2011 President-Elect Faculty Senate Candidate
KEVIN P. GABLE (at OSU since 1988), Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Science; Chemistry Department Chair through December 2011
FACULTY SENATE SERVICE: Science Senator, 2008–10; Executive Committee, 2011–present
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE SERVICE: Ad-hoc Committee on Department Services Reorganization, 2009 and Promotion &Tenure Committee, 2007
UNIVERSITY SERVICE: Steering Committee on Time & Attendance Entry Systems, 2011; Strategic Planning Advisory Committee, Graduate School,
2011; Ad-hoc Advisory Committee on Human Resources Business Processes, 2011; University Space Committee, 2008–10; Linus Pauling
Science Center Steering Committee, 2007–11; Chemical Safety Committee, 2000–04; and Ad–hoc Advisory Committee on Library Web Teaching Modules, 1999–00
SEARCH COMMITTEES (at the level of department head and above): Assistant Director of Facilities for Environmental Health and Safety, 2011 and College of Science Head Advisor Search, 2011
Candidate Statement: This is a time of opportunity for the University; we have at last resources with which to construct who we will be for several decades. Faculty must play as active a role as possible in shaping this future, and I see the role of Faculty Senate President as collecting the diverse voices we have about that, ensuring those are heard, and articulating what will best allow faculty to steer the intellectual life of the campus. I believe my experience as a faculty member, Department Chair and member of the Senate Executive Committee give me tools to accomplish this.
What will be the critical issues for faculty and how can you help move those issues forward?
The recent reorganization of OUS as a state system rather than a state agency has opened several new opportunities for OSU and, to the
extent these involve our financial structure, we need to ensure transparency and accountability for how changes are implemented. One
significant opportunity is the possibility of reorganizing staff benefit packages – the Faculty Senate has been clear about the
problems with the current system and we must continue to push for improvements.
We are also at the beginning of a major structural reorganization. Faculty have had the major voice in how this has occurred, but we
must be aware that as these changes get implemented we will need to track those areas where challenges arise. I would want to see us
utilize OSU’s culture of cooperation and collaboration across administrative boundaries to address and meet such challenges. Our
goal must always be to allow faculty to meet student needs in the classroom and the research environment.
Identifying a predictable growth path is an ongoing challenge. We know that the physical resources of the campus are heavily taxed,
and there needs to be better planning for how we will catch up to needs for classrooms, labs and other physical support facilities.
While the ability to expand faculty numbers is overdue, we must also recognize the need to expand the rest of the human
infrastructure needed to support a student population that is still growing.
How has your experience prepared you for this position?
My role as Department Chair in Chemistry over the past five years has exposed me to much of the breadth of University issues. We manage
a large teaching role, and I have almost daily contact with student and faculty concerns in large–enrollment classes. We also
manage a significant portfolio of graduate education and research, and I am integrally involved in meeting the resource needs–financial,
human and physical–of making that enterprise competitive nationally and internationally. As Chemistry has faculty in both the
College of Science and the College of Agricultural Sciences, I have had the opportunity to see how different parts of the University
address issues, and how their perceptions and strategies vary. I have developed working relationships with members of the
administration that I believe I can use to the benefit of the faculty at large.
