BOONE—Dr. Martha McCaughey has received the Appalachian State University American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Chapter Award for her work to advance goals of academic freedom and faculty governance. McCaughey is a professor of women’s studies and sociology at Appalachian.

According to a nominator, McCaughey has worked to ensure and advance academic freedom at Appalachian and while she was a member of the faculty at Virginia Tech. At Virginia Tech,  she challenged the university’s view of computer ownership and made a case for computer privacy as an issue of academic freedom, writing about the whole experience in a published article in Academe, Sept./Oct. 2003, titled “Windows Without Curtains: Computer Privacy and Academic Freedom.”

Dr. Martha McCaughey, left, has received the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Chapter Award for her work to advance goals of academic freedom and faculty governance. McCaughey is a professor of women’s studies and sociology at Appalachian. Paul Gates, right, a professor in Appalachian’s Department of Communication and AAUP chapter president, presented the award to McCaughey. (Appalachian photo by University Photographer Marie Freeman)

“I have found it very rewarding to work at Appalachian, a campus environment that supports academic freedom and faculty governance,” McCaughey said. “I would encourage any new faculty member to join AAUP, run for Faculty Senate, or otherwise participate in the governance structure of the university and the important debates about faculty work and academia today.”

Since coming to Appalachian, McCaughey has worked for faculty governance and issues of academic freedom, serving on the Faculty Senate, the Information Technology Assessment Committee and the AAUP local chapter as president, and hosting the statewide NC-AAUP annual meeting at Appalachian.

“AAUP’s main function is to promote shared governance, to make sure that the administration always understands and considers the faculty perspective on campus issues, as well as in a broader sense the role of faculty in academia,” said Paul Gates, a professor in Appalachian’s Department of Communication and AAUP chapter president.  “AAUP also defends academic freedom, which is another prong related to but separate from governance that protects faculty in their research and their intellectual endeavors, and lets them comment and disseminate the information they discover through their research.”

She also is president of AAUP’s State Conference. She helped revitalize the state AAUP Foundation, and has served the NC-AAUP Executive Committee for several years. She currently is serving a two-year term as president of that group.  In that capacity, she has written several open letters on issues of concern to faculty across the state, most recently on the budget crisis.

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