The University Record, November 26, 1996
Faculty Senate committee will probe future of the University
The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs this fall has established a Faculty Senate Committee on the Future of the University and charged it with developing the “widest possible variety of ideas, concepts and initiatives” that will be “essential to the vitality of the University in the years ahead.”
The committee was formed after members of SACUA, chaired by George Brewer, professor of genetics and of internal medicine, spent “considerable time considering the future possible directions of the University,” noted the charge to the comittee. It became clear to this group that “the only individuals able to speak to the question with the credibility and authority it deserves are members of the University Senate.” Accordingly, SACUA appointed 14 Faculty Senate members to the committee, representing a broad cross-section of faculty views.
Each member of the committee will produce a draft position paper or essay by January 1997. These drafts will be circulated among committee members for information or comment. The full committee will meet in mid-February for final discussion, and the finished position papers will be compiled and printed for discussion at Senate Assembly’s March meeting. Following that meeting, the report will be distributed to the incoming president and to the Board of Regents.
The intent of the committee’s charge is to invite a dialogue, rather than an agreed-upon list of recommendations, so there is no necessity for members to reach unanimity. “It may be, however, that some set of aspirations or goals emerges that is almost unanimously affirmed and there is no reason why it should not be presented as such,” read the charge to the committee.
Committee members and the disciplines or units they represent are: Robert Bartlett, surgery; Frithjof Bergman, philosophy; Glenn W. DeYoung, dance; Billy Joe Evans, chemistry; Gordon Kane, physics; Diane Kirkpatrick, art history; Leslie Kish, Institute for Social Research; John Laird, electrical engineering and computer science; Arlene Saxonhouse, political science; Sharon Sutton, architecture and urban planning; Kenneth Warner, public health; James B. White, law; Kensall Wise, electrical engineering and computer science; and Yvonne Wulff, University Library.
