Faculty Senate will be holding a forum where the three candidates for the position of 2nd Vice President will be held at 1 p.m. March 6 in the Phi Kappa Phi Room in the Memorial Union.

   Sonja Ezell, associate professor of elementary education, early childhood and special education, Shawn Keough, associate professor of management and Brenda Koerner, associate professor of biological sciences are running for the position. 

   “Really the primary reason that I wanted to run for 2nd Vice President…is to ensure sure that we have a robust senate, robust discussions and that we try to move issues that the faculty and the rest of the stakeholders at the  university

find important,” said Koerner.

   Koerner has been the chair of the Faculty Senate Academic Affairs Committee for a year and a semester, but took a leave this semester as she is currently

on sabbatical.

   Ezell also formerly served on Faculty Senate as a senator for two years and is currently in Wichita, however she still comes to campus often.

   “In terms of access and communication, of course, that can occur face to face but that can occur through a phone call…an email or some might want to arrange a private meeting,” Ezell said. “That can be met in a range of different ways.”

   Keough has not served on Faculty Senate, but wants to join Faculty Senate to develop faculty involvement and excitement about senate.

   “When we have a participation rate of around 30 percent in a university setting by people who say they want transparency, shared governance and they want their voice to be heard, that really bothers me,” Keough said. “This is important If we don’t care enough to get really active, why should students?”

   Keough said he wanted to focus on interdisciplinary action and communication on the part of the faculty to help both the faculty and the students.

   “I think that is one of the biggest things that bothers me on the campus is how siloed we are (in our departments),” Keough said. “That’s one of the reasons I want to be in (the) position…is to knock down the barriers. We’re not bad people

just because we’re in different disciplines and we can work together, especially now with the way funding works.“  

   Ezell said she wanted to focus on communication with faculty and welcoming as many voices as possible.

   “If I am elected, then I would like to continue to get the voice and the opinions and the insight from my faculty members regarding the needs that they have,” Ezell said. “(I would like) to take a look at pay (and) taking a look at the level of support is provided and that is needed within the institution.”

   Koerner said she didn’t want to push for certain policies or agendas as 2nd Vice President “I don’t think that that’s my role,” Koerner said. “I think my role is to take issues that either  students or faculty or staff find important (and) bring that to whatever is the appropriate  committee. It’s that committee’s decision whether that issue needs to move forward…It’s my role to facilitate the will of

the faculty.”