Roessner to serve as faculty senate president for 2023-24 academic year
School of Journalism and Media Professor Amber Roessner will serve as president of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Faculty Senate for the 2023-24 academic year.
Roessner has served on the faculty senate for six years. Retired College of Communication and Information colleagues Candace White and Sally McMillan encouraged her to step into university leadership. She began her service as a committee chair and last year served as president-elect.
“In this role, I have been deeply committed to the principles of shared governance—to making certain that all Vols are represented at the table and that we engage with all voices in university processes—as our leadership team has sought to modernize faculty senate in order to be more agile in addressing lingering issues and emerging concerns in higher education and on this campus,” Roessner said. “Together, we have built partnerships dedicated to fostering equitable conditions and inclusive community on Rocky Top.”
She believes best-practice communication strategies are essential in fostering shared governance, building community, and engaging in collaborative partnerships. As faculty senate president, she hopes to formalize and institutionalize these best-practice strategies to foster shared governance over the long term on Rocky Top.
Roessner teaches and studies media history and its relationship to cultural phenomena and practices, including the operation of politics, the negotiation of public images and collective memories, and the construction of race, gender, and class.
She has published three books: “Inventing Baseball Heroes: Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson and the Sporting Press in America,” “Jimmy Carter and the Birth of the Marathon Media Campaign” and co-edited “Political Pioneer of the Press: Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Her Transnational Crusade for Social Justice.”
“We’re working hard to foster stronger relationships on campus and beyond so that we can advocate for solutions that offer more equitable conditions for our students, staff, and faculty, and for an enduring commitment to advancing a more welcoming and inclusive space where all Vols matter and belong,” Roessner said.
To learn more about the faculty senate visit senate.utk.edu.
School of Journalism and Media Professor and University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Faculty Senate President Amber Roessner discusses what shared governance means to her.