By DONOVAN HARRELL
The first Faculty Assembly meeting of the fall 2019 semester showed that shared governance will have many issues to address during the academic year.
In Senate Council President Chris Bonneau’s report, he updated members on several ongoing issues on campus, including faculty unionization and socially responsible investing.
He encouraged faculty to comment on three proposed policies open on the Office of Policy and Management website. Two of these policies, the Electronic Information Technology Accessibility Policy and the Non-Discrimination, Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action policy will be discussed at the October Faculty Assembly meeting.
Finally, Bonneau announced that the Office of Human Resources is calling for a number of faculty to update their child protection clearances. Failure to do so could result in unpaid leave with benefits possibly suspended. Faculty will receive notices and will have 90 days to update their clearances.
Senate Vice President David Salcido delivered the only report in the Assembly on a recent meeting between Faculty Assembly members from the health sciences and Pitt administrators on the ongoing search to fill Arthur Levine’s position once he steps down as senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine.
This has been a frequently debated topic with a number of faculty calling for the positions to be separated into two roles, citing potential conflicts of interest and commitment. Attendees at this week’s meeting shared similar concerns.
Salcido said that he was working to make sure there is transparency as the search process continues.
Faculty Assembly will meet again Oct. 8. Newly hired Chief Information Officer Mark Henderson is scheduled to speak along with David DeJong, who was recently appointed interim vice chancellor of the Office of Human Resources after Cheryl Johnson resigned over the summer.
Donovan Harrell is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at dharrell@pitt.edu or 412-383-9905.
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