Preparation for December's Senate

The Senate Executive Committee meets in advance of each meeting of the Faculty Senate to, among other things, plan the upcoming agenda. Based on discussion at our most recent meeting, the Faculty Officers wanted to share the following updates and expectations for future discussion. We hope that sharing this information now facilitate productive discussion in Senate.  This update is written by Amy Fountain, Secretary of the Faculty.

Please be advised, however, that these notes are informal – and in an attempt to get them to you quickly, they have not undergone review. Any errors or omissions are Amy’s, and you’re welcome to direct questions, comments or concerns to her at avf@email.arizona.edu. The Senate Agenda for December 2 will be posted as soon as possible (it is not yet available at the time of posting this page), with supporting materials added as soon as possible.

Below is a brief summary of updates and prospective Senate agenda items based on discussion at the Senate Executive Committee meeting of November 18.

Updates

• The proposed policy on Graduate Faculty is being reviewed in light of Senate discussion in November, with next steps still being developed.
• The Arizona Board of Regents will be meeting on UA's campus November 21-23, and much of the Senate Executive Committee's discussion focused on preparing for those meetings, which will include a breakfast for ABOR members with selected faculty members, and a meeting of the faculty leadership teams from the three Arizona Universities. 
• CFO Lisa Rulney joined the meeting to discuss matters relating to the financial well-being of the University.  She expressed a willingness to come to Senate if invited, so if Senators would like to hear from her we hope you'll contact faculty leadership!
• A new chair for the University Wide General Education Committee, which will continue to work within the existing General Education Program, and a new leader for the committee that will be envisioning our new General Education have both been identified.  We should expect more developments on the General Education front soon.
• A new family study room at the UA Library will open sometime in December.  This will help support graduate and undergraduate student parents.
• SPBAC has discussed the role of mentoring of graduate students, and the need to better formalize that process

Prospective Senate Agenda Items

• Undergraduate Council will be forwarding four proposals to Senate in December.  All come as seconded motions from UGC, and will be on the Consent Agenda.  All will be linked from the Senate Agenda as soon as we're able:
  • proposal to create a new Undergraduate Certificate Definition, Procedures, and Policies
  • proposal to Accept CESL English Proficiency Test (CEPT) for Undergraduate Admission
  • proposal to Create Policy on International Examinations, to replace the German Abitur Exam Policy,
  • proposal Standardize Offering UA University Credit for UA Study Abroad Programs.
• Revisions to the MOU on Shared Governance will be included for discussion and possible action (redline version here)  We hope that Senators will review this document and come prepared to discuss any additional changes.
• Information items following up on the Praxis workshops (AVP Romero), on Campus Pantry (Director Davenport), and on proposed changes to the UA's Conflict of Interest policy (VP Research Operations Pawar and COI Officer Langford), are scheduled for discussion.