Faculty will elect a representative Wednesday to serve on the Board of Regents, and incumbent Patricia Minter is running unopposed.

Minter, an associate history professor, said it’s as important as ever that faculty vote in the election.

“If the faculty support what I’ve been doing, this is a good way for them to affirm that,” Minter said.

She said she hopes to continue being a strong voice for faculty. As regent, she will focus on getting more state funding for higher education as well as fighting for continued academic and intellectual quality.

“I care very deeply about making our university a better university,” Minter said. “It’s my duty to argue to protect these things because they’re the lifeblood of the university.”

Minter has been the faculty regent since fall 2007, when the University Senate had a special election after Robert Dietle, former faculty regent and history department head, resigned, Senate Chair Julie Shadoan said.

Minter served the remaining year of Dietle’s three-year term, which is now ending, said Denise Gravitt, vice chair of the senate, who’s in charge of the election.

There’s no limit to how many terms a faculty member can serve, Gravitt said.

To be eligible to vote, a faculty member must have achieved associate or full professor status and be in a full-time teaching or research position, Gravitt said.

Eligible faculty can vote Wednesday in their college dean’s office by paper ballot, Gravitt said.

She said faculty members who will be off campus that day can receive an absentee ballot by contacting her.

Reach Laurel Wilson at news@chherald.com.