2008 Woodie Awards
Faculty Senate hoping for a proactive year
Web Editor
Issue date: 9/15/05 Section: News
Just as the students of Jacksonville State University have a senate where they can air their grievances and make recommendations to the administration, the faculty has their own organization called the Faculty Senate.
Monday, the executive officers of the group met for the first time to set the agenda for their first senate meeting, which will be held on Monday, September 19 at 3:15 in room 1130C of the Houston Cole Library.
"It was an unusual year in that we ended last year with not a lot of new stuff left on the table," said Dr. Clark Hudspeth, the Faculty Senate historian, speaking about the 2004-2005 year.
Due to the fact that most of the old business was wrapped up during the May 9 meeting, the group has the opportunity this year to have a fresh start.
Faculty Senate President Dr. Jeffrey Dodd, who is currently serving his second term as president, hopes to use this to their advantage so that the senate can become a more proactive group.
"The way it's supposed to work is that the individual faculty members either bring their problems to the senator from their department or they bring it individually to the senate," said Dodd.
The senate itself has no power to make any policy changes in response to problems that are brought to their attention, but they are able to make recommendations to the administration.
While Dr. Meehan agrees that the senate has no governmental power, the respect that the administration has for the faculty does allow them a degree of influence.
"Without the faculty, we wouldn't have any students and without the students we wouldn't have the faculty," said Meehan, adding that without either of those groups there wouldn't be an administration.
In this way, they can achieve great things. An example of this is the way the faculty accrues sick leave. Until a few years ago, sick time could not be carried over from one year to another. Now it accumulates, allowing the faculty to use the time when they need it most.
Monday, the executive officers of the group met for the first time to set the agenda for their first senate meeting, which will be held on Monday, September 19 at 3:15 in room 1130C of the Houston Cole Library.
"It was an unusual year in that we ended last year with not a lot of new stuff left on the table," said Dr. Clark Hudspeth, the Faculty Senate historian, speaking about the 2004-2005 year.
Due to the fact that most of the old business was wrapped up during the May 9 meeting, the group has the opportunity this year to have a fresh start.
Faculty Senate President Dr. Jeffrey Dodd, who is currently serving his second term as president, hopes to use this to their advantage so that the senate can become a more proactive group.
"The way it's supposed to work is that the individual faculty members either bring their problems to the senator from their department or they bring it individually to the senate," said Dodd.
The senate itself has no power to make any policy changes in response to problems that are brought to their attention, but they are able to make recommendations to the administration.
While Dr. Meehan agrees that the senate has no governmental power, the respect that the administration has for the faculty does allow them a degree of influence.
"Without the faculty, we wouldn't have any students and without the students we wouldn't have the faculty," said Meehan, adding that without either of those groups there wouldn't be an administration.
In this way, they can achieve great things. An example of this is the way the faculty accrues sick leave. Until a few years ago, sick time could not be carried over from one year to another. Now it accumulates, allowing the faculty to use the time when they need it most.