The College Senate Is Here for You
Hi there. My name is Jack Lechelt. I have been your College Senate Chair for the past year and have accepted another one-year term. Click here to read some of my goals for the coming year!
NOVA’s College Senate is a unique body among college shared-governance structures. Most colleges have a “faculty senate,” and some have a staff senate as well (though many do not). At NOVA, we have a COLLEGE Senate that includes students, staff and faculty! We find this to be a much healthier structure. As we begin the 2024–25 NOVA College Senate organizational year, I ask for your involvement with the College Forum, which includes the College Senate, seven Forum Councils and a couple of other committees. Most employers do not have a shared governance structure, but higher education and NOVA do, so let’s take advantage of that! President Kress and the Administrative Council team (President Kress, the vice presidents, provosts and others) are supportive of the Senate and are happy to work with us.
Your new 2024–25 College Senate Executive Committee has the same dedicated members as 2023–24:
- Chair Jack Lechelt, Professor of Political Science at the Loudoun Campus, JLechelt@nvcc.edu
- Vice Chair John Sound, Professor of IT at the Manassas Campus, JSound@nvcc.edu
- Secretary Beth Lanthier, Professor of Psychology at the Alexandria Campus, ELanthier@nvcc.edu
- Parliamentarian Ashlie Warnick, Professor of Economics at the Manassas Campus, AWarnick@nvcc.edu
We stand ready to assist you all.
The members of the 2024–25 College Senate are listed on NOVAnet. You can also find the Zoom link for Senate meetings, along with dates and times for all 2024–25 meetings, on NOVAnet. Furthermore, meeting recordings (up to a year old), minutes and all other meeting materials are on the NOVAnet page.
In the fall, we will hold special elections to fill vacancies on the Forum Councils and Senate. You can find all the rosters for all Forum Councils on NOVAnet, as well.
If you do not end up serving on the College Forum, please reach out to your Senators and Senate leaders so we know what you think about the various issues that matter to you. As you can see here, the Senate has a role to play in many issues of importance.
If you want to learn more about the Senate and College Forum, please review the Links of Value page I have put together over the past year. I also send out a weekly “Senate Chair Chat” email to anyone who wants to be on the list. It’s just me providing an overview of the things the Senate is working on. I want to be transparent and keep you in the loop. You can see past Chair Chats here.
Do you have questions or comments? Please reach out to me! I am happy to talk with you, meet you in person, grab a coffee or some grub, Zoom, email or chat via Teams. You can also reach me on my cell phone to talk or text at 703-473-8287. I’ll be around pretty much the whole summer, so let me know how I can help you.
Please get involved and stay involved. Our students will benefit, our College will benefit and you will benefit too. You’re worth it!
Submitted by:
Jack Lechelt, College Senate Chair, JLechelt@nvcc.edu