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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> Myron Henry's Reflections and Farewell
Post Info TOPIC: Myron Henry's Reflections and Farewell
Reporter


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Myron Henry's Reflections and Farewell
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06-08-07

REFLECTIONS ON A SECOND TERM AS
PRESIDENT OF THE FACULTY SENATE

Myron S. Henry

Introduction.I gave my first farewell address as Faculty Senate President in June of 2004, and I am privileged to be giving another such address three years later.So much has happened during the six years I have been a senator that I could not hope to mention all the important achievements of the Senate over this time.Nor would you want me to mention those numerous achievements because we would be here too long.So, permit me to describe selected achievements that I think all senators who served this past year should be proud of.Again due to time, my list is not all inclusive.But it is representative of what a Senate can achieve with a deep commitment to the welfare of the faculty we serve, with determination, and by working together.

Issues.

Out Sourcing of Physical Plant. Thisissuecarried over from the 2005-2006 academic year to the current academic year.Bill Powell initiated the involvement of the Faculty Senate in this matter, and together we as senators made a difference on behalf of Physical Plant staff.And Physical Plant staff made a difference for themselves.

Search Advisory Committee.We were determined as a Senate to be meaningfully involved in the presidential search process, and we invited Ms. Robin Robinson to our retreat last August.Our conversations with her were very productive, and subsequently we invited Commissioner Meredith to a fall Faculty Senate meeting.Our conversations with him were equally fruitful, and we then worked as a Senate with deans to help construct a way of selecting search committee members that assured extensive faculty participation in the search process.Recall 11 of the 24 members of the Search Advisory Committee were faculty members.In any search, the proof is the end result, and I think the early evidence suggests that our search was very successful.

New Faculty Orientation.Introducing new faculty to the concepts of shared governance is important, and after an absence of a few years, the Senate was again on the New Faculty Orientation program last fall.

Shared Governance Document.In collaboration with the Provost, we worked on a mutually acceptable shared governance document that is now in the Faculty Handbook.The Senate is the guardian of the Faculty Handbook, and this is an important responsibility.

Profit and Loss Spreadsheet.As a Faculty Senate, we took strong exception to a profit and loss being associated with each faculty member.We made it clear that such antics are not appropriate for a truly professional evaluation of faculty performance.

Pre-Tenure Review.We advocated strongly and effectively that the pre-tenure review (third year review) is not generally an up or out occasion, but should be an evaluation that is geared toward faculty development with a goal of a successful tenure review.

University Planning Council. We have helped and need to continue to help shape a meaningful and engaging University budget and planning process. Expressing our concerns in effective ways regarding the role of the University Planning Council was another step in this direction.

CoEP:We have publicly called attention to challenges in the College of Education and Psychology that need to be addressed.

Promotion and Tenure Remands.We took exception to the number of promotion and tenure cases that were remanded back to CACs this year, and based on what we have learned about final outcomes, we have made a difference.

Raises for Administrators.We helped to make the public more aware of the growing disparity between raises for faculty and staff and raises for selected administrators, for this past year and for previous years.

Process for Faculty Raises.We advocated an open process for salary increases for faculty, and we may have made progress.I was told by the Provost that only two raise recommendations from deans were changed by him.We need to continue advocating a process were individual faculty know what has been recommended for them at each step: department, college, provost, and president.

Legacy Document.By an overwhelming majority, we produced a legacy document.I think it is essential for others down the road to know that there are different points of view about the last five years.The legacy document certainly paints a picture of the last five years that needs a place in the history of our University.

Other Initiatives. There are so many Faculty Senate involvements and initiatives that might be mentioned this year such as Ad Astra, Alternative Learning/Distance Learning, and so on.

But it is time that Mary Beth Applin and I pass the gavel to Stephen Judd, Amy Young, Steve Oshrin, and Stan Hauer. Continuing senators and new senators, you have many challenges on your horizon.But the opportunity to work with President Martha Saunders and her administrative team means that a new and respectful relationship between faculty and administration can be established.It means new progress can be realized through relevant conversation and shared responsibility.It means shared governance can have real meaning.And it means that collegiality can be reborn through trust and engagement.Achieving this environment is not automatic.We all need to contribute to it.But the opportunity is now there.With leadership from the new executive officers of the Faculty Senate and from all senators, it can happen!

Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer.Permit to close by paraphrasing a few words from what I said when I passed the gavel to David Beckett and his leadership team three years ago.In what some described then as The Senates finest hour, the Faculty Senate stood tall together when Dr. Thames attempted to fire our respected colleagues, Dr. Frank Glamser and Dr. Gary Stringer.Was that the Senates finest hour?Certainly the Senates stand on behalf of our colleagues and in defense of freedom of speech, academic freedom, and freedom from retaliation represents one of the finest examples of carrying out the mission of our Faculty Senate. Lets not forget the stand the Senate took in spring 2004 and the sacrifices and courage of so many faculty members during that eventful semester.For it was what the Senate stood for then that has helped to pave the way to recent achievements and now provides us with a chance to look to a new finest hour with a new collaboration and new enthusiasm.

Colleagues, I know I speak for both Mary Beth and myself when I say what a great honor it has been for us to serve as part of your officer team this past year.I publicly thank Mary Beth, Amy, and Stephen for all they have contributed to our successes this year as senators.My six years as a senator will always have a special place in my life.I wish our new officers the very best for next year, and I wish you as senators continuing success. To immediate past senators, thanks, keep connected, and stay involved.

Colleagues, thank you for the opportunity to serve you, our faculty, and our university.

 



-- Edited by Reporter at 13:17, 2007-06-18

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stephen judd


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For those of you who could not be at the Senate meeting, this was a powerful speech that was filled with a number of emotional moments for many of us. It is even more powerful in the reading.

Serving on the executive committee with Myron, Mary Beth Applin and Amy Young marks the high point of one of the most transformative periods in my life. I am greatly indepted to Myron who teaches so well by example, and from whom I learned so very much.

It didn't hurt that Myron is a great dinner companion and a man of many interests with whom there will continue to be a future of many, many delightful conversations about many subjects, academic and non-academic.

I'd also like to recognize the incredible work of Mary Beth -- a woman of incredible intelligence and whose persistence in keeping a number of significant issues from falling through the cracks has had profound effects. Her sense of the right, and of urging us to consider what was just and fair, particularly when dealing with concerns at which individuals were central, was like a compass. Thanks MB.




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Gary Stringer


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Dear Colleagues and Friends:

I have followed events at USM with great interest since leaving Hattiesburg in the summer of 2004, and this message board has been my main source for some sense of what has really been going on over the past three years. Though I have previously been an observer, Myron's reflection on the achievements of the Faculty Senate--and especially his description of the senate's leading the defense of Frank and me as possibly its "finest hour"-- calls for a response. And I will begin by opining that if that magnificent campaign, in such a poisonous and hazardous environment, wasn't the senate's "finest hour," it'll do until the real finest hour comes along.
I call it a campaign because the senate's role consisted not just in a single act or moment, but in a concerted series of acts and moments. Four in particular stand out in my mind (I'm not where I can get at my records, so I'm having to rely on memory for the details): (1) the senate's resistance to the assault on shared governance and due process in Jack Hanberry's rewrite of the faculty handbook; (2) the called Sunday senate meeting where individual senators and others faculty leaders movingly testified to the truth and unanimously voted the senate's lack of confidence in the Thames administration; (3) the senate's subsequent organization of a campus-wide vote in which an overwhelming majority of our colleagues similarly recorded votes of no-confidence; (4) the senate's follow-up on the question of Angeline Dvorak's tenure at the University of Kentucky, which resulted in a vindication of the AAUP committee's original conclusion.
Even though the results we hoped for did not come immediately, each of these actions was important to the defense of truth and academic freedom and eventual success. To me they were--and still are--a source of enormous comfort and pride. Myron was one of the particular heroes in all this, and he has my undying respect and admiration. And there are scores of others who deserve mention. More than any other one thing, the faculty's persistent refusal to accept the destruction of participatory academic culture is what has sustained my hope for USM's future. You're all "the finest" in my book!


Took the liberty of enlarging your font. -- mod


-- Edited by Moderator at 17:45, 2007-07-06

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Gary A. Stringer
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