Incoming Chair's Summer Message
July 24, 2019
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to you in my new capacity as Chair of the Faculty Senate. We have been working with the Office of the Provost to schedule Faculty Meetings for the next Academic year and have posted them and provided a link to update your Campus Calendar. These meetings are for all faculty members and provide an essential forum for practicing shared governance. No less important, however, is the opportunity to gather together as a community.
Remote participation will be arranged for all Faculty meetings in the coming year; but we would love to have as many faculty members attend in person as possible. We will shortly be updating the Faculty Senate website to include these meetings as well as those of the Faculty Senate and the Board of Trustees.
The coming year promises to bring many important changes and conversations to campus, from the implementation of the new Brandeis Core to the sharing of the results of the President’s task forces for a Framework for Our Future and our continued pursuit of honoring our founding values by making Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion central to pedagogy and governance.
The Faculty Meetings will be the venue for these topics and important opportunities to consider the proposals of the Dignity at Work Task Force and a new working group to complete the work of the Faculty Governance Task Force by reforming the Senate. In addition, we hope to continue important conversations about mental health on campus and phased retirement equity for contract faculty.
I am honored by the opportunity to serve as your Senate Chair for the coming year. Please do contact me or one of your senators if you have topics or initiatives you would like addressed at one of our meetings.
Best Wishes,
Joel P. Christensen ’01
Chair, Faculty Senate
Associate Professor and Chair, Classical Studies