Forgive Paul Fey, PhD, a professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, if you can’t keep up with him in 2026-2027.
As UNMC Faculty Senate president, he will preside over the group’s monthly meetings and attend monthly NU Board of Regents meetings, as well as quarterly meetings with the University president and Faculty Senate presidents from the other NU campuses. All that, of course, in addition to his everyday roles as professor and vice chair of research in the department.
To Dr. Fey, it’s worth it. “It’s an important thing—it’s an honor to be elected,” he said. “And it has some really important functions in the sense that the Faculty Senate is the voice of the faculty with the administration, so every year that I’ve been part of it, there have been some unique things that have come up every year, whether budgetary issues or, last year with Nebraska Medicine and UNMC, there was a lot of discussion with the administration about that, and the challenges for the clinical faculty associated with that change. So every year, there’s something different and unique—you kind of have to be ready for it.”
This year, “I’d like to reintroduce the Faculty Senate to the faculty at large and let them know what we can offer them,” he said. “I think there are situations where the faculty have felt they don’t have a voice, a place to go, and I’d like to ensure that they know there are places to go for them to be heard. I’d like to go and talk to people and ensure that those particular lines of communication from faculty to the Faculty Senate to the administration are clear.”
Dr. Fey said being senate president “provides a platform for you to be on committees that you wouldn’t otherwise be and provide a voice for the faculty in that regard. Again, it’s an honor and I’m happy to do it. It provides new challenges for your career.”