Monday night's Faculty Senate meeting will start with updates from President Roderick McDavis and end with a vote on two resolutions.
The March Faculty Senate meeting will kick off Monday night with updates from Ohio University's President Roderick McDavis and Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit.
After the updates, there will be two presentations: one on construction plans for the Athens campus during the summer and the other on recommendations for next year’s budget from the Benefit Advisory Council.
Joe Lalley, senior associate vice president for Information Technologies and Administrative Services, will deliver a presentation on summer construction.
Greg Fialko, senior director of benefits on the Benefit Advisory Council, will present the budget recommendations for the next fiscal year, according to the meeting agenda.
Two resolutions will be up for a vote from faculty members, Faculty Senate Chair Beth Quitslund said in an email.
The first resolution aims to change the language in the faculty handbook so Clinical and Group II faculty would be included in the process of appointing and evaluating departmental chairs. Currently, the handbook says only Group I faculty are able to give advice and approve new chairs, according to the meeting agenda.
At the February meeting, that resolution was debated among faculty as it brought up the topic of tenure and the decline of tenure-track positions nationwide.
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Some senators were concerned that giving Clinical and Group II faculty members the same abilities as Group I faculty members would enable the administration to get rid of more tenure-track jobs.
The second resolution up for a vote revises "considerably outdated" faculty handbook language about the minimum information that needs to be included in faculty appointment letters, Quitslund said in an email.
Also at the February meeting, a resolution was passed to increase the amount of non-tenure track representation in the senate. Out of the 387 votes cast, 327 faculty were in favor, 57 were opposed and 3 abstained from voting on the resolution, according to a recent email sent to faculty members.
The Board of Trustees will vote on the resolution during its meeting March 11, Quitslund said.
Nominations for senate chairs will also go to the Board of Trustees so they can welcome new senators at the April Faculty Senate meeting, Quitslund said.
@KyraCobbie
kc036114@ohio.edu
