September 30, 2024

Sep 30 2024
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Meeting Minutes

ACADEMIC SENATE AGENDA 

Minutes 

September 30, 2024 

 

  1. CALL TO ORDER AND Announcements
    The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on September 30, 2024, was called to order at 3:00 pm by Senate President Harriet Hopf. 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: Jensie Anderson, Andrew Anderson, Elizabeth Archuleta, Ademuyiwa Aromolaran, Maile Arvin, Donna Baluchi , Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Henry Becker, James Bekker, Melanie Biviano, Erik Bond, Christian Brockmann, Timothy Brusseau, Sarah Bush, Marc Calaf, Jon Chaika, Thomas Cheatham, Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, Doug Christensen, Richard Clark, Kevin Coe, Benjamin Cohen, Katharine Coles, Mark Crowley, Brigham Daniels , Marla De Jong, Kathy Doom, Jack Doughty, Jeffrey Druck, Nanette Dudley, Katie Durante, Lee Ellington, Rick Forster, Julia Franklin, Henry Fu, Alborz Ghandehari, Laura Grantier, Rachel Hayes-Harb, Davidson Heath, Teresa Hebron, Kerry Herman, Tucker Hermans, William Holland, Heather Holmes, Martin Horvath, Jill Jeffe, Mercedes Johnson, Bryan Jones, Sarang Joshi, Myrna Kearse, Seijin Kim, Scott King, Shelley Lawrence, Feng Liu, Mark Loewen, Alysse Loomis, Lisbeth Louderback, Janis Louie, Kateryna Malaia, Stacy Manwaring, Christine McMillan, Huong Meeks, Kate Menlove, Brent Milne, Will Nesse, Thi Nguyen, Olive Nyiramwiza, Katherine Pagano, Yihui Pan, Emma Parkin, Sofia Perez, Kevin Perry, Christo Pinknys, Firas Rassoul-Agha, Lynn Reinke, Hollis Robbins, Anna Roelofs, Yvette Romero Coronado, Alex Rose, Carol Sansone, Naomi Schlesinger, Nathan Seegert, Sherin Shaaban, Elizabeth Siantz, Chris Simon, Jamesina  Simpson, Paula Smith, Ginger Smoak, Wayne Springer, Oleg Starykh, Talea Steele, Caroline Stephens, Kathleen Strickland-Cohen, Casey Tak, Matt Tokson, Elvis Valenzuela, Jack VanDerHeyden, Jim VanDerslice, Norman Waitzman, Roseanne Warren, Rachel Wittman, Julie Wright-Costa, Dave Young 

 

Excused with substitute: Joe Boyden, Frank Drews, Lorie Richards, Margaret Wan 

 

Excused: Heather Holmes, Kai Kuck 

 

Absent: Rohit Aggarwal, Bryan Bonner, Zhigang (Zak) Fang, Brenda Heaton, Maureen Mathison, Curtis Newbold, Matthew Nielsen, Thomas Richmond, Suva Roy, Patrick Tripeny, David Turok, Zhou Yu 

 

Ex Officio: Shanti Deemyad, Ashley Glenn, Harriet Hopf, Jane Laird, Paul Mogren, Mitzi Montoya, Richard Preiss, Sarah Projansky, Marie Wintriss, Jane Laird 

 

Senate Office Staff: Allyson Rocks 

 

Senate President Harriet Hopf thanked President Randall for hosting the first Senate Social of the year at Eccles House on September 23. Senate members enjoyed a lively and constructive discussion on how faculty, staff, and students can work together to make progress toward the university’s strategic goals. She also explained that everyone is welcome to visit the new Senate President’s office at 409 Park Building, a great place to work on Senate business. The Senate now has an anonymous suggestion link on the first page of the Senate website: https://academic-senate.utah.edu/academic-senate-suggestion-box/. The University community can take advantage of this feature to share ideas, concerns, and other issues directly with the Senate President. 

 

  1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The August 26, 2024, Academic Senate meeting minutes were approved upon a motion from Shanti Deemyad, seconded by Shelley Lawrence. There was one opposition.  

 

  1. REQUEST FOR NEW BUSINESS

There was no New Business for this meeting. Senate President Hopf also reminded Senators that Policy 6-002 asks that new Senate business requests to be submitted to the Senate President by the Friday prior to a regular Senate meeting 

 

  1. REPORTS (EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE)

Senate President-elect Richard Preiss reviewed the items that the Senate Executive Committee (EC) had placed on this meeting’s agenda at its September 16, 2024, meeting.  

             

  1. 5. CONSENT CALENDAR

Senate President Harriet Hopf reviewed the items on the meeting’s Consent Calendar: 

  1. Faculty Appointments Report 
  1. Tribal, Rural, Underserved Medical Education Certificate 

The Consent Calendar items were approved after a motion from Shanti Deemyad and a second from Mercedes Johnson.   

 

  1. 6. REPORTS (ADMINISTRATION; ASUU; UUSC)    

Report from Administration
University of Utah SVPAA Mitzi Montoya shared several important updates including the10th Anniversary Celebration of the University of Utah Asia campus in South Korea. Enrollment for the U of U is projected to reach new highs for the fifth consecutive year. The University also secured $691 million in research funding for Fall 2024. Highlights included the Wilkes Climate Prize awarded to BioChar Farm Robots, the recognition of Utah Health as a top employer in health systems by Forbes Magazine, and the celebration of five new Presidential Scholars for their exceptional dedication and service to the university.  

Keith Diaz-Moore provided an update on the Academic Excellence Taskforce including the organizational structure project, which is currently in its diagnostic stage, and the Well-Being and Resilience Initiative. Chase Hagood, Vice Provost for Student Success, leads the University Student Success Initiative and discussed the steps that the U is taking to activate those projects. Lori McDonald, Vice President for Student Affairs, provided an update on the University of Utah submission to USHE regarding the Center for Community and Cultural Engagement which is currently awaiting approval. Additionally, the Bennion Center has hired a Campus Dialogue Program Manager, Josh Shulruff, to oversee a rollout of the Perspectives program and chair the Demonstration & Activity Resource Team to help students navigate university policies and procedures supporting activism and free speech.    

 

Report from ASUU 

ASUU Senate Chair Mercedes Johnson summarized current ASUU activities including the successful first ASUU Senate and Assembly meetings; significant legislation was passed. ASUU is currently organizing upcoming events such as Red Fest and soliciting student input to enhance campus life. She also identified a significant budget challenge for ASUU to manage due to receiving student organizations’ requests for about triple the amount of available funds.  

 

Report from UUSC 

University of Utah Staff Council President Marie Wintriss reported on the successful Employee Appreciation Day held on September 19th, 2024. Currently, the Staff Council is focused on promoting professional development, with initiatives that include a fundraising campaign for professional development awards and support for the faculty and staff emergency fund during the upcoming giving day.  

 

  1. 7. INTENT CALENDAR 

There were no items for the Intent Calendar 

 

  1. 8. DEBATE CALENDAR

New Policy 7-200: Research Administration Policy 

Brent Brown, Assistant VP for Research & Director for Sponsored Projects, discussed a proposed new Policy 7-200: Research Administration Policy. Sponsored projects funded by federal agencies require high regulatory oversight standards. This new policy is a general research policy that can be used to organize current standards and to quickly make updates aligning with any regulation changes. It establishes rules and guidelines, addresses federal guidelines, and ensures compliance with legal obligations. The Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) can better service the university and sponsors by formalizing additional compliance standards that have not otherwise been incorporated into the regulation’s library.  After a second from Julia Franklin, Kate Coles’ motion to approve the Policy passed with 1 abstention.  Senator Coles asked that the policy text be further proofed for grammatical errors and corrected prior to finalizing as a part of the approved motion.   

Prison Education Program 

The U of U Prison Education Program is applying for NWCCU, the necessary accrediting agency, and Department of Education approval to operate as a recognized onsite prison education program. Erin L. Castro, Associate Dean for Prison Education, and Paméla Cappas-Toro, Operations Director for the Prison Higher Education Planning Grant, explained that this approval will allow incarcerated students to get Pell Grant assistance to pursue a Bachelor of University Studies. NWCCU wants to see all the internal approval processes for its review, and the presenters asked to have the Senate ensure it is part of the approval chain. The program has been enrolling students for credit, but they have not had the ability to get Pell Grant assistance. A motion from Julia Franklin to approve the program passed after a second from Bryan Jones. There was 1 abstention.  

 

  1. 9. INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS CALENDAR

UACI 3-Year Report 

Dean of the Graduate School Darryl Butt presented the University Academic Centers and Institutes (UACI) Coordinating Committee 3-Year Report, covering 2021-2024. Dean Butt identified progress made since the committee’s inception and some concerns that need addressing. There are 88 approved Centers on campus at the time of the report. He also reported that Rule 6-001UACI is long and complex, and the Graduate School recommends streamlining it and providing more guidance in several areas. For instance, UACIs’ processing, monitoring and reporting requirements challenge the proposers’ and the Graduate School resources, and not all of that might be completely necessary. There is a one-size-fits-all set of requirements that can cause barriers to implementation. In addition, the benefits of being named a UACI and consequences of not gaining that status are unclear. Dean Butt’s office has developed a rough draft which could be a basis to begin updating the Rule so that it includes what has been learned over the last three years. Because the UACI Committee has members named by the Senate and the University President, it was determined that this is the body that can most effectively work with the university policy team to formulate a future formal policy revision. It will begin revising Rule 6-001UACI and be processed as required, which includes needing approval from Institutional Policy Committee and the Academic Senate. 

Annual Safety Report for Clery Act Compliance 

Kimberly Barnett, Deputy Chief Safety Officer, explained that the U of U Safety Office is preparing its annual report as required by the Federal Clery Act. Clery reports are limited to certain types of designated crimes, and there will be some higher-than-usual statistics in the 2023 report that need additional explanations to stakeholders. Todd Justesen, Associate Director of Clery Compliance, summarized the types of reported crimes that are required and reviewed their definitions. Examples include dating and domestic violence, stalking, and fondling. The Clery protocols require that reports of crimes covered by Clery be included in the year reported as opposed to the year the incident happened. In 2023, an individual reported approximately 150 instances of non-consensual intercourse in on-campus housing during the years 2021 and 2022; these instances have been included in the 2023 Clery Report, as the year in which they were reported. Those 150 incidents will show up under rapes and dating violence in the published report. In response to a question, Todd gave details about how he will present the data, based in a trauma-informed approach, including providing a notification at the start of the presentation to prepare participants, encouraging individuals to turn off their cameras/audio during the presentation as needed, providing background on how numbers are reported, and providing (with permission) the information that the individual received appropriate support and is currently doing well. 

Some other increases in reporting statistics are more positive, because some of that increase reflects increased knowledge and willingness to report on the part of victims. However, the Safety Office is making sure that stakeholders get these explanations when viewing this report when it is released so that they understand. The presenters added that connecting victims to resources is one of the main goals of Clery reporting, and so has a lower threshold for reporting than the criminal code, and they discussed the array of support services available at the university. 

Information and Reports 

Senate President Hopf noted the informational reports in the meeting materials for Senate review:  

  1. i. Sep 2024 Senate Report to BoT
  2. Sep 2024 Administration Report to BoT

iii. New Academic Senate representative to the UACI Committee: David Turok 

  1. Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Faculty Rights Chair: Shawn Steidinger
  2. Graduate 7-year Reviews           
  3. Electrical and Computer Engineering 
  4. Master of Statistics Program

 

  1. 10. NEW BUSINESS

There was no New Business at this meeting. 

 

  1. 11. OPEN DISCUSSION

Members discussed issues of abusive conduct and bullying and how these should be addressed a when a Senator posed a question about this. Participants elaborated on the university’s anti-bullying policy, which, while required by law, is often complicated and typically handled at the department level before escalating to a dean’s office. The conversation underscored the complexities of addressing bullying, and it was noted that many may not be aware of the policies in place.  

 A separate discussion arose regarding the recent decline in the University of Utah’s ranking determined by U.S. News & World Report. It was noted that the University dropped significantly, affecting both its overall ranking and its standing among public institutions. Concerns were raised about the impact of these rankings on faculty morale and student perceptions, with some emphasizing the importance of telling the university’s positive story to counteract negative optics. Participants agreed that the university should prioritize its strengths and successes in faculty and student outcomes. 

 

  1. 12. ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 5:54 pm