March 2, 2026

Mar 02 2026

Meeting Agenda

 

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

AGENDA

March 2, 2026

 

 

  1. CALL TO ORDER AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: 3:00 pm. This meeting is open to the public and will be held on the Zoom meeting platform. It will be recorded only for the purposes of meeting minutes. Although Senate meetings are not required to be public under Utah law, the Senate has elected to conduct its business in a transparent way, and all attendees are welcome.
    1. Faculty Committee Interest Survey Closes March 6
    2. Re-announcement of President Randall’s response to the Senate Letter
  2. MINUTES: February 2, 2026
  3. REQUEST FOR NEW BUSINESS
  4. CONSENT CALENDAR
    1. Faculty Appointment Report
    2. Discontinuation: Sustainability Undergraduate Certificate
    3. Program Restructure: Mathematics Teaching BA/BS
    4. Faculty Award Nominations
    1. Distinguished Professors Recipients
    2. John R. Park Teaching Fellowship Award
    3. Early Career Teaching Award Recipients
    4. 2026-28 University Professorship
    5. Calvin S. And JeNeal N. Hatch Prize in Teaching Award
  1. 5. REPORTS (EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE; ADMINISTRATION; ASUU; UUSC)
  1. Report from Administration                                                                          (Taylor Randall 3:15)
  2. Report from Commissioner Landward                                (Geoff Landward 3:45)
  3. Executive Committee Report and Senate Leadership Elections                          (Richard Preiss 4:10)
  4. Report from ASUU  (Pamalatera Fenn 4:15)
  5. INTENT CALENDAR

There are no items on the Intent Calendar for this meeting

Break

  1. DEBATE CALENDAR
  2. New Center: Utah Center for Renewables, Efficiency, and Workforce U-CREW

(Kody Powell 4:25)

  1. Metallurgical Engineering Proposals                                                           (Michael Free 4:35)
  2. Program Restructure: Metallurgical Engineering BS
  3. New Program: Metallurgical Engineering Minor
  4. Philosophy Proposals                          (Anne Peterson 4:45)
  5. New Emphases: Philosophy BA/BS
  6. Program Discontinuation: Philosophy of Science BA/BS
  7. INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS CALENDAR
    1. Athletic Reports           (4:50)
  8. Athletics Compliance Report      (Jason Greco, Jason Burrow-Sanchez, Delaney Reilly)
  9. Athletic Academics Report    (Jason Burrow-Sanchez, Cathy Badger)
    1. Policy 6-100: Rule 6-100D and Interim Rule R6-100F Enrollment Minimums for Undergraduate Courses                        (Chase Hagood, Lindsay Coco, Erin Mason, Adam Halstrom 5:05)
    2. Information and Reports
  10. Senate Advisory Committee on Academic Policy Annual Report
  11. Senate Faculty Review Standards Committee Annual Report
  • Policy 3-233: Operation of Motorized Vehicles on Pedestrian Walks
  1. Rule R1-012A: Non-Discrimination Rule and R1-012B: Complaint Process Rule
  2. BOT Administration Report
  3. NEW BUSINESS
  4. OPEN DISCUSSION
    11. ADJOURNMENT

 

Meeting Minutes

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING
MINUTES
March 2, 2026

1. CALL TO ORDER AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on March 2, 2026, was called to order at 3:01 pm by Senate President Richard Preiss. The meeting was held using the Zoom online meeting platform. The meeting is recorded only for the purposes of meeting minutes accuracy. Although Senate meetings are not required to be public under Utah law, the Senate has elected to conduct its business in a transparent way and all attendees are welcome.

Present: Rohit Aggarwal, Taslim Al-Hilal, Ademuyiwa Aromolaran, Eli Asay, Henry Becker , Ana Sanchez Benet, Cynthia Berg , Jace Boyd, Christian Brockmann, Timothy Brusseau, Sarah Bush, Thomas Cheatham, Doug Christensen, Richard Clark, Katharine Coles, Mark Crowley, Elisabet Curbelo González, Marla De Jong, Therese De Raedt, Teresa DeAtley, Frank Drews, Katie Durante, Teppo Felin, Nina Feng, Pamalatera Fenn, Jon Fisk , Rick Forster, Leslie Francis, Alborz Ghandehari, Ramesh Goel, Laura Grantier, Jia-Wen Guo, Rachel Hayes-Harb, Teresa Hebron, Eric Herschthal, David Hill, Jill Jeffe, Shaiban Khan, David Kieda, Peggy Kong, Rebeccah Kurzhals , Hailey Lawrence, Mark Loewen, Lisbeth Louderback, Jay Mace, Douglas Mackay, Maureen Mathison, Christine McMillan, Lacey Murphy, Curtis Newbold, Thi Nguyen, Michael Nigra, Juniper Nilsson, Rodrigo Noriega, Mayette Pahulu, Chris Pantelides, Xiaoxia Peng, Sofia Perez, Wayne Potts, Edward Quigley, Firas Rassoul-Agha, Lynn Reinke, Lorie Richards, Thomas Richmond, Marcy Rogers , Yvette Romero Coronado, Suva Roy, Mike Scarpulla, Breann Schiffer, Sarah Shreeves, Elizabeth Siantz, Chris Simon, Paula Smith, Ginger Smoak, Oleg Starykh, Kathleen Strickland-Cohen, Karley Swallow, Jason Tanner, Matthew Thiese, Rhet Tucker, David Turok, Norman Waitzman, Roseanne Warren, Ingrid Weinbauer, Rachel Wittman, Kari Woodruff, Julie Wright-Costa, Dave Young
Excused with proxy: Elizabeth Archuleta, Donna Baluchi, Ravi Chandran, Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, Maggie French, Ken Golden, Brenda Heaton, Sarang Joshi, Crystal Lumpkins, Jack O’Leary, Ariel Richer, Alex Rose
Excused: Kennon Buss, Henry Fu, Andy Hong, Huong Meeks, Sherin Shaaban, Caroline Stephens
Absent: Bryan Bonner, Cameryn Coffey, Brigham Daniels, Brooke Davies, Jeffrey Druck, Brooke Fernandez, Matthew Flatt, Davidson Heath, Sejin Kim, Joshua LaReaux, Kateryna Malaia, Bryce Perkins, Naomi Schlesinger, Berkley Wiseman, Robert Wuebker
Ex Officio: Bob Carter, Ashley Glenn, Angie Fagerlin, Mitzi Montoya, Sarah Projansky
Senate Officers: Harriet Hopf, Brent Milne, Paul Mogren, Allyson Mower, Richard Preiss, Jane Laird
Senate Office Staff: Maddie Hile, Bailey Lavallee

Announcements
Senate President Richard Preiss reviewed the importance of upcoming faculty leadership and committee opportunities as part of shared governance at the University. The annual Faculty Committee Interest Survey is still open with a completion deadline of Friday, March 6. Faculty Senators are urged to step into Senate leadership roles by self-nominating for seats on the AY27 Senate Executive Committee as well as for the role of Senate President-elect, an office that does not require the holder to be a member of the Senate or even to have prior Senate experience.

Preiss related President Randall’s support for providing an extra opportunity for Senators to ask questions about his response to the September Senate letter, which is why that response had been reposted for continued faculty and student review at this meeting. Preiss also relayed summary clarifications of the issues that both the letter and Randall’s response treat. SB192 does not restrict general Senate speech, and only limits what the Senate can formally recommend (i.e., vote on). This is not a change, just as the Senate remains an advisory body. The Academic Senate continues to be able to discuss chosen topics within procedural guidelines and within the limits of legal liability.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Upon a motion from Mark Loewen, seconded by Ingrid Weinbauer, the February 2, 2026, Senate meeting minutes were approved.

3. REQUEST FOR NEW BUSINESS
There were no requests for New Business.

4. CONSENT CALENDAR
Senate President Preiss reviewed and summarized the Consent Calendar items for the meeting:
a. Faculty Appointment Report
b. Discontinuation: Sustainability Undergraduate Certificate
c. Program Restructure: Mathematics Teaching BA/BS
d. Faculty Teaching Award Nominations
i. Distinguished Professors Recipients
ii. John R. Park Teaching Fellowship Award
iii. Early Career Teaching Award Recipients
iv. 2026-28 University Professorship
v. Calvin S. And JeNeal N. Hatch Prize in Teaching Award
All Consent Calendar items were approved following a motion from Maureen Mathison and a second from Pamalatera Fenn.

5. REPORTS (ADMINISTRATION; SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE; ASUU; UUSC)

Report from Administration
President Taylor Randall highlighted the university’s legislative priorities this year and congratulated
athletes associated with the university on their success at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics. He expressed support for the USHE system redesign, to be discussed later in the meeting, and conveyed his appreciation for USHE Commissioner Geoff Landward’s leadership. Provost Mitzi Montoya noted that the university is planning an Academic Freedom Symposium, collaborating with the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Faculty Rights (SCAFFR), and will be inviting the other USHE institutions. She announced the launch of a Faculty Fellows program to promote the value of higher education and the durable skills it provides.

EVP for Health Sciences Bob Carter highlighted community and academic programs, such as a collaboration with the University of Idaho for a regionally based undergraduate medical education program, and the athletic training program’s plans for a new hybrid pathway starting in 2027 for students to earn their Master of Athletic Ttraining. The School of Dentistry provided $200,000 of free care to underserved populations through its Create a Smile program.

Report from USHE Commissioner Geoff Landward: System Redesign
The Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) is planning a system redesign that aims to increase student access and reduce program redundancy across all state higher education institutions. Two companion bills under consideration in the current legislative session will create a framework for implementing this reorganization. USHE Commissioner Geoff Landward explained that the goal is to shift from independent, sometimes competing, institutions to a coordinated strategic structure to address changing demographics, lower enrollments, and limited resources. The fundamental building blocks of the system will be horizontal integration and vertical integration. The vision is to provide expansive program offerings statewide, delivered efficiently, with student experience and value as the guiding principles.

The redesign planning process seeks to maintain and respect institutional missions by collaborating with each institution’s administration, trustees, and faculty. Student voices and existing partnerships remain important. Senators offered their appreciation for Commissioner Landward’s report and offered ideas and concerns to consider. Some of the concerns identified were increasing workload without compensation, adding bureaucracy, applying one-size-fits-all policies across institutions, cutting valuable but small programs with proposed focuses on enrollment metrics and redundancy, undervaluing the humanities and durable skills, and preserving existing successful collaborations. Commissioner Landward responded that he recognized the value of the concerns offered, and the system design effort should be built collaboratively with faculty and student input. He offered to come back whenever the Senate would like to talk with him again.

Report from the Senate Executive Committee
Senate President Preiss explained that the Senate Executive Committee (EC) met on February 9, 2026, to organize the Senate meeting agenda posted. Reporting on behalf of President-Elect Brent Milne (absent), Preiss used the occasion to explain the workings of the Executive Committee, the benefits of membership and the access to candid discussions with leadership it provides, and to appeal to sitting Senators to self-nominate for that committee.

Report from ASUU
ASUU EC member Pamalatera Fenn summarized recent ASUU leadership activities and ASUU legislative updates.

Report from UUSC
There was no UUSC report for this meeting

6. INTENT CALENDAR
There were no items on the Intent Calendar.

7. DEBATE CALENDAR

New Center: Utah Center for Renewables, Efficiency, and Workforce U-CREW
A proposal to establish the Utah Center for Renewables, Efficiency, and Workforce (U-CREW) was summarized by its Academic and Research Director Kody Powell. U-CREW builds upon the existing Intermountain Industrial Assessment Center (IIAC), which has operated since 2016, providing no-cost energy efficiency assessments to industrial, commercial, and municipal partners while training students in applied energy consulting. Due to Department of Energy (DOE) funding restrictions requiring exclusive branding of the IIAC, the proposed name would encompass both DOE-supported activities and grant-funded initiatives totaling more than $11 million. The center employs around 40 personnel, including faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students from multiple disciplines. Upon a motion from Kate Coles, and a second from Mark Loewen, the Senate recommended the Center for approval.

Metallurgical Engineering Proposals
i. Program Restructure: Metallurgical Engineering BS
ii. New Program: Metallurgical Engineering Minor
Associate Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering Michael Free discussed two program proposals. One will restructure the BS in metallurgical engineering, consolidating its existing six emphases down to four by eliminating the mineral particle processing emphasis and the nuclear emphasis. The coursework for those emphases will be folded into the chemical processing emphasis, which will be renamed chemical and mineral processing. The second proposal will create a new minor in metallurgical engineering, which will have crossover appeal to other majors and diversify the skillset of current majors in response to workforce needs in key high-tech sectors. This will provide more options for courses in consolidated areas. The two proposals were approved after a motion from Harriet Hopf and seconded by Lorie Richards.
Philosophy Proposals
i. New Emphases: Philosophy BA/BS
ii. Program Discontinuation: Philosophy of Science BA/BS
The Department of Philosophy is proposing a restructuring of the BA/BS degree to feature six new emphases, intended to convey more clearly to prospective employers the expertise of graduates and to reflect the department’s core strengths. Director of Undergraduate Studies Anne Peterson explained that although the current Philosophy of Science major is being discontinued, the Philosophy of Science emphasis will allow students to pursue the same interdisciplinary program of study as an emphasis within the Philosophy major. Maureen Mathison moved to approve the two proposals; the motion passed after a second from Shaiban Khan.

8. INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS CALENDAR

Athletic Reports
i. Athletics Compliance Report
ii. Athletic Academics Report
Cathy Badger, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Academic Services, and Jason Burrow-Sanchez, Faculty Athletics Representative, presented the annual Athletics Academics Report. They outlined the work of Student-Athlete Academic Services, including academic advising and campus partnerships. The department reported a fall semester average GPA of 3.418, its third highest on record, and a 95% Graduation Success Rate.

Jason Greco, Sr. Associate AD for Compliance, Jason Burrow-Sanchez, and Delaney Reilly, Assistant AD for Compliance, reported on 2024-25 violations, summarized the Compliance Office structure and educational outreach, and noted current athletics compliance challenges faced by the university. All 19 violations from the reporting year were Level 3, the lowest level. No major violations occurred. The UofU Athletics Department continues to track evolving NCAA rules, legislation, and court cases that impact student athlete contracts, employment status, and eligibility.

Policy 6-100: Rule 6-100D and Interim Rule R6-100F Enrollment Minimums for Undergraduate Courses
Senate President Richard Preiss introduced the team presenting the final segment of the Policy 6-100 revisions in advance of a full Senate vote at the next meeting: Vice Provost for Student Success Chase Hagood, Special Assistant to the Vice Provost Lindsey Coco, University Registrar Erin Mason, and Center for Teaching Excellence Feedback and Innovation Systems Manager Adam Halstrom. The discussion will cover two revised rules, R6-100D: Student Course Feedback for Credit-Bearing Courses and Interim Rule R6-100F: Enrollment Minimums for Undergraduate Courses. Shared governance and faculty/student input has contributed to and will continue to shape the final version of the policy that governs academic instruction and evaluation.

The updates to R6-100D clarify the governance of student course feedback in faculty review processes, distinguish evaluation uses from other institutional purposes, and streamline procedural language. Interim Rule R6-100F converts prior course cancellation guidelines into a formal rule, further clarifies that decisions to cancel or exempt low-enrollment courses rest with department chairs in consultation with deans (or their designees), removes prescribed exceptions in favor of local departmental discretion, and establishes a three-year monitoring and review cycle. As a Rule, these provisions will carry the force of policy and require Senate approval for future changes.

Senators asked for advance advisement about low-enrollment classes to the deans and department chairs, stronger collaboration language for when and how chairs and deans make course cancellation decisions, and improved teaching evaluation data. The Policy and associated rules remain under refinement, with final versions presented for a vote at the April 6 Senate meeting.

Information and Reports
Senate President Preiss summarized the reports and information items included in the meeting materials:
i. Senate Advisory Committee on Academic Policy Annual Report
ii. Senate Faculty Review Standards Committee Annual Report
iii. Policy 3-233: Operation of Motorized Vehicles on Pedestrian Walks
iv. Rule R1-012A: Non-Discrimination Rule and R1-012B: Complaint Process Rule
v. BOT Administration Report

9. NEW BUSINESS
There were no requests for New Business for this meeting.

10. OPEN DISCUSSION
There were no Open Discussions for this meeting.

11. ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 5:49 pm.