Dear SCU Faculty,  

It has been so nice to see some of you at various events on campus or spontaneously between classes. I had not appreciated how much I missed seeing people in person, especially colleagues. I hope we get more opportunities to check in with one another and connect. It does feel like things are changing at SCU, necessary changes, but changes that challenge our ways of working together. And we still have a lot that needs to be addressed to make sure that all of our faculty have what we need to serve our students, departments, and our disciplines well. We need to continue to build strength with and for one another. I hope that you will look into the various opportunities available to serve the Faculty Senate Council and SCU’s shared governance system for the next academic year. We need to continue to add new faculty voices to advance our shared work. 

We know that this is a very busy time for everyone. Thank you for taking the time to vote on our important faculty elections for our various committees and for serving when you can. Our April Faculty Senate Council meeting will be an “all Senate” meeting. Please consult the agenda and zoom in if you can. And we’ll be having a short meet and greet just before the meeting for any of you on campus: Wednesday, April 13 2:30-3:00 p.m. outdoors on the Franklin Street side of O’Connor Hall. The FSC meeting will start at the usual time, 3:30 p.m. on Zoom.

Please do reach out to Pat or me if you have any questions about the Faculty Senate Council. And thank you to our representatives who have been so actively contributing at the meetings. We have a robust Council and that’s because of all of you. 

Hope to see you soon,

Laura Nichols
Faculty Senate President, 2021-2022

Spring Quarter Facutly Senate Council Feedback

• Please let us know what you would like from your FSC–including if you would like a few socials before the end of the academic year. Super short survey HERE. 

Input into Faculty Senate Priorities and Agenda Items 

• We invite you to share your priorities with us either through this Faculty Senate Feedback Form or by sending an email to: facultysenate@scu.edu. Thank you.

Looking for a Few Faculty to Help Draft a Message to Incoming SCU President

• We are looking for a few faculty to work with the FSC President to draft a message to our incoming University President. The draft will be reviewed by the FSC Executive Committee and then presented to the FSC at the May 11 meeting for consideration. If you are interested in being involved please contact LNichols@scu.edu.

• Faculty Senate Budget Review Working Group:  Thank you to those who have agreed to serve on the Faculty Senate Council Budget Working Group and especially Andy Wolfe who is the chair (see full membership list HERE). The FSC approved the Working Group’s charge at the March FSC meeting (see the charge HERE). The group is looking to complement the work of the UCC’s Collaborative Governance and University Finances Task Force (see task force charge HERE) as well as policy committees to provide faculty a way to more fully understand the university budget and budgeting decisions and priorities. 

• Bylaws Proposed Revisions:  Thank you to our Faculty Senate Bylaws Working Group of Dan Ostrov and David Sloss. At the March 9 FSC meeting, the Council voted 30-1-3 (Y-N-A) to have the proposed bylaws revision be put to a vote of the full Faculty Senate. A vote of the full Faculty Senate occurred from March 14-18, 2022. The Faculty Senate APPROVED the revision to the Faculty Senate Bylaws (Faculty Handbook, Appendix A) by a vote of 110-10 (Y-N). You can find the updated Bylaws HERE. 

• Endorsement of ASG’s Resolution in Recognizing MENA Identifiers – FSC Representatives approved endorsement of this resolution by a vote of 24-3-3 (Y-N-A). The full text of the resolution may be viewed HERE). 

• Resolution on Salary Floor for Lecturers of All Ranks [Resolution ID: FSC2022.02.09.1R] – This resolution was approved by a vote of 24-4-5 (Y-N-A) at the February 9, 2022 FSC meeting. The resolution was forwarded on February 11, 2022 to the Faculty Affairs Committee and the University Coordinating Committee. No response has been received to date. The full text of the resolution may be viewed HERE. 

• Resolution for SCU to Divest from Fossil Fuels [Resolution ID: FSC2021.11.10.2R] – FSC Representatives approved the resolution by a vote of 32-0-1 (Y-N-A) at the January 12, 2022 FSC meeting. The resolution was forwarded on January 25, 2022 to members of the Faculty Senate, Acting President Kloppenberg, VP of Administration and Finance Crowley, Chief Investment Officer John Kerrigan, Board of Trustees Chair Larry W. Sonsini, and all other members of the Board of Trustees. No response has been received to date. The full text of the resolution may be viewed HERE.

Looking for Parliamentarian

We thank Dan Ostrov for his many years of service as the FSC Parliamentarian! We are looking for someone to take on this role. This requires attending the monthly meetings and answering by email any questions that may arise in between meetings about the governance procedures and protocols for Faculty Senate meetings. Training provided! Thank you for considering this important service.

Call for For Faculty Senate President-elect Nominations

Submit your nominations for the Faculty Senate President-elect position. Send your nominations or self-nominations to Pat Cain (pcain@scu.edu) or facultysenate@scu.edu. 

The President-Elect is elected by the Faculty Senate from among the members of the Faculty Senate. The President-Elect succeeds to the presidency following one year of service as President-Elect. The President-Elect works with the Sr. Administrative Assistant for Collaborative Governance to run elections for the various Faculty Senate Committees (see list HERE). The President-Elect also serves ex officio as a member of the University Budget Council.

Call for Faculty Senate Professor Award Nominations

Each year the faculty of Santa Clara University honor a colleague as the Faculty Senate Professor. The award recognizes outstanding professional achievement over a sustained period. It is the highest honor we bestow upon our peers at SCU. The recipient receives a one-course reduction in teaching load and a $2,500 stipend.

To nominate a colleague, please review the award criteria HERE. Compose a one-page letter of nomination for the selection committee and send it along with the most recent Curriculum Vitae of your nominee by April 25th via email to Ixtlac Dueñas (iduenas@scu.edu). Nominations are considered for a period of three years. 

UCC Call for Nominations for University Policy Committees

Remember to submit your faculty and staff nominations or self nominations for this valuable service to shared governance and the campus community. The survey link is HERE. To find out more information about University Policy Committees visit the University Governance webpage at https://www.scu.edu/governance/. 

Faculty Discussion Google Group Managers

In September all current faculty were added to a new Google discussion group, managed by the Faculty Senate Council. At the October meeting, the FSC decided to appoint members of the faculty senate to serve as managers of the Google group. We thank Stacey Ritter (Accounting) and James Nati (Jesuit School of Theology) for serving as the discussion group managers. If you are currently not subscribed and want access, follow the instructions HERE. Please note that new faculty hired in 2022 are being added to the group 

AFLOC Union Support Cards

AFLOC encourages all Lecturers to complete a union support card if you haven’t already. Union support cards need to be completed annually. More information on AFLOC can be found HERE. 

FSC Representatives for Spring 2022

Department Chairs: If your representative for the spring is changing, please forward this information to Ixtlac Dueñas (iduenas@scu.edu) immediately.  Please remember to inform Ixtlac if an alternate/substitute representative will be attending the April 13th FSC meeting so she can forward the meeting agenda and reference documents to the appropriate individual.

Representatives to the Faculty Senate Council normally serve two-year terms from July 1 to June 30, but the representatives may serve as long as their constituency so chooses. FSC Representatives are responsible for familiarizing their departments with work of the Faculty Senate Council, and to bring the Council such issues as referred to them by their constituents.

A schedule of FSC meetings for 2021-22 is included here. FSC meetings will occur via Zoom for Spring 2022. As room availability begins to open up, we will reevaluate if the FSC should hold hybrid meetings for AY2022-23. 

Dear SCU Faculty,

Our election season for the Faculty Senate Committees is underway, and it has been a challenging year to identify eligible candidates to run for election and serve!  Please remember that this is important committee work for the benefit of your fellow colleagues.

• The Provost Adjunct Faculty and Lecturers Council election has closed and the Provost’s Office will confirm elected candidates. 
• The University Rank and Tenure Committee election has closed.  Please join us in welcoming our newest confirmed committee members:  Sanjiv Das (2022-23), Manny Velasquez (2023-25), Craig Stephens (2022-25).
• Confirmations are underway for the College Rank and Tenure Committees (Arts & Humanities/Math, Natural Sciences & Social Sciences). Please join us in welcoming the newest committee members the Elections Team has confirmed so far:  Cruz Medina (2022-23), Andrea Pappas (2022-25), Sreela Sarkar (2022-25), Paul Abbyad (2022-23), and Justen Whittall (2022-25).

Your responsibility as a voter is to keep an eye open for emails from Ixtlac regarding upcoming elections. There are typically two phases in the election process: 

(1) Ixtlac sends out a sample ballot with a list of candidates eligible for the election. If you will not be able to serve OR if you want to opt-in, it is important to let her know at this phase. 

(2) She will send a second email with the official ballot, candidates, and instructions for voting via e-Campus including the voting deadline. PLEASE VOTE!! 

Once the election closes, I will inform those elected and the website will be updated after ther confirmation. THANK YOU for your active participation in our elections and your willingness to serve and continue to improve our faculty governance system.

A tentative list of elections and proposed dates can be found below. 

Sincerely,

Pat Cain
Faculty Senate President-elect, 2021-22

Upcoming Elections for Spring 2022 

• School Rank and Tenure (Engineering, Business, ECP)
• Committee on Promotion to Sr. Lecturer
• Faculty Senate President-elect
• FSC At-Large Representative
• Faculty Judicial Board
• Grievance Committee
• UCC Chair-elect
• Faculty Core Committee 

Election Results 

• View summary of 2021-22 Faculty Senate Elections here. 

Find important resources on the Faculty Senate Webpage and the University Coordinating Committee websites.

Our main Faculty Policy committee is the Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC). FAC materials are maintained on the University Governance website.

Meeting of the Faculty Senate

A meeting of the Faculty Senate is scheduled for April 13, 2022 on Zoom.  Keep an eye out for the meeting agenda and reminder. 

All faculty members below the level of dean are welcome to attend the Faculty Senate meeting in accordance with our by-laws. While administrators at the level of dean or above are not Faculty Senate members, they may attend when officially invited and during the time they are on the agenda.

Get Ready for tUrn6!

The 6th ever tUrn Climate Crisis Awareness & Action week is April 18-22 from 8:30am to 10pm Monday-Friday.  The climate crisis is the most urgent issue of our time and it won't get solved if we don't create a time and space to learn about it. Check out as many of the interdisciplinary, intercultural, international headliners as you can! Please consider making a tUrn headliner (there are 30) one of your course lectures, assignments, field trips (we have many live events this quarter) or extra credit options. There is a tUrn headliner happening during your course time in week 4. Send your students to the live talks or have them come in on the Zoom channel. We have live talks and viewing parties in Forbes Conference room, Weigand Room, de Saisset Museum, SCDI building, St. Clare Room in Library & Learning Commons, Graham RLC, VR Lab in Heafy, Benson, Forge Garden, and outdoors by Library and under the tree by Walsh.

See www.scu.edu/tUrn/headliners for a complete listing of options and to RSVP. Give this link to your students and let them choose a headliner; there is always one or more they can attend. Among the line up are international presenters from Afghanistan, the Philippines and Mexico, as well as NOAA scientists/engineers, BIPOC and front-line voices and causes, Muslim, Jewish and Christian environmental groups, and artists and cultural groups responding to climate change. tUrn6 introduces and features two panels on public health.

Email Kristin Kusanovich at tUrnproject@scu.edu if you have any questions, or if you wish to arrange for an entire class visit to any headliner! tUrn is ready to pivot and get a larger space to accommodate any audience size.