The USFA Committee on University Administrative Practice is pleased to release its first report to the USFA membership, found on the USFA website at the following link: http://usaskfaculty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/de7f1-13-03-11-report-of-the-committee-on-university-administrative-practice.pdf.
At a time when TransformUS is getting underway, it is incumbent on faculty members to reflect upon and discuss what administrative practices are useful and which have run amok. The report discusses some high priority areas for improvement in university administrative practices, organized under three headings:
1) Impediments to Faculty Success as Engaged Teacher-Scholars,
2) From Centralized Administration Systems to Distributed Support Services, and
3) Inverting the Pyramid – From Top-Down Paternalism to Operating the University as a “Real Community of Scholars.”
The report concludes by suggesting a few activities that faculty members may wish to undertake in order to begin improving university administrative practice.