Spring 2007 Newsletter
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Report
Secretary's Report
Douglas Ross, Management
Minutes, Spring 2007
Meeting of the
Towson
AAUP / Faculty Association, April 11, 2007, Administration Bldg. 424,
4:35-5:50 pm.
Announcements:
-
September 28, 2007
6-11PM
Auburn House Crab Feast/ Bull Roast. Cost in advance: $25 (per
person) which includes AAUP Chapter Membership fee of $15. At the
door $35.
-
A Faculty
Colloquium is being established in order to:
·
Encourage interactions and exchange of ideas among faculty;
·
Present research from across campus in lay terms;
·
Provide opportunity for informal questions and answers;
·
First
presenter: Terry Cooney, Dean, CLA
·
Towson
AAUP & Maryland Humanities Council plan to hold a forum for the parents
of TU students featuring faculty research presented in non-specialists’
terms.
-
Junior Faculty
Committee. This committee was formed several years ago as a result of
workload-related issues. The main issue: Are P&T standards moving
targets? The committee elects a chair each term. Current Chair, Matt
Durrington, requested members to encourage all junior faculty to get
involved. One feature is a meeting with the provost and president at
least once a semester.
-
State AAUP meeting
04.14.07 at Coppin State University.
Election
of New Officers for 2007-08:
President: John
McLucas
VP: Jennifer
Ballengee
Secretary: Doug Ross
Treasurer: Isabel
Castro-Vazquez
Summary of
Conversations
Faculty Unity and
Cohesiveness
John McLucas noted
the need to move beyond parochial concerns and into a realm of unity and
mutual respect among faculty and administrators. He observed a need for
senior faculty to deal with junior faculty in a nurturing, collegial
manner.
Discussion
on Collegiality.
With respect to “collegiality” in P&T matters, it was noted that the
term has both positive and negative connotations. On the positive side,
it deals with a “can-do” attitude, improves social ties within a
department, and acknowledges that there are people who aid in the
cohesiveness and productivity of the department. It is however,
incumbent upon responsible department leaders not to overload junior
faculty. As a possible negative, if collegiality seems to be an issue,
under normal circumstances it should be possible to document such issues
under service, teaching, and research. The aim is to have departments
be “on record” with any perceived difficulties so that no unwelcome
surprises occur at the time of tenure-promotion.
Discussion on
Teaching Load.
The administration claims that it is “close” to having the numbers to
support a 3:3 teaching load as a standard. At this point, however,
lecturers are counted to make the numbers.
Background:
Currently there are 507 tenure & tenure track faculty; when the
university had 5000 fewer students there were 530 such faculty.
Then-provost Haeger introduced the 3:3 load to meet competitive
conditions with new faculty and to ease the administrative burden
related to service needs. Noted was the stealth system of increasing
class sizes that appears to be emerging, as in “just take three more
students” in your section.
General
Issues
Salary
compression.
Salary compression remains especially acute for senior faculty. Often
new hire salaries meet or exceed those of experienced faculty. Thus
another round of equity adjustments is needed.
Unrepresentative
complaints.
It appears that complaints from very few get picked up by the
administration for action. Needed is at least a representative sample
and clear documentation of what the issues-complaints may be and then to
devise systematic responses. “Advising” is an example.
Welcome
to New Provost
The Towson
University chapter of the AAUP unanimously approved the following
statement:
“We welcome and
congratulate Provost Clements on his appointment and look forward to a
strong working relationship in the coming months.”
