Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts introducing the many Councils of the Faculty Senate. Each Council has a specific charge, and it is their role to make policy recommendations and facilitate faculty participation in shared governance as related to that charge. The Council on Faculty Issues (CFI) is charged with advising on matters that influence the personal and professional welfare of the faculty. (This includes evaluation of the performance of faculty and administrators.) Currently, the CFI is headed by Co-Chairs Barbara Lewis, Digital Learning Librarian, Tampa Campus and Jenna Silver Luque, PhD, CCC-SLP, Instructor II, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Sarasota-Manatee Campus. More information on the CFI charge can be found here. Over the last year, there have been multiple major issues addressed by the CFI.
It was noted that faculty members not involved in shared governance are often without information about faculty senate issues and opportunities. Though it is each unit’s faculty senator who shares this information, different senators highlight different pieces of information. The CFI felt that it would be helpful to create a resource where faculty could go to find the information they need on their own terms. Thus, the Faculty Senate Blog, where you are reading this very post, was created. It went live on September 20, 2021.
Another issue that was brought up, from many different perspectives, was the way that certain classes of faculty were being treated. Upon consolidation, some differences in treatment of instructors across the campuses were noticed and made its way to the CFI. To determine the details of what was happening and the perception by instructors, the Instructor Climate Survey was created and sent out in Spring 2021. An initial quantitative analysis was shared at the end of the semester, please see results below, and a more in-depth qualitative analysis is currently being conducted for a full report. From that survey, research faculty expressed interest in a similar survey for similar reasons. That survey was conducted over the summer, and it will be analyzed soon.
In a similar vein, multiple concerns of inequality across the university were addressed by the CFI. Concerns of campus inequalities brought forth by consolidation were addressed by a survey that is currently being analyzed. Pay inequality was addressed via the formation of a committee. There were many attempts to obtain data on this issue from the university, but they proved fruitless. This work will be continued in the new year.
The last year was a busy one for the CFI, and the next year promises to be one as well. If you have any concerns regarding the personal or professional treatment of faculty, please reach out to your faculty senator or the CFI.
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