April 2025 Faculty Senate Newsletter
What’s New
2025-26 Faculty Officers
The 2025-26 Faculty Officers were elected at the April 29th Organizational Meeting of Faculty Senate. The new officers are:
- Mark Bowler, Chair of the Faculty
- Lisa Ellison, Vice Chair of the Faculty
- Donna Roberson, Secretary of the Faculty
We are excited to welcome these new officers into their roles, which begin on July 1, 2025. The Parliamentarian is appointed by the Chair of the Faculty, and the announcement of that officer will be forthcoming in a future newsletter.
Did You Know?
The Faculty Officers are the officers of the entire faculty at ECU, not just the Faculty Senate. They are faculty representatives, and their duties extend far beyond the Faculty Senate meetings. In point of fact, it is incorrect to refer to the Chair of the Faculty as “Chair of the Faculty Senate.” The Chair of the Faculty helps administrators across campus understand procedures and policies relating to faculty. They also work with administration to implement and educate campus about new policies that come from System Office, as well as existing procedures for processes like promotion, tenure, advancement in title, and post-tenure review. The Chair of the Faculty meets with faculty to answer questions about those personnel processes and to provide information if faculty are interested in appealing a personnel decision. The Vice Chair of the Faculty and Secretary of the Faculty can help elevate issues they hear about to administrators because they meet with the other officers and administrators in a meeting to discuss the agenda, and because they are often invited to events with senior administration. They are also ex-officio members of the Agenda Committee and can suggest questions or topics for presenters at Faculty Senate meetings.
Chancellor’s Action on Faculty Senate Resolutions
The Chancellor acted on another round of resolutions, some of which result in changes to the Faculty Manual or other documents, some of which are hosted in other offices (e.g. the University Catalog). We have highlighted some of these resolutions below. Several resolutions were from 2024:
- Resolution #24-66: Revisions to Academic Program Review Guidelines, in which the guidelines were updated to align with policies in the UNC Policy Manual and Code.
- Resolution #24-67: Revisions to East Carolina University Faculty Manual Part VI.VII Curriculum Procedures, Academic Program Development, and the Academic Calendar, in which the information was updated to reflect current practices.
- Resolution #24-82: Revisions to East Carolina University Faculty Manual Part IX.II Performance Review of Tenured Faculty of East Carolina University, in which some of the language was refined to reflect alignment with the UNC Policy Manual and Code. Specifically, it is updated with the following:
- Clarification that a post-tenure review outcome of “does not meet expectations” must have been preceded by annual evaluations that informed the faculty member they were not meeting performance expectations
- Inclusion and mention of a Faculty Self-Assessment form to satisfy the new requirement for self-assessment
- Inclusion of more information about Faculty Success plans.
Other resolutions were from February, March, and one resolution from April 2025:
- Resolution #25-12: Revision to University Undergraduate Catalog, Academic Advisement, Progression, and Support Services, Additional Requirements for Degree to add Foundations of American Democracy Requirement. Advisors should be prepared to provide incoming freshman and transfer students with guidance about registering for courses that satisfy the Foundations of American Democracy requirement. There are going to be exceptions offered for some students, and guidance about those exceptions will be shared, with the Registrar’s Office working on ways to flag those student records in Degree Works.
- Resolution #25-15: School of Music Unit Code of Operations and Guidelines. The code results in a reorganization of the unit that removes the departments.
- Resolution #25-33: Approval of the charge for the new Engagement Education Committee to replace the Service-Learning Committee. A special call will go out to solicit faculty interested in serving on this committee, and the nomination roster will be developed by Committee on Committees and voted on during one of the Fall 2025 Faculty Senate meetings.
- Resolution #25-35: Curriculum and academic matters acted on by the Educational Policies and Planning Committee at their March 21, 2025 meeting, including approval of two provisional codes:
- The Department of Recreation Sciences is now renamed the Department of Recreation Sciences and Sport Management
- The Departments of Geological Sciences and Geography, Planning and Environment have merged and are now the Department of Earth, Environment and Planning.
- Resolution #25-58: approval of only the provisional unit code for the College of Education (the rest of the resolution will be considered later), which reorganizes the unit so there are four departments (instead of six)
Featured
Highlights from the 60th Anniversary Celebration
We had a wonderful time celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Faculty Senate at the celebratory reception, and are excited to share the 60th Anniversary Celebration PowerPoint presentation (PDF) with you, which shows the past chairs of the faculty, some photos from Faculty Senate history, and pictures of current members of Faculty Senate. For more information about the event, please see the ECU News Services story, “ECU Faculty Senate celebrates 60th anniversary.”
Reminders
Faculty Assembly Survey to identify policy, regulation, and compliance areas to be improved
The Faculty Assembly is asking for responses to a survey developed to identify policy, regulation, and compliance areas that can be improved. Examples provided will be highlighted during Faculty Assembly Chair Wade Maki’s May Board of Governors remarks, and results will be shared with the System Office and campuses. Please submit your responses by May 11th. Feel free to provide additional suggestions beyond the stated questions in the survey. Contact Anne Ticknor with any questions or more details.
Faculty Personnel Deadlines
Below are the deadlines for personnel actions that are coming up soon (see the full East Carolina University Part X, Section II Schedule for Personnel Actions for more information):
- Workplan and Annual Evaluation Timeline – for 9-month faculty, the workplan and annual evaluation will go to the Dean by May 8 and the Provost by May 30. For 12-month faculty, the unit administrator will inform faculty of workplan and annual evaluation deadlines by May 14, and faculty will submit drafts of their workplan and annual report to their unit administrator by May 28
- Progress Toward Tenure Letters – for 9 month faculty, the delivery of the progress toward tenure letter and a meeting that includes the faculty member, representative of the Tenure Committee, and unit administrator to discuss the letter must occur prior to the delivery of the progress toward tenure letter to the dean by May 7th, with the letter sent to higher administration by May 15th (12 month faculty letter deadlines are in June)
- Reappointment of Probationary-Term Faculty Members – for 12-month faculty, the dean’s recommendation is due to the Provost by the 1st Tuesday in May (May 6th this year).
- Reappointment of Probationary-Term Faculty Members in 2nd Year of Employment With Credit for Prior Academic Service – for 12-month faculty, the committee recommendation and PAD has to go to the unit administrator by the 1st Tuesday in May (May 6th this year), with the unit administrator recommendation and PAD going to the Dean by the 3rd Tuesday in May (May 20th this year).