As chair of the Faculty Senate, I want to invite all faculty to the next two Faculty Senate meetings.

A regular meeting of the Faculty Senate will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, April 17, in Room 2027 of the Health Professions Center. The Faculty Senate Spring All-Faculty meeting will be held at 3 p.m. Monday, April 20, in Mitchell Auditorium in the Health Professions Center.

The Faculty Senate wants to share with you! I have been involved in much discussion regarding shared governance at this University and I have realized that many faculty do not realize that what we say and do makes a difference.

Here are some examples of what has occurred in previous academic years when a faculty member or faculty organization initiated changes to the way things are done at USI:

• The fee waiver increased from 50 percent to 75 percent for spouses and dependents of eligible employees. This originated from the Faculty Senate Economic Benefits Committee.

• The Faculty Senate recommended the need for equity increases for associate professors. Also, the Faculty Senate developed a consistent set of peer institutions to which USI can compare itself. These peer institutions are public institutions with similar Carnegie classification.

• There has been increased support for scholarship across all levels of faculty. This occurred through faculty discussions with the provost identifying resources. Examples are the Center for Academic Excellence, an increased number of sabbaticals, and additional funding.

• The tenure and promotion process has been aligned and the effective date of tenure has been moved up.

• The student evaluation of teaching forms changed from Purdue to current form. Via ad-hoc committee and faculty surveys, faculty gave input on what students are capable of evaluating.

These are just a few of the examples of shared governance that I have compiled. I hope to see you on Monday so that we can discuss more of our accomplishments.

POST CONTRIBUTED BY: LESA CAGLE, assistant professor of nutrition and chair of the Faculty Senate.

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