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August 12, 2011
Dear Colleagues:
On Behalf of the Faculty Senate, I welcome you to the 2011-2012 academic
year at the University of Memphis. The Faculty Senate serves as a
university-wide voice for faculty and as a vehicle by which faculty can
participate in the development of the university.
President Raines and Provost Faudree have embraced the Faulty Senate's
goals of transparency and shared governance, and the Faculty Senate, in
turn, has acknowledged its responsibility to work with the Administration
in furthering the best interests of our students and the University by
serving on University committees, engaging in dialogue, keeping the
University informed of faculty concerns, and presenting resolutions for
adoption by the University. The Faculty Senate also represents faculty
interests at the Tennessee Board of Regents Faculty Subcouncil, and at the
Association of Tennessee University Faculty Senates, which represents the
faculty senates of all 10 four-year public universities in the Tennessee
Board of Regents and University of Tennessee systems.
President Raines and Provost Faudree have worked closely with the
Faculty Senate in many important ways during the previous two years to protect
the positions, salaries, and benefits of the faculty. Despite severe
reductions in the budget of the University and resulting economic
exigencies, there has been no involuntary elimination of tenure track and
tenured faculty during the past two years, and no reduction of salaries or
benefits to tenure track and tenured faculty.
While the faculty has diminished in numbers due to retirements, deaths,
and not filling lapsed positions, the University has expressed an intent to
refill these positions. The Faculty Senate will be working diligently
during the upcoming year towards amending University and policies to
further insure the protection of academic freedom for our faculty; to
ensure a gun-free campus; to make our campus safe and welcoming to all segments
of our diverse campus; to closely monitor university expenditures of
Education and Government funding for academic purposes only; and to
maintain and to increase the funding of the University Libraries. An
important issue that needs to be resolved is whether tenure track faculty
will be evaluated for tenure under the department standards in effect on
the date of a faculty member’s hiring, or on the standards in effect at the
beginning of a faculty member's third year of employment (mid tenure
review).
At the General Faculty meeting that is set for Friday August 26, 2011,
at 2 p.m., the Faculty Senate will be presenting to the General Faculty for
a vote an amendment to the Faculty Senate Constitution which would allow
online voting as an option for voting on future amendments to the
Constitution. I hope all faculty will try to attend the General Meeting so
as to secure a quorum for this important vote.
I call your attention to the following links: (1) the website for the
details for our year-long centennial can be found here and (2) a
document from David Zettergren’s office titled ‘University Funding of
Athletics’ can be found here.
Lawrence A. Pivnick
President, Faculty Senate
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