2011 Faculty Governance Awards

Citation for Katherine Kulick

At a university that treasures faculty governance, Katherine Kulick, Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures, exemplifies the faculty leader. She has served the College of William and Mary in almost every conceivable capacity of faculty governance—department chair, committee member and frequent chair of committees in Arts & Sciences, member of Faculty Assembly, member of review committees and search committees for the College, and a spokesperson for faculty to the Board of Visitors. Over twenty years, she has served on, and often chaired, committees in her department in every significant area—personnel, searches, language laboratory, language houses, library liaison, website, budget, and personnel policy. For six years, she served as chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, one of the largest departments at the College, at a crucial time in its history, when it expanded from its traditional strengths in western European languages and greatly increased its teaching of Arabic, Japanese, and Russian. A specialist in French language pedagogy, she served at one time or another as coordinator for no less than five different language sections. Her service for Arts & Sciences has been equally impressive, chairing or serving on almost every major committee: chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council; chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee; member of the dean’s Budget Advisory Group during the budget crisis of 2002-03; twice a member of the Retention, Promotion, and Tenure Committee; member of the Educational Policy Committee; member of the Committee on Degrees; and member of several search committees for the Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office.

 The entire College is in Professor Kulick’s debt that she has still had time and energy to serve beyond her department and Arts & Sciences. She holds the record for most years of service on Faculty Assembly, currently eleven years, indeed, for a majority of the years the Assembly has been in existence, including service as president, vice president, and chair of the Faculty Liaison Committee to the Board of Visitors, chair of the Faculty Compensation Board, and chair of both the Academic Affairs and Faculty Affairs Committees. Besides being a member of numerous ad hoc and administrative review and search committees for the College, she has served as the faculty representative on the Board of Visitors, as a Faculty Marshall, and as a member of the Faculty Research Committee, the Commencement Policy Committee, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, and numerous committees for Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. All of this alone would merit an award. Appropriately, she was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Award for exemplary service to the College in 2009. Yet her most impressive achievement deserves special mention: for more than ten years she has overseen four iterations of the William and Mary Faculty Survey, an enormously valuable compendium of research on the faculty of a research university. Few institutions of higher education can boast a similar database on faculty opinion and work conditions, and almost none has such a resource that was overseen by a faculty member rather than an administrative office. Professor Kulick has lived out the calling of citizen of the College and been a tireless advocate for improving the life of faculty at William and Mary. For her leadership and commitment to service to her colleagues and the College of William and Mary, Katherine Kulick is a worthy recipient of the 2011 Arts & Sciences Faculty Governance Award.