To: All DFA Members
FROM: Ian Kennedy and the DFA Board
RE: The Charles P. Nash Prize
We are sending you this information both as an attachment and as text (see below) in case anyone has a problem opening the attachment.
The Nash Family, the Academic Senate, the Davis Faculty Association and the Academic Federation of UC Davis, are jointly creating a Prize to honor the outstanding contributions that Charles P. Nash made to the University community. The Charles P. Nash Prize will be funded through donations from individuals wishing to honor Professor Nash’s accomplishments and to inspire others to emulate his commitment. To contribute, please click on this link http://www.ucdfa.org/Nash_Prize_Form.pdf; additional information about Charlie is available on the DFA web page at www.ucdfa.org. Just click on “Nash Prize.”
Why is the Charles P. Nash Prize significant to the DFA? It is because Charlie Nash embodied the best potential of the DFA to do good for its members.
Charlie knew the ups, downs, ins and outs of the University of California. He knew UC administrative procedures, the relationships of the UC with California government, and the details of Senate rules and regulations. Charlie saw the university as a whole. He recognized both the value of the whole and the significance of its critical components, which are the UC faculty and staff without which Regents, Presidents, Chancellors, and other administrators would have no use.
What’s more, he understood clearly that the whole could from time to time act insensitively to one or more of the faculty or staff and that rules and regulations of our primary governing body, the Academic Senate, might not protect faculty members suffering from such insensitivity—even that Senate actions might serve to cause or further such harm. When called upon, Charlie would act formally or informally to advise faculty members so affected, and his knowledge of administrative and Senate arcana made him a particularly effective advisor and, when necessary, advocate. As a man of principle, he could also assist the UC administration in its relationships with faculty members, who occasionally cause harm to the whole as well.
Charlie knew that principles of shared governance maintain the vitality of the UC Faculty and the university as a whole, but that it is always possible for the relationships between administration and Senate to blur in ways that can erode the strength of collaboration between faculty and administration. He acted forcefully and constructively within the Senate structures, but he would step outside that formal representative body and express his strong, well-informed, opinions clearly–and he knew who needed to hear them.
Those of us who worked with Charlie in various contexts understand that his combination of commitment to us and to the UC as well as his experience, talents, principles, and his steady, affable nature were unique among us. That combination did great good for individuals among us and for the university as a whole. At its best, the DFA will carry on his work at UCD, keeping watch over the ins, outs, ups and downs of relationships that affect us and stepping in as advisors and advocates for members in need.
We are unlikely to have another friend who embodies all of Charlie’s qualities, which guided and served the DFA so well while he was with us, but the Nash Prize will encourage all of us to look for and reward those who follow his example of seeking fairness with courage within our great institution.