Meet the Faculty Senate president

Meghan Gillette will preside over the first Faculty Senate meeting of the academic year on Sept. 9. She recently spoke to Inside Iowa State.

Why did you want to lead the Faculty Senate?

I truly believe in the concept of serving the university, and I am very passionate about making faculty life better at Iowa State. One of the best ways to do that is through shared governance. Senate allows me to hear from faculty from across the university, and I enjoy hearing all the viewpoints and learning why they may differ from mine. I became a senator, then a caucus chair and joined the executive board, and I quickly realized that I enjoyed the people and work.

Higher education nationwide is experiencing change and that includes Iowa State. What would you say to faculty as we begin another year?

I am reminded of the quote "Love quiets fear and kindness eases change." We are going through rapid change now -- and I understand feelings of uncertainty as some of our foundations are being shaken -- but I draw comfort from history. I look at other times in history when societal change has happened quickly and others made it through. We have gone through change before -- many times with positive results -- and we have endured and still are here. Iowa State will remain, and as faculty we will continue to teach and do our research.

What are your main areas of focus during your year leading the senate?

I have two words that really are my north star: communication and adaptation. My experience in the senate has taught me that communication with all faculty in a decentralized university is very difficult. Creating and improving communication channels would help make faculty lives better because they would be more in the know, it would make them feel heard and help them feel like they have more agency.

Higher education is changing in terms of perceptions of teaching and research, available funding and a new generation of faculty members. Being able to adapt to these changes is not easy, but I know that the executive board and Faculty Senate can help our colleagues navigate them to the best of our ability.

You're on the committee helping identify the next president of the university. How is that going?

I am a co-chair of the search committee. It is a humbling opportunity and I don’t take it lightly. It has been going very well, and the people I work with have been fantastic. I am very comfortable with the makeup of the search committee because it's a group of people who all love Iowa State and the state of Iowa.

Your family has a long history with the university and state. Share some of that history.

I am a fourth-generation woman in my family to attend Iowa State and within my college [Health and Human Sciences]. I have a lot of Iowa State alums on both sides of my family -- my parents met here, my grandparents met here, aunts and uncles and cousins met their spouses here. My family has a century farm in northwest Iowa, my great-grandfather was a state legislator and was on the Iowa Board of Regents. My great-grandmother, his wife, taught home economics at Iowa State. My grandfather, their son, also was an alum and state legislator, and my family supports a scholarship [William Riley Gillette Graduate Scholarship] in his name in animal science.