September 11, 2015

Faculty Senate survey, town halls aim to answer questions about transition

The Faculty Senate is organizing an Oct. 30 town hall to answer faculty questions about the transition of the university and Vanderbilt University Medical Center to separate entities.

(Vanderbilt University)

This summer, the Faculty Senate surveyed Vanderbilt’s 3,700 faculty to gather their questions about the transition of the university and Vanderbilt University Medical Center to separate legal and financial enitities. The survey was conducted to gather questions for a Faculty Senate town hall that was held Aug. 20.

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan Wente and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine Jeff Balser attended the town hall and answered many of the questions raised in the survey.

The senate is organizing answers to the other questions received and has scheduled a second town hall for Friday, Oct. 30, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Sarratt Cinema to provide additional updates on the VU-VUMC transition.

“Benefits were uppermost in faculty and staff members’ minds regarding the reorganization,” Brian L. Heuser, chair of the senate’s Standing Committee on Faculty Life, said. “We are pleased to have partnered with Human Resources to get all of those questions answered.”

Charlene Dewey, the Executive Committee liaison to the Faculty Life Committee, echoed Heuser’s observation. “Twenty-four percent of the questions we received pertained to benefits, many of them common across faculty. We are pleased to have all of the benefit-related questions answered online on HR’s FAQ website. We are especially grateful to our colleagues in HR for their support of this effort.”

To learn more about the transition and to access the FAQs, visit the transition website.

More information on the Oct. 30 town hall will be forthcoming. If you have questions or comments, please contact Faculty Senate Chair Richard Willis or any member of the senate’s Executive Committee.

View the Executive Committee list >