The Faculty Senate will try to deal with three vacant seats from one college at their meeting next week, the Senate chairwoman said.Elizabeth Gillaspy, Faculty Senate assistant secretary, said in an e-mail there are 18 new senators for the next term but three vacancies in the College of Science and Engineering.

Chairwoman Suzy Lockwood said the online elections were April 16 and 17.

Lockwood, an assistant nursing professor, said the new senators will be introduced at their May 3 meeting and proposals to fill the vacancies will be discussed.

There are usually one or two vacancies each election, and the Senate has no plans to change the way it gets people to run, Lockwood said.

“Participation in the Senate is a faculty decision, and if they choose not to run, they choose not to run,” Lockwood said. “If they choose to have their college unrepresented, they make that choice. We are not going to do anything to go out and try to coerce people into running.”

Lockwood said this election is unique because there are three vacant spots in the College of Science and Engineering, which is partly due to an increase in the available spots in the senate.

Earlier this semester, bylaws were initiated to create proportional representation for the number of faculty in each college, which means larger colleges, or those with larger faculties, will be allotted more spaces on the Senate simply because they have more people.

Magnus Rittby, associate dean for the College of Science and Engineering, said there were two new faculty members hired for the 2006-2007 academic year, which is a normal amount.

Keith Whitworth, Faculty Senate secretary, said the number of available spots in the Senate for the College of Science and Engineering increased from eight seats to 10 seats because of the change in bylaws.

David Bedford, Student Relations Committee chair, said he has been on the Senate for four years and did not recall having vacant spots on the Senate as a problem in the past. Bedford said there were four seats up for election and four candidates in his college, which is the AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

He decided to announce his candidacy because he thought it was a good way to serve the university and learn more about the way things are run, Bedford said.

“I have found being on the Faculty Senate gratifying,” Bedford said. “I have gained significant involvement and would encourage faculty to run.”

Lockwood said she has been on the Senate for six years, and her favorite part is being able to participate and plan for events and different issues on campus with different colleges on campus.

“The networking is just invaluable,” Lockwood said. “I have gotten to know people on Faculty Senate that I would never have gotten to know otherwise if I had been content to stay in my college and not go out there and get involved.