Oprah Winfrey has picked a book of short stories, Say You’re One of Them, written by a Nigerian Jesuit priest as her 63rd Book Club selection. This guarantees that the Jesuits will be a lot richer this year.

Books, books and more books

I’m just joking – sort of. Anything Oprah proclaims as readable turns golden, but the Jebbies, like all religious-order priests, take a vow of poverty, meaning any royalties author Uwem Akpan gets from the book will go to the Order and go towards everything from funding missions, to funding universities, to paying the salaries of Jesuits serving in parishes.

The news of Akpan’s book came via Twitter from National Catholic Reporter, which reports that Akpan’s book is the first short-story collection ever blessed by Oprah as a book club selection. Say You’re One of Them is an “awe-inspiring collection of stories that challenges you to look beyond the headlines and see an Africa full of both joy and despair,” according to Miss O’s Web site. “This is a book you won’t soon forget.”

So, those of you who are taking my 10-books before the New Year challenge, this is one you might want to pick up. And speaking of that challenge, you can find the list of books I’ve read on my way to the 10 in the sidebar to the right of these posts. I’d love to hear about any you read, and if you send them to me with numerical reviews (4 out of 10), I’ll post them in another sidebar as “reader’s picks.”

UA President Robert Shelton

UA faculty are being asked to rate how much confidence they have in the current administration via a poll that is set up through the UA’s Employee Link portal.

An e-mail seeking faculty input into the internal conflict at the University of Arizona went out Friday just before 5 p.m. through the UA all-faculty listserv. The e-mail, signed by faculty leaders at UA, directed faculty to a 10-question poll accessed via UA’s Employee Link, and also asked faculty to describe in two or three sentences maximum “what specific change would be most important in improving the current situation at the UA?”

Faculty from within the College of Science and College of Social and Behavioral Sciences contacted God Blogging with a copy of the poll and the e-mail over the weekend, as well as concerns that the e-mail, and thus the poll, did not reach all faculty because the “all-faculty” listserv is not complete. More on the e-mail delivery issues over at UA Defender, but right now, here are the questions from the poll:

1. Do you support the way the President has carried out the Transformation Process? On a Scale of 1-5, 1=No support, 5=Full support

2. Do you support the way the President has handled the recent budget cuts? On a Scale of 1-5, 1=No support, 5=Full support

3. Do you support the way the Provost has carried out the Transformation Process? On a Scale of 1-5, 1=No support, 5=Full support

4. Do you support the way the Provost has handled the recent budget cuts? On a Scale of 1-5, 1=No support, 5=Full support

5. Do you support the principle of differential cuts? On a Scale of 1-5, 1=No support, 5=Full support

6. Do you agree that the central administration has communicated adequately concerning recent changes at the UA? On a Scale of 1-5, 1=Do not agree, 5=Agree

7. Do you believe Open Forums would be important in improving communication between the central administration and the campus community? On a Scale of 1-5, 1=Do not agree, 5=Agree

8. Do you believe More Email and Other Digital Messages would be important in improving communication between the central administration and the campus community?

9. Do you think central administrators should be more visible on the University campus? On a Scale of 1-5, 1=Do not agree, 5=Agree

10. How much confidence do you have in the ability of central administration to lead us through the tough challenges we face now and in the foreseeable future? 1=No confidence, 5=Full confidence

Naturally, the big money question is the last one. What might happen if the poll shows a majority of the faculty believe UA President Robert Shelton and/or Provost Meredith Hay are ill-equipped to handle university operations? I am not sure – because I’ve not yet been able to reach faculty leaders about process, but I’m working on that this morning.

The e-mail introducing the poll said each faculty member’s participation was “vital to the University’s future,” and acknowledged that while everyone is busy with teaching, research and service, “participation in shared faculty governance has never been more critical and this poll is only one of a series of steps we will be using to communicate faculty concerns to central administration.”

The poll closes at  5 p.m. Friday, giving UA faculty a little more than a week to make their feelings known. Results will be collated over the weekend and be made public by Monday, according to the e-mail. It was signed by Faculty Senate Chair Wanda Howell; Vice-chair Robert Mitchell; Secretary J.C. Mutchler; Mike Cusanovich, a member of the Committee of Eleven; and Lynn Nadel, chair of the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee.