51黑料网

The series titled 鈥淭owards a Shared Vision of the University of Arizona鈥檚 future鈥� is being hosted by UA鈥檚 Committee of Eleven, an elected body of 11 faculty members that looks into areas of interest and concern to the faculty and the university and shares reports with the general faculty and the Faculty Senate.

鈥淚鈥檓 a big advocate for healthy discourse and hearing voices and getting different perspectives on solving problems in general,鈥� said Russell Witte, a member of the committee and a UA professor of medical imaging, who was involved in spearheading this initiative.

鈥淪ometimes at the university, not all voices are heard and not all voices are responded to,鈥� he told the 51黑料网 on Wednesday. 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 no venue where people can come together to communicate all voices in a meaningful and impactful way, including people from the local community that contacted me wondering what was going on at the university. I felt like they were left out, sometimes, from the decision-making process.鈥�

Witte said the committee tentatively intends to hold the forums on a quarterly basis, but he would be happy to have them monthly or more often if that's what the community wants.

The first two-hour session is set to take place at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at UA鈥檚 Health Sciences and Innovation Building. Topics for the first forum include the three most important things members of the public would like to see at UA, or see changed in UA's future, and three topics the Committee of Eleven should focus on for future public forums.

The Saturday forum will start with a panel discussion in the first hour by seven speakers from the university and the local community. Then the discussion will be opened to the public via an open mic.

The panelists are:

• Amanda Criswell, representing UA鈥檚 Graduate Student Research Council;
• Margo Garcia, a former Tucson City Council member and an environmental advocate with experience in community housing, transit and environmental planning;
• Adriana Grijalva, student body president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona;
• Dru Heaton, chair of the Arizona Libertarian Party and a 28-year resident of Pima County who鈥檚 been a vocal advocate for government transparency and informed medical consent;
• Pamela Powers, a former member of the Arizona House from District 9, a former managing editor of the American Journal of Medicine, and a UA alumna;
• Andy Silverman, a UA professor emeritus of law; and,
• Janet Wittenbraker, a Republican former candidate for Tucson mayor and the Pima County board.

鈥淥ne of the things we were looking for was to have diverse voices to get different ideas for the panel,鈥� said Witte. 鈥淚 would think of the event as not the panel being above the audience. The panel, in this case, is going to be at the same level as the audience. They鈥檙e there to kind of initiate, facilitate the conversation, and actually more than half the time on Saturday will be dedicated to the audience.鈥�

Witte said five of the panelists have held positions in government and offer diverse perspectives, but none are in government now, and so are just like any other community members with voices. He also said people will recognize their names, even though they may not necessarily agree with what they say.

He said the committee wanted to bring together diverse voices in a healthy and meaningful way, where they can discuss problems and share a common vision for the university despite having differing political views.

Personal invitations will be sent to senior administrators at the UA to ask them to participate in the Saturday forum, Witte said. He said the committee really wants to hear from them and also plans to invite the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the state鈥檚 three public universities.