By Jackie Todd, Office of University Relations
An associate professor in the English Department was elected Faculty Senate president for the 2018-19 academic year. Jan Holmevik was named president at the March 14 Faculty Senate meeting.
“The faculty is the university’s greatest asset and it is more important today than ever before that we engage fully in the shared governance systems of our institution in order to assert our influence toward bringing about positive changes for both faculty and students, to uphold the integrity of our educational profession and the sanctity of the academic endeavor in the broadest sense,” said Holmevik during his campaign address.
The 2018-19 Faculty Senate president wears a number of hats at Clemson. He is an associate professor and has previously served as associate chair of the English Department in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. Holmevik has chaired university-level committees such as the Faculty Senate’s Academic Technology Council and the Scholastic Policies Committee. He is currently a co-director of the Center of Excellence in Next-Generation Computing and Creativity.
Holmevik pledged to work to ensure that faculty voices were heard at all levels of the university and to position the senate as a partner in Clemson Forward goals and initiatives.
One of those initiatives includes diversity and global engagement. Holmevik, who was born in Norway and worked in academia in Norway and Denmark, emigrated to the United States in 1995. He joined Clemson’s faculty in 2006.
Holmevik had a strong message for Clemson’s international faculty.
“To our many international faculty members who chose to make Clemson home and devote their lives and careers to the betterment and education of our students, I have this simple message,” he said. “As Faculty Senate president, I will have your back so you can work in peace, thrive and prosper, and conduct your research both here and abroad without fear.”
Holmevik will be sworn in as 2017-18 president-elect at a ceremony next month and will assume the Faculty Senate presidency in April 2018.
