On Thursday, April 28, theSouthern University Faculty Senate met with the SU Board of Supervisors topresent a profile of the faculty’s accomplishments and to establish arelationship between the faculty and the board.
The meeting, which was held inthe auditorium of the Pinchback Engineering Building, was attended by variousSU administrators.
Eva Baham, faculty senatepresident, began the meeting by stating that its purpose was to share with theboard, and among themselves, the lives and experiences of the faculty membersat SU.
“The core of the university isthe faculty,” Baham said. “And we (the faculty senate) want to establish a goodworking relationship with the administration and the board.”
A presentation by Dr. WilliamMoore of the SU Chemistry Department, informed members of the board andadministration about the importance of faculty presence.
“The faculty at this universityserves on boards and commissions all the way from the local to theinternational level,” Moore said. “This brings visibility to the institutionand provides a median for the faculty to influence events both locally and atinternational levels.”
Moore went on to say that thefaculty also provides an effective nurturing environment through teaching andmentoring, and also provides income through exceptional grants, which enhancesthe reputation of the university through various means.
“The faculty instills knowledge,and we call that the teaching process,” Moore said. “It creates new knowledgethrough research, and it modifies existing knowledge, and we call thatcreativity. It (the faculty) is the constituent at the university that is theleast transparent, it has the highest average age, and it touches the futuredirectly,” Moore added.
Moore’s presentation alsopresented a list of the various grants, some of which were worth millions ofdollars, awarded to faculty members of the university. The presentation alsofocused of the published accomplishments of the faculty as well.
“We have an obligation toprovide an atmosphere where opportunity and success exist,” Moore said.
Bahm expressed a strong interestin reaching out to the students at SU as well.
“We want to work out ways, withthe new student government president, that we can interact outside of theclassroom with students,” Bahm said. “We want to meet with them in aprofessional manner so that they can talk to us without fear of debate.”
Bahm added that she has heardand read negative things that students say about the faculty, and she hopesthat a similar style meeting with them as well will help defer some of thoseideas.
“Students can go anywhere andget a fine education,” Bahm said. “But they come here because they know thatthey can come to almost any professor and talk to us about all kinds ofthings.”
Senate member and AssociateProfessor Kamran Abdollahi expressed a positive outlook for the future of theSU faculty, who he feels could one day be profiled on the national front aswell.
“The faculty members in alldepartments have a job that never ends,”said Dr. Diola Bagayoko, director andchancellor fellow of the SU physics department.
