FALL 2002 NEWSLETTER
FALL 2002 NEWSLETTER
FROM THE CHAIR’S DESK
--Catherine VandeVoort, Chair
Academic Federation
First, I would like to express my appreciation to Linda Hughes, the outgoing chair of the AF, for two years of dedicated service to our organization and its members. Linda initiated many projects while chair and some of these will continue into this academic year.
The revisions in the personnel process for AF titles as recommended by the Nash-Goldman Report are nearly complete. Gussie Curran, the new non-Senate faculty assistant to Vice Provost Horwitz, is currently reviewing the plans for peer review for Federation members for all campus Departments.
This year the AF will be assessing the possibility of expanding the professional development leave program and evaluating the effectiveness of the current grievance process (APM 140) for AF members. Although many AF titles have Principal Investigator (PI) status for grant submissions because of their title (Professional Research Series, Cooperative Extension Specialists and Adjunct Professors), the AF Research Committee will be looking into the process by which other AF members can obtain PI status by exception. If you have comments on any of these issues, please contact me or another Executive Council member.
We also hope to gradually upgrade our website this year to make it more useful for our members. We are making arrangements so that volunteering for AF committee service sign-ups will be handled electronically. Also, we are looking at the potential for on-line voting because the AF By-laws will be revised this year. Suggestions regarding the website are always welcome.
The budget restrictions that are expected this year may make it more difficult to accomplish our goals, however, it is expected that our current programs will continue to be funded. I encourage everyone to apply for the Professional Development Award (applications due Nov 20) and for those with PI status to apply for a Research Travel award (applications due in April 2003).
By Jane Kimball, Librarian Emeritus
Editors note: In 1992 Jane Kimball received the James A. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award
Years ago in the churchyard of a small isolated village in Cornwall, I came across a recent gravestone with the curious and enigmatic epitaph ‘He was a man you could warm your hands on’, a remembrance that has always made me wish I had known the man who had generated such affection in his fellow villagers.
Jim Meyer was such a man who, as the longest serving Chancellor at Davis, guided the campus through its period of greatest growth punctuated by student unrest generated by the Vietnam War and the severe budget cutbacks the University suffered during Ronald Reagan’s years as Governor of California.
Meyer brought traditional American values from his rural Idaho upbringing to his new job as chief campus administrator in 1969 (not to mention that he always won the annual cow-milking contests that are a feature of campus Picnic Day celebrations!). Personally modest, Meyer developed an administrative style that recognized and valued the contributions of everyone on campus. His personal integrity, honesty, common sense, respect for others and trust in the people he hired to assist him in running the campus created the ambiance and feeling of camaraderie that became a special feature of academic life at Davis during his administration. As an individual he was approachable, a careful listener and respectful of divergent opinions. As an administrator he was always careful to include all points of view in discussions and had the rare ability to build consensus among groups with different views on academic matters. He appointed student liaisons to important campus planning groups and recognized the contributions of University staff and non-Senate faculty by establishing organizations that would give them a voice in important campus and University policy issues.
The Academic Federation has a very special reason to honor Jim Meyer. Before he became Chancellor, his position as Dean of the College and Agricultural and Environmental Sciences brought him in contact with a variety of academic employees who were not members of the Academic Senate but had contributed significantly to the reputation of the Davis campus. Meyer had the vision to recognize that these employees in several title series, although a disparate group at first glance, needed to have a voice in campus affairs and he supported the formation of the Academic Staff Organization [now the Academic Federation] early in his tenure as Chancellor. The Federation has evolved into an integral part of the campus advisory structure.
Academic Federation members who had the privilege of knowing Jim Meyer have their own memories of him and I am sure many like me will remember him as ‘a man you can warm your hands on’. He will be revered by our organization as the only chief administrator in the University of California system with the vision to recognize the contributions of non-Senate faculty by giving them a voice in campus decisions. More than thirty years have passed since the founding of the Academic Federation. It is the only such organization in the University of California today.
Joe Stasulat Will Be Missed
By Linda Hughes
The campus suffered significant loss on October 16th when Joe Stasulat died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of fifty-nine. His recent campus service included managing multiple programs for the Internship and Career Center, an appointment as Master Advisor for the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, and work with the A&ES Deans Office on plans for implementing their leadership minor.
Joe was an active member of the Academic Federation. He served on many committees, both as AF representative to Senate committees and as member and chair of multiple AF committees. As chair of the Administrative Series Personnel Committee last year he was instrumental in clarifying new peer review policy and procedures. In particular, Joe provided clarity of expectations regarding appropriate merit and promotion criteria to assure fair treatment of individuals under review.
Colleagues will remember Joe for his easy accessibility and readiness to help students and associates, his well versed strategic perspective and vision regarding careers, curricular planning, and special projects and initiatives, and his commitment to the ideal of experience based learning as integral to students' academic preparation.
Very recently the following note came in from one of Joe's former students. Joe would have liked it.
I write from Strasbourg, France, where I received news just today of the death of Joe Stasulat. My wife Pamela and I both worked for and with Joe in the Internship & Career Center in the late '70s. We also took a class or two from Joe, which included the typical hands-on introduction to Northern California agriculture, tours of agricultural processing plants, etc. After graduating from UCD, the experience I gained working with Joe was essential form my success in agricultural banking. Joe helped me find confidence in myself. He was always an encourager.
Paid Leave Program for Academic Federation Members
By Barbara Sommer
Consider this - a quarter's leave (or some variation thereof) with no break in salary or benefits. If that sounds good to you, check out the Professional Development Program for AF members on line at http://provost.ucdavis.edu/academicpersonnel/programs/pdpafletter.cfm
The deadline is tight for this year - the request with accompanying chair’s letter is due at the Dean’s office by November 20. If you can’t make it this year, think about it for next year. The leave is taken some time during the academic year following the application. It covers a nearly unlimited number of options, although the activity must be clearly related to your current role at UC Davis.
Here are some examples:
mathematics); research or teaching-related travel (e.g., advising indigenous people about water quality issues in South America)
Let your imagination flow. If you have questions or need further clarification on information presented on the website, contact Barbara Sommer (basommer@ucdavis.edu), Chair, AF Professional Development Committee.
Upcoming Events
James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award Dinner honoring Marilyn Olmstead, Department of Chemistry, Tuesday, January 14, 2003, AGR Room of the Alumni Center. Invitation should be arriving shortly, RSVP deadline is December 20, 2002.
The Call for the Academic Federation Excellence in Research Award and Excellence in Teaching Award will be distributed early Winter Quarter 2003. The reception is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, 2003, AGR Room of the Alumni Center.
Catherine VandeVoort, Chair
Eric Mussen, Vice-Chair
E. Kim Coontz, Secretary
Gussie Curran, AF Assistant to Vice-Provost
Linda Hughes, Immediate Past Chair
Committee Chairs:
Gary Marty, Academic Freedom, Rights & Privileges
Deborah Golino, Administrative Series Personnel
Stephen Russell, Affirmative Action & Diversity
Pamela Major, Educational Affairs
John Stenzel, Internet Activity
Michael Payne, Joint Personnel
Jo Anne Boorkman, AF Personnel
Linda Behrens, Planning and Budget Review
Barbara Sommer, Professional Development
Gary Sue Goodman, Public Affairs
Suzanne Miyamoto, Research
Kathy Ward, Rules and Election