In view of the importance of the faculty to the success of any university, and the responsibility of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa for the performance and success of the three Regents universities--the State University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa--it is desirable to have a strong positive relationship, with free and frequent communication so as to develop mutual understanding, between the Board of Regents and the faculties of these universities.     Such a relationship has been promoted by the current practice of including Faculty Senate leaders at luncheons held during Regents' meetings on the three campuses.  These luncheons may also be attended by faculty recipients of Regents Awards.  We believe, however, that a stronger Regent-faculty relationship could be developed if a wider range of faculty were enabled to interact with Regents in this way.  Currently, the Regents invite students to breakfasts on campuses where their meetings are being held.  Some have suggested that in the not too distant past, a similar practice had faculty interacting with Regents over lunch on their meeting days.  Whether or not that is true, we are proposing that this practice be adopted.

Therefore, be it resolved that the UNI Faculty Senate is asking the Board of Regents to adopt the practice of inviting selected faculty to join them for lunch when the Regents meet on their respective campuses.  To foster more meaningful lunch-time conversations, faculty participants would be solicited and selected based on thematic criteria--untenured faculty, international faculty, faculty who just completed Professional Development Assignments, and so forth.  These criteria would be selected with Regent input and vary across meetings at each university.  To further stimulate Regent-faculty interaction, faculty representatives would be assigned to tables so there would be at least one faculty member at each table where the Regents and university administrators were having lunch.