Message from the Chair

Senate Chair Elizabeth Bjork

Welcome to the Academic Senate Website. Through the Academic Senate, the UCLA faculty participates in a system of dual authority and responsibility called shared governance. In the shared governance system, the Regents invest the faculty, through the Academic Senate, with responsibility to exercise direct control over academic matters. In other areas of University life, the Administration consults with the Academic Senate. The Senate performs an advisory role in decisions made by the Administration on budget matters and the organization and structure of the university as well as on faculty promotions and appointments. The principle and practice of shared governance, which has included faculty, staff, and students, has contributed significantly to the growth of UCLA as a pre-eminent and world-renowned university.

Shared Governance:
   The success of such a system cannot be guaranteed by the wording of a series of rules or principles, but must depend finally on an effective degree of mutual respect and confidence between faculty and administration. . .

George D. Louderback
AAUP Annual Meeting, 1937