02.18.25 Senate Minutes

Establish a Quorum

The attendance vote was opened and quorum was established with 60 members present as of 3:33 pm. When the quorum vote closed at the end of the meeting, 74 Senators or substitutes had responded present.

Senate Meeting Minutes from January 28th, 2025 were approved by unanimous consent.

Remarks and Announcements

University Senate Chair: Lori Eckhardt

The Spring University Faculty Meeting will be held on March 25th at 3:30 pm on zoom. Senators were asked to attend as well as encourage their colleagues to attend. The agenda will be posted to the Senate website at least 15 days prior to the meeting. All faculty as defined by the Faculty Handbook have the right to speak and vote at this meeting

It is time to volunteer for Senate and University Committees. Senators are asked to share this information with their constituents. Those wishing to volunteer should do so through the volunteer system, which is currently open. Committee members whose terms are ending and wish to serve another term should be sure to volunteer in the system as well.

Please submit nominations for the new Awards for Outstanding Senate Leadership to usensec@auburn.edu. Three awards are available: Outstanding New Senator, Outstanding Senator, and Outstanding Senate Committee Chair. Nominations should be submitted by March 15th.

Because of the positive comments received regarding the Senator Social, members of the Senate Executive Committee will be available for informal conversation at Corner Office on Thursday, February 20th, from 4 to 6 pm. Everyone is welcome.

President: Chris Roberts

Updates on enrollment and applications: Fall 2025 Freshmen application numbers show consistent growth, with a 7% increase compared to last year. This year Auburn has had over 59,000 applications submitted, which exceeds anticipated target of about 58,000 applications. Graduate enrollment also looks to be strong, however graduate enrollment yield is often harder to
predict. A significant number of Auburn’s incoming graduate students are international. Auburn, like many of its peer institutions, is closely monitoring current and future executive orders to assess potential impacts on ability to recruit international graduate students

Update on recent attempt to reduce indirect cost rate of NIH research contracts and grants: Auburn is adopting a multi-pronged approach that includes directly speaking with legislators, consulting with peers and professional organizations within the state and nationally, and conducting ongoing internal analyses and preparation as needed. Indirect costs on contracts and grants are used to pay for a number of things, including electricity in the labs, someone from risk management and safety who picks up waste, administrative services that help overall research enterprise function. Auburn’s current indirect cost rate, which is 53%, is set by the federal government. Auburn does have NIH funding, but it is not a large part of its overall research portfolio. If that ideology expands to other federal agencies, the impacts would be more of a challenge. Auburn is closely monitoring the situation.

Executive orders and impact on extramurally funded programs: Some executive orders pertain to DEIA activities, gender ideology, foreign assistance programs, and others. Auburn has received overall orders from NASA, NSF, and the Department of Energy to stop DEIA activities in any of their funded projects, but little guidance beyond that. Auburn’s Office of Sponsored Programs is working in conjunction with the deans’ office to determine where changes may be needed and then communicating with affected principal investigators. Some agencies have contacted the PI directly and told them to stop working on DEIA activities and submit a revised project budget. Auburn has also received a few other stop-work orders, most of which appear to be connected to the executive order on foreign assistance programs. Auburn’s main guidance continues to be: unless you receive communication from our Sponsored Programs Office, your dean’s office, or from the funding agency directly, please keep working normally. Those working on proposals are encouraged to contact agency program managers to determine if any changes have been made to that program. Because this is a fluid situation, President Roberts requested that everyone communicate in real time through departments, deans, and academic research offices if they’re receiving information directly, as well as continue doing great, impactful work.

Endowment update: Auburn’s combined endowment value reached $1.25 billion as of December 21, 2024. The Foundation and University portfolio values are $890 million and $365 million, respectively. The Foundation Board’s one-year return was 11.1%; its five-year annualized return was 8.7%. The spending payout for the year ending 12/31/2024 transferred from the endowment was $52.6 million, which is a $3.5 million increase over the prior year. These funds are helpful for scholarships and professorships, as well as other programs.

At the last Senate meeting, Presidents Roberts shared several items that would be presented to the Board of Trustees. All of those items were approved at the most recent Board meeting.

Update on childcare initiative: Representatives from the City of Auburn and Auburn University are working together to issue an RFI for a childcare provider to come to the Auburn area. They are working to time the RFI so that it is out before a national economic conference in May so that they can engage with the right potential vendors.

Provost: Vini Nathan

At the Board of Trustees’ meeting on February 7, two academic affairs action items and three information items were presented. All were reviewed and approved. Some of those items have additional steps, such as SACSCOC approval.

Update on faculty compensation, workload, and productivity study: A working group co-chaired and led by Norman Godwin (Provost’s office) and Cathy Irwin (College of Liberal Arts) has been created. Because of the complexity of the study, it will be broken into parts – with compensation as one component and workload and productivity as another. The working group is currently interviewing consulting firms to handle the compensation piece of the study.

Update on teaching professor title series: There was a motion from the Senate to create a parallel or new teaching title series (assistant teaching professor/associate teaching professor/teaching professor). That proposal has come to the Provost’s office for implementation and Norman Godwin is leading that initiative. The Provost’s office is continuing to receive feedback from department chairs, deans, and faculty on implementing the proposal, as well as looking at other institutions that have done something similar recently. Virginia Tech did this just two years ago, and Norman Godwin’s counterpart there has agreed to serve in an advisory capacity. Once the implementation plan comes forward, it will need to be vetted through senior leadership, the General Counsel’s office, and then the Board of Trustees because it represents a new employment category.

CADC’s Rural Studio was selected as one of 52 projects (out of 400) to be featured at the US Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

Dr. Alice Smith, Forehand/Accenture Distinguished Professor in the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Questions

Sara Wolf, Senator from EFLT, asked about the recent Dear Colleague letter released by the Department of Education. President Roberts responded that the university is studying and reviewing the letter. He said he would be able to comment more after the General Counsel’s Office had completed its review but noted that Auburn has been compliant with the law up to this point.

Amit Morey, Senator from Poultry Science, asked about the IP Xchange office and if there were plans to enhance this office’s ability to get more IP filed, transferred, and commercialized. President Roberts said the best person to answer this would be Steve Taylor or Patrick Reed and Chair Eckhardt invited both to respond. Steve Taylor noted there have been significant investments in that office in the last year and a half, including hiring new leadership and new employees to bring staffing levels up to where they need to be. Patrick Reed reiterated this point and noted that they are also hoping to hire another licensing associate soon. He said he believes issues with bandwidth, which may have been affecting patent filings, have been addressed and hopes there will be significantly more patent and commercial filings.

Luke Oeding, from Mathematics & Statistics (not a senator), asked the Executive Committee to create an ad hoc committee of the Senate to address an issue of who is available to grieve and be grieved in the Faculty Grievance process. Chair Eckhardt stated that non-Senators could not make this request.

Action Items

Vote on Calendar and Schedule 2027-2028

Presenter: Karenn Battye, Chair

Calendar and Schedule 2027-2028 (pdf)

There was no discussion.

• Voting results: 64 yes / 3 no / 3 abstain

• The 2027-2028 Calendar was approved.

Call for Nominations from the Senate Floor for Rules Committee

Presenter: Jaena Alabi, Secretary

Accepting Rules Committee Nominations (pdf)

Secretary Alabi reminded Senators that nominations to the Senate Rules Committee are accepted from the floor of the Senate during its February meeting. She also mentioned that, according to the faculty handbook, nominees should be current Senators. Chair Eckhardt opened the floor for nominations.

Senator Werner (Sociology, Anthropology, & Social Work) nominated Steph Shepherd, Senator from Geosciences. Senator Miller (Philosophy) nominated Hans Werner Van Wyck, Senator from Mathematics & Statistics. Senator Leousis (Libraries) nominated Elizabeth Lipke, Senator from Chemical Engineering. Senator Stern (Economics) nominated Michael Stern, but Secretary Alabi noted that since he is not a current Senator, he is ineligible to be nominated to the Senate Rules Committee at this time. Senator Dhanasekaran (Drug Discovery & Development) nominated Rebecca Riggs, Senator from Biological Sciences.

Secretary Alabi stated that the nominees would provide biographical statements, which will be posted to the Senate website, and voting will occur at the March 18, 2025 Senate meeting.

Candidate announcement for Chair-Elect and Secretary-Elect

Presenter: Jaena Alabi, Secretary

Candidates for Chair-Elect and Secretary-Elect (pdf)

Secretary Alabi announced the current slate of University Faculty and Senate Officer candidates: For Chair-Elect (in alphabetical order): Jason Bryant, College of Education; Matthew Hoch, College of Liberal Arts; and Luke Oeding, College of Sciences & Mathematics. For Secretary-Elect (in alphabetical order): Murali Dhanasekaran, Harrison College of Pharmacy; and Sunny Stalter-Pace, College of Liberal Arts.

Additional faculty may petition to be on the ballot. If a faculty member wishes to do so, they should contact the Senate Secretary (usensec@auburn.edu) to receive a petition template. Petitions require the signatures of at least ten faculty members and no faculty member shall sign more than one petition for the same office. Completed petitions must be submitted to usensec@auburn.edu by Tuesday, March 11, 2025.

Secretary Alabi also noted the voting period for University Faculty and Senate Officers: from 7:45 am on Thursday, March 20th to 7:45 am on Tuesday, March 25th.

Thanks to the Nominating Committee – Ralph Kingston, Kim Garza, Asim Ali, Cheryl Seals, Kevin Moore, and Nedret Billor – were expressed.

There were no questions.

RISE Committee Report

Presenter: Chris Lepcyzk, Chair

RISE Committee Report (pdf)

Lepczyk spoke about the importance of the Sustainability Office to the RISE Committee and noted that its director is set to retire in August. Lepczyk provided information on what the office does and the return on investment of the office and ended with a motion:

• The RISE committee moves that our committee be involved in discussions about the future of the sustainability office here at Auburn University prior to the retirement of the current director

This motion will be placed on the agenda of the next Senate meeting for a vote.

There were no questions.

Information Items

Veteran Resource Center

Presenters: Paul (Puck) Esposito and Jeff Dyal

VRC Presentation (pdf)

Dyal shared the mission and core values of the Veterans Resource Center (VRC), noting that they provide comprehensive resources and support for military-affiliated students. Dyal also shared information on the number of veterans and veteran dependents enrolled at Auburn, characteristics of these students, and outreach programs and services offered by the VRC and its partners. He asked Senators to help share this information with their constituents to bring increased awareness of VRC and its services to campus. 

There were no questions.

Teams and Team Voice Update

Presenter: Jill Albin-Hill

Teams and Team Voice Update (pdf)

Albin-Hill provided an update on the ongoing Teams and Teams Voice initiative. Auburn’s phone system is old and needs to be replaced; for instance, desk phones are nearing the end of their life and copper wiring from the ‘80s and is degrading. Last spring, campus took the first step by transitioning to 10-digit dialing and last semester began an early adopter program to work through the transition to Teams Voice. This change will allow Auburn employees to make and receive university phone calls from wherever they are. Training is already available on Elevated and when groups and individuals are ready, they can submit a migration request through Service Now. The goal is to complete the conversation by summer 2026.

There were no questions.

New Business

Lori Eckhardt, Senate Chair

None.

Adjournment

Lori Eckhardt, Senate Chair

Meeting was adjourned at 4:36 pm.

Attendance