Personal Update- Steve Rein
During Spring 2012, I was voted chair of the Academic Senate at Cal Poly for the 2012-13 academic year. As the term started July 1, I’ve already done some work in this new role. That will only increase as Cal Poly considers a few challenging questions in this next year including budget woes and whether we’ll switch to semesters from quarters.
The Academic Senate and its role in the university is not well understood by people who have never served as senators. A quick summary: The Academic Senate is the formal mechanism that allows the faculty and administration to work together to run the university. Somewhat like the U.S. government in which Congress writes the rules and the executive branch implements the rules, the Cal Poly Academic Senate writes the rules for the university that touch on issues of curriculum. The senate also has the power to advise the administration on almost any other matter. Needless to say, the plate can often be full.
However, to be fully honest, it seems that rather than filling a formal role, the senate serves as a venue for informal communication. The provost and the president’s chief of staff are at every meeting along with the vice president of student affairs as well as a dean. When issues come up it's important to get the right people together for open and informal dialogue in before any formal decision is made. As in many areas of life, simply being open to compromise allows for institutional flexibility.
In other news, I’ve continued to volunteer to help out with Mathematics at the High School level at the SLO Classical Academy, where my four kids go to school. This past year and coming year, I’m working mostly with geometry students to help them understand proofs.
