New representatives join Baylor’s Faculty Senate

The Baylor College of Medicine Faculty Senate welcomed 12 new and 19 returning senators at its June 9 meeting. The senators also voted to re-elect two officers: Dr. Hugo Bellen as basic sciences representative and Dr. Jeffrey Starke as clinical sciences representative.

One-third of Senate seats were up for election this year. Full- and part-time faculty members first chose their department, center, school or affiliate representatives and then voted for at-large representatives.

Newcomers to the Faculty Senate include Dr. LeChauncy Woodard, representing the department of medicine, Dr. Ashwin Viswanathan, neurosurgery, Dr. Richard Strax, radiology, Dr. Mark Harbott, representing Ben Taub Hospital, and Dr. David P. Graham, DeBakey VA Medical Center.

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Drs. Penelope Bonnen, Araceli Flores, Efua Leke, Francisco Orejuela and Norman Sussman are new at-large senators.

For an institution just completing its first year, voter turnout was good and most races were competitive, said Dr. Mary Dickinson, senate chair.

“The senate is becoming a trusted partner with the faculty as a whole, the administration and our Board of Trustees to strengthen the College,” she said. “We have a brilliant and energetic faculty contributing their time and energy to make our senate an effective and productive branch of our institution.”

Dickinson named revising the faculty vacation policy, opting-out of the Texas Open Carry Law, reinstating a revised interview process for J-1 visa candidates and raising graduate student stipends as major accomplishments of the Faculty Senate in 2016.

In the new academic year, the senate education committee will be involved in strategic planning with the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, while the administrative operations committee will continue to work with finance on budget management tools for faculty, Dickinson said.