Shall we begin...?

Welcome to what I hope will become a community forum for the Teaching and Research Track (TRT) faculty of Johns Hopkins University.  We are a fairly large group, something like 38% of the over a thousand full-time faculty of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering here at Homewood.  And we are quite diverse, demographically, culturally, and academically.  But we share so much in common and yet hardly talk as a group at all.  Perhaps this forum can begin to change that.  I certainly hope.

I am a Teaching Professor in the Mathematics Department, have been here since 2005, and have risen through the ranks of Senior Lecturer (started as such) and Associate Teaching Professor (around 2013), to Teaching Professor (2019).  I have seen a lot here, and have learned a lot.  

I am also involved, currently serving on:

• The Johns Hopkins University Council, representing KSAS;
• The KSAS Senate, representing the Natural Sciences since its inauguration;
• The Krieger Shared Governance Council, as a sitting Senator;  

Within these bodies I sit on various committees serving not only the bodies themselves, but also TRT faculty in general.  I feel a duty to serve this group since its stature in the Academy in general, and here at Hopkins in particular, very much needs support, advocacy, care, and, truly, a voice.

We, as TRT faculty, are critical to the mission of the university, arguable one of the top universities on the planet.  Teaching faculty are playing a critical role in the implementation of core changes to our educational mission governed by the recent Second Commission on Undergraduate Education (CUE2). And yet until recently, we were still referred to, if at all, as something we are not:  Non-tenured faculty (sometimes "contingent faculty").  Some of us are still not allowed to participate in faculty meetings, still cannot vote on departmental issues, and still have little or no say in local governance.  Job security for us is still very much wanting.  And access to core professional development opportunities are hit or miss for most of us, and nonexistent for some of us.  And yet, we are full-time permanent (read: career) faculty dedicated to and devoted to the cause of our department, our school, and our university.  

However, we are seeing positive changes over the last number of years, and there is a lot of talk about further changes coming soon. Serving on the above bodies, to me, represents access to those who can help to instill the changes we seek.  

And this forum, maybe, can serve as a place to share concerns, stories, experiences, and resources.  I think of this forum as a conduit for information sharing.  

So welcome.  Shall we chat?