Nominations are being accepted from UNMC for a UNMC/UNO ad-hoc faculty committee that would address issues of mutual interest between UNMC and UNO.
UNMC Faculty Senate
Ann Anderson Berry, M.D., Ph.D., has assumed the presidency of the UNMC Faculty Senate for the 2017-18 academic year.
Dr. Anderson Berry serves as associate professor in the division of newborn medicine and medical director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Nebraska Medicine.
In addition to Dr. Anderson Berry, the Faculty Senate officers include:
- Immediate past president – Nizar Wehbi, M.D.
- Newly elected vice president/president-elect – Corrine Hanson, Ph.D.
- Newly elected secretary/treasurer – Allison Cushman-Vokoun, M.D., Ph.D.
The senate serves as the governing body empowered to represent the UNMC faculty. It includes representatives from each major academic unit.
In this video shown Monday at the Senate’s final meeting of the academic year, Dr. Gold discussed a wide range of topics from the state budget impact to his chancellorship at both UNMC and UNO to the Senate’s new ad-hoc committee.
Earlier this week, UNMC Faculty Senate President Ann Anderson Berry, M.D., Ph.D., and UNO Faculty Senate President Laura Grams, Ph.D., announced creation of a 14-member Communication Collaboration Committee with the full support of Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., chancellor of both institutions.
UNO’s committee members will be chosen by UNO’s Faculty Senate.
“This will provide a venue to move forward with ideas and innovations that are impactful and beneficial to both campuses,” Dr. Anderson Berry said, “as well as provide an outlet for faculty to address any concerns or obstacles they have in their current role that might be impacted with a closer relationship with UNO.”
The committee — seven faculty members from each campus — will meet monthly for approximately two years, she said, as UNMC and UNO explore increased collaborations to grow their way through a reduction in state funding.
“While each Faculty Senate addresses issues related to its specific campus, this group will collect and address faculty issues and ideas singularly focused on items that relate to the relationship between UNMC and UNO,” Dr. Anderson Berry said.
Dr. Grams agreed: “The ad hoc committee can address issues of mutual interest and concern to our faculties and help bring together the faculty experts who might benefit from collaboration with other colleagues in research, teaching, and community engagement.
“We have heard discussion of the many existing and proposed relationships between the two campuses in research, teaching or community engagement. We hope that this ad hoc committee encourages faculty to lead conversations with other faculty and fosters beneficial links between faculty at both of our institutions.”
Drs. Anderson Berry and Grams said the ad-hoc committee will include broad representation from across each campus. Minutes from the committee meetings will be available on each Faculty Senate’s website.
Faculty should email UNMC nominations to Dr. Anderson Berry. Nominees may be members of the general faculty or serve as members of the Faculty Senate. Committee members may be selected by the end of the month, they said.