Thomas Dunn, outgoing chair of the faculty's governing body, passed the gavel to his successor, Dr. Louis D'Alecy, at the semester's final Senate Assembly meeting yesterday.
Dunn, a chemistry professor, said he is glad to have served as a chair of both the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs and the Senate Assembly for the past three years and is now hoping for "a safe return to the faculty."
"I treasure the experience, but I'm glad that it only lasts for three years," Dunn said.
D'Alecy said he looks forward to leading SACUA and the Senate Assembly and will look to Dunn for advice throughout his term.
"I hope that I can carry the torch as well as (Dunn) has," said D'Alecy, a physiology professor.
Before passing his position on to D'Alecy, Dunn reflected on the changes that took place within SACUA and the Senate Assembly during his term. He emphasized the improvement of the relationship between faculty and administration.
"The current state of affairs (in faculty governance) is very much an effort of (Provost J. Bernard Machen's) openness and the cooperation of (former Interim University President Homer Neal)."
Senate Assembly member Pat Maloy, a kinesiology professor, praised Machen, who will be leaving his post at the University in late summer, for his work with the faculty.
"Provost Machen has done a great deal to establish the key to faculty governance understanding," Maloy said, noting that Machen successfully adapted to multiple turnovers in the University's administration.
Dunn said that the involvement of the faculty in the selection of University President Lee Bollinger last November also helped improve the communication between faculty and administration.
Dunn said the need for the faculty to match the student body's increasing diversity will be a prominent issue in the future.
"For most of us, when we go into the classroom, we don't meet the same class that we did 20 years ago," Dunn said, noting that the demographics of the faculty do not parallel those of the student body.
Also at the meeting, the faculty officially approved a report that outlines the principles of faculty involvement in institutional and academic unit governance. Dunn said the report, which was put together by the Academic Affairs Advisory Committee, is a clarification of the principles for faculty governance that are stated in the Regent's Bylaws.
"This report reaccentuates the responsibilities and the prerogatives of the faculty, but at the same time recognizes the methods of the different units," Dunn said.
Machen said the report does not make any fundamental changes in any of the concepts of faculty governance.
"This document fills a vacuum, in that we do not presently have a document that outlines the principles of faculty governance," Machen said.