Forty-three faculty members will compete for 29 seats on university committees during this year’s elections hosted by the Faculty Senate Tuesday and Wednesday.

Some seats are uncontested, other committees have more nominees than openings and those seats which have no nominees will be decided by write-in ballots, said Reed Benedict, senate elections committee chair.

Turnouts at faculty elections have historically been low, Benedict said. Last year, 253 votes were cast, according to senate minutes from the April 17, 2001 meeting.

Benedict stressed that votes do count in these elections, and it is not uncommon to see a candidate win by as few as three votes.

“We need to seat people who are interested and are the best fit for each of these committees and councils,” the associate sociology professor said Monday.

Voting booths will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in the Martin Luther King, Jr. University Union in front of the bookstore.

Graduate and undergraduate faculty will receive separate ballots. The graduate faculty ballot will include the election of members to the Council on Graduate Studies.

Ten at large candidates are in running for five positions on the Faculty Senate Ann Brownson, Booth Library; Assegedetch Haile Miriam, psychology; Onaiwu Ogbomo, African American studies; Christopher Smith, music; Rebecca Throneburg, communication disorders and sciences; Mori Toosi, technology; Angela Vietto, English; Jean Wolski, theater arts, and current members David Carpenter, English, and Benedict will contest each other for the open seats.

Nine at large candidates will compete for three seats on the Council on Academic Affairs. Incumbent Janet Cosbey, sociology/anthropology; faces Pat Fewell, secondary education; Shelley French, foreign languages; Linda Ghent, economics; Linda Simpson, family and consumer sciences; James Tidwell, journalism; Joe Williams, psychology; Nora Pat Small, history; and current CAA Chair Andrew Methven, biological sciences.

Races are contested in the Council of Graduate Studies elections where Shane Miller, speech communications, and Mark Voss-Hubbard, history, are both running to represent the College of Arts and Humanities and Tim Mason, economics, and Britto Nathan, biological sciences, will compete for the College of Sciences seat.

Both Kathy Bower, geology/geography, and Joyce Bishop, mathematics, will seek the College of Sciences seat of the Council on Teacher Education.

Three College of Sciences faculty are on the ballot for the college’s seat on the Admissions Appeal Review Committee. Minh Dao, economics; Lisa New-Freeland, sociology/anthropology; and Henry Owen, biological sciences will battle for the position.

Another threesome of faculty from the College of Sciences will compete for a spot on the Enrollment Management Advisory Committee. Dell Champlin, economics; Steven Roper, political science; and Keith Wilson, psychology each seek the open spot.

The College of Education and Professional Studies also has three faculty going for its seat on the committee. Scott A.G.M. Crawford, physical education; Kathlene Shank, special education; and Dawn Van Gunten, secondary education and foundation are in the running.