Terry retired in 2012 but was president of the Bloomington Faculty Council for the 2013-14 academic year.
Terry said he received an unexpected congratulatory email from Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Professor Tom Gieryn.
He said he did not apply for the award, but someone else nominated him ?anonymously.
“Herb Terry has been the face, the voice and the heart of faculty governance at IU Bloomington for decades,” said Tom Gieryn, vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, according to a press release. “I know well, from close personal experience, how deftly he negotiates the best interests of the university. He is a model for getting things done, and I cannot imagine a more deserving recipient of this award.”
He was gratified to receive the award, because he has always tried to provide service through the faculty side of shared governance and by starting the Global Village Living-Learning Center, he said.
“Truly, this has to be shared in many ways with the hundreds of faculty, staff and students I’ve worked with over nearly 40 years at IU,” Terry said. “Nobody here accomplishes much at all alone.”
Terry joined the IU faculty in the 1970s.
When he first joined, he said he primarily taught classes in electronic media law and public policy.
He said as the department added other law and policy faculty, he taught the telecommunication’s media ethics class, which was his favorite class to teach.
“Students, I think, came to view law and public policy as not all that relevant to their lives, because, as a society, we’ve grown more skeptical of law and government,” Terry said. “They seemed to enjoy learning different ways to solve ethical problems through systematic moral reasoning.”
Terry said he served many times on the Bloomington Faculty Council during his nearly 40 years on the IU faculty.
He said the biggest difficulties in the past year were contributing to both the Bloomington Campus Strategic Plan and the establishment of the new Media School, while also revising faculty tenure and promotion policies.
Jim Sherman, Bloomington Faculty Council president and Psychological and Brain Sciences Chancellor’s professor, said he was president-elect while Terry was president of the council.
The two often worked together in the past year.
“No one worked harder for the good of the University than Herb,” Sherman said. “He is tireless in learning about issues and possibilities and making sure that all constituents of IU, whether they be faculty, staff or administration, are well-served.”
Sherman said Terry’s greatest service on the faculty council has been his work to ensure shared governance between administration and the faculty at IU.
He said Terry has been able to reach successful outcomes without alienating any groups or individuals and has been responsive to all who have sought his advice or have come to him with ideas and ?proposals.
“Herb Terry has been the face, the voice and the heart of faculty governance at IU Bloomington for decades,” said Tom Gieryn, vice provost for faculty and academic affairs. “I know well, from close personal experience, how deftly he negotiates the best interests of the University. He is a model for getting things done, and I cannot imagine a more deserving recipient of this award.”
