Strengthen Shared Governance Structure

Working Group Assignments: Jill Auditori, Stephen Bailey, Steve Friedland, Rosemary Haskell, Karen Yokley

  1. Develop and distribute to all faculty and to the administration a summative description of the current structure of shared governance at Elon.
  2. Facilitate and collect feedback from faculty and other concerned constituencies regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the current shared governance model.
  3. Identify and implement new strategies to improve communication among Academic Council, standing & advisory committees, and faculty. Special emphasis will be placed on making stronger connections with faculty cohorts that are under- or ineffectually-represented in the current shared governance model.
  4. Formulate recommendations to Academic Council regarding modernization, adaptation, and/or structural change of the current shared governance system at Elon.

Promote Faculty Well-being

Working Group Assignments: Lee Bush, Chrystal Carpenter, Mina Garcia-Soormally, Dan Haygood

  1. Examine the culture of busyness at Elon and determine the key factors driving this kind of culture.
  2. Assessment of campus non-teaching activity (committees, speakers, traditional university events, “in-between” service, etc.)
  3. Recommend smart and efficient approaches toward faculty participation in campus nonteaching activities.
  4. Examine the balance between workload, professional activity, and service requirements for staff with faculty rank in addition to continuance and promotion for librarians.
  5. Continue the progress for establishing the Leo M. Lambert Award for University Service and Leadership.
  6. Support ongoing work of the Post-Probationary Faculty Initiative by establishing a Center for Professional Activity

Reexamine Faculty Contract Issues

Working Group Assignments: Brian Lyons, Martin Kamela, Paula Patch, Megan Squire

  1. Advise and support the President and Provost as they initiate and complete a review of full-time, continuing lines, including lecturer rank and staff with faculty rank.
  2. Examine and, if necessary, establish clear criteria and process for distributing annual merit pay.
  3. Examine options for decentralizing the faculty hiring process.
  4. Maintain awareness of developments related to the Part-Time and Limited-Term Faculty Union.

Support for Promotion and Tenure

Working Group Assignments: Matt Buckmaster, Rod Clare, Mark Enfield

  1. Act on previous P&T recommendations as appropriate through recommendations to handbook language revision.
  2. Examine the efficacy of the current promotion and tenure process and propose approaches to resolve identified problems.
  3. Review and provide clarity to portfolio guidelines and P&T criteria for all tracks.
  4. Assess and address equity concerns of faculty success in P&T.

Review Policies and Revise Faculty Handbook

Working Group Assignments: Jeff Carpenter, Catherine Dunham, Tom Green, Charity Johansson, Jason Kirk

  1. With the approval of AC, revise or develop Faculty Handbook language that addresses specific issues that have been raised by our standing committees, constituents or other members of the Elon community. (Note that these duties do not include drafting Handbook language for other Academic Council working groups, special committees or taskforces.)
  2. Work with the Provost’s office to ensure that approved changes to the non-bylaws and bylaws are accurately placed into the Faculty Handbook in a timely manner.