September 12, 2007 - Faculty Governance

Faculty Governance News

Vol. 2.2

September 12, 2007

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

Faculty Council and General Faculty meet Friday September 14th

The Faculty Council and General Faculty will meet this Friday, September 14th, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Hitchcock Multipurpose Room of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center. All faculty are invited to attend.

Items on the agenda include remarks by the Chancellor and Provost, awarding of the annual Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prizes for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement by Young Faculty, a presentation on UNC Health Care and the School of Medicine by Dean William Roper, and two resolutions.

Resolution 2007-10 addresses recent amendments that have been proposed to the sections of the Code of the (UNC system) Board of Governors dealing with faculty and EPA appeal and discharge procedures, including post-tenure review. Resolution 2007-11 addresses new policies regarding smoking on campus.

You’ll find the full Council agenda here.

Faculty Code revised, updated, and mailed to all faculty

In 2007, the Committee on University Government and the General Faculty completed a comprehensive revision of the Faculty Code of University Government, which since 1950 has codified the faculty’s expectations as to the privileges and powers that properly reside in the faculty and how they are to be carried out. Copies of the revised Code have now been mailed to all faculty. If you have not received one, please contact the Office of Faculty Governance.

The Faculty Code is also online here.

Puzzled about what “Faculty Governance”at Carolina is?

Perhaps you received your Faculty Code in the mail but found it puzzling. For more information about how faculty governance actually works here at Carolina, you can also find on the Faculty Governance website Secretary of the Faculty Joseph Ferrell’s useful PowerPoint presentation about the origins, development, and current structure of faculty governance. It untangles the differences and interactions between the Board of Governors Code, the Faculty Code, the General Faculty, the Faculty Council, the faculty committees, and the faculty officers.

To read it, visit the Faculty Governance History and Archives page; you’ll find the presentation under “Faculty Governance History.”

Chancellor’s State of the University Address coming September 26th

The Chancellor will deliver his annual State of the University Address Wednesday September 26th, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. All faculty are encouraged to attend.

Anne Queen Faculty Commons now open in the Campus Y

A new faculty gathering space is now available in the renovated Campus Y. Named in honor of former Y Director Anne Queen, the Faculty Commons is a perfect place for informal gatherings, meetings, and programs that encourage faculty exchange. Free coffee is available weekdays from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. While the space is a wonderful place to meet a colleague for lunch (food is available downstairs in the Blue Ram cafe), it can also be reserved for special functions. Room usage policies and reservation forms may be found here on the Faculty Governance website.

Nominations for Distinguished Alumnus/a Awards due September 20th

The faculty Committee on Honorary Degrees and Special Awards invites you to submit nominations for the Distinguished Alumnus/a awards, which are presented every year on University Day. Nominations received this year will be under consideration for recognition at 2008’s celebration. The deadline to submit nomination materials is September 20, 2007. Full details on how to submit a nomination and a list of past winners is online here.

UNC Tomorrow Web Survey and Listening Sessions

The UNC system’s “University of North Carolina Tomorrow” commission is currently gathering input from citizens around the state about how the UNC system’s campuses can best serve North Carolina in the coming years. In particular, the commission has a web survey available where anyone can offer suggestions, and they are conducting “listening sessions” around the state to facilitate in-person communication. To fill out the survey or see how to attend a listening session, visit the UNC Tomorrow web site.

Games4Learning pre-symposium events open to all

Registration for the Games4Learning Symposium is full, but the UNC-Chapel Hill community is invited to take advantage of several pre-symposium events focused on games and learning. To learn more about these events, please visit http://games4learning.unc.edu/

Classroom IT orientation available for instructors

Losing precious teaching time because of unexpected problems with your classroom’s technical equipment? ITS Classroom Hotline staff can give you an in-person orientation demonstration geared specifically to your actual classroom’s tech setup. Demos can be scheduled Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., including during semester breaks. To learn more, visit http://its.unc.edu/teachingandlearning/teaching-and-learning/classroom-hotline/

Faculty Governance Reading Room

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

A Prominent Public Targets Faculty Retention (from Inside Higher Ed)
UC Berkeley receives a $113 million gift to help keep some of its top professors from raids by private universities — and stem a problem facing many of its peers.
AAUP’s new report: Freedom in the Classroom (2007)
The American Association of University Professors’ Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure yesterday released a 5500-word statement on “Freedom in the Classroom,” explaining what it means that — as the AAUP 1940 Statement of Principles says — “Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject.” The document will also be published in the forthcoming issue of the AAUP magazine, Academe.