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University of New Mexico Faculty Senate Records

 Collection
Identifier: UNMA-010

Scope and Content Note

This collection has minutes from the faculty meetings from 1894-1916, 1928-1955, and 1962-2000. The information from these years, however, is incomplete. The complete set of minutes can be found in bound volumes in the University Secretary's office. The collection also contains committee meeting minutes, agendas, financial data, policy information, and correspondence. The committees under the Faculty Senate are assigned to specific topics such as scholarships, admissions, and student affairs. There are gaps in the information and the minutes of the committees also. The committees are required to report to the Faculty Senate and the Policy Committee so if you can't find information in one place, you can check the other and it may be there.

Dates

  • 1894-2009

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Copy Restrictions

Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution.

Historical Note

The Faculty Senate acts for the entire faculty in coordinating faculty governance at the University of New Mexico. The Senate exercises the faculty's responsibilities for education, care of students, and their contributions to the academic excellence of the university and to an environment in which all members of the campus community are free to learn and to communicate. The policies and procedure by which this is governed, the Faculty Constitution and Faculty Senate Bylaws, as well as personnel policies regulating sabbatical leaves and promotion and tenure are found in the UNM Faculty Handbook.

Originally the Faculty Senate had large faculty meetings at least 4 times a year with the entire faculty and a Policy Committee that reviewed the rules/regulations of the faculty. It was decided upon that the large faculty meetings were a problem. The faculty was only interested in attending meetings that had an item on the agenda that concerned them. This led to "packing the meetings by those who were affected by the outcome of the issue. It was decided that these large faculty meetings and the Policy Committee would be replaced in July of 1976 with a Faculty Senate. Each of the colleges would elect a certain number of faculty members to represent their college in the Faculty Senate. This number would be determined based on the number of faculty in the college. The elected faculty from each college would meet once a month to discuss issues, rules, and regulations that affected the faculty of the University of New Mexico. The Faculty Senate has the power to act on all Faculty business other than certain specified business to be reserved for the faculty as a whole, which meets twice a year.

Because of this history of the Faculty Senate the collection is arranged first chronologically starting with the original Faculty meetings, the Policy Committee, and the Faculty Senate, followed by the committees under the Faculty Senate alphabetically.

The committees under the Faculty Senate are assigned to specific topics such as scholarships, admissions, and student affairs. These committees often have name changes over the years. The Entrance and Credits committee was changed to Admissions and Registration committee in 1976. The Patent and Copyright Policy subcommittee of the Research Policy Committee was changed to Intellectual Property subcommittee in 1986. The Scholarship, Prizes, and Loans committee constantly changed its name, thus for consistency it is all filed under Scholarship, Prizes, and Loans committee. The Retirement and Insurance committee changed its name frequently also, thus all of the information is filed under Retirement and Insurance Committee. The same can be said for Faculty/Staff Benefits and Welfare Committee. The Community Education was also referred to as Continuing Education committee, but for the sake of this collection it is all filed under Community Education. The Curricula Committee was originally called Courses of Study committee, therefore, for material before 1944 refer to Courses of Study Committee. The Graduate and Curricula Committees jointly approve graduate courses and changes in the curricula. Information might be cross-filed.

Extent

27 Cubic Feet (28 boxes)

Processing Information

Inquire with reference staff for access to unprocessed addition, 9 boxes, UNMA backlog area.
Title
Finding Aid of the University of New Mexico Faculty Senate Records, 1894-2009
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by CSWR Staff
Date
©2004
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is in English

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451