Faculty Link

Faculty Link: A time for transition and renewal

Colleen Rich — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 17:37:58 +0000

Faculty Link: A time for transition and renewal Colleen Rich Wed, 04/28/2021 - 13:37

Spring is always such a bittersweet time in the academy. We see renewal all around us, the trees bud and leaves spring forth, flowers bloom (and if you’re like me, your pollen sensors engage, too), and the sun and rain both seem more vibrant and present than before.

We also see our students graduating, leaving us (as they are supposed to do), having grown as people and intellectuals and poised to make a more powerful mark on the world around us. This is our job here at Mason, to prepare for this bittersweet moment, where we say both “Goodbye” and “Congratulations” to students who have helped us as faculty become even more engaged in our fields through our collaborations in the classroom.

For me, this is an even deeper feeling this year. I leave my role as Faculty Senate Chair after two terms, as I begin serving Mason in a new way as associate dean for faculty and academic affairs at Mason Korea on May 24. I am proud of the work the Senate has accomplished over the past two years, on issues including incorporating new members into the Senate, supporting students during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing key advice on all facets of the Safe Return to Campus plan, updating the Faculty Handbook to incorporate critical protections for faculty, and being part of the team to bring a new president to the university. I believe that shared governance at Mason is stronger as a result of our collective efforts.

The university is transitioning away from mostly virtual engagement to mostly in-person engagement in Fall 2021. So too will this column transition. Beginning this fall, columns from the Faculty Senate Chair will be housed on the Faculty Senate webpage. There are more scheduled meetings of the Senate, so there should be even more opportunities for the General Faculty to engage with the chair and the Executive Committee during the Friday Coffee Chats. These forms of communication will continue to strengthen the relationship between the Senate and the General Faculty, as it should given that the Senate is the voice of the General Faculty with the central administration.

And so, I say goodbye for now and congratulations to all who are graduating, have students graduating, or have simply made it through one of the most difficult years in recent history. My very best to you all. Be safe, and be well.

Topics

Faculty and Staff News

Faculty Link

Faculty Senate

Mason Korea

Faculty Link: Ensuring faculty representation through expanded opportunities for interaction

Colleen Rich — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 16:43:41 +0000

Faculty Link: Ensuring faculty representation through expanded opportunities for interaction Colleen Rich Thu, 01/28/2021 - 11:43

The new year is upon us. In the United States, a new set of elected officials are going to work on behalf of Americans. Being so close to the nation's capital, I often think about what it means to serve as an elected representative, albeit the faculty at this institution.

The Faculty Senate represents the General Faculty as defined by the Faculty Handbook. While individual senators are representative of their college or school, they are asked to serve the full General Faculty through the lens of their unit.

What this means is that all members of the General Faculty have the opportunity to have their voice heard through someone sitting on the Senate. The job of the Faculty Senate is to not focus on any one college or school, but instead to do our best to ensure that faculty members’ experiences are represented to the administration.

Representing the faculty requires that the Faculty Senate know the concerns opinions and experiences of the General Faculty. In some colleges and schools, it is easy for the senators to hear from their constituents because they are a small unit and are co-located. In other cases, where the college or school is large or spread across multiple buildings or campuses, the senators—pre-COVID-19—had a more difficult time regularly connecting with the General Faculty in their college or school. In addition, the Faculty Senate as a body does not have a regular mechanism through which to hear from the faculty.

The governing bodies in the colleges and schools have their own individual mechanisms for hearing from the General Faculty in their units. For example, in my home unit, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the chair of our faculty assembly created a Teams group for our senators. This provides us with a space to meet as senators and discuss senate issues. It also means we have an email address through which any faculty member in the college can contact us.

Beginning this semester, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee will hold a virtual coffee chat each Friday after a regularly scheduled Faculty Senate meeting. This coffee chat will be open to all General Faculty members. This time will allow any General Faculty member, including senators, to meet with members of the Senate Executive Committee and let us hear from you. As there are more than 1,400 full-time faculty members, plus many part-time faculty currently employed at Mason, it is difficult for the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to know all of the issues that are important to the faculty. This coffee chat time will provide an opportunity for General Faculty members to connect with current Faculty Senate leadership.

I also strongly encourage all General Faculty members to reach out to the senators who represent them from their college or school with questions or concerns. This will help senators know the issues that are important and can begin working to address them through the appropriate governance mechanisms.

I know that I miss walking across campus and running into people and having spontaneous conversations under the trees. I look forward to the time when we can do that again en masse. Until then, let's use the virtual space that we have in front of us to connect with each other in ways that are focused on the benefit of the public good that is the general faculty of ��AV. I wish each of you the best as we begin this new semester.