Nominee for Executive Secretary 2020-2023
Matthew Hudelson
Associate Professor, Mathematics and Statistics
Candidate Statement on Prior Service
In 1995, I arrived at Washington State University as a newly minted assistant professor in the Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics (now the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.) Eager to establish myself, I began working to prove results in discrete mathematics, publishing papers and doing the activities expected of young faculty members. During a session at the following year’s Joint Mathematics Meetings, I heard Joe Gallian give a talk aimed at new mathematicians in which his main message was, “find your niche.” This advice has resonated with me throughout my near quarter-century career at WSU; for me, that niche has been to participate in and, later, play a lead role in our department’s ongoing reform efforts for our large service courses, particularly for the calculus for engineers and physical sciences sequence (Math 171,172,273). This has expanded to playing an expanding role in serving students and, as a consequence, faculty institution-wide. My service activities over the past few years have been centered on the interface between students and faculty beyond the day-to-day classroom experience. I hope to continue learning in new roles and contributing to student success at WSU.
My service and professional development roles include
- Senator representing CAS since Fall 2018
- “Parliamentarian-in-training” for Faculty Senate since Fall 2019
- Faculty Affairs Committee member beginning in Spring 2020
- Faculty representative on the Services & Activities Fees Committee from Fall 2017 to Spring 2019
- Faculty representative on the Student Book Corporation board of directors since Fall 2019
- Co-chair for the Course Materials Value and Effectiveness Committee since Fall 2018
- Co-chair for the Syllabus Task Force from Fall 2018 through Fall 2019; I continue to serve on this committee
- Participation in the Provost’s Leadership Academy during the 2018-2019 academic year
- Project LIFT faculty fellow during 2018
- Leading the effort to reorganize the Faculty Manual, bringing Section V material into the other sections during Summer 2019.
Candidate Statement on Commitment to Service
I have communicated with and received the support of Charles Moore, the chairperson of the Department of Mathematics to proceed with this effort; it is our mutual understanding that my teaching load would be reduced as a consequence of election. If elected as Executive Secretary, I anticipate reducing some of my other service commitments to accommodate the additional requirements of the post. Of course, my role as a senator would be automatically vacated upon assuming the duties of Executive Secretary according to the Faculty Senate Constitution.
Candidate Statement on Multi-Campus Shared Governance
The formal duties of the Executive Secretary center on election supervision, participation in Executive Committee, preparing and reviewing minutes and agendas for Steering Committee and Senate meetings, and coordinating guest speakers for Senate meetings. Underlying all of these roles, the Executive Secretary is pivotal in facilitating overall Senate operations. These operations have been fine-tuned over the past several years under the capable leadership of many recent Senate Chairs. Through websites, Zoom meeting technology, and other such innovations, Senate communication has become significantly more efficient and accessible across the entire WSU system. If elected as Executive Secretary, I would make maintaining and building upon these efforts a priority.
Most recently, and especially this past year, I have become more familiar with behind-the-scenes Senate operations, especially concerning how meetings are conducted via Zoom and similar technology. As a senator, as parliamentarian-in-training, and as a member of FAC, I have gained an understanding of and appreciation for the procedures of the Faculty Senate. Looking ahead, I would like to explore mechanisms to facilitate accurate in-session voting, especially for remote participants—this will be critical as contentious issues arise—as well as finding ways to standardize election processes for senators and for senate executive offices. Additionally, I would strive to continue and build upon the tradition of transparency—via web and other communications—that has become the cornerstone of Faculty Senate operations.
In its shared governance role, the Faculty Senate is likely to face a variety of potentially controversial issues as the relationship between senior administration and the faculty evolves. There is work to be done in maintaining and building upon the solid groundwork laid down by recent years’ Senate Executive Committees. I would be honored and grateful to have the opportunity to carry out this work alongside the Senate Executive and the Faculty Senate as a whole in the role of Executive Secretary.