Preview of Senate for March 2 2020

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 March 2 is available, 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 February 17.

Topics

• Provost Folks and SPBAC Co-chair Sabrina Helm will be providing a discussion of the budget updates, following up on discussion from February's Senate,
• The task force appointed at February's Senate meeting to work on an updated Memorandum of Understanding for Shared Governance at the UA will be presenting their proposal to Senate,
• Results from the General Election, and items for the run-off election, will be shared with Senate
• Five new undergraduate programs (Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, BAS in Applied Computing, BAS in Human Services, BAS in Intelligence and Information Operations, and BS in Precision Nutrition and Wellness) will be coming as seconded motions from Undergraduate Council for Senate consideration.

Likely topics for future Senate Meetings

• Provost Folks is finalizing results of the Salary Equity study, which in this phase concerns only Tenure Track faculty. Reporting the results, and approaching a similar analysis for Career Track faculty will be likely discussion topics
• The Student Affairs Policy Committee may be making recommendations to support Post Doctoral scholars' access to shared governance.
• ASUA may be bringing a information about disparities in attendance policies adopted by faculty, to assist in discussion that could help ensure such policies are consistent with best practices.