Comprised of some 70 faculty representatives from across the academic areas of the campus, the听Boulder Faculty Assembly听(BFA)听meets regularly, hosts signature events and contributes faculty viewpoints to the campus community and public discourse.
The executive committee and the 12 standing committees that make up the BFA evaluate campus policies and practices. The committees concern themselves with a wide range of important campus issues, including diversity, administrative services and technology, intercollegiate athletics, administrator appraisal and more. The monthly meeting of the General Assembly brings the most important of these concerns before the whole BFA for consideration and, when appropriate, decisions and actions.
鈥淒irect participation in faculty governance is not for everyone,鈥� BFA Chair Bob Ferry said. 鈥淥f course, teaching and research are most important to the faculty, but I鈥檇 be glad, and it would be very good for the BFA, if there were wider awareness of the variety of important things that the assembly does on behalf of our colleagues.鈥�
In recent years, the BFA has been successful at expanding in practice the principle of faculty and administration sharing in the discussions and decisions that affect the Boulder campus.听This work has expanded through the Academic Futures efforts that听support the further development of faculty governance at each of the schools and colleges.听BFA听and Academic Futures see this as part of developing a governance ecosystem that more听effectively shares ideas and innovations.听听
Continuing to make shared governance fundamental at the campus level is a primary BFA goal. Additionally the BFA is partnering more effectively with other campus shared governance groups including: CUSG, UGGS and Staff Council. An example of this partnership is a recently approved听resolution supporting youth efforts in actions on climate change. This BFA resolution was endorsed by all four groups.
Each year, the BFA calls for nominations and presents the听BFA Excellence Awards, recognizing outstanding faculty work in leadership and service; teaching and pedagogy; and research, scholarly and creative work. The recognition ceremony, held typically in the spring, features a keynote address by the previous year鈥檚 Hazel Barnes Prize recipient.
