Source: U.Va. News Services Contact: Matt Kelly, (434) 924-7291

GENERAL FACULTY AIM FOR CLEARER STATUS   By Matt Kelly Lotta Lofgren, this year's chairwoman of the General Faculty Council, has placed health-care benefits for part-time faculty members atop her agenda. Sept. 16, 2003 — Lotta Lofgren knows how to listen. She is a court-certified mediator skilled in handling conflict resolution — training that will prove valuable in Lofgren’s new role as chair of the General Faculty Council. “It helps me to hear what the group wants and respond,” said Lofgren, a part-time lecturer in the English department. “I think it helps me understand people and be more diplomatic.” Communicating is essential to addressing the council’s numerous issues, including developing a stronger relationship with the administration, improving communications with the general faculty itself, advising the provost on the General Faculty Policy and securing health care benefits for faculty and staff who work more than half time. The council’s authority is solely advisory, so Lofgren says she needs to maintain good relations with the administration to properly represent the members. The council advises the provost on the General Faculty Policy, which relates to hiring, promotion, retention and causes for dismissal of general faculty, among other items. A proposed overhaul of the policy, last amended in 1996, has been drafted and is being circulated for review among administrators. The General Faculty Council represents a mixed bag of non-tenure track administrative, teaching and research faculty, said Lotta Lofgren, the incoming council chair. The council, created 10 years ago by the now-dormant Women’s Faculty Professional Association, “is an ‘others’ type of concept,” Lofgren said. “A lot of classified staff moved to general faculty, so we have administrative, professional, research and teaching general faculty, and then some in health sciences.” Eighteen councilors represent about 1,650 general faculty members. Representatives are elected for three-year terms via annual Web-based elections. The council’s mission is to serve as a liaison between the administration and the general faculty. While there is overlap between the Faculty Senate and the General Faculty Council, Lofgren said “there are concerns of the general faculty that are different from the tenure-track faculty.” The council meets on the second Tuesday of each month, usually in Newcomb Hall, and its meetings are open to all general faculty. More information is available at the General Faculty Council Web site. “I am very concerned about some specific matters in the policy document, in particular the ‘expectation of continued employment’,” she said. “The provost’s office has been very open about sharing the policy document with us and listening to our advice and suggestions and incorporating them.” The council is also seeking better communications with its own constituents, who include administrators, professors and researchers. How many of each are on the payroll is uncertain, however, nor is everyone in the general faculty category aware of their status. The council has been seeking a definitive list of general faculty members from Human Resources, and she said with Oracle, a financial and human resources planning system, it may be more accessible. “We want to maintain a good and productive relationship with the administration and assist, as we can, to disseminate information [to our members],” she said. “We want to improve our communications and make the general faculty feel it is truly represented.” To help meet constituents, the council will have a table at the University Art Museum Friday during the opening reception of “Tim Rollins + K.O.S.” exhibit. Under Lofgren, the council will continue to seek health care benefits for employees who work more than half time. Currently, general faculty members and staff who work between half and full time receive retirement, disability and group life insurance benefits, but not health care. Robert E. Davis, chair of the Faculty Senate, said the two bodies have mutual concerns. “It is important that all the faculties at the University work together in our common interest,” Davis said. “I look forward to working with the General Faculty Council on issues of overlapping interest.” While she pushes to advance the council's goals, Lofgren has no illusions about how much will get accomplished. “A lot of the goals we have will not get done this year,” Lofgren said. “A lot of them are information-gathering, rather than advocacy. The policy document we have been working on with the administration for seven years now. That is hardly a quick thing.” She is optimistic about the future of the council. “One of the really exciting things for me about being part of the council right now is that the council is so focused and has members that are really tremendously dedicated,” said Lofgren. “They have a real sense of mission in a way that I don’t think was the case two years ago.”