CU Denver Faculty Assembly

The Voice of CU Denver Faculty

The Faculty Assembly (FA) is the official voice of the CU Denver Faculty in shared governance on our campus, at our University and at the CU-system level.

The Faculty Assembly and its committees are elected/appointed by their schools and colleges on campus to represent the interests of the faculty and to work with administration of the campus. Whether you are a member of FA or not, please become familiar with the CU Denver Faculty Assembly Constitution and Bylaws, located under Policies & Governance Documents. They provide guidance for formal faculty governance and norms for academic governance generally. As full participants in critical decisions about change and continuity in the campus's future, faculty have the obligation to be knowledgeable about their rights and responsibilities.

Read the report of what the Faculty Assembly did during the 2023 academic year.

2025 Federal Transition

• Please familiarize yourself with continually updated information and guidance on the CU federal relations website, which includes communications, federal memos, links to executive orders, and an FAQ section on current operational guidance. We will provide periodic updates as we navigate the sea of uncertainty. 

• New CU Denver page on the federal transition: https://ucdenver.edu/federal-updates

• Federal transition updates for researchers, from CU Denver's Office of Research Services 

•  Ask CU Denver a question about the transition, here.

• If you are approached by law enforcement or governmental agents seeking information, in all circumstances direct them to campus police dispatch who will engage the university’s legal services for support as needed. The Auraria Campus Police Department can be reached at: 303-556-5000. 

• Resources for Undocumented Employees and Students (from CU Boulder). As a reminder, Auraria Campus Police dispatch can be reached at: 303-556-5000.

Know Your Rights Workshop (Sponsored by Student Government Association)

• SGA is hosting a Know Your Rights Workshop on Wednesday, February 26 from 5-7pm in Student Commons 2500. Please invite any students, staff, and faculty who are interested in this event!

Faculty Assembly Committees

The Faculty Assembly has 8 standing committees that tackle a range of issues that are essential to the continued growth of the institution and to the quality of the faculty experience on this campus.

Faculty Assembly Membership

Next Meeting

Faculty Assembly meetings occur the first Tuesday of each month from 12:30 pm- 2:30 pm (September- December; February- May)

Faculty Assembly Executive Committee meetings occur the last Tuesday of each month from 12:30 pm- 2:30 pm (August- November; January- April)

Please contact Leigh Ann Rutherford for further details.

Announcement- Spring 2025 FA Elections

Spring 2024 FA Elections

Faculty Assembly Awards

Strengthening Shared Governance

Faculty Assembly Memos, Letters, and Resolutions

This resolution, in which Faculty Assembly conveys its support for our community and reiterates the university’s commitment to free expression, academic freedom, and nondiscrimination, was passed in our meeting on February 4, 2025.

On December 11, 2024, Faculty Assembly sent this letter to all faculty members regarding salary equity concerns. The letter outlines recent developments related to the legal settlement on the Boulder campus for equal pay and provides information on how faculty members can file salary grievances based on gender equity.

At the December 3rd, 2024, Faculty Assembly meeting, a resolution was passed urging the Auraria Board of Directors (ABOD) to extend voting rights to the Faculty and Student representatives from the Faculty Advisory Committee (FACAB) and the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board (SACAB). The resolution emphasizes the need for these committees to have a formal role in decision-making, which would also strengthen the governance and leadership structure at AHEC. 

This version of the report was approved by Faculty Assembly on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

This resolution regarding campus protests was passed by ExCom on May 1st, 2024. 

At FA's May 2024 meeting, members voted to approve and endorse this resolution from the Auraria Library, which sets out principles and goals for the library in its negotiations and relations with vendors. 

At the March 5, 2024 meeting, Faculty Assembly concluded its deliberations on censure proceedings against Provost Nakuma.

In the interest of fostering collaboration and open communication, FA shared a draft response letter with Provost Nakuma and his team in November. The draft helped provide a concrete basis for FA leadership's productive, ongoing discussions and collaborations with the administration on a variety of matters, including shared governance, campus use of 3rd party contractors, and student services provision. It was approved for use as a working draft for this purpose by FA's Executive Committee in early November. FA was grateful to receive Provost Nakuma's formal reply in late January, which we also include above for the campus community to review with his permission. 

On Wednesday, November 8, 2023, FA provided formal support via letter to the Chancellor, endorsing Staff Council’s recent efforts to raise awareness on how the University’s budget realignment is impacting staff on campus. Faculty have similar concerns about the impact these budget cuts are having on Student Services Offices and are requesting that the administration provide meaningful data to FA and Staff Council which will help shared governance understand the staffing gaps and issues on campus.     

On November 8, 2023, Faculty Assembly transmitted via email this communication to the CU Denver faculty providing more information and explanation about recent censure proceedings against the Provost.

On October 31, Faculty Assembly voted to table the original motion for censure against Provost Nakuma until our regular meeting scheduled on February 6, 2024, at which time we will reconvene to review progress on the matters identified in the draft resolution and vote on the censure motion. The vote to table the motion to censure was carried 26-1.

On Tuesday October 17, FA initiated censure proceedings against Provost Constancio Nakuma. The document linked above includes FA’s letter to the Provost, a draft resolution for censure stating FA’s grave concerns for the welfare of the university, students, and faculty, and several evidentiary documents including a recent report on the state of student mental health and mental health services at CU Denver prepared by third-party firm Keeling & Associates, a disputed “culture report” from the College of Architecture and Planning (CAP), and several public emails from the Provost regarding the dismissal of the CAP Dean. 

FA passed a resolution on faculty course questionnaires (FCQs) in May 2023, calling attention to the FCQ Office’s practice of data mining student comments on FCQs and reporting possible equity violations to the CU Denver Office of Equity. The resolution shares FA’s concerns about the lack of transparency around this practice, lack of faculty consultation on this matter as required by Article 5 of the Regent’s Laws, and the use of a “highly biased tool for a purpose for which it is not designed”, one which “places faculty in jeopardy”.  

In this October 5, 2022 letter to Provost Constancio Nakuma, FA questioned the sudden appearance of evaluation items regarding DEI activities on Faculty Activity Reports (FAR). As the letter notes, “not only were faculty denied principal responsibility for evaluation, we were excluded from the decision altogether and evaluated using criteria we did not even know existed”, in violation of faculty rights provided by Article 5 of the Regent’s Laws.  

Drafts, Work in Progress, and other Informal Documentation

These documents are intermediate FA work products and have not been formally vetted or approved by the Faculty Assembly. We include them here to improve transparency, facilitate communication and discussion, and encourage engagement in shared governance.

Faculty Assembly End of Year Reports