January

Faculty Senate: 5 updates for spring

Tuition benefits among highlights for the body representing University faculty.

By Cory Phare

January 15, 2018

Teaching is the lifeblood of transformation at MSU Denver. So, with the new semester almost underway, we caught up with Matt Makley, Faculty Senate president and professor of history, to discuss priorities for the road forward.

• The Faculty Senate will work with the President’s Advisory Councils to create solutions to high-level challenges faced by MSU Denver. As the groups are structured to not disrupt or change the function of existing governing bodies, faculty voices are an integral part of the councils’ representative makeup.
• The faculty welfare committee is exploring the feasibility and effect on engagement and retention that expanding employee tuition benefits would have. “This could be a great conversation to make MSU Denver more accessible to employees and their families, and also to introduce new people to the campus,” said Makley.
• The Faculty Senate remains committed to serving undocumented students and will continue exploring opportunities to join the University in advocating for them.
• Building on the Oct. 5 Teaching Excellence Awards (TEA) Talks,” the group will continue to build dialogue around pedagogy. “We’ve got so many folks who are doing their jobs really well, and we want to share that with the community,” said Makley. “We’d like to have more friendly conversations about our craft and learning, and how we serve students through teaching.”
• Broad conversations on advancing strategic partnerships both on-campus and off will continue. The goal is to ensure MSU Denver students continue to receive the best value in well-rounded, high-quality and workforce-ready education in the state of Colorado.

Faculty Senate meetings are open to the broad campus community and public, held biweekly in Tivoli 320 at 3:20 p.m. The first meeting of 2018 is Wednesday, Jan. 17.