[Englecturers] (no subject)

[englecturers at lists.ucr.edu]

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome back!

I think this salutation has an entirely new meaning this year.  I trust your 
summer was a welcomed respite from U.C.R. and teaching.  The fall has 
descended upon us like the outstretched shadows from solitary bucolic 
mountains, and we are, once again, called back to our vocation of teaching 
and scholarship.  I am hopeful that this year will be a productive one for 
all of us in both capacities.  I am also hopeful that the year will offer us 
a renewed sense of stability and tranquility.

Our mission, to teach and nurture our students, is one of the noblest forms 
of service we can offer to our university and our society at large.  In an 
era when teaching and standards have come under attack -- indeed, I believe 
our community has witnessed this assault first hand -- we continue to 
protect our community and the opportunity for critical thought that is all 
too often compromised in "the real world" -- even under the guise of our 
cherished first amendment.

This is a great time for us to be teachers, for it is a time that will 
challenge us in many regards.  I am confident that as a community of 
teachers, we will rise to these challenges and prosper.  I don't know what 
sacrifices and uncertainties lay ahead, but we can and should rely on each 
other.  More than at any other time in our history of non-senate faculty 
members, I believe we must commit ourselves anew to our community, and this 
commitment must manifest itself in service.  We have a treasured community 
-- one most campuses aspire to achieve but fail to actualize.  As a 
community, we must serve oneanother when called upon.

Over the past year, much havoc and disruption have been visited upon us and 
our students.  Many of our colleagues were professionally displaced last 
fall and faced bleak situations.  Classes were cancelled, and students were 
inconvenienced in an unprecedented manner.  Students are currently returning 
to the campus after the turmoil, though not in the numbers that were 
anticipated.  A number of our excellent colleagues have since reacted to 
this adversity by finding positions and careers elsewhere -- they will be 
missed.  Many more of our outstanding instructors, however, have returned 
home to U.C. Riverside's Department of English, and we warmly embrace them.  
A declining enrollment and a decision not to fund the invaluable writing 
resource center tutorials now translates into a stagnated rather than 
growing need for our faculty members.

Nevertheless, our spirit remains strong.  The state of our community remains 
strong.  Our alliance with the English deparment remains strong.  A storm 
has passed before us, and we have witnessed with trepidation procrustean 
actions, but we have weathered the maelstrom with confidence, resilience, 
and solidarity.

In the spirit of service, Wallace Cleaves has accepted the position of 
lecturer representative for our department.  I am confident that he will 
sere us well in this regard.  In fact, I believe service to be of paramount 
importance for the survival of our culture and our community.  Many of us 
alreay give generously of our time, but I challenge all of us, including 
myself, to accept a greater call to service.  We should exercise our 
creativity and initiative in our efforts to serve one another, for I suspect 
service is the road upon which we must trod if we are to gain greater 
empowerment and security in our professional lives.  We must serve 
ourselves, our students, our department, and our university.  We provide an 
essential ingredient to our students' education and their connection to U.C. 
Riverside.  Let us strive as a community not to forget this and to be 
faithful to our mission, ourselves, and our students.

Welcome back!

Paul A.J. Beehler, lecturer representative