Though inroads have been made, shared governance with MU faculty remains an issue, said Craig Roberts, speaking at his first General Faculty meeting as chair of Faculty Council Oct. 2 in Memorial Union.
In recent years, Faculty Council has examined faculty input issues surrounding the announced closing of the University of Missouri Press, the move of the Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute (NSEI) from the Graduate School to the College of Engineering, and the Renew Mizzou construction project.
In his Faculty Council update, Roberts also spoke of the need to elevate faculty salaries to be more competitive with those at Association of American Universities schools.
Also speaking at the event was Chancellor Brady J. Deaton, who is retiring Nov. 15. His final campus update was largely a review of progress since his becoming chancellor Oct. 4, 2004.
Deaton recognized Ann Korschgen, vice provost for enrollment management, for her leadership in making MU the fastest-growing public member of the AAU from 2001 to 2011, according to a study by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Deaton also presented three new scholarships designed to ensure that the student body continues to grow.
“Our pledge to you is that we’ll only continue to grow the student body insofar as we can maintain or increase the quality of education on this campus,” Deaton said. “That’s an important faculty dialogue that Faculty Council has to stay abreast of and help us as we seek that input with deans and chairs throughout campus.”
Also, Deaton talked about the expansion of arts programs; MU’s increasing global footprint, including new programs in Europe, Thailand, China and Korea; the MU Research Commons and three commercialization ventures; and the $1 billion-plus “One Mizzou” campaign.
The focus of this fundraising campaign, Deaton said, is on salaries, endowed chairs and professorships, and scholarships. Since the quiet phase began in January 2012, “One Mizzou” has raised $313.4 million. The campaign is scheduled to kick off publicly in 2015–16 and conclude in 2020–21.
Among future goals are recruiting top faculty, expanding interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and making strategic investments to help MU meet its financial needs, Deaton said.
The meeting took a turn near the end when an issue involving the Nuclear Engineering Program (NEP) and NSEI was raised by chemical engineering Professor Galen Suppes. He discussed a motion he presented at the April 9 General Faculty meeting. The motion stated that the Collected Rules and Regulations governing faculty appointments to programs such as NEP need to be followed.
Despite much discussion, no action was taken on the motion because there was not a quorum of faculty members when it was time to call for a vote. Bill Wiebold, plant sciences professor and a member of Faculty Council’s ad hoc committee that formed to examine the facts surrounding NSEI’s move, told Suppes, “I promise you that [Faculty Council] will try to resolve this issue.”
— Kelsey Allen