Implementing and redefining the university’s family leave and tenure policy will be top concerns for Gregory Palermo next year as he leads the Faculty Senate.

Palermo, who has been with the senate seven of his past eight years at Iowa State and currently chairs the senate’s academic affairs council, was voted president-elect at the Faculty Senate’s last meeting Tuesday.

He said he plans on incorporating a three-pronged approach for addressing faculty and staff needs and concerns on campus.

First in his approach is to take action on Iowa State’s family leave policy. The senate unanimously approved a position paper in February 2002 that called for the policy to be revised as an arrival of children policy and spelled out the faculty’s preferences for accommodating family leave.

The policy enables both male and female faculty members time off for the arrival of newborns or newly adopted children and provides for timely care of seriously ill spouses, significant others and parents.

“While it’s been passed, it’s been on the table because of budgetary difficulties during these past few years, causing the university to prioritize its choices,” Palermo said. “Unfortunately, family leave hasn’t been a high priority. It’s time to highlight this as a valuable benefit.”

As a second point, he said he also wants to look at another proposal from 2002 that would have created a faculty ombudsman. Again, because of budgetary issues, the proposal wasn’t fully implemented, he said.

“This has lain fallow for too long. We need to refine the policy and formalize a process for addressing faculty and staff confrontations,” said Palermo, who’s been on the senate’s executive committee for six years.

A Faculty Senate ombudsman would collect and address faculty and staff grievances.

Last in his threefold agenda is another revisit to past efforts, as he plans to reinforce the Faculty Senate’s role in university governance.

“This year was the first time the Faculty Senate Budget and Planning Council has been formalized as the principal advisory agent to the provost,” Palermo said.

“We need to do a better job of recognizing that the faculty does share governance in a meaningful way.”

Palermo will serve as the senate’s president-elect until May, when he will take office as Faculty Senate president.