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Faculty Governance News

vol. 3.1

August 28, 2008

From the UNC Office of Faculty Governance
200-204 Carr Building
UNC-CH Campus
Contact: Anne M. Whisnant (anne_whisnant@unc.edu)

Faculty Council to hold first meeting, September 12

The Faculty Council’s first monthly meeting of the year will be held Friday, September 12, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. in the Hitchcock Multipurpose Room of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History. For the complete Faculty Council meeting schedule for the year, as well as for agendas and meeting minutes of Faculty Council meetings, please visit the Faculty Council page of the Faculty Governance website.

How do I get on the Faculty Council agenda?

Do you have an issue or topic you would like discussed at the Faculty Council meeting but don’t know how to proceed?  The Faculty Code of University Government (essentially the constitution for faculty governance at UNC) describes the rules of procedure for the Faculty Council.  You can read them here.

Faculty Governance meetings calendar now available

We have now developed a master Google calendar that includes meetings of both the Faculty Council and most of the standing committees of the Faculty enumerated in the Faculty Code.  The calendar presently includes meeting schedules for the following bodies:

  • Faculty Council
  • Faculty Council Agenda Committee
  • Chancellor’s Advisory Committee
  • Faculty Executive Committee
  • Educational Policy Committee
  • Faculty Athletics Committee
  • Fixed Term Faculty Committee
  • Undergraduate Admissions Committee

Check it out to better understand the operations of faculty governance here at UNC!

What do new faculty want?

The new Center for Faculty Excellence cannot provide tenure, a parking spot next to the office, or basketball tickets, but it can help new faculty “set their coordinates” and get assistance with instruction, research and leadership skills.  To start, the Center has developed a useful “What Do New Faculty Want?” list to of key things to know and places to go for help with teaching, research, and faculty life at Carolina.  Both old and new faculty will find many things of interest there.

The Center is located in Suite 316 on the ground level of Wilson Library. For more information on all of the programs and other workshops sponsored by the Center, see their home page at http://cfe.unc.edu/index.html

Faculty Commons at the Campus Y:  Free coffee and a place to meet

The Anne Queen Faculty Commons at the Campus Y is a beautiful space managed for the use of faculty and their guests every weekday during the day.  Free coffee is available, and most days the room is open for impromptu get-togethers or faculty gatherings.  Faculty groups can also reserve the room for faculty-oriented programs.  Please contact the Office of Faculty Governance for more details (962-2147) or check out the room regulations, calendar, and reservation form online.

2009 Distinguished Alumna/us Award nominees sought; Deadline for nominations is October 14

Nominations are being accepted for 2009 UNC Distinguished Alumna/us Awards, which will be presented at the 2009 University Day ceremony. The deadline for nominations is Tuesday, October 14, 2008, and anyone may submit a nomination.

The Faculty Committee on Honorary Degrees and Special Awards selects winners.  Nomination letters should include appropriate biographical information and a statement in support of the nomination that shows the nominee’s contribution to humanity in any walk of life. Supporting letters often accompany nominations, but the content, not the number, of these letters is what counts.
   
Nomination letters can be sent to the Committee on Honorary Degrees and Special Awards, Campus Box 9170.  Please read the complete criteria and instructions for making a nomination here

Chancellor Holden Thorp to be formally installed on University Day, October 12, 3:00 p.m.

The University will install Dr. Holden Thorp as its 10th chancellor on University Day, Oct. 12, the birthday of the nation’s oldest state university. Thorp will give an installation address, and the University will honor distinguished alumni during a festive ceremony steeped in campus history. 

All faculty are encouraged to attend.  Academic regalia can be rented for the day.

Complete information about the installation ceremonies, which will include conferring of the annual Distinguished Alumna/us Awards, is available here:  http://www.unc.edu/installation/.

“Shameless Self-Promotion: Effective Strategies for Promoting Your Research” workshop, September 9

“Shameless Self-Promotion: Effective Strategies For Promoting Your Research” is the topic of a brownbag lunchtime discussion on women faculty and professional development on September 9 from 12:00 noon to 2 p.m. in the Anne Queen Faculty Commons at the Campus Y.

Dr. Charlotte Hamlin, now a consultant and trainer in women’s leadership, will lead the discussion. Dr. Hamlin taught and served in various senior administrative roles in colleges and universities for more than 20 years before retiring from Guilford College. She continues to teach college courses in interpersonal and intercultural communication.

Other speakers will be Dr. Jane Brown, James L. Knight Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication; and Lisa Katz, Director of News Services.  The event is sponsored by the Carolina Women’s Center.  For more information, phone 962-8305.

Faculty Engaged Scholars Program application deadline is September 12

The deadline is fast approaching for submission of applications for the Faculty Engaged Scholars Program. At least five faculty members from UNC will be selected to participate and will receive a stipend up to $7,500 per year for two years.  Priority will be given to fixed-term faculty who have been at Carolina for at least five years and all tenure-track faculty.

The deadline for applications is September 12. An online application is available. For more information, see the program’s website at http://www.unc.edu/cps/faculty-engaged-scholars.php  or call Claire Lorch, Associate Director of Carolina Center for Public Service, at 843-7568.

Hodding Carter III to deliver Lambeth Lecture in Public Policy, September 16

Distinguished journalist W. Hodding Carter III will speak on “Public Policy, Public Opinion, and the Public Good,” in the Thomas Willis Lambeth Lecture in Public Policy, to be held on Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. in Gerrard Hall (next to South Building).  The lecture is free and open to all.  For more information, contact Richard (Pete) Andrews in the Department of Public Policy at 843-5011.

Association of Women Faculty and Professionals holds fall reception, September 18

The UNC Association of Women Faculty and Professionals invites all women faculty to its fall reception, to be held September 18, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. in the Faculty Commons at the Campus Y. 

Since 1978, the AWFP has offered women faculty opportunities for fun, networking and learning through social activities, seminars, discussion groups and other events. The diverse membership, expanded to include professional women in 1992, now includes faculty, researchers, administrators, librarians, communicators, fundraisers, medical and legal professionals, and other UNC faculty and staff.

For more information, please visit the AWFP website or contact AWFP president Jane Thrailkill at tkill@unc.edu or vice president Anne Whisnant at anne_whisnant@unc.edu

Sign up for Alert Carolina emergency text messaging system

If an emergency occurs on campus, University officials will use various communication methods – including text messages – to reach faculty, students and staff as quickly as possible.  The University can send text messages only to people who have registered their cell numbers in the online campus directory, however.

Signing up to receive text messages is easy. Go to http://alertcarolina.unc.edu and click on “Register Your Cell Phone” to access the campus directory page. Enter your Onyen and password, and list your cell phone number in the Alert Carolina section. This number will not be published; it is for emergency use only.

For more information about how the University will convey safety information, see http://alertcarolina.unc.edu.

Bull’s Head seeks faculty book titles for newsletter

The Bull’s Head Bookshop is creating its fall edition of their Faculty Titles newsletter, and wants to make sure all faculty titles are included. If you have had a book released in the last six months that was not included in the spring newsletter, or if your book is being released later this year, please contact fiveiron@email.unc.edu.

Graduate and Professional Student Federation program will promote faculty-student interaction

The Graduate and Professional Student Federation is developing a new program to encourage intellectual exchange in a non-instructional environment between teaching staff and students in the College of Arts and Sciences. It will provide funding to Professors and Teaching Assistants to offset the costs of putting on social gatherings with their students within their homes or elsewhere outside of the classroom.  The program, titled AWOL (Another Way of Learning), will be rolled out later this semester.  For more information, contact David Ticehurst at ticesty@physics.unc.edu.

Faculty Governance Reading Room

Articles, books, or other resources of interest to faculty:

  • The Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual Almanac of data on higher education in America is now online.  It features national and state-by-state data on colleges and universities, as well as regional profiles of the issues facing academe across the country.  Check it out here:  http://chronicle.com/free/almanac/2008/.

About Faculty Governance News

The Faculty Governance News is published every two weeks throughout the academic year by the Office of Faculty Governance.  Archived issues and the publication schedule for 2008-09 are available online here.  Information to be considered for inclusion should be sent to Anne Whisnant (anne_whisnant@unc.edu) by Monday before an issue is schedule to appear.

For more information on any of these items, please contact Anne Whisnant in the Office of Faculty Governance.