STORY

Faculty Council recognizes award recipients, elects leadership

Governance group also approves recommendations for Equity and Inclusive Excellence Task Force
By Staff
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The Faculty Council recently honored faculty, administration and staff with the governance group’s annual awards.

The council’s April 25 meeting at 1800 Grant St. included the presentation of awards to Tamara Terzian, Ph.D., for Distinguished Service; to Michael Lightner, Ph.D., for Administrator of the Year; and to Jay Dedrick for Service Excellence. Awards were presented by Faculty Council Chair Joanne Addison.

Tamara Terzian receives the Distinguished Service Award from Joanne Addison.
Tamara Terzian receives the Distinguished Service Award from Joanne Addison.

Terzian is an assistant professor in the CU School of Medicine at the Anschutz Medical Campus. The Faculty Council Distinguished Service Award recognizes the service of faculty to CU. It is designed to recognize contributions through participation in faculty governance, particularly through activities in Faculty Council and its committee structures. Terzian chairs the council’s Personnel and Benefits Committee and is the council’s current secretary. She was praised as being a staunch advocate for faculty since first becoming a member of the School of Medicine Faculty Senate in 2014. She has contributed to improvements around such issues as anti-bullying, parental leave, tuition benefit, retirement, fertility, and gender equity.

Michael Lightner receives the Administrator of the Year Award from Joanne Addison.
Michael Lightner receives the Administrator of the Year Award from Joanne Addison.

Lightner is vice president and academic affairs officer for the CU system. He serves as the president’s liaison between system administration and faculty across all four campuses. The Administrator of the Year Award recognizes significant contributions to the university, to Faculty Council and/or to shared and faculty governance. A professor of electrical, computer and energy engineering, he joined CU Boulder in 1981. He was lauded for his track record in scholarship, teaching and service, and for being a champion of shared governance. "Lightner is an innovative leader, a person of character and an agent of effective change, whose example is to be emulated," the award resolution reads.

Jay Dedrick receives the Service Excellence Award from Joanne Addison.
Jay Dedrick receives the Service Excellence Award from Joanne Addison.

Dedrick is internal communications manager in the Office of the President at CU system administration. The Service Excellence Award recognizes service to the Faculty Council and CU faculty. The editor of CU Connections, Dedrick also is a non-voting member of the council’s Communications Committee.

The winner of the council’s Leadership in Public Education Award – which recognizes a public official or other individual in the state whose leadership on issues directly affecting public higher education results in significant, positive change – will be announced at a later date.

The April council meeting also featured the election of officers for the next academic year. All three are continuing in their roles from this year and were elected by acclamation: Joanne Addison, chair; Maja Krakowiak, vice chair; and Tamara Terzian, secretary.

In other business at the April 25 meeting:

  • The council voted to approve a set of recommendations for the Equity and Inclusive Excellence Task Force. “We wanted a document with concrete examples of things we could and should be doing,” Addison said. Among the items listed are a call to regularly administer social climate surveys and salary analyses. She said the recommendations are part of a “living document” that can be added to as needed. The task force was approved by the Board of Regents in February.
  • The council approved changing the name of its Ethnic and Minority Affairs Committee (EMAC) to the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Equity. Committee co-chair Tina Moser said the committee felt the old name no longer reflected contemporary diversity terminology.
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