Chair Talk #7 December 2015

Looking Back

It’s been a very busy semester.   In addition to the regular work of faculty governance, many of you have stepped up to help with two significant projects.  First, 50+ faculty have participated in “Quality” brainstorming sessions, with the aim of defining quality in both scholarship and instruction.  These groups met twice, had fruitful discussions, and draft documents have been generated.  This process will pick up again after the break, with the hope of bringing something to Faculty Senate early in the Spring semester.  Our ideas will broadly inform the UA’s approach to ABOR’s discussion of quality.   They will also allow us to define quality in more specific ways relevant to the unique mission of the UA and its varied units.

Second, small groups of faculty recently engaged in a “listening tour” involving visits to the UA’s six cultural centers.  We wanted to hear directly from students about how included they feel at the UA, and whether there are things faculty could and should be doing differently.  The answer is emphatically yes – and we will be returning to these extremely important matters at the start of the Spring semester. 

A third major focus of faculty officers this semester has been compensation – we have urged that a process to address salary concerns be given a high priority, and that this process address salary issues for all UA employees.  We will continue to stress the importance of salaries in the coming semester.

In a related vein, perhaps you are not aware of the UA Campus Pantry program, run by students, and primarily serving students.  It aims to provide access to food for those in the UA community in need.  Should you wish to help, here is their website: http://www.campuspantry.arizona.edu

Have a peaceful and restorative semester break.

Lynn Nadel