Faculty Senate and Campus Faculty Start Semester With New Leaders

Janine Parry, director of the Arkansas Poll and professor of political science in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, is the new chair of the Faculty Senate for the 2013-14 academic year. Charles Rosenkrans, professor of animal science in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, will serve as vice chair.

John Rupe, professor of plant pathology in Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, was elected to serve as chair of the Campus Faculty, and William McComas, the Parks Family Professor of Science Education in the department of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education and Health Professions, was elected vice chair. Rupe and McComas will become chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Faculty Senate for the 2014-15 academic year.

The Faculty Senate has 35 voting members chosen from each of the colleges and schools, with an additional 10 at-large members. There are also 15 deans and administrators who serve as non-voting members. The Faculty Senate meets nine times during the regular academic year.

Parry joined the university in 1998. She served a three-year term as co-director of the Teaching and Faculty Support Center from 2009 to 2011 and served as chair of the Campus Faculty in 2012. She was awarded the Fulbright College’s Master Teacher Award in 2002, the university-wide Alumni Association Award for teaching and the university-wide Alumni Association Award for service in 2005.

Rosenkrans joined the university in 1991 and received the 2008 Faculty Gold Medal Award from the office of post-graduate fellowships, was a co-director of the Teaching and Faculty Support Center and earned the Division of Agriculture’s John W. White Outstanding Teaching Award in 2010.

The Campus Faculty meets twice a year and is made up of all half-time or greater tenured or tenure track faculty, and any others who have been declared eligible by the Faculty Senate. These include instructors or lecturers in at least their third year of consecutive appointment.

Rupe joined the university in 1984. He has served in leadership positions for Faculty Senate since that time. His research has focused on epidemiology and control of soybean diseases. He was awarded the John White Division of Agriculture Team Award for the Arkansas Soybean Rust Working Group in 2009 and the Junior Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Research Contributions in Soybean Disease Control from the Southern Soybean Disease Workers in 1989. He currently services on the all-university Academic Integrity Board and on University Programs Review.

McComas joined the university in 2006 and is the graduate coordinator for the department of curriculum and instruction, where he also director of the campuswide program for students considering entering the professoriate. In 2012, he received the Faculty STAR Award, the department’s highest honor. He is also a recipient of the Outstanding Evolution Educator and the Excellence in Biology Education research awards given by the National Association of Biology Teachers. He also has received the Ohaus award for innovations in college science teaching and the Outstanding Science Teacher Educator award from ASTE. In 2009, he was named the Joseph Astman Conference Scholar by Hofstra University for contributions to the international conference, Darwin's Reach. He recently served as a Fulbright Fellow in Dublin, Ireland.