News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Dr. Jeanette Luna of the Earth Sciences Department to be the new faculty representative for Tech’s Board of Trustees, with a goal of helping the university at large maintain quality.
Luna said the Board of Trustees oversees general governance and policy creation for Tech’s campus, working to meet the needs of the various members of the university. She said she has been a member of the faculty senate at Tech since 2017.
“The reason I wanted to be on the board was to ensure that we have the adequate faculty we need to make sure we’re doing state-of-the-art research, that we have really nice facilities,” Luna said. “That we’re supporting students in the central Tennessee region as best we can and giving them a college education that’s competitive with other universities in the region, as well as nationally and internationally.”
Luna said the university is already making strides in improving its programs and services for both teachers and students. She said she left industry to teach at Tech and is happy to have the opportunity to help students and other faculty.
Still, Luna said there are parts of being faculty that no one sees unless they experience it for themselves, and that insight is something that separates her from some other members of the board.
“I look forward to sharing more with the board about what the day-to-day life of a faculty member is,” Luna said. “Oftentimes we hear that faculty only goes in to teach three times a week and that’s it, but that’s actually not the case.”
Luna said she can act as a relay between the unseen parts of being a faculty member and the Board of Trustees, helping the two sides get what they want.
Luna said that in the future she wants to put a face on the faculty at Tech and preserve the aspects she has enjoyed so much for the future members of the university.
