Paul Kellermann, Alison Condie Jaenicke, Rachael Wiley, Jan Babcock, Heather Holleman
With the start of another school year, the Lecturer Advisory Committee (LAC) welcomes new members. We’re excited to introduce you to this year’s representatives:
Jan Babcock, term ends 2018
Heather Holleman (co-chair), term ends 2019
Alison Condie Jaenicke (co-chair), term ends 2019
Paul Kellermann, term ends 2019
Rachael Wiley (secretary), term ends 2018
The LAC “meets to discuss, and advise the Head on, matters of concern to the Lecturer faculty.”[1] This year, we’re excited to continue our work building community among the lecturer faculty, as well as to hear your concerns in order to bring them to the attention of the administration.
To that end, here are some of our priorities for 2017-18:
- Clear and ongoing conversation regarding the new standardized titles[2] for lecturer faculty, clear criteria for promotion, expectations for the promotion dossier, and the formation of the new Fixed-Term Promotion Review Committee.
- A stronger lecturer presence at monthly departmental faculty meetings—at least one member of the LAC will be present at every faculty meeting. We invite you to attend as well.
- Professional development opportunities, including the opportunity for peer evaluation and class observation, as well as partnering with our department’s consultant from the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence to offer a workshop on the topic(s) you choose. Look for a survey from us soon.
- A study of compensation levels among lecturers in Liberal Arts across departments. We’re seeking lecturers for an ad-hoc committee to share this workload.
- Ongoing efforts toward establishing an attitude of respect and collegiality between lecturers, administration, and tenured/tenure-track faculty.
Should you have other concerns to bring to the LAC’s attention, please email Heather Holleman at heather.holleman@gmail.com.
This semester, as in previous semesters, we’re planning a variety of lecturer gatherings in order to meet you and hear from you, including Meet & Greet events and lecturer faculty meetings.
The first event is a Meet & Greet on Monday, September 11, at 3:30-5:00pm in the Grucci Room. Agenda items include the following:
- A discussion of the new titles for lecturers with Mark Morrisson (Head), John Marsh (Associate Head), Cheryl Glenn (Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric), and Mary Miles (Senior Lecturer and member of the Senate Committee on Faculty Affairs).
- Clarification on the process for assigning creative writing courses by Charlotte Holmes (Director of Creative Writing).
- Information on our partnership with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence to offer professional development workshops.
- Introductions of new lecturer faculty and us, your new LAC!
We also hope to see you all at the fall party on Friday, September 15, from 6-9pm at Mark’s house.
[1] Governance Document for Faculty, located on the English Department Intranet. Access the entire document by visiting the department’s website http://la.psu.edu/english, scrolling to the bottom of the homepage, logging in, and clicking the Access the Department Intranet link.
[2] Find the full document here: http://senate.psu.edu/senators/agendas-records/march-14-2017-agenda/appendix-j/
Hi! Just a minor correction: Michael chaired the Faculty Affairs Committee. I advocated in my role as Chair of the Liberal Arts Caucus (our Caucus proposed the legislation that ultimately won Michael’s Commttee’s approval. Earlier, I worked through the College wide Lecturer committee for years (they were pivitol in getting the Professorial titles to Old Main.). 🙂