Faculty senators have until March 22 to elect their next chair.

The two candidates running for Faculty Senate Chair are anthropology professor Jeannette Mageo and molecular biosciences professor Eric Shelden, according to the Faculty Senate website.

Mageo has worked at WSU since 1993. She served on the Graduate Studies Committee from 1995-1999, the College of Liberal Arts Tenure and Promotion Committee from 2003-2006 and chaired the committee from 2004-2005. She has almost a decade of experience on Faculty Senate, and held the position of Chair in 2018-2019, according to her statement.

Shelden has worked at WSU since 2003 and served as the chair of the Institutional Biosafety Committee for seven years. He has also served as chair of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Research Committee. This committee reviews applications for grant money to fund research within the college, according to Shelden’s written statement.

Council of Faculty

Steve Bollens, WSU Vancouver biology professor, presented about the Council of Faculty, which lobbies on behalf of Washington’s six public four-year colleges and universities to the Washington state legislature. 

The council includes one representative from The Evergreen State College, the University of Washington, Western Washington University, Central Washington University and Eastern Washington University, as well as WSU, Bollens said.

Bollens said the council’s top priority is to increase faculty and staff compensation.

The council also hopes to create a faculty regent position who would serve as a full voting member on each of the research university’s board of regents, he said.

This priority was approved by the Washington State House of Representatives on Tuesday by a vote of 73-25 and is now being considered by the Washington State Senate. A similar bill received bipartisan support in the house last year but was not sponsored in the senate. The bill has senate sponsorship this year, Bollens said.

Another priority for the Council of Faculty is to help students afford college. Three bills passed the house and are currently in the senate, including one that would plug an additional $100 million in the Washington College Grant, one that would establish a state student loan program and one that would create outreach and completion initiatives to help students.