A Message From Academic Affairs
At its January 17th meeting, members of the Senate began to address some of the issues that are of concern to members of our community. In particular, we discussed ways that we could continue important conversations that we have been having, including policies and procedures for granting tenure. In an effort to provide all the members of our community with a medium to express their views, the Steering Committee proposed different possibilities ranging from faculty meetings to subcommittees to blogs and beyond. Much as any one of us might prefer one medium over others, we recognize that each of these options privileges certain members of our community over others; no one medium is perfect.
Recognizing that, the Steering Committee would like to provide the following options to keep the conversation going for the immediate future.
First, with the help of Shawn Beattie, we have set up a forum in moodle. If you have not yet used one, a moodle forum is like an enhanced bulletin board. When you visit the site you can read or post to the forum. You may also subscribe if you choose. Once subscribed you will receive emails of all new postings; you will need to subscribe in order to receive emails, but you can read or post without subscribing. You can not post anonymously. These (threaded) postings are also archived so you can follow or reread discussions at any time. This forum will only be open to faculty, staff and administrators of Augie. No one outside our community may access the forum. (If you have never visited the Senate moodle site, please contact Shawn Beattie or me so that we can make sure you can gain access.)
Second, the Steering Committee will continue to offer the anonymous feedback form that we have always provided. (Indeed, there have been a good number of postings to this anonymous form after the last Senate meeting). Comments posted to this form go to the Steering Committee (myself as chair, Janis Lonergan as representative of the Professors, Craig VanSandt as Assoc. Prof., Jason Koontz as Asst. Prof. and Katie Hanson as Instructor). To the extent possible, we will relay appropriate comments posted there to the broader community through the forum. It will be up to the Steering Committee to decide what is “appropriate.”
Both of these resources (Forum for Discussion and Feedback to the Senate Steering Committee) are available at our moodle site:
http://moodle.augustana.edu/course/view.php?id=407
Again, these may not be perfect media for continuing our discussions. We remind you that we have a full faculty meeting scheduled for February 14th, and that any faculty member may call for a forum (a real one, where we meet for a face-to-face discussion) at any time. As always, we welcome your comments and questions.
Jon M. Clauss
Chair, Faculty Senate