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Lozier Sets Course for Academic Council

Nicholas School of the Environment Professor looks at the coming year in faculty governance

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Academic Council Chair Susan Lozier

This year's Academic Council will spend significant time
discussing Duke's global vision and initiatives.  New council chair Susan Lozier says her goal
is to ensure that Duke faculty help shape that vision and play a role in
developing, reviewing and implementing the initiatives.

A professor of ocean sciences, Lozier is the
first faculty member from the young Nicholas
School of the Environment
to lead the council.  She took office on July 1, succeeding Craig
Henriquez, professor of biomedical engineering and computer science. 

In early meetings with the Executive Council of the Academic
Council (ECAC), Lozier said she and ECAC members have identified global issues as
the main focus for the coming year.

The first Academic Council session of the year began with an
update on the Duke Kunshan
University (DKU) project
with President Richard H. Brodhead and Provost
Peter Lange promising significant "faculty engagement" on the key
academic and financial issues being decided this year.

But Duke in China is larger than DKU, and Duke's global
vision is far greater than China.  Lozier
said she wants the council to be involved in "the larger strategic issues
of Duke's global ambition."

"In planning for five years down the road," she
said, "the faculty want to have input now on key questions about our
global strategy:  Where should Duke plant
its flag? What priorities dictate where Duke plants its flag?  How do we expend considerable effort to bring
global programs online and still keep full attention on our Durham programs?  Importantly, how do we export the success of
Duke in Durham to global sites?  Faculty want
to make sure that when we develop and build global programs, that in addition
to bringing our commitment to academic standards, we also bring our commitment
to diversity and our expectation of academic freedom."

Lozier said she believes the new China
Faculty Council and the Global Priorities Committee
will help interested
faculty to participate in the discussions about initiatives in China and
beyond.  The Academic Council itself will
continue to be a forum and will, in conjunction with the Office of Global
Strategy and Programs, launch this semester a FAQ on the DKU project.

Alongside discussion about global initiatives, Lozier
expects the council this year to spend time on the changing face of the faculty
at Duke.  In particular, with the
expected hiring of new faculty to teach the global programs, the council will
need to figure out how international faculty are connected to the faculty on
the Durham campus. 

"Duke faculty in Durham share the common culture of our
campuses, of Durham itself and of our shared governance structure.  How do we bring those faculty halfway across
the globe into our governance structure? 
How do we make them part of the Duke faculty community?"

The addition of faculty based around the globe will only
accelerate changes in the make-up of the faculty that have ongoing since the
launch of Duke's institutes over the past decade, Lozier said.  

The creation of these new institutes, which promise great
potential for scholarship and education on some of the most pressing contemporary
questions, have shifted Duke's faculty hiring away from a sole focus on tenure-track
and tenured professors. Now, Lozier said, with the global initiatives Duke will
have faculty differentiated by location as well.  She is interested in making sure that the
Academic Council adequately represents all Duke faculty.  As such, she expects that the council this
year will investigate how best to incorporate faculty from institutes and from
global programs into the governance structure.

Finally, Lozier also expects the council to explore how
faculty can or cannot influence undergraduate culture, one of the thorniest
issues for faculty.  There have been no
lack of faculty initiatives in the past targeting the issue; few have brought
desired results.

And yet, increasing numbers of undergraduates are doing
independent study and honors thesis work, indications of a vigorous
undergraduate intellectual life.  Lozier
said faculty members have a role to play that can positively impact
undergraduate culture through their scholarly engagement with students. 

"You can't disengage the faculty from undergraduate
culture.  That's not possible.  However, faculty clearly cannot play the same
role as the Office of Student Affairs.  Instead,
faculty can take increasing responsibility to more deeply engage students in
the intellectual aspects of the university. 
I would like to think that engagement will improve the campus
culture."

A member of the Duke faculty since 1992, Lozier served on
the council's executive committee from 2006-08. In addition, she previously was
a member of the Academic Priorities Committee, the Board of Trustees Committee
on Undergraduate Affairs, and ad hoc committee that reviewed faculty governance
at Duke. 

She was the first chair of the Academic Council Committee on
Undergraduate Education, which developed the DukeImmerse program,
which is set to launch next spring. 
Finally, Lozier served as chair of Earth and Ocean Sciences for five
years, resigning this past summer to take on her new role as Academic Council
chair.

Her history of university service has lowered the learning
curve for Lozier, but she is still excited about the opportunity. 

"One reason why I came to Duke was that I saw it as a
place where I could engage in all aspects of university life. Prior to coming
to Duke, I was at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution conducting
postdoctoral research.  While I enjoyed
my research there immensely, I have always been interested in teaching and broader
educational issues.  I saw coming to Duke
as an opportunity to fulfill those interests."