Board Presentation 19 September 1997

President Aschkenasy, Members of the Board, Chancellor Cox

There are six groups that interact to make the OSSHE a functional entity: 1) the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, 2) the Chancellor and staff of the Chancellor's office, 3) the Institution Presidents, 4) the Faculty (Officers of Instruction and Officers of Administration) , 5) the students, 6) the classified staff. At the October Board Renewal, the first three were discussed in detail and their roles sorted out. Because the main functions of the OSSHE are played out at the learning interface between the faculty and students, the senators of the IFS feel the members of the board should have a statement from the faculty on the role of the faculty in the Oregon State System of Higher Education to match those on the board itself, the Chancellor and the Presidents.

There is a tendency to look on the faculty as simply salaried employees of the system. We feel there are several reasons that view does not give the whole picture. First, the legislated charters include the faculty in the governance of the universities and OIT. Second, the Chancellor and Presidents are also salaried employees and their administrative roles cover only a portion of the administration of the system. And, third, the faculty are strongly involved in developing programs and initiatives that come before the board for approval and are the members of the system that take action to implement them after board approval. Thus faculty make many of the administrative decisions at lower levels that both come before the board or are implemented following already established policies.

The roles of the faculty are focussed on the learning interface between students and faculty.
1. Provide the learning services for students
•Develop, maintain and teach the courses in the curriculum
Faculty develop their own courses, submit them for peer review at the department, college and institutional level before administrative review at the presidential or board level.
•With the continual flow of new research, faculty must incorporate new material in their courses on a regular basis
•Develop, maintain and implement systems of student progress evaluation (grades, and other forms of evaluation).

•Advise students: review their progress toward the degree, inform them of their options to meet graduation requirements, and work with the student to maximize her or his learning experience.
2. Maintain and renew established programs
•Maintain and update requirements for majors, minors and other programs.
•Establish criteria and screen candidates for hiring new faculty within their disciplines
•Maintain academic standards by reviewing new programs, handling student appeals, reviewing faculty performance, establishing standards for matriculation and graduation
•Keep programs and the institution as a whole in conformity with standards of accrediting agencies
•Keep the information in the system up to date by, for example, assisting the library in ordering monographs, serials and other materials
3. Develop new programs as needed and submit them for Board approval.
•Faculty develop programs and courses, submit them for peer review within the institution before administrative review at the presidential and board level.
4. Create new knowledge through research (with applications to teaching and the wider community)
•The research function of faculty is more institutionalized in the research universities but it a vital role for all faculty. Research findings (ranging from reorganizing present knowledge in new configurations to funded research projects designed to expand the frontiers of human knowledge) are incorporated in courses as they are developed and taught.
5. Participate in institutional governance
•Faculty serve on committees that, among other functions, establish academic policies, administer standards and requirements, and review proposed courses and programs.