Faculty Meeting Minutes
April 25, 2025
Murray Aikins Dining Hall, 2nd Floor/Zoom
Dorothy E. Mosby, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Dean Mosby notified the faculty of a change to the pre-circulated minutes of the Faculty Meeting held April 4, 2025. A faculty member had requested a correction, and the change was made based on that request and the transcript of the meeting.
The initial language of the minutes read:
鈥淭he motion was voted on with 45 votes in favor, 30 against, and 25 abstentions.鈥�
and the corrected version now reads:
鈥淭he motion was voted on with 45 votes in favor, 30 against, and 25 abstentions, and passed.鈥�
She asked if there were any further corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held April 4, 2025. Hearing none, the minutes were approved with this correction.
OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS
Associate Professors Dominique Vuvan, representing the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC), and Gwen D鈥橝rcangelis, representing the Faculty Advisory Board (FAB), introduced a motion to change the language regarding appointments to FAB in the Faculty Handbook (FHB).
MOTION: The Faculty Executive Committee, in consultation with the Faculty Advisory Board, moves to clarify language in the faculty handbook regarding how faculty become members of the Faculty Advisory Board (FAB). This change will bring Faculty Handbook Language into agreement with longstanding practice, and remove confusion regarding the role of the faculty vote in the staffing of an appointed committee.
There being no questions from the faculty, the motion will hold over until the next Faculty Meeting.
OTHER
Dean Mosby then invited Student Government Association (SGA) president Josh Maxwell 鈥�26, and incoming SGA president Samantha Majiedt 鈥�27 to give their remarks. She explained that she was moving them up the agenda as they had another meeting to attend shortly.
SGA President Maxwell opened his remarks with updates about what SGA has accomplished this year, stating that President-elect Majiedt will provide a look at what the association has planned for the coming academic year. One of SGA鈥檚 biggest accomplishments this year was a large renovation to Falstaff鈥檚. It has a brand-new kitchen and bathrooms, and many other improvements as well. They also worked closely with President Connor to get student affairs themes into the Strategic Plan.
The Subcommittee on Student Affairs is working on a poster policy that has been endorsed by SGA. This was a 2- to 3-year endeavor, and they consulted with many groups, including FEC. SGA is hoping that at the beginning of next year that policy will get its final approval. President Maxwell then thanked the current SGA VP for Academic Affairs Trevor Lai 鈥�25 and former VP for Academic Affairs Anna Barnes 鈥�26 who have worked closely with CEPP on constructing the recently passed recording policy, and communicating it to the student body as well. A large number of SGA members sit on a wide variety of academic committees across the college. They鈥檝e worked on increasing security in our Northwoods parking lot, which is a top student concern and still a work in progress, as is housing; they also have a new group on athletics to bring in athletic concerns to student government.
This year SGA paused new club creation, but that's expected to resume next semester. We also modified the requirements for faculty advisors of student clubs. Some clubs now will no longer require faculty advisors, whereas clubs with higher risks will require a higher level of participation from their faculty advisors.
President-elect Majiedt did a fantastic job this year, hosting multiple forums related to institutional diversity, such as a discussion on how the current administration is impacting students, and has been relaying the feedback to the administration. SGA also has a new Engagement and Outreach Committee, which has been visiting classes to talk about SGA, and working on communications and recruitment for the organization. Spring elections were recently conducted, and nearly 1,200 students voted: marking an unusually high turnout from the 吃瓜网 student body.
President Maxwell concluded his remarks by sharing that the Events branch of SGA hosted 22 unique events this year with the last large one being an Earth Day concert and celebration on South Lawn. He then turned the podium over to President-elect Majiedt.
President-elect Majiedt shared that part of the purpose of the forums held this year was to gauge students鈥� feelings with regard to the larger political climate, and to learn what they expect to see and hear from the college administration. The through-line seems to be a desire for clear and direct communication from faculty. They are hoping to receive advice and guidance from faculty on issues such as; international travel as international students, choosing a major, and working towards career goals. She asked that faculty continue to show the students that they are a resource, and that they care. For next year, they are looking at more interdisciplinary approaches to events, and educating both faculty and students on the issues that are arising. She stated that SGA will be continuing its current initiatives, and that the Committee on Institutional Diversity in particular has a number of projects underway that they expect to involve the faculty and wider campus community on. President-elect Majiedt concluded her remarks with thanks to the faculty for their time.
Dean Mosby invited FEC to share their proposal regarding the governance service cycle. Please find the details of that proposal here. Professor Vuvan then solicited questions from the faculty. A faculty member asked about implementation of this proposal, given the new language in the CBA. They asked if FEC has any ballpark figures of what sort of influx of candidates might happen, and how that might affect the tightness that is being projected in available faculty for service. Professor Vuvan said that they do not know how the CBA will ultimately affect the number of faculty available for service. She said that they do know that there is a wide variety amongst non-tenure track faculty with regard to their opinions about college-level service and that, therefore, it could have an impact of anywhere between 0 and the total number of full-time non-tenure track faculty. Because this is not a motion, implementation has not been fully fleshed out. FEC is hoping to receive a great deal of feedback before this proposal progresses to the point of being a motion. Professor Vuvan requested that if people feel positively about this proposal, that they express that to FEC. Most input that FEC receives is negative, which can skew their sense of the faculty鈥檚 overall impression of a proposal.
A faculty member noted that this proposal should be completed before the sharp downturn in available faculty hits in fall 2028.
A faculty member asked if data was collected on why the majority of faculty are engaging in the service cycle in the latter years and not the earlier years. Professor Vuvan stated that the anecdotal evidence suggests that most faculty are not very engaged in the service cycle until they start receiving notices that they must participate in it, and that that is the likely reason for the delays.
A faculty member said that, as a former FEC member and Chair, that he understands the work that went into this proposal, and that he thinks it is a fantastic idea. He then thanked the Committee for bringing it to the faculty. In the interest of time, that was the last question.
Dean Mosby then invited Professors Tim Harper and David Cohen to provide an update from the IPPC extended Budget & Finance Subcommittee. They began by acknowledging the other members of the committee: VP for Finance and Administration Dan Konstalid, AVP for Financial Planning & Auxiliary Operations Kelley Patton-Ostrander, Director of Financial Aid Beth Post, Admissions Assistant Eriko Fujita, Coordinator for Institutional Research and Assessment Kerry Nelson, and SGA VP for Financial Affairs Bradley Kadets 鈥�27. They then explained what happens at subcommittee meetings. The budget is discussed, as are its parameters such as the General Salary Adjustment (GSA), the target tuition increase by percentage, and actual and potential cost reductions. VP Konstalid and AVP Patton-Ostrander present, and then the extended subcommittee has an opportunity for questions, answers, and input. Associate Professor Rodrigo Schneider, a faculty member of the subcommittee, then shared with the faculty the types of updates that they generally receive. As many are aware, the main pressures and uncertainties for our budget were admissions and financial aid, and the collective bargaining agreement, and the subcommittee has been receiving regular updates on these matters in their meetings. They have also received some insights about what kinds of cuts to expenditures each division head will need to make in order to meet our main goal 鈥� which is to balance the budget.
The major business of the committee throughout the year has been preparing for the budget for next year. The budget is a model based on a series of assumptions about what's going to happen next year. On May first we should get a better idea of how many students are actually choosing to come to 吃瓜网 next year, which is probably the single most important part of the budget as we move forward. Throughout the year the subcommittee has been discussing these assumptions with VP Konstalid and AVP Patton-Ostrander and the rest of the subcommittee. Professor Schneider said that they have also been talking about various ways of changing the budget model of the assumptions, and how they work in and practice for faculty in particular. For example, when it comes to the importance of new initiatives, the importance of capital budget items and requests, the faculty has been active in explaining the importance to our departments and to the faculty as a whole, and to the college of maintaining some stability.
As part of this presentation, the faculty members of the subcommittee thought it would be helpful to take one particular assumption and walk through how it's changed over the course of the year, without talking about any the particulars of the number. The office of Off-Campus Study and Exchanges has been a particularly interesting topic this year. We have a historical number of participants, and the assumption based on the history of how many students have chosen to study abroad, and that's an important number. It affects how many students obviously are on campus. There also is a number that's been fluctuating most obviously because of COVID-19, where nobody went abroad, and it's been building up over the years since the pandemic. So there's a number based on history that was in the budget model, and VP Konstalid and AVP Patton-Ostrander came to us early in the year and said that all the information we have now suggests that number is too low.
They recommended that, based on the trend historically and based on what we're hearing from the students about intents to go abroad, we have to increase that number. This made sense to the members of the subcommittee, and we agreed that it would make sense to increase that number. The number was increased, and that affected the model. It affected both revenues and expenses.
Recently, Professor Cohen said, we've learned that we were not sure that we were pessimistic or optimistic about how many students would go abroad. In fact, the reality for next year looks like it isn't quite up to the numbers we were thinking it was going to be. When we adjust again, that has also affected the model with regard to both revenues and expenses. He explained that that's the kind of work the subcommittee has been doing; learning about the assumptions that build the model, interrogating those assumptions and then seeing ultimately whether they, in fact, are modeling reality.
The faculty on the subcommittee have been able to give some context or some details on certain assumptions that are being made about the academic programs and how students are moving through their 吃瓜网 careers. Such as study abroad, policies, things like course credit overloads on the part of students who are moving through their academic careers, how student athletes are getting credit for their athletic participation and how that factors into their course loads. The subcommittee has also had a chance to get a deeper understanding of some things and share how operating budgets working in departments on an annual basis. The subcommittee has been able to get some information from the higher-level finance side of things, and have also been able to give some context to the committee as to what that looks like for department chairs or faculty working in departments, and what that means on a day-to-day, or a semester-to-semester basis.
The faculty members of the subcommittee then opened the floor for questions from the faculty.
A faculty member asked if this expanded sub-committee membership needs to continue past this academic year. Senior Lecturer Jennifer Cholnoky said that she believes it is important to have faculty involved in this work, and that she has personally benefited from learning from staff colleagues in Institutional Research. As a faculty-governed college, we should definitely have faculty on the subcommittee (and in fact elected faculty always serve on the sub-committee). There being no further questions, Dean Mosby invited Associate Professor Nick Junkerman to speak on behalf of the faculty participating in the Academic Portfolio Leadership Group (APLG) with the Huron Consultancy project.
Professor Junkerman shared that the four faculty members working closely with Huron are in conversation with the Dean of the Faculty about extending their service into the summer to provide continuity. The idea here would not be to make decisions about operational efficiency in the academic portfolio, but to prepare the kind of data and options and procedures that would be necessary for us to have those discussions and make those decisions when we return in the academic year. The APLG is too small a group to represent the faculty in those discussions over the summer, but can represent the faculty in beginning to lay the groundwork for the full discussions, based on what we know.
DEAN OF THE FACULTY AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS鈥� REPORT
Dean Mosby opened her report with an expression of thanks to the faculty: for your patience, your kindness, and also just your inquiries to us during this time of a lot of uncertainty where we have a lot of things in flux, and we may not always have the answers, but we do appreciate hearing from you all.
The Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees will meet via Zoom next week. The focus will be on faculty development, and this follows a thread that the Academic Affairs Committee has been forming to educate board members, deepen their understanding of faculty, work and support their role as fiduciaries and college ambassadors, champions, and donors as we gear up for the capital campaign.
During the October meeting the focus was on the Strategic Plan. The winter meeting focused on teaching and learning at 吃瓜网, and featured a faculty panel whose members shared with the trustees their work in the classroom and pedagogical innovations. In this Academic Affairs meeting we will feature the many resources for faculty development, and what faculty development provides in terms of funding and opportunities for faculty to be teachers, scholars, creators, and innovators. The Academic Affairs Committee meeting discussion will align with the college's commitment to faculty resources as outlined in the Strategic Plan, supporting creativity and academic excellence, and underscore its importance as we look ahead to the capital campaign.
Dean Mosby then thanked Professor Junkerman for his comments on Huron and our engagement with Huron. The summer will be one of recursive discernment. She also thanked those who attended the faculty-only meeting and the faculty representatives who shared some of the high level takeaways from that meeting with her.
There were three major items of concern that surfaced for VP Konstalid and Dean Mosby to take into consideration; how things will be decided, the timeline - particularly what will happen over the summer, and our next steps. She said that we expect decisions arising from the Program and Operations Review with Huron to fall into two main categories. Those decisions involving the academic program that require the involvement of shared governance will be made in concert with the Office of the Dean of Faculty, and those matters that fall within the purview of division leaders and/or the Cabinet within the divisions, as there are likely to be matters that will go beyond a single division. There are also matters that have low to moderate campus impact and matters where either we won't make a decision or we'll defer the decision until later, or until such a time when we have more information.
Dean Mosby emphasized again that this will be a summer of recursive discernment with no outright decision making before the fall as it relates to the academic portfolio, curriculum and faculty work. The office of the DOF has invited the current group of faculty representatives to do some thought partnering to review Huron's observations and the associated trade-offs, as well as their thoughts about implementation considerations as we look ahead to the 2025-2026 academic year.
The Dean鈥檚 Office will work with faculty governance committees and chairs and program directors to consult, communicate goals, provide guidance and parameters and facilitate shared decision making. The Office will continue to make our best effort to communicate with faculty committees, chairs, and program directors, the faculty at large and also academic affairs staff.
With regard to matters within the purview of division leaders or the Cabinet that have a significant or cross-divisional impact, the division leader and potentially members of the extended Cabinet and/or Cabinet will review the observations, associated trade-offs, and implementation considerations over the summer as well, to position division leaders to begin non-binding consultations for the next academic year.
These decisions could happen in the fall, or in the spring - it depends on where folks land in their divisions. All of these consultations will happen before any decisions are made. She said that she anticipates that the communication channels for these divisional considerations will follow past practices for administrative decisions.
For matters exclusively within the purview of a division leader or Cabinet member, or within the purview of the Cabinet at large that have a low or moderate campus impact division leaders, and also potentially extended cabinet staff, we'll review the observations, trade-offs, etc. and implementation considerations over the summer before reaching a decision.
Dean Mosby shared that, in the previous faculty meeting, she had mentioned tenure track line proposals. Chairs and program directors have been notified of the results of the recent tenure track proposals for the 25-26, search season. Tenure track searches have been authorized for the following departments; Art, Biology, Black Studies, History, Computer Science, and Management & Business. There is one proposal still outstanding that is under consideration. Dean Mosby thanked Professor Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, Associate Professor Aurelia Ball, Professor Mimi Hellman, and Professor Xiaoshuo Hou for their careful reading and thoughtful discussions with the office of the Dean of Faculty, which were instrumental in supporting our review of these proposals.
The Associate Dean search is still in process, and Dean Mosby expressed her intention to have an update during our final May meeting. Also during our May meeting she will share the work that the office will be focusing on this summer. There being no questions, Dean Mosby invited President Conner to the podium to give his report to the faculty.
PRESIDENT鈥橲 REPORT
President Conner opened his report by reflecting on the end of the year, and looking towards 吃瓜网鈥檚 future. He referred to his recent message to the College community, and the accompanying AAC&U letter that 吃瓜网 has signed on to support. In that message, President Conner wrote that a college鈥檚 role is to foster an environment for robust discussion and debate about the political issues of the day, and not to stifle such discussion by staking out a particular stance. However, when political actions impact the very mission of 吃瓜网, as several current actions of the Administration clearly do, then a President is obligated to speak out and critique those actions. 吃瓜网 was one of the first signatories to the AAC&U letter, which was ultimately signed by about 500 college presidents. Regardless of the immediate impact, President Conner expressed that he believes that such a unified front is significant in and of itself.
While the reaction from the White House has been dismissive, the outpouring of responses from the wider 吃瓜网 community has been overwhelmingly positive. President Conner also shared that he was recently approached by some international students while walking across Case Green, and that they expressed a sense of safety on campus at 吃瓜网. He noted that most of the outreach being conducted on political issues is targeted to specific constituencies within the college, as it is more effective and more impactful than big broadcast emails. Another 鈥淣avigating Uncertainty鈥� seminar will be held by Human Resources and the Office of the General Counsel in the coming weeks as well, which will include 30 minutes for questions and answers.
Shifting gears to admissions, President Conner noted that May 1st is the date when deposits are confirmed. Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Jess Ricker, will have an update for the faculty at the May 14th Faculty Meeting. The college has also recently concluded our three Yes! Days, having seen the largest turnout since before the pandemic. Over 600 accepted students and their families packed in to Zankel auditorium, coming off our second largest applicant pool ever, exceeding 12,000 applications. He thanked the faculty who participated in the Yes! Day panel: Associate Professor Erica Wojcik, Professor Dan Curley, Professor Ryan Overbey, Senior Teaching Professor Evan Halstead, Associate Professor Paul Benzon, Assistant Professor Kathryn Baustian, Senior Teaching Professor David Howson, Assistant Professor Amy Oh, Professor Ron Seyb, and Professor 鈥楤ecca Johnson. He also thanked Professor Heather Hurst for her contribution to the recent Parent and Family Council Zoom, as she Zoomed in from Guatemala to share about her work.
President Conner then provided an update on the Strategic Plan. The Board of Trustees will approve it in May. In the plan, 吃瓜网 has expressed our collective sense of who we are, what we stand for, and what is most potent about the 吃瓜网 education. It will serve as a guide and a pathway for our future. The next strategic action agenda (SAA) will be drawing right from that strategic plan, and as we go into next year, the priority will be getting all these streams flowing together into one river: fiscal prudence, strategic priorities year by year, planning, following all of our shared governance practices, the key role of IPPC, etc.
The President's Awards for Leadership and Service have been announced. We gave the student awards two nights ago at the SGA Award banquet. The team award went to the Student Athlete Advisory Council and the Student Government award for the Top Club went to the African Heritage Association.
The faculty recipients this year are Professor 鈥楤ecca Johnson, for incredible support of admissions work and so much else, Harder Chair Matt Lucas, for really spearheading 吃瓜网's efforts with AI this year, Professor Pushkala Prasad for very courageous leadership of our Middle East programming, and Dr. Janet Casey, for years of selfless service as Associate Dean of the Faculty. Every one of them would say they're just part of a much bigger team. Of course, the part stands here for the whole, and I wanted to mention the staff award. This is in Academic Affairs as well. Mary Hoehn, the Director of the Office of Sponsored Research has been coping with unprecedented headwinds over these last few months, and she has really bent over backwards to continue to support our faculty.
President Conner closed his report with an expression celebration and gratitude, before inviting questions from the faculty.
A faculty member thanked President Conner for sharing the AAC&U letter with the faculty. They asked if 吃瓜网 has any plans to be a part of a mutual defense compact of the type recently signed by a number of public universities.
President Conner said that he cannot say for certain at this point, and remarked that he thinks fewer institutional statements is a good rule of thumb, making any actual statements all the more powerful.
A faculty member asked if, while the targeted communications have been very helpful for faculty who are at risk, that other members of the faculty would like an opportunity to learn more about the safeguards in place for and realities facing their colleagues. He suggested that a Committee of the Whole may be a good opportunity for the faculty to explore using shared governance to bolster the community of care at this time of uncertainty. President Conner answered that recent communications from General Counsel Vero were sent to the entire community, and outline the work that the college is doing on behalf of our at-risk community members.
A faculty member asked about what kind of potential legal support a faculty member might expect to receive from the college, given that the college has signed on to the AAC&U letter, which may bring additional attention from the current Administration.
General Counsel Vero answered that the college is providing advice and counsel on an individual basis. 吃瓜网 has two international student and scholarly advisors who are helping faculty members as well. The Office of the General Counsel is prevented from providing direct, formal legal advice, but will continue to provide general legal advice and other resources. Because so many of the circumstances that faculty are dealing with are considered generally applicable to the college at large, much of the advice that is and can be given has still been quite impactful. If a specific legal defense can be argued to be part of a larger institutional goal, the college may be able to intervene more directly with regard to legal support of a faculty member.
A faculty member commented that they believe it is a community responsibility to have conversations around how to both protect colleagues in the current political environment, but also how to navigate the political moment from an institutional standpoint with regard to equity and access to tenure.
In the interest of time, the floor was closed for questions.
RETIREMENT RESOLUTION AND CITATIONS
On behalf of the Appointments and Tenure Committee (ATC), Associate Professor Sarah DiPasquale read the following resolution into the record (see attached):
BE IT RESOLVED, the faculty of 吃瓜网 expresses its profound appreciation and admiration for the following members of the 吃瓜网 faculty who have this year expressed their determination to retire. The faculty further resolves that the following biographical highlights be included in the minutes of the faculty meeting of April 25, 2025 in recognition and celebration of their distinguished service and achievement.
Please find the full text of the citations here. All citations were greeted with resounding applause from the faculty.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:47pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Nora E. Graubard
Senior Administrative Coordinator