Faculty-Administration Liaison Committee
Annual Report for 2002-2003
The Faculty-Administration Liaison Committee (FALC) met three times during the 2002-2003 academic year. One additional meeting is planned for May 20 to set the preliminary agenda for 2003-2004.
The main business of the committee was as follows:
Concerns about the lack of faculty and staff involvement in the design and implementation of the Furman web site were brought before the committee in the fall. The primary issues that faculty/staff expressed the desire to have some say in were (1) the functionality of the site – i.e., ease of navigation, availability of desired tools, and (2) how Furman is represented to the outside world in terms of the content and design of the site.
The FALC designed a survey that was distributed to all department chairs. The survey was an attempt to quantify the specific concerns and issues that were to be addressed (as opposed to non-specific complaints). Responses were to be summarized and shared with the Office of Marketing and Public Relations.
However, during this process, Dean Huff appointed a web site oversight committee consisting of Ross McClain, Greg Rumsey, Tim Fehler, Melinda Menzer, John Payne, Cathy Frazier and Kyle Martin. Given that this committee was charged with doing just what the FALC was doing, the FALC passed along the data that had been gathered and left the issue to the oversight committee.
The FALC also planned to study the issue of how the rise in enrollments has (or has not) impacted the availability of GER courses. Preliminary inquiries were being made just as Associate Dean of Academic Records Brad Barron was starting his job. The committee was advised to wait for Mr. Barron to get settled in to the position, as this issue is expected to require his involvement, and it is also the case that his office is also interested in studying the situation. This will be a FALC agenda item for 2003-2004.
The FALC thanks A.V. Huff, David Shi, Linda Bartlett, Si Pearman and Ryan Fisher for their guidance and work on behalf of the committee. The chair extends thanks to committee members Anne Leen, Kailash Khandke, Gary Malvern, David Rutledge, David Turner and Bill Pierce for their support and work this year.
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Treu
Chair