Minor's "Understanding Faculty Senates: Moving Thesis

That is, in proposing this model, Minor wanted to encourage further discussion on the topic of faculty participation in university governance in a way that would stimulate conversation that could yield results. Other researchers may want to modify Minor's models after creating some sort of algorithm that can help them become more scientific. Other ways in which researchers might build on Minor's research include investigations into the appropriate function of senates, studies of the associations between certain universities and senates, and discussions regarding the appropriateness of faculty involvement in decision-making.

Who could benefit from reading this article?

For this article, the targeted audience is the faculty and staff of large universities, with emphasis on administrators and faculty, especially faculty that are involved in the faculty senate. Thus, these people could benefit from reading this research, as it deals directly with the situations that they encounter every day. In addition, major corporation leaders and boards of directors could benefit from reading this research, as parallels between educational governance and corporation governance, including similarities in models, may be noted. Finally, an unlikely audience member, students, can benefit from reading this research. Many students are involved in student senate organizations. By examining how their professors affect decision-making in similar organizations, students may come up with plans to increase the effectiveness of their own organizations.

References

Minor, J.T. (2004, Spring). Understanding faculty senates: Moving from mystery to models. Review of Higher Education,27(3),…