June 2005

 

Statewide Academic Senate Chair George Blumenthal congratulates UCM Professor Shawn Kantor (right)

Assembly to Merced Faculty: "You're Ready!"

 

As the applause of the Academic Assembly members gathered at UCB’s Clark Kerr campus died down, Senate Chair George Blumenthal called it an “historic moment.” UC Merced, the first Academic Senate Division to form at UC in more than thirty years, had just been given the go-ahead in a unanimous vote, pending the Academic Council’s approval of a funding plan for UCM’s senate operations.

 

The May 11 vote was the culmination of several years of hard work by faculty, administrators and staff at Merced and across the UC system to lay the groundwork for a new division that now seems more than ready to independently carry out the duties of shared governance.

 

Shawn Kantor, who chairs both the Academic Assembly’s Task Force on UC Merced and UCM’s proto-division, said the UCM Senate would benefit from a dedicated and enthusiastic young faculty who will continue to work to establish a strong, shared governance relationship with the administration. "I think we've been very effective in asserting our voice at the higher university level, so we just need to continue on with the successes we've established this year. One of the main tasks next year will be to establish shared governance in our Schools."

 

The senate committees currently functioning under the auspices of the UCM Task Force — Undergraduate Council, Graduate and Research Council, Committee on Academic Planning and Resource Allocation, and Committee on Committees — will begin to function independently. The Committee on Academic Personnel, with about half of its faculty roster drawn from other UC campuses, is a special case that will benefit from a more gradual transition to a UCM-only membership.

 

The tenth UC senate division faces many challenges including its size and lack of experience with shared governance. Of the approximately 64 senate members who are expected on campus by opening day this fall, few will be senior faculty or faculty with UC and shared governance experience. In addition, Merced faculty will soon have a full array of teaching, research, and service responsibilities to contend with.

 

But, Professor Kantor noted that the faculty are ready for the challenge. “We are grateful for the systemwide support that we have received and are trying to make our senate an efficient and effective independent operation.”

 

Merced’s founding faculty have had the unique opportunity to help define the philosophical, academic and research direction of the first research university built in the 21st century. So, for many of us, the committee work that goes along with divisional status is well worth the effort.

 

“We’re creating all the programs and courses, we’re hiring all of our colleagues — it’s just a wonderful opportunity. I think we have had a huge impact on the cultural direction of the campus,” said Professor Kantor.

 

Professor Kantor said it has been an “amazing honor” serving as the protodivisional chair during Merced’s transition to divisional status. “Stepping into my job as senate chair with a more or less blank slate and a very loose notion on the ground of shared governance, helping to create an effective organization that takes shared governance seriously, and hopefully setting the stage for future successes at both UCM and the Senate, has been incredibly satisfying.”

 

-  Michael LaBriola