SOM Faculty Senator - Job Description

Listing of Current Senators

12/15/1999

Summary:
Those elected by the faculty of the School of Medicine to serve on the UNM Faculty Senate constitute a key advisory group for the SOM. In addition to representing the SOM in the Faculty Senate, SOM senators will be kept informed on important faculty matters as they develop in the SOM and will be asked for their advice and counsel. Faculty senators will play important roles as liaisons between SOM administration and faculty.

Background:
The faculty handbook states that there should be one Faculty Senator for every 30 faculty members from each school in the University, and they are to be elected by members of that faculty. The Senate is the voice of the faculty in such matters as formulation of institutional aims, creation of new colleges, departments and divisions, major curricular changes, requirements for admission and graduation of students, approval of candidates for degrees, policies of appointment, dismissal and promotion in academic rank, research, and general faculty welfare. It is, therefore, a political body with considerable importance within the institution as a whole.

At the same time, the SOM, which is committed to shared governance, has a strong need for input from representative faculty groups on an increasing number of major issues. The elected faculty Senators constitute an important body that could provide invaluable insight and opinion in the formulation of directions, goals and policies.

The faculty Senators will therefore have a more prominent advisory role within the SOM. This will be accomplished by creating a new advisory group, comprised of the faculty Senators and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The function of the group will be to advise the Dean in matters of policy which affect the SOM faculty. Recent examples of such policies include the FIBCI plan, post tenure review, and promotion criteria for Clinician-Educators. Formalizing such a group serves several purposes, including:

  • Providing the Dean and the Associate Deans with more broad-based, consistent, and forthright opinions regarding faculty needs and constraints as they relate to proposed policy decisions
  • Providing individual SOM faculty with a more accessible mechanism for voicing concerns and ideas about SOM policy proposals
  • Providing Faculty Senators with a clear and significant role
  • Establishing a cohesive working group, which will be more likely to represent the SOM well in University-wide policy discussions in the Faculty Senate.

Every year there are 16 SOM faculty members who have been elected as Senators by their peers to represent the interests of SOM faculty members.

Job Description:
Faculty senators serve the role of faculty-administration liaisons in two capacities:

  • As representatives of the SOM on the faculty Senate
  • As elected representatives of faculty to the Dean of the SOM

The key duties of the faculty Senators are as follows:

  1. Attend faculty Senate meetings (held monthly from Sept-May)
  2. Be familiar with agenda items for faculty Senate meetings ahead of time, and discuss those items which are relevant to the SOM with other Senators and with faculty, either in person or electronically
  3. Serve (collectively) as a standing advisory committee to the Dean of the SOM. In that capacity, Senators are expected to provide thoughtful feedback, which reflects discussion with faculty, in a timely manner when requested by Dean. Senators may also, on their own initiative, bring other issues from the faculty to their colleagues and to the Dean. Discussion and feedback may occur via meetings or electronically, but all Senators are expected to participate.