Correction: The print edition of this article misquotes Barbara Floyd, chairwoman of the Faculty Senate and UT's archivist. In the original article, the quote from Floyd reads, "There's a new committee formed after the merger [of UT and the former Medical University of Ohio] to figure out which departments are going to merge and to eliminate any duplicates." She did not use the word "departments," but she was instead referring to the merging of Faculty Senate committees. The IC regrets this error.
The Faculty Senate's last meeting of the year missed the presence of its most anticipated guests.
Rick Stansley, the chairman of UT's Board of Trustees, and Olivia Summons, one of the co-chairs of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee, were invited to attend the Tuesday meeting. Stansley and Summons, however, were not present due to unforeseen circumstances which prevented them from participating in a planned question and answer session.
"It's a missed opportunity for us to have some good, productive conversation with them, [and] hopefully there will be a consistent, regular opportunity [like this]," said Sharon Barnes, associate professor for interdisciplinary studies.
"I think it's a great idea to have the board of trustees attend the Faculty Senate meetings [as it is a] direct line of communication with the faculty, [and] I'm very glad to see that they decided to come [but] disappointed that they can't make it. I think everybody was disappointed," said Daryl Moorhead, professor of environmental sciences and director of the Stranahan Arboretum.
Barbara Floyd, chairwoman of the Faculty Senate and UT's archivist, gave a State of the University Address during the meeting and listed a number of "unfinished businesses or future concerns."
Among the issues raised were the diminishing voices of faculty members. Floyd mentioned the lack of university committee structure for the past three years, lack of a representative on the board of trustee's committee on Academic and Student Affairs and lack of input from the faculty in the hiring plan and on buildings, renovation and new facilities.
"I hope the first thing accomplished is establishing UT's standing structure," Floyd said. "There's a new committee formed after the merger [of UT and the former Medical University of Ohio] to figure out which committees are going to merge and to eliminate any duplicates."
Floyd believed Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Policies Carol Bresnahan was one of the co-chairs for the ad hoc committee that was put together in July and August of 2006. The committee has submitted a report to the administration, but no further action has been taken following the report.
"We've always in the past had faculty on all board of trustees committees, [but] this year, we have no representative," Floyd said.
"When there was a question, there's nobody there to respond to the question being raised," she said.
Floyd said the committee on facilities and construction, which was chaired by Associate Vice President for Facilities and Construction Chuck Lehnert, had only met once this whole year, and it was just a planning meeting. Lehnert was recently promoted to the vice president for facilities and construction.
Floyd mentioned that in the midst of the new budget reallocation, there are four new vice president positions and one associate vice president, which she found out a couple weeks ago while reading UT News.
Renee Heberle, associate professor in political science, read a quote spoken by President Jacobs from October 2006 on shared governance: "The faculty is the most important part of an institution ... the faculty are the heart, core and soul in any higher education institution."
"I see nothing in terms of programs or collaboration, nothing [of that sort]," she said.
There's a huge need for communication, and it is one of the biggest obstacles to the university, Moorhead said.
"It is a very positive thing at [a] university to have dialogue," Moorhead said, stressing the importance of communication.
Moorhead was hired during the Frank Horton administration and served under Vik Kapoor's administration.
"I don't think, during the nine years I've been here, there's [been] an adequate communication between the board of trustees, the faculty and the administration," he said.
"I hope the new Faculty Senate will think [communication] should be one of the top agenda items for them to wrestle with," Moorhead said.
Among other concerns was the merger of the two different Faculty Senates.
"[We're] trying to blend the two together. I don't know [how it will work out]," Barnes said.
"I think my perspective is that the biggest issue is how we can integrate our cultures and values in a way that respects everyone and honors their voices and rights and priorities," she said. "I think the faculty has been troubled by that because it has not been always happening."
"The whole merging of the faculty senate is a great opportunity for us as an institution to find our power sharing structure, so we know who to go to when we're having problems," she said.
The new Faculty Senate will have 64 senators. 14 senators will be from the College of Arts and Sciences, 14 from the College of Medicine, seven from the College of Engineering, seven from Health Science and Human Services, six from the College of Business, four from the College of Education, four from the College of Nursing and two each from the College of Pharmacy, College of Law, the Library and the University College.
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