The co-chairs of the new Faculty Senate Development Committee will meet with the University's Senior Vice President of Development next week to lay the foundations for its first meeting, which is expected to be held in March.
Faculty Senate Chair Marcia Childress said the new committee was created last spring based on a spring 2003 Senate statement that expressed faculty interest in having a voice in private fundraising.
The committee's purpose is to provide a source of communication between the faculty and the University's development efforts, Childress said.
"Ideally, it all ties in with fundraising," Childress said.
English Prof. Michael Levenson and Biology Prof. Robert Grainger, both co-chairs of the new committee, were unavailable to begin committee meetings last semester due to travel and course loads.
"I used to be chair of the Faculty Senate, and that's how I got interested in some of these big issues," Grainger said.
According to Childress, one of the main goals of the committee will be working with private fundraising, especially the Capital Campaign. The committee will follow academic planning and help create priorities for fundraising.
"I think a committee like this is important because many of us who are faculty here appreciate the need of fundraising of this kind," Grainger said.
Grainger said he was attracted to the idea of such a committee because it could allow for the alumni to become more interested in programs.
The committee will be able to communicate information regarding different departments and interacting with administrators on programs such as Virginia 2020 in order to create a more informed base of potential investors.
"In the new campaign, faculty can help to make the case to donors for U.Va.'s academic private-funding needs," Childress said.
The faculty said they feel the committee will allow them to become more involved in the Capital Campaign, Childress said.
"While academic planning is often responsibility of deans, faculty generally have input and value having input in those process," she said.
Since the committee has not yet held a meeting, its exact goals and mission are undeclared, Childress said.
"As any good committee, it's a work in progress," Childress said.
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