THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

FACULTY SENATE

Senate Document Number 5600S

Date of Senate Approval 4/13/00

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

FWDC 4:

A SENSE OF THE SENATE RESOLUTION

IN SUPPORT OF TWO NEW ANNUAL AWARDS FOR

FACULTY EXCELLENCE IN SCHOLARSHIP AND CREATIVE WORKS

The Faculty Senate supports the University Research Council and the Faculty Welfare Committee in recommending to the Chancellor that UNCA establish two new awards which will honor two faculty members annually for scholarship and/or creative works.

These two Awards will complement the present seven Distinguished Teaching Awards and the two Feldman Professorships by recognizing the achievements of faculty members in their own fields of special accomplishment and expertise.

The Faculty Senate further suggests that the Chancellor consider representing these awards as opportunity areas for donors who might be willing to fund them, under the names of the donors when so desired.

RATIONALE
The university confers seven annual awards to honor excellence in teaching. However, we have no comparable awards to recognize faculty excellence in scholarship and creative activity.

The Feldman awards are a partial exception. However it must be remembered that the Feldman Professorships are given to honor "…those faculty who have excelled in one or both of the following…" (1) service to the community and to UNCA; and (2) Demonstrated competence in the areas of teaching, research and published writings. (Faculty Handbook, p.99) Thus, the Feldman Professorships sometimes honor service, sometimes honor a blend of teaching, research and service excellence; and, sometimes are seen as long-term, even lifetime recognition awards.

UNCA can better balance faculty recognition by adding two annual awards to honor excellence in scholarship and creative work.

HISTORY OF THE PRESENT PROPOSAL
The present proposal grew out of conversations among Professor Allan Combs, Chair of the URC; Chancellor Jim Mullen; William Bruce, Chair of Faculty Welfare & Development Committee; Dean Tom Cochran, and a number of individual members of the faculty. It has unanimously passed both the University Research Council and the Faculty Welfare and Development Committee.

PROPOSING A PROCESS FOR MAKING THE AWARDS
If these Awards are established, the Faculty Welfare Committee will propose to the Senate a process parallel to the one now used for making the Teaching Awards, along these lines - in the first two years the recipients will be selected by the University Research Council, with sitting members of the URC ineligible to receive them. In the third and following years, a committee will be formed of previous award recipients with four members in the first year, and six in subsequent years. The longest serving members will retire from the committee each year to keep the membership at six.