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 Message from
the Florida Tech
Faculty Senate President
Dr. B. Andrew Cudmore
The Florida Tech Faculty Senate consists of 30 members, elected by the faculties of the various academic units. By charter, the Senate has two functions: it is the advisory committee to the Provost, and the executive committee of the Academic Faculty.
In its advisory capacity, the Senate works mostly through its five standing committees and executive committee. The Welfare Committee is concerned with “policies which affect the faculty welfare and morale”, such as benefits policy; the Scholarship Committee administers the Senate Scholarship Program; the Faculty Excellence Committee, is the awards committee for the Faculty Excellence Awards; and the Committees on Academic and Administrative Policies have the jurisdictions implied by their names.
Senate Committees are chaired by Senators, but all faculty members are both eligible and encouraged to join! The Executive Committee composed of the Senate's elected officers plus the heads of the other standing committees, co-ordinates the business of the Senate. The Senate also furnishes representatives to various administrative committees, including the university President's Council and the Trustee Committee on Student and Academic Affairs. In an exciting recent development, several Senate units now take part in dialogues with administrative groups, leading to the constructive formulation of policies helpful to all.
The Senate's role as the executive committee of the Academic Faculty is invoked less often, but the issues tend to be important. In cases of controversy, it is the Senate's duty and prerogative to determine the opinions of individual faculty members, to arrive at an overall Voice of the Faculty. We wish to represent the opinions and the needs of our faculty to the Provost. I encourage you to contact me directly with any issues you wish the senate to discuss that is within our prerogative. We particularly welcome your ideas for making our 50th anniversary celebration a great success.
My goal is for more open two-way communication between the faculty and the Provost. In fact, the Provost has graciously agreed to and has attended Senate meetings when issues of importance to faculty are coming up. During such meetings the Provost has then informed us of details regarding these upcoming issues. Open communication is the first step toward successful partnership in our mutual goal of continual improvement for Florida Institute of Technology. We welcome your involvement.
- Andrew Cudmore, College of Business (Senate President)
- Bob Shearer, Humanities (Senate Secretary)
- Paul Davis, Aeronautics (Chair, Academic Policies)
- Wendy Helmstetter, Library (Chair, Faculty Excellence)
- Jim Brenner, Chemical Engineering (President-Elect; Chair, Administrative Policies)
- Janice Teegen, Humanities and Communication (Chair, Scholarship)
- Julia Grimade, Biological Sciences (Chair, Welfare)
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