Michele Wheatly introduced herself officially to the University Senate on Wednesday, beginning a relationship between provost and senators that Wheatly said she hopes will embody open communication and transparency.

Wheatly has held the position of Syracuse University vice chancellor and provost since May 16, but addressed the full senate for the first time Wednesday afternoon in Maxwell Auditorium at the body’s first meeting of the academic year. As the university’s head of academics, Wheatly said she will work closely with the senate, which is defined as SU’s academic governing body.

The provost laid down the terms of that working relationship at the meeting, ensuring that it will be one that is transparent, one that works toward a more modern and efficient senate and one that strives to create a healthier academic environment at the university.

The issue of transparency has been a hot topic on SU’s campus in recent years, with faculty members often criticizing the administration for not communicating well enough.

“I will try to always be here, I’ll always come on time because I’m British and I’ll expect to be able to talk to you and to answer your questions, because you should consider me one of the chief communicators of the university,” Wheatly told the senate.

Wheatly’s assurances of transparency came after she explained that she’d heard during meetings with leadership teams of the senate, and the university in general, complaints of there not being enough communication between administrators and the rest of the SU community. Those complaints were also made meeting after meeting in the senate last academic year.

“I do consider myself to be among several primary communicators for the university,” Wheatly said. “And there is that saying, ‘One can never communicate enough.’”

Following Wheatly’s report to the senate, Sam Gorovitz, philosophy professor and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, took Wheatly up on her offer of transparency and asked her whether SU actually spent the $6 million it was reported to have dished on the University Place promenade.

“Either the university doesn’t know, which would be very disturbing, or it does know, and won’t tell us, which would be very disturbing,” Gorovitz said.

Gorovitz then asked Wheatly for the approximate cost of the promenade but told her he didn’t expect her to know off the top of her head. The question went unanswered.

In addition to transparency and communication, Wheatly also addressed other topics she identified as issues faculty have with the university’s academics. Among those issues is a desire for the university to engage in programmatic review and figure out “what is still necessary for 21st century thinking skills,” she said.

Wheatly added that there is also interest in diversifying faculty in terms of women, minorities and differently-abled people — an effort that she said will draw more diverse students through the pipeline.

Two other issues Wheatly said she heard from faculty were improving research and increasing talent development so faculty can expand their potentials as educators. Research and talent development are cornerstones of the Academic Strategic Plan Wheatly is charged with heading.

Before expanding upon the Academic Strategic Plan, Wheatly thanked the senators for their participation in the creation process of the plan.

“Nothing has been wasted. If you participated on a task force or on an implementation team, we have all of that information and we will be acting on it,” she said. “Now clearly there’s only so much money. We do have to identify our thematic areas of priority, but don’t ever think that your ideas or your time and effort were wasted.”

In addition to rebuilding the Office of Research and creating more resources for professional development, Wheatly said the university is looking to create an internationalization council that will “chart the course for recruitment of international students and viable international partnerships.”

Directing research toward veterans and military families and innovative and entrepreneurial programs are also elements of the Academic Strategic Plan Wheatly discussed in her report.

Other business discussed at the senate meeting included an update from the report of the Committee on LGBT Concerns that concluded SU is still striving to improve its ranking of 3.5/5-star ranking on the Campus Pride Index, which measures the LGBT-friendly climate of universities. A report from the Committee on Library concluded that SU Libraries had its best year in fundraising yet last year and is also developing a strategic plan to improve its facilities and services from 2016 to 2021.

Published on September 14, 2016 at 9:44 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu