follow.
Secretary election
• David Potter, Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, professor of Greek and Latin
Statement of candidate: I am honored to accept SACUA’s nomination to be Faculty Secretary. Since serving on SACUA, my work in faculty governance, including service on the SRAC, and the advisory committee to the Secretary of the Regents and with groups such that which developed the University’s policy on Student Sexual Misconduct, has reinforced my belief that the University can achieve its potential for genuine excellence in its educational and research missions when there is clear and transparent communication between the faculty and the central administration. As Secretary I would see it as my responsibility to maintain and enhance that communication.
SACUA election
• Angela Fagerlin, associate professor of internal medicine, Medical School; adjunct associate professor of psychology, LSA
Education: Bachelor of Arts, psychology, Hope College, 1995; Master of Arts, experimental psychology, Kent State University, 1997; and Doctor of Philosophy, experimental Psychology, Kent State University, 2000
Faculty leadership: Co-director, Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine; member, Senate Assembly, Government Relations Advisory Committee, Internal Medicine CV Review and Promotions Committee, Cancer Center Protocol Review Committee; vice president, Society of Medical Decision Making
Statement of candidate: SACUA must balance the needs of both the University and the faculty. When needs diverge, it is the responsibility of SACUA to make difficult decisions and I would find this work fulfilling.
Three areas I will be especially engaged in are:
1. Implementing innovative methods to ensure that junior faculty succeed in extramural funding, advancing science and educating our students.
2. As an interdisciplinary scientist, I believe our university is strengthened when we work together and understand the different perspectives and priorities of our colleagues in other departments. I will use my many connections to represent the needs of faculty throughout the University.
3. As a former first-generation college student, I am committed to ensuring that students of color and/or are economically disadvantaged are represented in our University and have the tools needed to be successful.
• Douglas Richstone, Lawrence Aller Collegiate Professor of Astronomy, LSA
Education: Bachelor of Science, astronomy, Caltech, 1971; Ph.D., astrophysical sciences, Princeton University, 1975
Faculty leadership: Chair of Department of Astronomy, 1985-90 and 2000-10; LSA Divisional Evaluation Committee; chair of the Research Policies Committee, 2013-15; member, Financial Affairs Advisory Committee, State of Ohio review of physics and astronomy graduate programs; Space Telescope Institute Council member and chair (institutional oversight committee)
Statement of candidate: My service as department chair has alerted me to the difficulties faced by new faculty which were not a problem for my generation. In addition to traditional scholarly activities, we must innovate in an increasingly complicated classroom environment, secure support in an increasingly competitive funding environment, and provide greater service to the university and community. Faculty members struggling to meet these expectations do so with a declining level of administrative support. My service on the RPC and FAAC, and conversations with many of the recently installed members of our Central Administration, leads me to believe that they want to reverse some adverse trends. Unfortunately, it is much easier to compute the cost savings associated with centralizing support units than to compute the impact on faculty time resulting from that centralization. I believe that the Faculty Senate and its committees help provide a critical faculty voice in this area. I would work hard to make sure that voice is heard.
• Maria J. Silveira, associate professor of internal medicine, Medical School,
Education: Bachelor of Arts, biochemistry, Harvard University, 1991; Master of Arts, medical ethics, University of Pittsburgh, 1995; Doctor of Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1996; Master of Public Health, health services, University of Washington, 2001
Faculty leadership: American Medical Student’s Association (local chapter), the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Senate Assembly
Statement of candidate: I am running for SACUA because I see our academic way of life is at risk and I want to make sure someone is at the table to stand up for those things that, as faculty, I hold most dear:
Academic Diversity — I am committed to understanding the complex factors that push away potential candidates and existing faculty and will work with the rest of SACUA to promote policies that help promote recruitment and retention of diverse faculty.
Academic Freedom — As a member of SACUA, I will work to help protect and expand academic freedom by identifying ways the University of Michigan can thrive financially without limiting its faculty.
Academic Integrity — Our reputation for excellence is jeopardized when questions are raised about the integrity of our work and that of our students. I will work to ensure that our faculty are better educated about the University’s academic standards and are aware of mechanisms in place to enforce them.
• Stefan Szymanski, professor of kinesiology, School of Kinesiology
Education: Bachelor of Arts, politics, philosophy and economics, Oxford University, 1983; Master of Science, economics, Birkbeck College, London University, 1985; Ph.D., economics, Birkbeck College, London University, 1988
Faculty leadership: Full-time MBA program director, Imperial College Business School (2003-06); MBA dean, Cass Business School (2008-10), Senate Assembly (2011-present), Senate Assembly delegate to MHealthy committee “Keeping the well and at-risk healthy”
Statement of candidate: Many faculty feel distant from the decision-making processes of the university and it is the responsibility of SACUA to create an effective channel of communication between faculty and the university administration. I will work with the other members of SACUA and the Senate Assembly to improve communications, obtain timely faculty input on important issues and on this basis to provide clear advice on university policy to the president, provost and executive officers.
• David Wright, associate professor of accounting, Stephen M. Ross School of Business
Education: Bachelor of Science, accounting and actuarial science, Drake University, 1977; Ph.D., accounting, Michigan State University, 1985
Faculty leadership: Senate Assembly (2001-14) and alternate representative (2014-current), SACUA Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty (2014-current), academic director of the Master of Accounting degree program in the Ross School of Business (1996-2011, chair of the Curriculum Committee in the Ross School)
Statement of candidate: The unique set of skills I bring to faculty governance arise from a nearly 40-year career in accounting and finance. Most of the contentious issues that I have seen arise in Senate Assembly have one common characteristic — they are rooted in the financial condition of the university. Examples include the Administrative Services Transformation, re-engineering of faculty and staff benefits, and use of technology to improve faculty “productivity.” I have decades of experience reading, interpreting, analyzing and explaining financial statements, cost allocations, budgets and financial forecasts in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. The proper role of the accountant is to cut through a morass of financial information in a transparent and unbiased fashion to enable other decision-makers — SACUA and Senate Assembly — to form sound professional judgments. If elected, it is this role that I would hope to play on SACUA.
