Each spring, the Senate Personnel and Elections Committee (SPEC) identifies and nominates faculty candidates to place on important university and senate committees. The annual Committee Preferences Sign-Up Poll is now open. By taking it, career-line and tenure-line faculty members can indicate which committees are of interest to them. This survey is open until March 11, 2024—and in a few short minutes, you can help SPEC connect you to meaningful opportunities to engage with critical policies and issues for the whole of the university.

Senate committee charges range widely from reviewing academic policy, strategic planning and faculty review processes, to advocating for equity, diversity and inclusivity. University committees include the University Teaching Committee, University Research Committee, Campus Health and Safety Committee, Academic Appeals and Misconduct Committee, Athletics Advisory Committee and more. Below is a list of all the committees that have vacancies in the next academic year.

Former SPEC chair Dale Larsen highlights the scope and relevance of the work accomplished by these committees:

The idea of being able to research and teach without fear of repercussions from outside academia (for example, Galileo Galilei being placed under house arrest for suggesting the Earth isn't the center of the universe) is an idea called academic freedom. To sustain this freedom, we share the responsibility of governance, policies and procedures together as a body of faculty, staff and administration. This shared governance runs the gamut from reviewing parking tickets to reviewing policy on radiation safety. Without your participation in governance, our university can become vulnerable to initiatives to stifle or suppress research in humanities, social sciences, and even STEM.

If you are a faculty member and you are not sure how you might fit into this committee appointment process, check out the short video below from Larsen.