The College Park Faculty Assembly was established in 1970. Its dual purpose was to provide faculty at the University of Maryland a voice in the administration and to impress upon them the importance of assuming their responsibilities within the university community. This collection of minutes, correspondence, committee files, and news clippings constitutes the operating records of the Faculty Assembly.
This collection is open for research.
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The College Park Faculty Assembly records consist of minutes, correspondence, committee files, and newspaper clippings.
On June 2, 1970, the University Senate directed the formation of a College Park Faculty Assembly. An Interim Steering Committee, composed of twenty College Park faculty members, held its first meeting on July 6, 1970.
As outlined in the Plan of Organization, the object of the University of Maryland College Park Faculty Assembly was to provide a means for the faculty to exercise their rights and assume their corporate responsibilites. The functions of the Assembly were to: 1) act as the voice of the faculty in the University and the community; 2) advise the Chancellor of the College Park Campus, the President of the University, the Board of Regents, the student body and the Campus Senate in matters pertaining to teaching, research and service; 3) act as the referendum body of the faculty; 4) serve as the faculty's advocate in regard to faculty welfare; and 5) formulate policies and procedures relevant to its own governance.
Membership of the Assembly was composed of all full-time appointees who held the rank of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor, or lecturer, and who were administratively responsible to the Office of the Chancellor of the College Park Campus of the University of Maryland. The Faculty Assembly was to meet regularly, twice during the academic year, once in October and once in May. The primary purpose of these meetings was for the faculty to receive a report on the actions and activities of the College Park Campus Senate.
The forerunner of the College Park Faculty Assembly was the University Faculty Assembly, which was approved as part of the faculty organization plan by the Board of Regents on September 23, 1955. The University Faculty Assembly functioned until the reorganization of the University of Maryland system and the creation of the new body, the College Park Faculty Assembly, in 1970.
Once the College Park Faculty Assembly was created it proved difficult to obtain a quorum in order to hold a meeting of the entire faculty. Consequently, a new branch of the College Park Faculty Assembly, called the Faculty Council, was created in approximately 1973. The Faculty Council was to be a representative body that could provide a forum for discussion for any issues of concern to the faculty, and a means for communicating their views on those concerns to the administration, regents and state government. The Faculty Council was not part of the governing structure of the university and has no official responsibilities or authority.
This collection is organized as five series:
The records of the College Park Faculty Assembly were initially transferred to the University of Maryland College Park Libraries in 1972, with additional materials transferred in 1986 by the College Park Campus Senate.
Five series were identified in the records of the College Park Faculty Assembly. The records were arranged based upon the original order in which they were received. All materials were refoldered into acid-free folders and boxed into acid-free containers. Lastly, the guide was written.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives