2013 Candidate Statement Elizabeth Abrams

Colleagues:

As current chair of Committee on Committees, I feel I have just hit my stride. I have enjoyed working with the Senate chair and staff, and chairs of various Senate committees, to strategize effective staffing of committees, task forces, advisory groups, and so on, and to best represent our campus in systemwide service. Especially at a time when UCSC has been working with less to do more, and when systemwide decisions have had disproportionate effects on our campus, an experienced voice on COC will serve us well.

In addition to chairing COC for the past two years, I have been a COT member (2004-5); member and then chair of CPE (2005-8), and chair of CFW (2008-10). I have also sat on the Senate Executive Committee for four of the past five years, and chaired my department for six years. I  am currently serving as Merrill College Provost. All of these roles have provided excellent opportunities to get to know faculty across the campus (important for any COC member!) and, as importantly, to get to know the issues facing our campus today and methods the Senate can employ to address those issues. This constellation of experience has been enormously helpful in conceptualizing the work of COC as a set of proactive strategies for coping with campus needs.

Elizabeth Abrams