As many of you know, President Kress proposed a reorganization of four divisions of the college on April 7th. The proposal was formally given to SCAA on April 8th. Since that time, President Kress has held open forums at both the Brighton and Damon City Campuses to present her proposal to the college community. In addition, SCAA has been holding open forums to gather feedback from faculty and staff, so that we can evaluate the proposal and make recommendations.
I had the opportunity to talk with President Kress about a few concerns that I had been hearing in conversations around campus. Together, President Kress and I worked out a compromise on one of the issues we discussed. President Kress and I agreed to appoint Dr. Jeff Bartkovich as the Interim Provost while a nation-wide search is conducted. This also means that we agreed to the breakup of the ETS division into 2 parts (one in Academic Services and one in Administrative Services). I have agreed to chair the search committee for the Provost. It is my intention to form the committee by the end of June and to start meeting early in September.
I presented this compromise to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee for discussion at our May 1st meeting. After discussion, it was decided to accept the compromise with President Kress, and announce it to the college community while the SCAA process continues. This decision was not taken lightly by the Executive Committee, nor was it a unanimous decision. I would like to stress, that this does NOT mean the SCAA process is completed or lessened in any way. Quite the contrary, I would urge the college community to attend at least one of the remaining open hearings so that your voice can be heard (in support of the reorganization or to express concerns). The remaining opening hearings are as follows:
Monday, May 5th 12:00 – 1:00 pm in the Community Room (4193) at DCC
Monday, May 5th 3:00 – 4:00 pm in building 8, room 8-200 on the Brighton Campus
Thursday, May 8th 11:00 am– 12:30 pm in the Empire Room on the Brighton Campus
After the open forums are concluded, SCAA will be compiling the information in order to evaluate the reorganization proposal and develop recommendations. President Kress has requested that SCAA’s recommendation be forwarded to her by June 10th, so that the college community will know what changes will be implemented before the end of June.
Thank you for your continued input and support through this important process.
Mark Ernsthausen
Mathematics
05/05/2014 |