The Provost’s Office is trying to discern faculty members’ opinions on their stake in University governance.
Provost Suzanne Ortega announced at the regents’ meeting Tuesday that her office would conduct a survey among faculty — many of whom are concerned about their role in UNM’s shared governance — to collect baseline data on faculty’s views on decision-making roles at the University before any changes are made.
The Provost’s Office expects to distribute the 35-question survey to faculty before Thanksgiving break, Ortega said.
“In January 2011, a comprehensive report on the progress we have made in improving shared governance and communication will be released,” Ortega said. “An essential element in that report is the survey to document the progress that we have made over the years.”
Regent Gene Gallegos said shared governance would increase the influence of the faculty in the Board’s affairs, but not vice versa.
“The faculty is saying they want to have a say in the regents’ business, so the regents need to have something to do with what has been the faculty’s business,” he said.
The goal of shared governance is to increase the cooperation between faculty and the Board of Regents, Ortega said, but ultimate authority will remain with the Board of Regents.
“I prefer to think of it as collaborative decision making where different points of view are fully represented, though a decision needs to be made by a designated individual,” she said.
Faculty Senate President-Elect Richard Wood — who attended the regents’ meeting on behalf of Faculty Senate President Doug Fields — did not offer an opinion on the matter during the regents’ discussion.
“This is a unique opportunity to actually develop a clear understanding of where our tension points are,” Ortega said. “The survey will reflect the interests of all its stakeholders, because it provides data that is useful in identifying the most strategic changes we can make to make very important progress.”
Regent Jamie Koch said he was concerned about the accuracy of the proposed survey and suggested faculty and regents get an opportunity to look it over before it is released.
“I have concerns about what questions are going to be asked and how they are going to be asked, because the key is the wording on those questions,” he said. “I also have concerns — if we are talking before Thanksgiving — if this document will be ready to go out.”
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Ortega said the content addressed in the survey has been well researched.
“The strategy in creating this document has been two fold,” she said. “The first (strategy was) to consult with a variety of stakeholders to clarify understanding. The second was to draft an instrument that reflected both the standards regarding shared governance as well as more local and specific representation for this kind of information.”
The shared governance policy is an effort to cohesively expand the role of faculty in administrative decisions, Ortega said.
The administration expects to bring about changes by January 2011, and the survey will help illustrate the progress, she said.
“It will establish a set of principles that include areas of primary faculty responsibility,” she said. “There are also issues about what I would call cooperative decision making, which is not technically shared governance, but is certainly a set of expectations that define appropriate points in key decisions. There is a process and place for facilitating conversation that informs the ultimate decision.”
