January 2025 Faculty Senate Newsletter

Published Jan 22, 2025 by
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What’s New

60 Years of Faculty Senate

This year marks the 60th year since the proposal to form a Faculty Senate was ratified by the faculty of East Carolina University. We will be celebrating this milestone all year long in this newsletter and in Faculty Senate meetings. We are excited to commemorate ECU’s long tradition of shared governance and to look forward to the history that we will continue to make in the years ahead.

The East Carolina University Faculty Manual is changing format

For many years, the East Carolina University Faculty Manual has been posted at the Faculty Senate website as a collection of PDFs. To increase the ECU Faculty Manual’s accessibility and searchability, the Faculty Senate Office enlisted ITCS to help convert it to a web format. Editorial revisions were made to the web version to better align with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and those revisions will be reviewed by the Faculty Governance Committee to ensure that no information was altered or lost prior to the web version going live.

Chancellor’s action on November Faculty Senate Resolutions delayed

The Chancellor received the November Faculty Senate resolutions and will need additional time to review them. As noted in our November newsletter, the the revisions made to the Academic Program Review Guidelines and Part VI.VII of the East Carolina University Faculty Manual as submitted in the October Faculty Senate resolutions were also held and are still pending approval.

Reminders

Faculty Personnel Deadlines

Below are the deadlines for personnel actions that are coming up soon:

  • Advancement in Title – the 1st Tuesday in February (February 4th this year) is the deadline for committee recommendations/portfolio to be sent to the unit administrator. The 3rd Tuesday in February (February 18th this year) is when it is due to deans or library directors.
  • Reappointment of Probationary-Term Faculty – For 9 month faculty, the 2nd Tuesday in February (February 11th this year) is when the committee recommendation is due to the unit administrator. For 12 month faculty, the 3rd Tuesday in February (February 18th this year) is when the unit administrator informs the committee of the upcoming need for a meeting, and the 3rd Tuesday in February (February 18th this year) is when the faculty member meets with the unit administrator to verify that all required documents are in the PAD.
  • Promotion and Tenure – spring before decision year – the 1st Friday in February (February 4th this year) is when the faculty member makes a request to the unit administrator to begin the process of consideration for promotion or early conferral of permanent tenure
  • Promotion and Tenure – fall and spring of decision year – 1st Tuesday in February (February 4th this year) is the deadline for deans and library directors to send recommendations/PAD to Provost
  • Post-Tenure Review – February 1st (February 4th this year) is when deans and library directors send their review to the Provost

Update on Submission of Workload Guidelines

Units are reminded to send a copy of their workload guidelines to Rachel Baker (bakerr@ecu.edu) following approval by their deans or library directors. These guidelines will be presented by the Faculty Governance Committee at the February 25, 2025 Faculty Senate meeting. So far, the Faculty Governance Committee has received guidelines from the following units:

  • Academic Library Services
  • Allied Health Sciences
  • Brody School of Medicine
  • Business
  • Coastal Studies
  • College of Fine Arts and Communication (all code units)
  • Interior Design and Merchandising
  • Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences (all code units)

Call for Faculty Volunteers

The Faculty Senate and its Committee on Committees is soliciting volunteers willing to contribute to shared governance at ECU and fulfill faculty Service responsibilities by serving on Faculty Senate Committees. The work of Faculty Senate Committees is vital to ensuring faculty voice in the affairs of the university, and we invite you to join us in this important and rewarding work. All tenured, tenure-track and fixed-term faculty in at least their second consecutive year of full-time employment are eligible to volunteer. Note: this means that if you are beginning your second consecutive year in 2025, you may fill out the survey because you will be in your second year by the time your service period begins. The Committee on Committees seeks to ensure that committee membership reflects a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, and they strongly encourage interest from faculty members of any rank or title, across all colleges and schools.

To inform your decision, click on the links below where you may view your current committee service and available opportunities:

To ensure the Committee on Committees considers your service preferences, please complete the short AY 2025/26 volunteer preference form.

Information collected through this call will be used to nominate faculty members to fill committee vacancies, and aid in the selection of diverse representation for current and future task forces, subcommittees and working groups.  Committee members are elected to staggered three-year terms during the Spring organizational meeting of the Faculty Senate.  The submission deadline is February 3, 2025.

December 3rd Faculty Senate Meeting Recording

Chair Ticknor's December Remarks (PDF)

December 3rd Faculty Senate Agenda

Upcoming

The next Faculty Senate meeting is January 28, 2025. The agenda (PDF) is available, along with the livestream link.

At the February 25, 2025 Faculty Senate meeting, the Nominating Committee, which brings nominations for the Faculty Officers, will be elected.

The following calls for award nominations have gone out:

  • 2025 Servire Society
    • Deadline for nominations and supporting documents: 5:00 PM on March 1, 2025
    • Visit the Servire Society website for additional information
  • 2025 Centennial Awards
    • Deadline for nominations and supporting documents: 5:00 PM on March 7, 2025
    • Visit the Centennial Awards website for additional information
  • 2025 Talton Award
  • 2025 Student Employee of the Year (SEOTY) Award
    • Deadline for nominations and supporting documents: February 7, 2025
    • View the SEOTY flyer (PDF) for additional information
  • 2025 Outstanding Staff Awards

Notice

Editorial Revision to the Faculty Manual

An editorial revision was made to Part IX, Section I, subsection IV.G.2.c of the East Carolina University Faculty Manual to correct a copy/paste error that made reference to subsequent appointment in the subsection intended for reappointment.