Email sent to the UO statutory faculty today:
Dear Statutory Faculty:
It’s time to start the annual process of electing a new Senate VP & President Elect. This is one position, elected by the Senate at its last Spring meeting. Any statutory (i.e. teaching) faculty are eligible to run (not just Senators) excepting those serving in administrative positions “above” that of department head.
Neither Chris nor I plan to run for the VP/Pres Elect position. We both agree it’s time for new Senate leadership to step forward.
Three year commitment:
The VP/PE is a three-year gig. Having been elected Senate VP/Pres Elect for 2017-18, I will be Senate Pres for 2018-19, and the new electee will be VP, and then Senate Pres for 2019-20. The year after they will be “Immediate Past President”.
Job duties:
The Senate VP chairs the Committee on Committees, the primary work of which is to fill appointed committees and vacancies and serves on the Senate Exec.
The Senate Pres appoints their Senate Executive Committee (with the Senate VP and Academic Council Chair and ASUO Pres as ex-officio) and is in charge of the Senate agenda and meetings. The VP and Pres are ex-officio appointees to the UO President’s Faculty Advisory committee, and the Senate Pres is ex-officio on the Academic Council.
The IPP has few formal duties, but typically assists, gives advice, and finishes up projects started as President.
All these jobs also involve serving on a variety of administrative advisory groups, Senate Task Forces, etc. The entire job also involves working with the UO President and Provost and their Senate Liaison (Melanie Muenzer). This year that has meant bi-weekly meetings between the Senate Pres and VP and the UO Pres and Provost and Liaison, and pre-meetings with the liaison. We also meet bi-weekly with the VPAA or whatever they are calling Scott Pratt now. There are also a few meetings a week with administrators, and Senate constituents about Senate legislation, resolutions, and so on. And of course there are the occasional emergency meetings. This year we have also been holding 4 hours of Senate office hours at Marche per week (9-11 Tu and Th, RSVP as occasionally we miss an hour for another meeting.)
Compensation:
The current compensation for these jobs is
Senate VP/PE: $10K, Senate Pres: $30K, Senate IPP: $10K
These amounts are prorated and paid at the end of the quarter served, and can be used as research money or as summer salary (after paying OPE benefit costs from them). Depending on your department, you might also be able to use this money for course buyouts.
This compensation is far below what the administration pays its administrators for comparable work, so we are currently negotiating with them to change this compensation to 1, 2, and 1 months of summer salary and benefits for the three years respectively, and also add a 1,2, and 1 course buyout for each year, with the final year buyout conditional on the IPP agreeing to continue substantial service work.
This compensation discussion with the administration is not going well. We had hoped to have it resolved before sending this email, but have made no progress as of yet.
Support:
The Senate employees a full time Senate Executive Coordinator (Betina Lynn) whose duties include keeping the Senate calendar and website, helping staff committees and schedule meetings, and other tasks as assigned. We also have a 1/2 time program assistant, Kurt Willcox, and undergraduate helpers for the Senate meetings.
Election process:
The Senate will vote for a new VP/Pres elect at the last meeting of Spring, which this year is June 6th. All voting Senators vote – not just faculty. The rules allow nominations and self-nominations at any time up until the vote. However practice has been for candidate(s) to identify themselves in advance of this and submit a written statement about their goals etc. Regardless, the Senate will hear candidate(s) statements and have a Q&A at the June 6th meeting.
We urge you to consider self-nominating, or talking with other potential candidates that you think would be interested and qualified. We would be happy to meet with anyone who is considering running for this job to discuss our experiences.
Thanks,
Chris Sinclair and Bill Harbaugh
Senate Pres and VP
University of Oregon
http://senate.uoregon.edu
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