Picture of Cheri Brodeur, Faculty Senate Chair Welcome to the UF Faculty Senate website.  Shared governance is a vital component at the University of Florida and the importance of faculty input into problem solving cannot be underestimated.  In these times of economic hardship it is important that the Faculty Senate continue to work closely with all faculty, administration, staff, students, parents and alumni  in finding ways to make clear the value this university has — the positive and significant impact to the state of Florida, and the contributions to the successful futures of our graduates.

In these changing times innovation and creativity must play a critical role in improving our teaching, research and service.  We must also identify what already exists and still has value in these changing times.  The UF Faculty Senate, working through the governance process,  is  finding ways to break down the silos that exist between the 16 colleges and sharing ideas for increasing and improving multidisciplinary teaching  and research.  We are a land-grant, research-based  university that not only has ties to universities in all 50 states and all 67 Florida counties, we also have a global faculty presence in all of our disciplines that impact our state and world.  But there is always room for improvement.

Over the next year we hope to improve and strengthen Faculty Senate shared governance in several  ways including:

• Better communication between administration, the senate, senate councils in all colleges, and individual faculty across the university system;
• Identifying additional methods leading to multi-college interaction to breakdown silos leading to increased collaboration in teaching and research opportunities  and improving  communication through these collaborations university wide;
• Providing faculty interaction with administration and the Board of Trustees as part of the shared governance process in the selection of the next University of Florida president—one with a strong belief in shared governance;
• Using shared governance problem-solving opportunities through Faculty Senate councils and committees to develop strategies that off- set the impacts of the present economic situation, and rebuild public attitude towards the importance of post- secondary education and the value of UF faculty now and in the future.

It is my hope that increased communication and constantly striving for improved shared governance will lead to a better understanding of the needs of faculty as well as innovative, and creative solutions to these issues as they relate to the mission and vision of the Faculty Senate and the UF constitution.

I look forward to representing the Faculty Senate and through them all UF faculty over the coming year.

Cheri Winton Brodeur
Chair, Faculty Senate