I hope you
have checked out the Senate Web page.
It's up to date, thanks to Sally Murray. Its been a month since my last update and here are some
important updates:
Carr
and Associates will be here the week of Monday December 6th to begin the
feasibility study for football. Please
look out for events in which you might be able to make comments. Richmond Brown and I will be attending
a meeting that morning and we will make sure they get a copy of our
report.
The search
procedures for president & long range university planning committees
of the Board of Trustees have meet and are beginning to make
progress. The search procedure for the
president is in the process of reviewing books and other sources of
information that we can summarize and then make a recommendation to the
Board of Trustees.
The
search for A&S Dean is going well and the committee is beginning to
get down to a short list. The committee
hopes to have that list ready by the second week of January.
The search committee for VP for
Academic Affairs is currently reviewing 58 applications. There has been many concerns expressed to
me by the faculty regarding the impact of Dr. Covey's application for
the position. (See my memo to the committee at the end of this
e-mail) I have brought these
concerns to the committee and the committee has forwarded these concerns
to Mr. Moulton. I believe that it is
important to raise the concerns of the faculty so that we can approach the
search in a positive manner. In
doing so, the faculty can feel confident in supporting whoever is
appointed to the VP position. The
committee discussed these concerns at length and feels that the committee
can do a fair search. The search
committee has established areas of importance for members to use in rating
the candidates. The areas are rated on
a scale from 3 to 1 with 3 being the highest rating. The areas to be rated are Teaching Experience,
Scholarship, Other Academic Credentials (Post-doctoral study, Fellowships,
Academic Honors); Academic Administrative experience (5 yrs. at
progressive levels, including the dean or comparable position at institution
of comparable complexity), and Philosophy of Education. The candidate is expected to have
earned a Ph.D. or comparable degree.
I would appreciate feedback from the faculty as to the importance
they would place on these areas.
Also, it is crucial that faculty attend the presentation and
interviews when these candidates come to campus. Your evaluations of the candidate are very
important.!!
I attended
the Board of Trustees' December meeting and am pleased to report back that
a lot of really, good things are taking place.
As you have heard a new scholarship plan has been approved and a
new access road to Women's and Children's Hospital is being planned. Dr. Covey is to be complemented on
proposing the scholarship plan!
The Faculty Senate Executive Committee has found that President Moulton
has been very receptive to increasing communication within the University
and is open to suggestions to improve all aspects of campus. So...if you have questions or concerns
let us know so that we can bring them up at our meetings with Mr.
Moulton. Dr. Covey has encouraged
the Deans to increase communication within their respective college. The A&S faculty were pleased with
Dr. Miller's Fall meeting and hope to see more of these events in the
future.
Our last Senate meeting is Scheduled for December 15th at
3pm. So contact your senators and
give them your feedback and suggestions.
Happy Holidays!
Here is a copy of the memo I gave to the
search Committee:
November 30, 1999
To: Search Committee
for the Vice-president of Academic Affairs
From: Elise Labbé,
Ph.D.
Faculty Senate
Chair
I sit on this committee as a representative of the faculty
senate and there are some concerns that I feel I must bring forward. There are some issues I would like to
raise before we begin reviewing candidates.
These issues summarize the phone calls, e-mail and personal
contacts of senators and faculty members regarding the status of the
search since November 15,
1999.
1."How can we have a truly
objective and open search for VPAA with Dr. Covey as a candidate?"
This is the question faculty members have asked me over and over in the
past two weeks. President Moulton promised a national search on several
occasions, but, after Dr. Covey originally indicated she would not apply,
she reversed course and applied near the end of the application period.
Thus we have a search that has drawn a strong, national pool of
applicants, but now may seem skewed toward the incumbent. When on-campus
visits occur, any good external candidate would ask to meet with Dr. Covey
in her role as the current acting VP.
They will certainly discover that she is competing against them,
and they may doubt their chances of competing fairly. Thus they may not
pursue the application process as vigorously as they might have
otherwise.
2. The second issue that has been raised is that some
members of the search committee for VP may have nominated Dr. Covey. This is a particular concern since Dr.
Covey is the direct supervisor of some search committee members. While no
one's integrity and good faith are being questioned, there will always be
the appearance that the search committee's recommendations may have been
influenced in a manner favorable to Dr. Covey merely by the continued
presence of these members on the committee.
3. Even if Dr.
Covey truly is the best candidate, many individuals in the University
would not accept this for fear that her nomination and possible award of
the VP position is "fixed", to put it simply. This may lead to a difficult situation
for all involved. I believe that many
faculty would feel this is another failed search; and that USA is not able
to attract well qualified leaders in higher education. Given these circumstances, reorganizing
the search committee to address the concerns raised in paragraph 2 will
insure that the person eventually named as permanent VPAA will be
perceived as having been selected through a process that was open, objective
and fair.
I
encourage faculty to e-mail their senators, Executive Committee members
and myself.
WE WANT TO KNOW AND HEAR YOUR CONCERNS
!
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University of South Alabama -
Faculty Senate - Mobile, AL 36688-0002 |