December 8, 2023
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Bavaro & ZOOM WEBINAR
Senators Present: Kim Acquaviva, Alan Beckenstein, Aniko Bodroghkozy, Matthew Bolton, Todd DeLong, Rob Garrod, Jamie Jirout, Jim Lambert, Michael Kennedy, Charlotte Matthews, Kathryn Neeley, Amy Ogden, Sue Saliba, James Savage, Jeri Seidman, Jessica Sewell, David Vander Meulen, June West
Senators on Zoom: Dana Albon, Lanice Avery, Cathy Campbell, Lisa Colosi Peterson, Eve Danzinger, Jason Drugzel, Maxim Engers, Avik Ghosh, Natoya Haskins, Juliet Hatchett, Nizar Hermes, Ann Kellams, Bradley Kesser, Michelle Kisliuk, Matthew Lazzara, Craig Lefanowicz, Jon Lendon, Stephen Macko, Katya Makarova, Andrew Pennock, Brian Pusser, Eric Ramirez-Weaver, Michael Rasbury, Patrik Sandas, Maria Luisa Sequeira Lopez, Jaclyn Shepard, Mark Whittle, Brian Williams, Victor Zaydfudim
Ex-Officio & Guests Present or on Zoom: Maite Brandt-Pearce, Tish Hayes, Melissa Riley, Molly Zlock
Jim Lambert called the meeting to order at 2:08 PM.
Review and Approval of Minutes
Chair requests approval of meeting minutes from November 2023.
First: Aaron Bloomfield
Motion was Seconded
Vote: All Approve
Result: Motion passes
New Business
Academic Affairs Committee Co-chairs - Co-chairs Sue Saliba and Brian Wright along with Tish Hayes presented a new degree program in the School of Education and Human Development. The school would like to offer a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Reading Education, and a Graduate Certificate in Reading Education. Currently have a reading specialist program but it’s a concentration. If you have a master’s degree, then you can study for the Certificate. Ten courses in the master’s program while there are seven in the Certificate.
Motion to vote on the two programs together:
There was a motion to approve. That motion was seconded.
All in favor
Motion passes
Motioned to discontinue the concentration:
There was a motion to approve. That motion was seconded.
All in favor.
Motion passes.
BOV Faculty Senate representative - Jim Lambert spoke about the upcoming Faculty Senate Elections. Nominations for the BOV Faculty Senate representative are open through the end of Happy Hour. Written statements are due by the middle of January meeting then three nominee names are submitted to the BOV by February 15.
The other open positions: Chair-elect, EXCO at large, Athletics advisory council, VA Faculty Senate, and possibly a Finance committee representative will be decided later during a Spring meeting.
Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Admissions Greg Roberts updated Senators and answered questions on UVA admission policy changes following the Supreme Court ruling. On June 29, the US Supreme Court voted to curb affirmative action in higher education ending a precedent that allowed colleges and universities to broadly consider applicants’ race in the admissions process. Greg shared slides that were created to help UVA application readers when they are reviewing applications. All racial data is suppressed on the application. No one reading the application will be able to see the race information. The focus is now on experience. There is a UVA optional short answer question asking about personal connection to UVA. Demographic information is collected after enrollment for the first-year students.
Molly Zlock, Assistant Vice President and Title IX Coordinator. Their office is creating a Coalition to end sexual misconduct. They want to get a group of stakeholders around the table to talk about what UVA is doing, what needs to be done, and what the trends are. It’s a large group so they will break into small working groups: SVPWG/Primary prevention, Academic context and graduate students, Response and victim support, and Faculty research and assessment. Molly and Emily will co-chair the coalition. They would like to have a faculty senate representative on the coalition and possibly additional help with the working groups.
There are new Title IX regulations coming out in March with an expected implementation date of August 2024.
Maite spoke and informed the group that the University does let the new faculty know about the consensual policy at Orientation. The University is part National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) collaborative on sexual harassment which brings universities together, to share best practices, what they are doing to address sexual harassment.
Higher Education Summit – Michael Kennedy was invited by President Ryan. This was not a university event but was planned by Governor Youngkin’s office. The faculty didn’t know about it because it was for University Presidents and Provosts. The summit hosted various panels talking about free speech and free inquiry. They discussed should universities be making statements when events transpire in the world. The Governor gave the keynote address and said that we don’t do a good job of listening to one another. We all have our views and haven’t been excited about hearing the other side. Things quickly escalate these days from rational speech to violence. He charged the attendees to work on an action plan around this. Since this summit was not for faculty, is there interest amongst faculty to convene and participate in a forum like this?
Faculty Senate Communications ad hoc committee – please let Michael know if you would like to be part of this new committee. The committee would help publish what faculty senate is doing and learn what faculty wants us to do.
The next full Faculty Senate meeting is January 26 at 2:00 in Darden Room 120. President Ryan and Provost Baucom will attend the first thirty minutes to update the faculty senate on university issues.
Motion to adjourn Jim Savage
Seconded by Sue Saliba
Motion Passes
Meeting adjourned at 4 PM