University President Teresa Sullivan spoke to the Faculty Senate at the Darden School of Business Tuesday evening for the first time since her June 26 reinstatement, addressing many of the issues raised by her ouster and encouraging optimism for the institution’s future.
For Sullivan the time had come to address the elephant in the room — the tumultuous summer.
Pulling out a stuffed blue elephant, Law Prof. George Cohen, the senate’s chair, gave the president’s controversial resignation center stage at Tuesday’s meeting.
Sullivan began by recalling that the first days of class last year began with an earthquake, an event that, much like the June controversy, sparked energetic community reactions and national attention.
“We learned at least two things: shared governance works, and a united U.Va. faculty is a force to be reckoned with,” Sullivan said of the June controversy.
University faculty members, whose salaries have not been increased in four years, were at the epicenter of this summer’s controversy. Rector Helen Dragas repeatedly cited the ongoing salary freeze as an area of concern for the University as it looks to remain nationally competitive.
Sullivan is not taking state restrictions on University salaries lying down, however. She made a commitment at the Board retreat two weeks ago to introduce a four-year plan to raise faculty salaries at the Board’s September meeting.
“The spotlight of higher education is watching to see how we handle the problems,” Sullivan said.
“Many values we have taken for granted are under question … The faculty will drive our efforts of how we teach and how we conduct research.”
The University is trying another tack to strengthen faculty retention. Sullivan said faculty members need to think outside the box when it comes to hiring and interacting between departments.
Searching for new faculty should be done inter-departmentally, which will help integrate new members into the University community. Provost John Simon, who spoke on the same stage on
Father’s Day to openly question the Board’s values, has also committed to work with Sullivan to improve compensation packages.
Sullivan also announced that the University’s five massive open online courses (MOOCs), which were seen as the source of tension between Sullivan and the Board, have so far enrolled more than 60,000 students worldwide. She added that these MOOCs will never usurp on-Grounds learning.
“[However,] residential learning is still our signature experience,” Sullivan said. “Knowledge evolves and changes and the curriculum must change with it.”
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