Faculty member definition resolved by Faculty Senate

The Holland Faculty Senate spent a good portion of its October meeting working to finally resolve the question: exactly who is a faculty member?

At the September meeting, senators voted to recommend a change in the Faculty Handbook's Charter of the Organization of the Faculty. The word "resident" would be removed from the charter and other changes would be made to make the charter more inclusive.

When all the talking and voting was done at the Oct. 11 session, the membership voted by substantial majorities to recommend those further changes to a vote of the general faculty. Specifically, senators recommended that:

Administrative officers at or above the assistant dean level (or equivalent) not be eligible for elected membership. Four non-voting advisory members will be added, including the presidents of the Student Association and Graduate Student Association, as well as representatives of the Division of Student Affairs and the Professional and Staff Support Council. The university president and the various vice president would be ex officio Senate members.

The recommendation dealing with administrative officers would mean that the Division of Student Affairs, which has had one or more elected member for many years, would lose its current two voting seats on the body. At present, Senate Secretary Gloria Reeves, director of the Career Services Office, currently holds one of those seats, as did her predecessor as secretary, Director of Housing Melanie McClellan.

Academic units other than the dozen or so traditionally represented can be represented upon the recommendation of the senate and the approval of the General Faculty.

Faculty equivalent individuals who report to various administrative entities but do not hold appointments in one of the traditional academic units shall be assigned to one of these units by the appropriate vice president.

Representation on the body would be reapportioned at two-year intervals or as necessitated by any change in the number of units represented. Currently, representation is refigured every three years.

The meeting began with a moment of silence called by Chair Marion Couvillion for the late Dr. Cindy Rose of Curriculum and Instruction, a Senate member since 1991. Rose, 52, collapsed Oct. 8 during her 8 a.m. Allen Hall class and died of an aneurysm the following day at the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo.

Rose's husband, Dr. Vince McGrath, also is a senate member.

Senators passed a resolution honoring, among other achievements, Rose's "dedication and commitment to her students" and her many contributions to the university and senate.

President Donald Zacharias joined senators in remembering Rose's "tremendous service" to the university.

"How fortunate we are to have people of her caliber working with our students," Zacharias said during his time on the program. "It is a loss we all feel very deeply."

A complete summary of business conducted at the October meeting can be read on the Faculty Home Page at http://www.msstate.edu/Org/FS/faculty_senate.html.