Welcome to the Faculty Senate

Wednesday, January 29, 2020 (12:15 pm - 1:15 pm) - The 2019-2020 Assistant Professor Excellence Lecture Series (APeX) presents Dr. Summer Harlow (Valenti School of Communication) in a lecture titled "From #BlackLivesMatter to #Ayotzinapa:  Rethinking Domestic and Foreign Protest News Coverage on Social Media."   Research suggests news media negatively portray protests that challenge the status quo - a pattern known as the protest paradigm.  Such de-legitimizing coverage has been shown to turn the public against protesters and their causes.  Most research, however, neglects the external and internal factors that influence journalists' coverage, especially in this digital era.  This talk will answer research questions examining how social media users' sharing of protest news amplifies certain narratives that marginalize some protests and legitimize others.  Using a quantitative analysis of "big" data based on social media sharing of news coverage of protests throughout the U.S. and Latin America, as well as qualitative interviews with journalists and activists, Professor Harlow will reconsider the applicability of the paradigm in a digital media landscape, and  connect the paradigm to a broader critique of media, protest, and power, suggesting a hierarchy of social struggle with practical and theoretical implications.  A light lunch will be served.  The lecture will be held in 306 M. D. Anderson Library.  Click here for more information.

Friday, February 7, 2020 - The Faculty Senate invites you to participate in the 2020 Faculty Climate Survey (FCS), for which invitations were mailed out on January 10, 2020.  The FCS primarily aims to gather data with the goal of identifying the climate related to the University, your College, and your Department.  The FCS will also provide the Faculty Senate's leadership with critical input to shape the Senate's priorities.  Ultimately, the FCS gives faculty an opportunity to voice their opinions and provide ideas for the direction of the University.  Survey results are anonymous, and all responses will be treated as confidential.  The survey closes on February 7, 2020.  If you have questions or difficulty accessing it, please send an email to fsenate@central.uh.edu.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020 (2:00 pm - 3:00 pm), UH Sugar Land - We are moving forward with UH's strategic planning initiative.  Provost Paula Myrick Short sent the attached email on January 15, 2020 to all faculty, staff, and students introducing the launch of our strategic planning efforts, UH100: Dare to Dream.  To gather input from the campus community, Dr. Sharon McDade, strategic planning consultant, will hold listening sessions for the entire UH campus as well as SOAR assessments for the colleges.  The listening session for UH at Sugar Land and UH at Katy has been scheduled for Tuesday, January 28 from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. at UH at Sugar Land in Brazos Hall, Room 103B.  We hope you will attend and be heard.  Please RSVP here:  https://www.uh.edu/sugarland/rsvp/uh100-dare-to-dream/index.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020 (12:00 pm - 1:30 pm) - Robert Goodwin, author of "América: The Epic Story of Spanish North America, 1493-1898" tells history through the lives of the people who made it happen.  A writer and historian, Goodwin is a Research Associate at University College, London.  He has published volumes on the Golden Age of Spain and its History in North America.  He was born and educated in London and was awarded his PhD by the University of London.  The lecture will take place in Agnes Arnold Hall, Room 210.  Contact Raúl Ramos (raramos@uh.edu) for more information.

Monday, January 27, 2020 (12:00 pm - 1:30 pm) - Come to the Faculty Café for the latest interview of a Teaching Excellence Award (TEA) winner, hosted by Dr. Dale Rude (C. T. Bauer College of Business) and Dr. Dave Shattuck (Cullen College of Engineering), both former TEA award winners.  Listen to discussions of resources related to teaching.  Boxed lunches are provided to the first ten attendees.  Click here for more information.