Faculty Assembly April Meeting

The Faculty Assembly met last Friday in Chapel Hill, preceded by the Executive Committee meeting on Thursday night. While the schedule can get exhausting, what I appreciate about that time together is the energy and commitment of people to the process. The issue is how to sustain that enthusiasm over the long summer months and then throughout an academic year where everyone has a thousand professional and personal issues impinging upon them.

One of the things we plan to do is get back on a regular meeting schedule. Five meetings a year of the full assembly is not a lot, but it does say that we place value on the face to face communication and the interaction with each other that these meetings provide. And the group was clear that interaction is the watchword for next year. We want to come to the meetings and work with each other. Receiving information is great, but planning and building and shaping our future is the most important thing we can do.

We also want to have active committees that produce real work product on a schedule. Fitting in time to get service done is always a challenge. But we recognize that the General Administration and the Board of Governors work is on-going and so must our own efforts be the same.

Nothing is more important than being prepared to greet a new President of the system as a partner whenever he or she arrives. To be a part of the team building, we are working hard on the Leadership Statement now. We will be working with the Board of Governors over the summer. And we will have a plan of action in place shortly after our summer retreat.

The legislature is gearing up and to work already. The governor announced her budget this week. We will be keeping a watchful eye on things and mobilizing our membership as necessary.

The new website will launch in early May with complete meeting information. Watch for more details.

Sandie