Recap of University Senate's Oct. 20 meeting

Here is a recap of the University Senate's meeting held Oct. 20.

Announcement of upcoming COACHE survey

Laurel Weldon, interim vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of political science, announced that faculty soon will be invited to take a survey addressing workplace experience, job satisfaction and career development. The Collaborative on Academic Careers on Higher Education (COACHE), which is based at Harvard, will conduct the survey. Purdue is a COACHE member institution.

Purdue's faculty participated in its first COACHE survey in 2012, when it found that faculty members find several areas of satisfaction at the University, including opportunities for interdisciplinary work and collaboration as well as support for research. More information about the survey's results is here.

Weldon said that more details about the upcoming survey would be available in the coming months.

Report on CIC's Faculty Governance Leaders Conference

Kirk Alter, Senate vice chair, gave a summary of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation's annual Faculty Governance Leaders Conference, which he attended. It was held at Indiana University.

Alter's report included suggestions for improving the Senate's bylaws and procedures based on information he learned at the conference. His full presentation will be available soon at www.purdue.edu/senate/meetings/index.html.

Equity and Diversity Committee update

Senators Alberto Rodriguez and Heather Servaty-Seib updated the Senate about the actions of the Equity and Diversity Committee, which was created in April.

The committee has been reviewing a 2007 diversity assessment from the Office of the Vice President for Ethics and Compliance. The committee is considering recommending the creation of a similar, updated survey and report, Servaty-Seib said.

Introduction of new provost

Patricia Hart, Senate chair, introduced Deba Dutta, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, to the Senate's members. Dutta began his role as provost in May.

Dutta, who received his doctorate from Purdue in 1989, was formerly associate vice provost and dean of the Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dutta addressed the senators for several minutes, during which he stressed his commitment to shared governance and working with faculty members across campus.

For more information about Dutta, see this archived news release. 

Writer: Amanda Hamon Kunz, 49-61325, ahamon@purdue.edu