September 2026 Senate Meeting Minutes

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

September 16, 2026

3:00-5:00pm

Grand Reading Room/Zoom

Members Present:

Amit Tandon, Anna Dempsey, Bharatendra Rai, Brian Ayotte, Caroline Gelmi, Caterina Miraglia, Catharine Urbano, Chad McGuire, Christopher Eisenhart, Crystal Lubinsky, Dario Borim, David Manke, Devon Lynch, Dilshod Achilov, Elena Peteva, Emma Wood, Eric Casero, Firas Khatib, Frank Scarano, Glaucia Silva, Heidi Berggren, Heloisa Alves, Jennifer Mulnix, Jennifer Viveiros, Joshua Botvin, Keota Fields, Kristen McHenry, Kristopher Jackson, Lisa Owens, Lorraine Heffernan, Margaret Drew, Martha Whitfield, Mary Wilson, Matthew Sneider, Meghan Fair, Neal Olitsky, Nikolay Anguelov, R. Thomas Boone, Richard Peltz-Steele, Robert Darst, Robin Arkerson, Saeja Kim, Shari Evans, Sonia Pacheco, Timothy Shea, Wei-Shun Chang, Wencheng Chang

Members Absent:

Amanda Rioux, Anupama Arora, Cait Lanza, Christopher Clinton, Dapeng Li, David Kagan, Douglas Marshall, Douglas Roscoe, Erin Bromage, Geoffrey Cowles, Grant O’Rielly, James March Mistler, Jennifer Clark, Jennifer Mammen, Julie Bowman, Katherine DeLuca, Kenneth Manning, Liudong Xing, Maricris Mayes, Mark Silby, Megan Dawe, Megan Fletcher, Nicholas Santavicca, Patrick Cappillino, Peeranuch LeSeure, Pia Moisander, Robin Kish, Sankha Bhowmick, Scott Ahrens, Shakhnoza Kayumova, Shuowai Cai, Yuzhu Li, Ziddi Msangi

28 GUESTS

FACULTY SENATE MEETING AGENDA

September 16, 2026, 3:00-5:00pm, Grand Reading Room/Zoom

• Call to Order at 3:05pm

• Approval of May minutes

• • Minutes approved through unanimous consent

• President’s Report (Chad McGuire)

• • Administrative notes

• • Committees have received notices to convene and elect a chair and secretary at the minimum

• • Only in this role for one year

• Committee Reports

• • Technology Committee (Peter Sandby-Thomas)

• • • Findings from their AI integration survey 

• • • • Created in response to Provost’s call for AI curricular integration

• • • • Separate from the Provost’s AI task force

• • • • Sent out in April

• • • • 260 total responses: 130 faculty and 116 staff

• • • • Overview presentation of findings from the responses

• • • • • Strong concerns about AI undermining academic integrity, equity and access, data privacy and security, lack of clarity on process for AI integration

• • • • • Interest in variety of mediums to develop skills to integrate AI into the curriculum

• Unfinished Business

• • Status of Motion re Budgetary Transparency (Cathy Urbano)

• • • Update on what has happened since the April meeting

• New Business

• • Motion to request the administration come to the Faculty Senate as soon as possible to explain the rationale behind current actions on administrative support changes

• • • Made (Catharine Urbano) and seconded (Richard Peltz-Steele)

• • • Vote: 42 Yes, 0 No – Motion passes

• Invited Guests

• • Provost’s Office (Ram Bala)

• • • Faculty accomplishments

• • • • Filled 38 faculty positions

• • • • 22 faculty moved into new ranks

• • Updates

• • • LARTS construction is on time and on budget

• • • Undergraduate enrollment is similar to last year

• • • Persistence numbers for undergraduates in increasing

• • Student success (Sarah Cosgrove)

• • • Last year – identified, implemented, and assessed initiatives

• • • This year – building on the initiatives and filling in the gaps

• • • National Institute for Student Success

• • • Starting 2-year implementation of recommendations

• • • First, accelerate students’ identification of their right fit major sooner

• • Current academic year priorities

• • • Resource allocation

• • • • Background/History of the Resource Allocation Working Group

• • • • Timeline for roll out of process over next year or two

• • • AI Integration

• • • • Launching Program Innovation Funds, up to $25,000 per program

• • • • AI Taskforce creating a structured approach to AI literacy

• • • • Limited to undergraduate education

• • • • Timeline of work

• • • • Institutional Design moved under Academic Affairs

• • • • New position in OFD focused on AI: Dr. John Buck

• • • Career Readiness (Shannon Jenkins)

• • • • Neal Olitsky (Curriculum Development & Assessment) and Julie Bowman (Faculty Development), co-directors of Career Learning

• • • • Faculty developing career curriculum: Jennifer Pierce, Brian Ayotte, Aneesa Baboolal, Crystal Lubinsky

• Meeting adjourned at 4:45 via unanimous consent