Senate wraps up year with new chairman, final reports

By Amanda Hunt

Arizona Daily Wildcat

The UA Faculty Senate played a pivotal role in deciding the futures of various academic programs on campus and also elected a new chairman this semester.

John Schwarz, a political science professor, was elected as the new chairman of the faculty, defeating current chairman J.D. Garcia, a physics professor. The chairman serves for two years.

Garcia has been recognized and thanked on a number of occasions for his four years of service to the senate.

In an earlier interview with the Wildcat, Schwarz said he is grateful for the progress that Garcia made during his term and will be able to "move ahead because of that progress."

Special committees to study the administration's proposals to eliminate the physical education program, the Statistics Department and the Journalism Department were formed by the senate. Each committee spent many hours researching the process by administration, listening to concerned students, faculty and community members at forums and preparing a final report of their findings and recommendations.

The reports have been submitted to University of Arizona President Manuel T. Pacheco and the Arizona Board of Regents. The regents plan to vote on the measures at the June 1 and 2 meeting in Yuma.

The physical education committee recommended that the program and its various components be retained and transferred to the College of Education. The committee also recommended that the graduate concentration in athletic training be moved to the College of Medicine and the graduate concentration in sports psychology to the Department of Psychology.

The statistics committee recommended to close the department "as it exists today." The committee also recommended that an interdisciplinary program be created in the graduate college.

The journalism committee recommended that the proposal to eliminate the department "be rejected in its entirety." The committee also recommended that journalism be an "integral part of any new university unit housing media and information."

In addition to aiding in these decisions the Senate also made a few decisions of its own. They approved a performance-based compensation plan for faculty and took part in many conversations concerning the core curriculum proposal, a conflict of interest policy, a draft of the university's strategic plan. They also set up a new committee to study administrative costs.

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