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May 2, 2006 -- Offering a list of priorities to guide
the University of Virginia into the future, the Faculty
Senate approved a new vision statement for U.Va. at its
meeting on April 28 at Clark Hall.
The primary initiative in the statement, which was drafted by the senate’s
planning and development committee, calls for a 20 percent increase in
faculty to bring the average faculty/student ratio to 1:15 over the next
seven years. The statement also calls for building internationally prominent
research programs in science, social science, humanities and professional
schools; encouraging writing instruction for all undergraduates; increasing
diversity of the faculty and student body; increasing cross-school exchange;
increasing undergraduate research with additional funding; and establishing
an ongoing academic planning process.
Questioning specific wording, several senators challenged elements of the
statement, but Marcia Day Childress, associate professor of Medical Education
and co-director of the Program of Humanities in Medicine, who chairs the
planning and development committee, said the statement could be modified
once it was approved.
“We want to be on record of what the direction is for the University
and
what the priorities should be,” she said.
Childress, in presenting the statement, said that various sources put U.Va.’s
faculty/student ratio anywhere from 1:15.2 to 1:17.6, while some private
universities have ratios of less that 1:10. Senate Chairman Houston G.
Wood, a professor in the Department
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
noted that the student enrollment of the University would be increasing
over the next several years.
University President John T. Casteen III said many new faculty posts would
come from targeted gifts from the $3 billion capital campaign.
Jeffrey J. Rossman, the lone dissenting vote, said he wanted the statement
to reflect more concern for faculty interests.
“There is not anything in here about faculty salaries,” said Rossman,
an associate professor of history. “Faculty welfare should be front
and center.”
But other senators argued that the statement should focus on the progress
of the University, not faculty self-interest. Wood urged the senators to
read the vision statement and make changes later.
“The committee did a good job with this,” he said. “We should
not edit it today.”
The senate approved the statement with the understanding that it can be
modified later and that e-mail comments would be accepted.
Casteen updated the senate on the $3 billion capital campaign, which officially
kicks off on Sept. 30. He said that $910 million has been raised already,
putting the campaign ahead of schedule. About a third of the money raised
will be used to support faculty and students, he said. Casteen also reported
that his fund-raising travels had shown him that different regions around
the country are interested in different elements of the University program.
In Boston, for example, there is an interest in curriculum, while on Long
Island, N.Y., donors are concerned with the hard sciences. Because of these
different interests, he said there is a strong need for faculty participation
in the fund-raising process.
In apprising the Faculty Senate on the state budget, with which legislators
are still grappling, Casteen said all funding is back on the table, which
means that budget items that had been approved may now be rescinded.
“Research money may be at risk,” he said.
He also cautioned that if there is no budget in place when the current
spending plan ends on June 30, the University may not be able to issue
pay checks.
In other business, Teresa Culver, secretary of the senate and associate
professor, and assistant chair of Undergraduate Studies in the Department
of Civil Engineering, proposed a policy statement calling for a 30-day
comment period for policy changes that affect faculty members. After debate
the senate endorsed the recommendation.
Later, the senators approved a Master of Public Policy degree, in which
a student could earn a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in
five years. The program would draw heavily from the economics and politics
departments, and would include a public policy internship. The senators
also approved a doctorate in nursing practice.
Senators also OK’d a bylaw change to place the chair of the planning
and development committee on the executive committee.
The gavel was passed from Wood to Kenneth A. Schwartz, the new chairman
of the senate. Schwartz, an architecture professor, said he wanted to work
on faculty recruitment and retention, faculty contributions to the capital
campaign and increased communication within the senate. He proposed an
online bulletin board where senators could hold an ongoing discussion of
ideas.
Ricardo Padron, an associate professor in the Department
of Spanish Italian & Portuguese,
was nominated to be chair-elect. There was no opposition and no other candidates
were presented. Faculty members will vote via e-mail.
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