Campus workshop eyes shared governance, more

Many of the campus's about 120 recently hired faculty members will convene next week to receive welcome and words of advice on finding success as an academic at UC Davis. The daylong 2004 New Faculty Workshop begins at 8 a.m. Monday, Sept. 27 at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center. The theme is "Strategies for Building a Successful Academic Career."

The workshop will feature speakers offering advice to faculty members about how to acclimate to life on campus and make the most of the resources available to them.

Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef will offer words of welcome, and vice provost for Academic Personnel Barbara Horwitz will offer an overview of the day as well as discuss the Academic Personnel process for senate faculty at UC Davis.

Highlights will include a discussion about principles of shared governance between the administration and faculty members -- "What it is and why it's important" -- offered by Academic Senate chair Dan Simmons. Also slated is a question-and-answer session regarding the personnel process and dossier evaluation.

In addition, a panel of recently-tenured faculty will talk about what worked and didn't work for them. In addition, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education Fred Wood is slated to speak on, "What Every Beginning Teacher Should Know."

Also planned is a question and answer session on teaching experiences, led by Patricia Turner, vice provost for undergraduate studies and new interim dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, as well as Caroline Bledsoe of land, air and water resources and history professor Susan Mann.

Technology and other academic services available through the Teaching Resources Center also will be discussed.

Gilmore to speak on change for new medical school faculty

The 2004 New Faculty Orientation and Faculty Development Workshop will run 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29 at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel. All School of Medicine faculty are invited to attend.

Guest speaker for the orientation will be Thomas Gilmore, vice president of the Center for Applied Research, a consulting firm that spun off 10 years ago from the Wharton Business School. His talk, "Assessing Change Challenges: Strategies on How to Take Advan-tage of Change Opportunities," will address the challenges and opportunities associated with the typical changes encountered by new faculty as they begin work in a new institution.

Gilmore is an adjunct associate professor in health-care systems and a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. His work has focused on leadership transitions, strategy and organizational change. He also is a founding member and current member of the board of the International society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations and is the author of Making a Leadership Change: How Organizations and Leaders Can Handle Leadership Transitions Successfully.