Summary of the Faculty Senate Meeting

September 9, 2026

Summary of the Faculty Senate Meeting

1. Chair's Report – Jason Snyder

• Notes from the retreat are being compiled and will be distributed to the Senate and to committees. A welcome packet was disseminated to senators unable to attend.
• Faculty representatives were named to the Office of General Counsel search, chaired by Provost Wilkins, and to the Vice President for Enrollment search. Senators were encouraged to bring ideas or issues to them.
• The presidential search has not yet commenced. Instructions on unit-level elections and nominations for the search committee and Faculty Advisory Group will follow.
• On the recommendation of the Dean of the Baker School of Education, the Executive Committee recommended to the Provost that Jeffrey Romero Middents be reappointed as Faculty Director of AU Honors.
• The agenda proposal template now requires each item to be labeled Action, Consent Agenda, or Information/Discussion, and to document who was consulted and whether the item went through the relevant Senate committee.
• CATFAC will field a survey of term and continuing appointment faculty in early October.
• The Chair identified four priorities for the year: curriculum review, budget cuts, the presidential search, and portfolio review. Comprehensive committee reform will form the second part of Senate reform, and that working group will reconvene.
• Action Item: The minutes from the May 6, 2026, meeting were voted on and approved.

2. Provost's Report – Vicky Wilkins

• Enrollment
  • 1,711 new students are registered against a goal of 1,800, with waitlist activity continuing through add/drop. The Provost noted the budget implications of the shortfall.
  • Graduate enrollment has largely closed its gap, notable given conditions in the international student market.
  • Changes to duration of status, OPT, and CPT restrict international students’ internship options, with effects across many areas.
• Portfolio Review
  • OIRA has distributed data packets and templates to programs and points of contact.
  • Treatment across units is based on structure; some schools with departments also receive department chair memos.
  • The Provost stated that no decisions have been made and that outcomes are not pre-judged.
  • The Provost stated that the process is ahead of schedule.
  • A follow-up town hall will be held the following week to address technical questions, especially about the data.
• Searches will be undertaken for Dean of the School of International Service and Vice Provost for Research and Innovation. Dean Trogden will be reviewed in February.
• Student organization discipline
  • The Provost addressed allegations that Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was treated differently from College Republicans, noting that SJP had prior discipline. A social media post was found to have created a hostile environment, an associated event was canceled over security concerns, and the organization was suspended following investigation and review.
  • A College Republicans post was also investigated and assessed by an outside party. The organization had no prior discipline and was not suspended but is on notice. Faculty raised that there was concern about fear among Muslim students at Friday prayer after the posting.

3. Dean of Faculty's Report – Monica Jackson

• Twenty-two new full-time faculty were welcomed, and a new faculty orientation was held.
• The Center for Faculty Excellence reported strong in-person attendance at programming, returning to pre-COVID levels.
• Term faculty reappointments will be conducted in the spring this year to align with portfolio review. Term faculty who had already assembled files expressed frustration; the Provost will reach out to those affected.
• Faculty Manual updates no longer go to the Board of Trustees. The Provost is the final point of decision.
• Thirteen tenure and tenure-track searches are underway, along with several term searches.
• Updates to the Academic Integrity Code and to the document retention policy are underway.

4. Action Item: Committee on Learning Assessment Bylaw Language Changes – Tracy Spesia

• A slide deck was presented on the committee’s work and process, the product of a two-year effort to clarify COLA’s purpose and reorganize its workflow. Programs with external accreditation document continuous improvement through that process and are not required to duplicate it for COLA. The $25,000 Nuventive basic plan supports reporting and the data required for accreditation.
• As adopted, the committee is composed of nine full-time faculty: one each from KSB, SIS, SOC, SPA, and BSE, and one from each of four CAS clusters. The revisions increase CAS cluster representation from three to four, remove the separate OGIS and AU Core Committee seats, and change the Institutional Research and Assessment ex officio non-voting seat from the Director of the office to a representative of it. The committee’s stated responsibilities were streamlined to four.
• A friendly amendment to correct titles was accepted.
• The bylaw changes were voted on and approved

5. Information/Discussion: Catalog Date Change Deadline – Wendy Boland & Bridget Trogden

• The curriculum approval process will close in February, moved up to accommodate the Workday transition. Units were asked to submit changes in the fall and early spring; exceptions are possible.

6. Information/Discussion: Briefing on Process/Timeline of Core Curricular Revisions – Martyn Oliver, Elizabeth Worden, Bridget Trogden & Lynn Arneson

• The AU Core has three parts: Foundations (W1, Q1, Complex Problems, and Encounters I and II), Habits of Mind, and Integratives (W2, Q2, Diversity, and the capstone). Changes to AP/IB credit, study abroad courses, and Q1 took effect in Fall 2026.
• The current focus is the first-year experience and whether to continue with Encounters. A working group developed six options, ranging from no shared requirement to a two-course, six-credit sequence.
• Community conversations begin September 15, with a second round the week of September 29 and a staff session at the Undergraduate Staff Council in late September. Materials will be posted on a Canvas page.
• First-year changes could take effect as early as Fall 2027, with Habits of Mind changes by Fall 2028. A "Steering Plus" group of approximately 25 people will develop proposals for Habits of Mind.
• Proposals will move from the community conversations to the Steering Plus committee, then to the UCC, then to the Senate.
• Questions raised for ongoing consideration: how often the Core should be reviewed, and whether it should continue to be called the Core.

7. Information/Discussion: Workday Student Project – Erika Ogedegbe & Steve Munson

• Workday Student is not a separate system; it expands the Workday environment already used for finance and human resources to student functions, implemented in phases.
• For faculty, Workday will hold course information, enrollment, and rosters, and will be where grades are submitted, replacing Eagle Service and Colleague.
• The Fall 2027 catalog and sections will be built this fall, students will begin registering on the new platform in March 2027, and grading moves in Fall 2027. Training will be phased and delivered closer to when each feature is needed.
• A Mock Semester in October will allow faculty, students, advisors, and staff to try key transactions before go-live.
• Historical records will be migrated from Colleague. MyAU is on a sunset path, and functions not covered by Workday Student will have their landing place determined as planning continues.
• Senators asked whether the transition applies to faculty who only teach — it does, for grades and rosters — and about consolidating systems such as Elements, to which the response was that no ERP covers everything. The Committee on Information Services offered to collaborate on the rollout.

8. For the Good of the Order – Jason Snyder

• The Chair called for final items. None were recorded.