ASUA passes request for $15M from State for faculty salaries
The ASUA senate held an emergency meeting yesterday to pass a resolution asking the Legislature for an additional $15 million for faculty salary, matching the request made by UA President Peter Likins.
ASUA President J.P. Benedict said the resolution was written to show support for faculty and the university.
"The faculty are our university," Benedict said.
Melanie Rainer, ASUA executive vice president, said ASUA requested the same amount as Likins to create a unified voice for the Legislature.
"We want to ensure them that students do care and make sure that they are able to see us and hear us," she said.
This afternoon, Benedict, Rainer and other members of ASUA will present their resolution before the state appropriations board.
Benedict said the Legislature must understand that teachers serve as an invaluable resource to students while also providing research that can stimulate economic growth.
New chairman for advisory planning committee announced
President Peter Likins announced yesterday that the director of the Mexican American Studies and Research Center will become chairman of a key advisory committee, a position that carries with it a seat on the President's Cabinet.
Antonio Estrada takes over as chairman of the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee, a group made up of faculty and administrators who offer long-term planning and budgetary advice.
He succeeds Jerrold Hogle, who was appointed earlier this month as vice provost for instruction.
SPBAC has played a key role in Focused Excellence, Likins' plan to narrow the UA's mission. As they were considering which programs to recommend for elimination, Likins and Provost George Davis applied criteria outlined by SPBAC meant to determine whether a program was critical to the university's mission.
Estrada, already a SPBAC member, becomes one of two faculty members with a seat on Likins' Cabinet, which includes all the UA's vice presidents and deals with the most important policy and budgetary issues at the UA. He joins Jory Hancock, chairman of the faculty, in offering a faculty voice on the Cabinet.
Estrada, also a professor of Mexican-American Studies and an associate professor of public health, joined the research center in 1991.
He will continue his teaching and research efforts, which focus on health promotion and disease prevention within the Hispanic population.
- From staff and wire reports