Denise Treviño
Assistant Editor
Texas A&M University-San Antonio’s Faculty Senate on Sept. 24 called for increased faculty involvement in the provost search committee and the restructuring of the new Health and Sciences Division.
In a unanimous vote during a special session, senators passed a resolution calling for a co-chair of the committee, appointed by the president, who is a tenured member of the faculty without any supervisory authority over other faculty members.
In a Sept. 14 email addressed to the Jaguar community, University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson announced Dr. Mari Fuentes-Martin, vice president of Student Success and Engagement, and Dr. Carl Sheperis, dean of the College of Education and Human Development, will co-chair the search.
Senators are calling for more transparency as the selection process continues.
“Shared governance is not sharing a decision after it’s been made,” Faculty Senate President Joe Simpson said in the meeting.
The prospective search timeframe will be from Oct. 1, 2021-May 2022, according to Matson.
In other related business, senators discussed changes made to the university organizational chart, where university administration plans to move the Office of Graduate Studies from the Office of the Provost to the new Research and Health Sciences division.
The majority of senators–15-2, plus three abstentions–voted to support a graduate council resolution asking for graduate studies to remain under the provost office.
“The decision to remove the office of graduate studies from the office of the provost/academic affairs undermines the integrity of these academic programs and the faculty teaching within them and the students completing graduate work at our university,” read Katherine Bridgman, graduate council representative and assistant professor of English.
In their statement, senate members serving on the graduate council said they were not consulted on the matter and are asking for the opportunity to establish the move’s short-term and long-term implications.
Matson said the move was influenced by the gradual decline in graduate enrollment, which she said is the lowest the university has seen to date, at 493 students. She also noted the recent loss of almost $2 million in formula funding due to the decline.
“This is a very important issue; there’s the issue of shared governance, which did not take place, and it doesn’t happen often enough here,” Faculty Senate Vice President Leonard Love said in the meeting. “Additionally, we’re talking about something that is fundamental to what we do, academic programs; that’s us… and when they move that to some other area, who knows what’s going to happen with it.”
The Faculty Senate’s next meeting is at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 1 on Webex.
