Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE
September 29, 2025
Minutes
- CALL TO ORDER AND Announcements
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on September 29, 2025, was called to order at 3:00 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. 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, Elizabeth Archuleta, Ademuyiwa Aromolaran, Donna Baluchi, Cynthia Berg , Christian Brockmann, Timothy Brusseau, Sarah Bush, Thomas Cheatham, Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, Doug Christensen, Richard Clark, Katharine Coles, Mark Crowley, Marla De Jong, Therese De Raedt, Teresa DeAtley, Frank Drews, Jeffrey Druck, Katie Durante, Lee Ellington, Nina Feng, Pamalatera Fenn, Jon Fisk , Matthew Flatt, Leslie Francis, Maggie French, Henry Fu, Ken Golden, Laura Grantier, Rachel Hayes-Harb, Davidson Heath, Brenda Heaton, Teresa Hebron, Eric Herschthal, David Hill, Andy Hong, Jill Jeffe, Sarang Joshi, David Kieda, Sejin Kim, Peggy Kong, Rebeccah Kurzhals Kurzhals, Joshua LaReaux, Hailey Lawrence, Mark Loewen, Lisbeth Louderback, Crystal Lumpkins, Jay Mace, Douglas Mackay, Thi Nguyen, Michael Nigra, Juniper Nilsson, Rodrigo Noriega, Mayette Pahulu, Chris Pantelides, Bryce Perkins, Edward Quigley, Firas Rassoul-Agha, Lorie Richards, Thomas Richmond, Yvette Romero Coronado, Alex Rose, Suva Roy, Mike Scarpulla, Breann Schiffer, Sherin Shaaban, Sarah Shreeves, Elizabeth Siantz, Chris Simon, Ginger Smoak, Oleg Starykh, Caroline Stephens, Kathleen Strickland-Cohen, Jason Tanner, Matthew Thiese, Rhet Tucker, Norman Waitzman, Roseanne Warren, Ingrid Weinbauer, Rachel Wittman, Kari Woodruff, Julie Wright-Costa, Dave Young, Ana Sanchez Benet
Excused with substitute: Lynn Reinke, Rick Forster, Alborz Ghandehari, Jack O’Leary, Marcy Rogers , Ariel Richer
Excused: Henry Becker, Kennon Buss
Absent: Taslim Al-Hilal, Eli Asay, Bryan Bonner, Jace Boyd, Ravi Chandran, Cameryn Coffey, Elisabet Curbelo González, Brigham Daniels, Brooke Davies, Brooke Fernandez, Ramesh Goel, Maddy Hadwick, Kateryna Malaia, Maureen Mathison, Christine McMillan, Huong Meeks, Lacey Murphy, Curtis Newbold, Sofia Perez, Wayne Potts, Naomi Schlesinger, Paula Smith, Karley Swallow, David Turok, Berkley Wiseman
Ex Officio: Bob Carter, Ashley Glenn, Allie Menzdorf, Angie Fagerlin, Mitzi Montoya, Sarah Projansky, Taylor Randall
Senate Officers: Harriet Hopf, Richard Preiss, Brent Milne, Allyson Mower, Paul Mogren, Jane Laird
Senate Office: Maddie Hile
Senate President Richard Preiss reminded Executive Committee (EC) members of the upcoming Senate reception, hosted by President Taylor Randall, on September 30 and deadlines for the Honorary Degree nominations. He also gave an update on the progress to create a silent notification mechanism to use in instances of seeing an open-carry gun in a classroom.
Senate Aug 27 Electronic Vote New Minor in Business AI
Time constraints meant that the Senate could not finalize a vote on a proposed minor in Business AI at its August 25 meeting. That vote was completed electronically at the end of that week. Senators approved the following motion: The Senate approves the new Minor in Business AI (Artificial Intelligence), with an advisory to incorporate into the curriculum in substantive ways some consideration of the ethical, environmental, and social justice implications of AI technology. The final tally was 73 votes in favor, five opposed, and two abstaining.
- APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The vote to approve the minutes of the Senate August 25, 2025, meeting was postponed so that the minutes could incorporate some additional information requested by some Senators. This was approved upon a motion from Harriet Hopf and a second from Norm Waitzman.
- REQUEST FOR NEW BUSINESS
Senate President Preiss explained that a new Senate Ad Hoc committee is being formed to study faculty service contributions. More details will be discussed during that part of the agenda.
- CONSENT CALENDAR
Senate President Preiss reviewed the Consent Calendar items for the meeting, which was the Faculty Appointments Report. The Consent Calendar was approved after a motion from Lori Richards and a second from Kate Coles.
- REPORTS (ADMINISTRATION; ASUU; UUSC)
Report from Administration
University President Taylor Randall noted several recent highlights such as a $50 million investment, from the state and other sources, in artificial intelligence and the newly named Spence Eccles Drive in honor of his multiple contributions to the university’s success. He noted that upcoming reports to the Senate would include reviews of the CSO office’s latest safety initiatives and reports. This would also include addressing safety at Research Park. Senator Norman Waitzman asked President Randall about the significance of the recent drop in the University’s national ranking of among public universities in the most recent issue of US News and World Report. He also asked if President Randall would support a University-sponsored symposium on the role of rankings in higher education. President Randall replied that while he had taken note of the drop the University would continue to focus on improving metrics that were of highest relevance to its own success, such as student retention rates, expressing the hope that a climb in rankings would eventually follow.
EVP Bob Carter discussed recent achievements in health sciences, including rankings and quality ratings, and announced leadership appointments. Provost Mitzi Montoya reported that the ASUU townhall on the Balanced Scheduling Initiative was a success, with many students having been given the opportunity to express their views and having been reassured that there had been no reduction in the number of sections of required courses; she thanked those involved in organizing it. She also explained that the Student Experience Project was well underway and thanked those who had offered input in the townhalls and other feedback mechanisms. Vice Provost for Student Success Chase Hagood and Associate Provost Vahe Bandarian addressed how student success and course access are being tracked, with course schedules now using minimum enrollment and balanced scheduling guidelines. How to continue to support the growth of the Herriman campus was also discussed, in response to a question about whether the enrollment minimums had also been applied there.
Senators also expressed interest in ensuring that all decisions about creating a School of Economics continue to rely on strong faculty feedback and the shared governance approval process.
Report from the Senate Executive Committee
Senate President-elect Brent Milne reviewed the items placed on the meeting’s agenda by the Senate Executive Committee during its September 15th meeting. Provost Mitzi Montoya and members of the university leadership team provided updates on several initiatives, which the Senate will continue to hear about. He reminded Senators that a Senate-sponsored online workshop for political advocacy, taught by Allyson Mower, will be offered on December 5th, January 28th and March 16th.
Report from ASUU
ASUU President Alex Rose recapped the recent townhall on the Balanced Schedule Initiative. The event had great student turnout. He highlighted other ASUU events and updates such an ASUU legislation tracker and the Ski Rail Jam event in November.
Report from UUSC
University of Utah Staff Council President Allie Menzdorf reported on the Council’s involvement in a very successful Employee Appreciation Day and plans to update its legislative subcommittee’s focus.
- INTENT CALENDAR
There were no items on the Intent Calendar.
- DEBATE CALENDAR
Unit Change: Humanities and SCST
A proposed merger between the College of Humanities and the School for Cultural and Social Transformation would create a new Department of Ethnic, Gender, and Disability Studies within the College of Humanities. Wanda S. Pillow, Dean of the School for Cultural & Social Transformation and the College of Humanities, and Ella Meyers, Chair of Division of Ethnic Studies & Division of Gender Studies, advised that this restructuring would improve organizational efficiency while maintaining faculty lines, degree programs, and facility usage. The proposal received overwhelming support from faculty, tenure line as well as career line. Dean Pillow thanked the Senate for allowing this unit change to be approved concurrently with other approval bodies. After a second from Kate Coles, Mark Loewen’s motion to approve the unit change passed with 1 abstention.
New Center: Virtual Skills & Workforce Trainer Service Center
Chad McDonald, Director of the Social Research Institute, presented a proposal for a new center. The Virtual Skills & Workforce Trainer Service Center is an immersive evidence-based learning platform designed to build critical skills in social work, healthcare, behavioral health, and related fields. The platform blends virtual simulations with research backed methods such as deliberate practice and cognitive load theory to drive deep lasting skill acquisition. Demand for the training platform is growing nationally, but the UofU team cannot scale beyond its current capacity without additional resources. A formal service center will provide a structure to continue to expand to meet increased demand. Maureen Mathison’s motion, seconded by Kate Coles, to approve the new center passed.
New Program: Professional Masters of Materials Engineering and Management
A proposed program for an interdisciplinary professional master’s degree in materials and metallurgical engineering would offer fundamental and applied materials courses with business skills. Program completion will enable professionals to obtain the broad set of skills needed to transition into management positions, explained Michael Free, Associate Department Chair for Material Science and Engineering. There is a demand from students and industry for this program. The curriculum consists of roughly 50-59% materials science courses, 16% data analytics courses, and 25-34% MBA courses. After Harriet Hopf’s motion approve the proposal was seconded by Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, the motion passed.
New Program: Artificial Intelligence Minor
To meet demand as well as current industry needs, a new 25-credit minor in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been developed by the Kahlert School of Computing. Jeff Phillips, Director of the Utah Center for Data Science, explained that the minor leverages existing faculty expertise in AI, and recent revisions of a longstanding AI curriculum, which includes making AI Ethics a key learning objective within the core courses. The program starts with required fundamentals in programming and mathematics, and it culminates in introductory courses in Machine Learning and in Artificial Intelligence. The discussion highlighted challenges in fitting comprehensive AI education into a minor program, with suggestions for broader university-wide integration of ethical education in the field. After a second Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, Maggie French’s motion to approve the proposal passed with 1 opposing and 5 abstentions.
New Programs: Mechanical Engineering Dual Degrees
Bruce Gale, Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, explained that the department has added several MS degree programs in the past few years and is proposing to combine them with its standard BS program to create multiple 5-year BS/MS tracks for students The new degrees would combine an MS degree in Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Systems Engineering or Engineering Management with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering. No new resources would be required. After a motion from Kate Coles, seconded by Sarang Joshi, the four proposals were approved:
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- MEENBS/ROBOTMS-approved
- MEENBS/SYSENGMS-approved
- MEENBS/EMMEM-approved
- MEENBS/AEMS-approved with 1 abstention
Senate Letter
Richard Preiss explained that the draft of a letter written on behalf of the Senate included in the meeting materials was the result of consultation with the 2024-25 Senate and Senate Executive Committee and the 2025-26 Senate and Senate Executive Committee. This version represents the culmination of the Senate’s considered response to a diffuse set of concerns about university governance and leadership raised by a memo circulated by some emeriti faculty last spring. Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell moved to adopt the letter on behalf of the Senate. After a second from Sarang Joshi, the motion passed with 1 objection and 2 abstentions.
- INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS CALENDAR
2025 Clery Report
Todd Justesen, Associate Director of Clery Programs & Compliance, explained that the UofU Safety Office will publish its annual mandatory Clery report on September 26. Clery reports are limited to certain types of designated crimes, and there will be some higher-than-usual statistics in the 2025 report that need additional explanations. The Clery protocols require that reports of covered crimes be included in the year reported as opposed to the year the incident happened. In 2024, an individual reported approximately 110 instances of rape in on-campus housing; these instances have been included in the current report, as the year in which they were reported. Those 110 incidents will show up under rapes and dating violence in the published report.
Better U Survey Announcement
Amy Locke, Chief Wellness Officer, and Dani Nives, Programs Manager for the Wellbeing and Resilience Initiative, asked to promote the campus-wide Better U survey launch next month at the next Senate meeting and encourage participation. This survey has been conducted on the health science campus for two years and will expand to all of campus this year. The survey will gather information from faculty and staff to assist leaders to improve workplace satisfaction at the UofU.
Information and Reports
Senate President Preiss pointed to the reports and information items included in the meeting materials:
- BOT Administration Report 9-9-25
- College of Health Charter Updates
- Seven-year Graduate School Program Reviews
Department of Mining Engineering
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
- NEW BUSINESS
Senate President Preiss announced that formation of a new Senate ad hoc committee, requested by senior university leadership, to examine faculty service measurement and systems at the university. Those interested in participating can contact Preiss or Vice provost Projansky.
- OPEN DISCUSSION
There was no Open Discussion at this meeting.
- ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 5:41 pm.