Friday, August 28, 2009

Introduction

I have been associated with the UMCP for many years, receiving my PhD in Astronomy here in 1994, then joining the faculty in 1997.  I am currently an Associate Research Scientist in the Astronomy Department.

The Non-Tenured Research Faculty (NTRF) are a vital part of the University community.  In addition to bringing in funding to support our research programs, many NTRF  also supervise and fund students, serve on department and campus committees, some of us even teach classes.  Despite these activities, NTRF are sometimes the "forgotten cohort" of the University, whose input on shared governance of the campus may be overlooked.

It was only recently that I learned that the NTRF  had their own representation in the Campus Senate.   I imagine many other campus researchers didn't know this either.  There is a single senator to represent all Non-Tenured Research Faculty, elected to a one-year term for a maximum of three terms.    There was no NTRF senator in 2008; 2009-2010 is my first term.

I also serve on the Senate's Elections, Representation, and Governance (ERG) committee.  One of my goals for this term is
to get the ERG to review the NTRF representation and determine if we should have more than one senator.

The purpose of this blog is to keep NTRF apprised of Senate considerations and actions that affect them and, equally important, to hear from NTRF about issues that concern them.
 You can post feedback here on the blog, send me email (mpound@umd.edu), or call me at x1520.   I look forward to hearing from you!

1 comment: