When I was with State University of New York, Fredonia School of Music, the chain of command and procedure was nearly identical with what Joel describes at Wisconsin. An interesting twist in my case was that the Director was heavily overloaded, and so had me write my own evaluations! These were reviewed by him of course, in consultation with the chair of the piano faculty. Then the paper work ascended the chain of command to the College President. His staff made all the personnel decisions, based of course on the recommendations of everyone below him. In SUNY, some of the technical positions are catagorized in a sort of limbo somewhere between faculty and the rest of the support staff. (This has to do with union representation mostly. I was in the faculty union.) As a result of that circumstance, I was included in the faculty governance. I took that 'responsibility' seriously - which many faculty don't - and served several years as Faculty Secretary. In that capacity I met with the President weekly, attended lots of meetings, and had a great deal of communication with faculty of 350 campus wide. It was a fascinating experience and provided eye-opening insights into the politics and operations of the institution. I had embarked on that course with the blessings of the Director (my boss). We both thought it might improve the 'presence' of the School of Music in the bureaucracy, especially since SOM was historically not very involved in governance. Whether this made any difference to SOM is debatable; I think it did, but subtly. - Tom McNeil - Formerly: SUNY Fredonia School of Music In a message dated 99-03-17 16:19:31 EST, Joel Jones wrote: << At Wisconsin there once was (25 years ago) an administrative assistant who was very helpful and a fantastic promoter for pianos and maintenance. About 15 years ago we lost the assistant position and our advocate. Today I am ultimately responsible to the Director who is elected every 5 years. By the time a new director finds the right people and the sources of funding they go back to teaching. As a result of this turnover I answer to every faculty/student service request and realistically run my own show. Raises, grievances etc. are channeled thro a personnel committee of faculty and staff. I submit a long written report each year of my 'professional activities' which the comittee considers in determining my salary and continuing service. As Richrd West put it, my strategy has worked so far. Joel >>
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