With only a little more than half of its members present, the faculty Senate Assembly elected three new members to the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs yesterday.
| Kleinsmith |
About 40 faculty senate members voted to elect biology Prof. Lewis Kleinsmith, astronomy Prof. Gordon MacAlpine and Education and Information Services Library Head Barbara MacAdam to the nine-member committee that represents the faculty.
The three elected members, who were chosen from a pool of four nominees, will take office at the end of April.
Outgoing SACUA Chair and chemistry Prof. Thomas Dunn said the new members are a "good slate of people."
"All of the people that were nominated were highly qualified and it's just a pity that they can't all serve," Dunn said. "I'm excited about these three because they are all thoughtful people who are ready to do things."
MacAdam and Kleinsmith said their main goal is to improve communication between SACUA and the faculty.
"SACUA is a group that represents the views of the faculty to the University administration, but it does not do this enough," MacAdam said. "I think the job of SACUA should be to speak on behalf of all members of the community, meet the needs of that community and talk as well as listen to that community."
| MacAlpine |
Kleinsmith said he is looking forward to seeing how SACUA operates and wants to create a mechanism through which SACUA keeps in touch with the faculty.
"I would guess that if you asked the average faculty member ... they would have very little idea what SACUA is doing," Kleinsmith said.
MacAdam said she feels honored to take on the responsibility of becoming a SACUA member.
"These are some challenging times at the University," MacAdam said. "What faces the academic institution is the challenge to reaffirm what our values are and to have the heart and the courage to devote responding to those."
SACUA chair-elect and physiology Prof. Louis D'Alecy said he is pleased with the newly elected members' enthusiasm and hopes SACUA can continue working on the issues they are currently addressing.
"What's happening now is that people see some potential for movement within the new administration," D'Alecy said. "There becomes more and more of a need for faculty government."
| MacAdam |
MacAlpine could not be reached for comment yesterday.