The Jefferson Trust awarded a $47,235 grant April 15 to fund Preserving Self-Governance for Our Third Century, a project which aims to help orient new faculty members to the tradition and culture of U.Va.
The project is a collaboration between Student Council, the University Judiciary Committee, the Honor Committee and the Faculty Senate.
President and CEO of the Alumni Association Thomas Faulders said there could be as many as half of the current faculty changing over the next 10 to 15 years as numerous faculty who were hired in the 1970s are now reaching retirement age.
“With all of the new faculty coming in, the theory is that it’s important to help them understand the traditions and culture of U.Va., which includes the Honor system and student self-governance,” Faulders said.
Faulders said the confidence and self-assuredness that University students exhibit comes from student self-governance.
“Most schools aren’t like that. It’s a really unusual culture here, and for somebody coming from the outside — particularly for faculty members who’ve spent their whole life in academia and haven’t seen this — this is really new to them,” Faulders said. “And that’s why I think this program is important, because it helps the faculty understand why this place is different and how it will benefit them as faculty members.”
Currently the only type of orientation the faculty receive regarding the self-governance system at the University is through a brief presentation during their usual faculty orientation.
Preserving Self-Governance for Our Third Century is a multi-part project funded by a five-year grant.
The first part of the project will be printing and providing a booklet about self-governance which Abraham Axler, third-year College student and former Student Council president, said will allow for the telling of the history of self-governance and the current challenges groups are facing.
“The idea is not to write an authoritative book but to present why we are the way we are now and to think more critically about self-governance,” Axler said.
The second part of the project is the implementation of a faculty orientation about self-governance run by students.
“New faculty will have the opportunity to have an overview of the different kinds of organizations at the University of Virginia and how they function in relationship to the University,” Axler said.
Breakout sessions will be held during the afternoon portion of the orientation to help faculty become more aware of the culture of the University and also for them to reflect on how they might want to have an impact on projects or offer advice, Axler said.
“It’s also to display to the new faculty that this system is not just lip service,” Axler said.
Axler said another goal of the program is to get veteran faculty interacting with new faculty.
The grant also covers the cost of four lunches a year for the next five years to help foster interactions between new faculty, students and veteran faculty.
The project is under development now and will continue to be throughout the summer with the hopes that it will be ready by the fall orientation, Axler said.
Read More
Honor Committee considers formal ban of AI detectors as evidence in trials
By Lexie Stadler | 1 hours agoThe Committee also addressed balancing student perspectives with those of Committee representatives during panel discussions.
Pro-Palestinian protesters form encampment near University Chapel
By CD News Staff | 2 hours agoThe encampment overlapped with a separate “May Day” protest on the Lawn, which was hosted by student activist group U.Va. Dissenters and the U.Va. Apartheid Divest Coalition.
Another aggravated assault incident reported to UPD
By Thomas Baxter | 2 hours agoThis is the first community alert of May.
