This spring, the Faculty Council voted to support an open access policy that would enable immediate, unfettered access to Emory faculty authored scholarly articles. The vote re- sulted from almost two years of campuswide conversation requested by the Library Policy Committee (LPC) of the Council and facilitated by the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence with the Office of Intellectual Property Rights. The LPC presented a draft to the Council in October 2010, triggering a series of revisions that resulted in a unanimas vote of support on March 15. This vote expresses the Council’s support for the principle of open access as official University policy. Pending administrative approval of the proposed policy, the library staff will assess Emory’s existing Electronic Theses and Dissertations system for its readiness to be adapted for the new repository, as well as evaluate other open- source products for potential use. A prototype for the project would then be developed for testing.
Month: May 2011
Examining Grievance Policies Across Campus
In fall 2010, the Council formed an ad-hoc subcommittee to examine faculty grievance policies and procedures in place in the various schools within the university. Noting that the Faculty Hearing Committee, a subcommittee of the Council, examines disputes concerning contract terminations only, the Council began the examination because clear information on resolving disputes that do not fall into that category is not easily or readily available. Professor of Law William Buzbee chairs the subcommittee, which is charged with identifying existing resources and policies at Emory and options for a possible mediation process or ombuds role for faculty. The subcommittee, which aims to report to the Council in mid-fall 2011 with research results and recommendations, includes Cheryl Crowley (Russian and East Asian Languages and Culture), Steve Everett (Music), Sharon Lewis (Psychology, Oxford), and Randy Strahan (Political Science).
Faculty Voice in Governance Structures
In 2010-2011, the Council worked to improve faculty representation in administrative and governance structures around campus. As a result, Council representatives were appointed to the Business Process Improvement Governing Board, an effort to improve campuswide administrative efficiency and productivity led by the Office of the Associate Vice President for Administration. Also, the Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee, initially appointed by Provost Earl Lewis to provide faculty oversight of the university’s assessment plans, became an open-ended ad-hoc committee of the Council. And finally, a new Faculty Advisory Committee was formed to offer guidance for the executive vice president for finance and administration on potential changes in practice and policy and in areas of focus that support faculty work, and to serve as a communication channel between the finance division and the faculty. This committee will include at least three members of the current Council.