Inside Iowa State

Feb. 23, 2007

Register now for spring faculty conference

by Anne Krapfl

Registration is open for the annual spring faculty conference March 23-24 in the Scheman Building. Participants are asked to register by March 8.

In three sessions - Friday morning and afternoon and Saturday morning - participants, guest speakers and panelists will discuss ethical considerations at public universities that are increasingly reliant on private funds and partnerships.

The three sessions will focus on:

• Public-private partnerships: capitalizing on the opportunities while minimizing the risks
• Impact of public-private partnerships on academic freedom
• Maintaining the university's core values while encouraging innovation in the new environment of change and competition.

Session speakers include president Gregory Geoffroy, executive vice president and provost Elizabeth Hoffman and Robert Streiffer, a faculty member in philosophy and medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Each session will include a different format for response. These discussions will involve additional faculty members.

All faculty members are eligible to attend - tenured, tenure-track and non-tenure eligible. There is space for about 80 participants.

"We are hoping for a mix of assistant, associate and full professors, and we want people to share and discuss their ideas about these issues," said Sedahlia Crase, president-elect of the Faculty Senate and chair of the conference planning committee.

She said committee members considered numerous themes for this year's conference and are excited about the one they selected.

"Given all the things happening in higher education now, we think it's important to look at this topic. We think the breadth of this theme applies to people in the finest of arts, in qualitative and quantitative areas, in the most applied sciences," Crase said.

Registration is free to participants and includes a continental breakfast and sit-down lunch both days of the conference. Contact Sherri Angstrom in the Faculty Senate office, 4-9717, to register.

"We want people to come as they can ... and come back as they can," Crase said. "We recognize they may need to leave to teach a class, for example."

Spring Faculty Conference

"Ethical Considerations in a Market-Driven University"

March 23-24, Scheman

Register by March 8