The program is designed to not only facilitate discussion among faculty, but also to serve as a way for UH administration, legislators, media and the general public to have a peek at what faculty are saying.

Under the direction of UHPA Board President David Duffy, the faculty union is stepping forward to facilitate these discussions to explore ways to make UH a better place to teach, conduct research and to provide community service.  Peter Kay, UHPA’s chief technology officer, has been providing advice on the best technology to enhance communications.

“We have a front-line perspective of what’s working and not working in the classrooms, for our students, and for our campuses,” said Duffy, a professor of botany at the University of Hawaii-Manoa since 1998. “Faculty are critical to the success of the University of Hawaii system. Admittedly, we’ve abdicated our role as champions and advocates of the UH to those who may not have had the best interests of the UH in mind.”

The Faculty Thought Leadership Series will be a campus-wide town hall meeting for faculty, featuring presentations by Duffy and others as well as opportunities for questions and answers and sharing suggestions and ideas.

UHPA will be videotaping these sessions and airing them on its Youtube channel for faculty to view after the event at www.youtube.com/uhpahawaii.

During each Faculty Thought Leadership Series session, UHPA will also capture faculty suggestions and post them on Ideascale, a tool used by other leading universities across the country. This will allow other faculty to join the conversation while the session is in progress or continue the online discussion after the session. UHPA members will be able to log in at uhpa.ideascale.com and others will be able see what faculty are saying.