Welcome to the Purdue Faculty Website. We hope this site provides convenient access to information useful for our university community. The senate represents the faculty and becomes the formal voice in the discussion of university policies that affect the academic mission of the university. Your input on matters related to the educational or educational-research missions either through this website or through your elected senate representatives helps shape the sound and rhythm of the senate’s voice. Since the senate is primarily advisory to the administration except in matters of curriculum, please join your voices to those of the senate so that we can articulate our concerns as a diverse yet harmonious university community.

The Chairperson of the University Senate has the responsibility of moderating senate deliberations and discussions while working with the university administration and senate on policy development and policy feedback—something akin to directing traffic on a bridge between the administration and the rest of the university community. Such work is beyond the talents of this particular full time professor. Hence, a quartet of me, Howard Zelaznik (Vice Chair of the senate), Joe Camp (Secretary of Faculties), and Joan Fulton (Chair of the Senate Steering Committee) will be providing team leadership during the coming year along with the chairs of the various standing committees (David Williams (Faculty Affairs), Morris Levy (University Resource and Policy), Andrew Luescher (Educational Policy), Lee Weith (Student Affairs), and Bill McInerney (Nominating). The responsibility of making routine reports to the Board of Trustees on issues before the senate remains with the chair although the content will reflect the consensus of our voice.

Please feel free to contact me or one of the other senate officers with issues of concern that affect the academic mission of the university. A sampling of topics that are on the senate agenda for the 2008-2009 academic year are OnePurdue, the Banner system, transparency of the university budgeting process, and the strategic plan. Let us work together to shape Purdue into a stronger and more scholarly university community.