From campbel7@email.unc.edu Tue Apr 11 09:48:25 2006 Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 09:48:35 -0400 From: Marci K. Campbell To: Andrew J Perrin Subject: Re: Request for Information from Candidates for Faculty Office andrew: here are some responses--marci Quoting Andrew J Perrin : > To Whom it May Concern - > > I am writing to you as a candidate for Faculty Chair, Faculty Council, > or another important elected office. I realize this is a busy time, > but I and some other concerned faculty would like to learn more about > the candidates' ideas on several important issues before we vote. I > would very much appreciate it if you could provide responses to the > questions below. Feel free to add more ideas or information as you > like. I will forward your responses on to other interested faculty, > and I will also post them to an informal website for the purpose at > http://perrin.socsci.unc.edu/fg . > > Thank you in advance for your time. Since balloting begins this > Wednesday (April 12), I would prefer to receive your response by > then. If, however, you can't make that time, I'll be happy to post and > forward your ideas whenever you can get them to me. > > 1.) To what extent to you believe faculty interests differ from those > of administrators? > In my experience, the differences usually are more about career focus > and priorities rather than differences in overarching philosophy or > ethics, although we sometimes may feel there is a disconnect. > Administrators are focused on management and functions of the > university such as personnel, fiscal solvency, and following policy. > Faculty tend to be more interested in their research and teaching > needs and opportunities/requirements for career and professional > advancement. Faculty end up doing a lot of administration that we > often are not trained to do or don't really like to do (e.g. managing > personnel on grants, doing budgets, etc) and sometimes we wonder > where the overhead money goes and to what end. More communication and > open dialogue would be very helpful so that each group can better > understand the needs and pressure facing the other. > > > > 2.) How should we maintain academic integrity in the face of > increasing financial pressures? > This is a great question. Government agencies are increasingly > dictating the focus of grants and funding opportunities and are doing > more micro-managing at all levels. Pay lines are going down and this > is placing more pressure on faculty to write more grants even if the > topic is not in their primary area of interest. Departments are > facing loss of funds and having to make hard decisions about their > budgets. Overall this detracts from academic integrity in terms of > less time for quality teaching and student mentoring, less time to > write papers and promote a healthy intellectual climate, less > incentive and rewards for investigator initiated research that is > likely to be more creative, and potential loss of faculty who are not > able to maintain funding as well as loss of student support to > attract and retain to students. I am not sure what the answer is, > other than political activism to advocate for changes in funding > priorities and leadership at the state and federal levels. In > addition, faculty need to find ways to be supportive of each other > and probably may need to look for creative and diverse ways to fund > the work they want to do, e.g. via non-government sources such as > foundations. 3.) What are your views on increasing inequalities > within the faculty > based on, for example, tenure-track vs. fixed term appointments and > differing salary levels? > > These issues are a really serious problem. Equity issues in salary > and inequalities by type of appointment, school, gender or whatever > need to be addressed at the highest levels. With decreases in > funding, there will be even less opportunities to hire into tenure > track positions and more research appointments will result. The > entire system of faculty appointments and compensation should be > studied and potential solutions should be identified with > participation of those affected by the issue. > > > 4.) How would you respond on behalf of the faculty if you found out > that administrators had circumvented serious faculty consultation to > pursue major outside funding for a controversial new curriculum? > I would be in favor of quick action to ensure that the University did > not go down such a path without faculty consultation and involvement. > Groups such as the Faculty Council should be prepared to respond if > such an event were to transpire. I would be ready to participate in > open discussion, debate, and action in terms of meeting with > administrators, petitions, or whatever the Council decided was > needed. 5.) Would you prefer to see a faculty governance system that > is > focused on prominent University issues (e.g., academic freedom and > educational policy) or one that is more focused on faculty's specific > needs (e.g., benefits and salary)? Or, alternatively, how would you > seek to balance the two? > > Both these issues are critical to a healthy faculty. We all want > academic freedom and educational excellence and generally that is why > we are here at UNC, but we also are workers just like everyone else > and we need good salaries and benefits such as health insurance and > retirement to support ourselves and our families. This does not seem > like an either-or question to me. A holistic view of what it means to > be a faculty member would include all of these issues on the table. > > > > Once again, thank you for your time. > > Very best wishes, > Andrew Perrin > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Andrew J Perrin - andrew_perrin@unc.edu - http://perrin.socsci.unc.edu > Assistant Professor of Sociology; Book Review Editor, _Social Forces_ > University of North Carolina - CB#3210, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3210 USA > New Book: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/178592.ctl > > Marci Kramish Campbell, PhD,MPH,RD Associate Professor Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health University of North Carolina Campus Box 7461 Chapel Hill, NC 27599 tel 919-966-7230 fax 919-966-8392