The faculty of St. Mary's University includes all persons appointed by the University to teach one or more credit courses, or academic administrative personnel who are expressly accorded faculty status according to University policy as determined by the Executive Council.

Message from the Faculty Senate President

The essence of any university is its faculty, and chief among its responsibilities are maintaining the values of shared governance and academic freedom.

Professor Ernest Boyer outlined the obligations of shared governance well when he wrote:

Professors are, or should be, keepers of academic gates. They define the curriculum, set standards for graduation, and determine criteria by which faculty performance will be measured—and rewarded.... Only as faculty help shape their purposes and engage actively in policy formulation will a broader view of scholarship be authentically embraced.

(Emphasis mine; Boyer, 1990, Scholarship Reconsidered, p. 79)

On the other hand, as faculty of a Catholic university, we must also be vigilant to nurture and preserve academic freedom. Mark Roche in The Intellectual Appeal of Catholicism and the Idea of a Catholic University explains:

As a Catholic university contemplates its aspirations as a research university and its goals as a Catholic institution, academic freedom is of great importance....(Academic freedom) can equally derive from the Catholic elevation of truth as that which is best discovered by our having listened carefully to all possible positions. Academic freedom is intertwined with responsibility to the truth; each presupposes the other.

(Roche, 2003, 29-30)

Contact Us

Faculty Senate
St. Mary's University
One Camino Santa Maria
San Antonio, Texas 78228

Art Vega, Ph.D.
Faculty Senate President
(210) 431-8028