Rachel McClurg
Managing Editor
Vice President of Academics Lori Winningham has began to host meetings called Wednesdays with Winningham, with faculty on as many Wednesday’s out of the month as she is free. The purpose of this is so she may better connect with the faculty at Butler.
“Overall, Wednesdays with Winningham are for me as much as they are for faculty,” Winningham said. “I want to hear their voice and connect with faculty. There isn’t a perfect time for me to connect with everyone but by scheduling sessions, inviting specific groups and most importantly, just going out to see them in their work space, I hope to make a difference for everyone.”
So far, there has only been one session held. Winningham met with faculty at the Andover campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 a.m. and at the El Dorado campus at 2:30 p.m. Faculty were offered refreshments and an opportunity to talk with Winningham about anything they wanted to.
“I have another one coming up on March 7,” Winningham said. “The El Dorado campus will be invited to meet at 7:00 a.m., and the Andover campus will be invited to meet at 11:30 a.m.”
Faculty that have met with Winningham think that this type of meeting could be beneficial with other administrators as well.
“We talked about a lot of good issues that I think other administrators would be able to do similar things,” English Department Chair Jim Buchhorn said.
Since Winningham used to be a faculty member, she misses being able to talk to them all of the time just like she used to. That is an important reason why she started Wednesdays with Winningham.
“My goal is to connect with faculty,” Winningham said. “I really miss interacting with faculty on a daily basis. In the role as vice president, my office is not in a building with faculty, and I don’t get as many opportunities to connect with faculty. That has been one of the hardest things for me to adjust to.”
Winningham empathizes with faculty, and she personally misses that role that she was able to fulfill for so long.
“It is so easy to fill your schedule with meetings and projects in the (vice president) VP role,” Winningham said. “I am just trying to find a balance for me that works and helps me stay connected to the people that make the most difference [those in the classroom]. The faculty have heard me say that I really miss being in the classroom, so they are supposed to have fun for me in their role.”
At the first session, Winningham has met with adjuncts and other full time faculty. There is no limit to what the conversation will entail during the meetings.
“It’s an open forum that we can bring our ideas to, but mostly we talked about school related stuff and ways to improve student performance, ways to improve what we do here at the college,” Buchhorn said.
If any faculty plan on attending any future Wednesdays with Winningham, they should locate the email that Winningham sent out and RSVP if possible.
