08.26.25 Senate Minutes

Establish a Quorum

The attendance vote was opened, and a quorum was established with 63 members present as of 3:32
pm. When the quorum vote closed at the end of the meeting, 84 senators or substitutes had
responded present.

Senate Meeting Minutes from June 10, 2025 were approved by unanimous consent. Link to minutes from June 10, 2025.

Remarks and Announcements

University Senate Chair: Virginia A. Davis

Chair Davis noted she enjoyed meeting many senators and committee chairs at the August 15th Senate Kickoff and thanked everyone for their commitment to their leadership role.

President: Chris Roberts remarks given by Kelli Shomaker and Steve Taylor

President Roberts is meeting with elected officials, and he regrets he is unable to attend the Senate meeting. Shomaker shared that enrollment data is steady and final enrollment numbers will be released on September 8th. Advancement set $190 million goal, and they are on pace to exceed $200 million. Endowment is growing and the value is now at a record high of $1.3 billion. The Auburn Alumni Association celebrated the 24th annual Lifetime Achievement Awards this summer. The Lifetime Achievement Award recipients were Raymond J. Harbert, R. Douglas Meckes, Sonny Smith, and Susan Nolen Story. The Young Alumni Achievement Award recipient was Kirsty Coventry. The first Board of Trustees meeting for this academic year is on September 11th. Several facilities projects will be brought forward for consideration. At the meeting, the fiscal year 2026 budget will be brought for consideration and approval which includes a 3% merit pool. Also highlighted, Anna Thompson is Chair of A&P Assembly and Jason Yeomans is Chair of Staff Council. Of additional note, Auburn is collaborating with the City of Auburn to bring additional childcare options. The City of Auburn and Auburn University put out an RFP and are reviewing proposals received.

Taylor provided a research update that the number of Auburn submitted proposals is only 2% behind this time last year. The dollar value of submitted proposals is 23% lower than FY24. New contract and grant awards received are 33% below FY24. The decrease is due to a reduction in activity by nearly all Federal agencies. In the month of August, Auburn has received $12 million in new awards from a large cross section of agencies.

Taylor noted the August 7th Executive Order is being evaluated and its implication in grant-making. Since agencies have 30 days to determine how they will implement, Auburn is in a wait and see mode to determine response. The overall message to faculty remains the same: continue to work on your project to meet the established deliverables and continue preparing proposals for next opportunity. If you are contacted by a sponsor on inquiries, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs and let Tony Ventimiglia work with sponsors. It is critical to communicate with agencies with one voice. Taylor reiterated Auburn is exceedingly proud of the efforts of faculty and staff to meeting our land grant mission.

Provost: Vini Nathan remarks given by Norman Godwin

Provost Nathan is travelling internationally, and she may not have a stable internet connection thus Norman Godwin is presenting on her behalf. Godwin noted that we welcomed approximately 90 new faculty to campus including 12 research faculty, 25 postdocs, and 56 instructional/tenure-track faculty. The Faculty Compensation, Workload, and Productivity Steering committee met four consultants and selected a preferred consultant, Huron. The scope of work and preliminary estimate is currently being reviewed. At the Board of Trustee meeting Academic Affairs will present one action item and two information items for consideration. An internal search for the interim Dean for the Graduate school is being led by Angela Wiley. Finally, kudos were extended to Libraries Dean Zhang as the Auburn Libraries is now ranked 100th of 125 Research Libraries in North America, which is the highest ranking since joining in 1992.

Questions:

David Blersch, Senator from Biosystems Engineering, asked Kelli Shomaker the status of the efforts to replace the recently retired Director for the Office of Sustainability. He recently learned that Emmett Winn has been named as interim director even though the previous director announced his retirement in January of 2024 that he was retiring in summer 2025. Why has there been a delay in selecting qualified permanent replacement for the office and what is the plan for staffing the office? Shomaker responded that the Office of Sustainability is one unit inside of the business and administration organization which encompasses over 2000 personnel on campus. It is taking a while to know how to properly place the office and where it belongs before finding a permanent director. She noted the remaining staff are of great help and will continue to provide same services to campus.

Richard Sesek, substitute Senator from Industrial and Systems Engineering, asked what the advice will be if a grant is terminated how should faculty prepare if they obtain a grant then it is revoked? Taylor responded that we should continue conducting the work as it was proposed unless advised by an agency. Each agency has 30 days to determine how they will comply with the August 7th Executive order. So there will be a bit of time before the terminate for convenience portion gets implemented. Taylor noted it behooves us to be fully compliant and moving forward articulate how our projects align with national priorities.

Roy Hartfield, Senator from Aerospace Engineering, asked with reduction in research budget, what is the university doing internally to try and make sure the ends meet? The proportion of grants going to tuition is going up, what else is the administration doing? Taylor responded that graduate tuition costs are going up to recover the actual costs of research as much as possible. Beyond that it is up to the Provost and individual colleges to determine any other steps they may be taking to withstand the reduction in federal funds. Shomaker added colleges have reserves. Auburn committed early on to help graduate students work through their progression as best as we could and help researchers who might have had funding ended. To Shomaker’s knowledge the reductions have not been financially detrimental reductions yet, but they will continue to monitor with data.

Action Items: Officer and Committee Reports

Executive and Steering Committee

Presenter: Virginia A. Davis

Chair Davis introduced the 2025-2026 Executive Committee and noted the representation from five different colleges across campus. She outlined the Senate’s composition and highlighted the goals for the year which include increasing the understanding the importance of Senate leadership, increasing communication and productive engagement, and maintaining productive dialogue with other governance groups. Chair Davis encouraged all to get involved by talking with your senator, talking with senate and university committees, volunteering, and reaching out to the Executive Committee.

Senate Leadership Awards

Presenter: Lori Eckhardt

Immediate Past Chair Eckhardt introduced a new tradition of the Senate Leadership Awards. These inaugural awards will be presented annually and recognize senators whose service, leadership, and commitment exemplify the very best of shared governance at Auburn. The first Outstanding Senate Committee Chair Award is presented to Murali Dhanasekaran. The first Outstanding New Senator Award is presented to David Miller. Congratulations to both!

Vote on Senate Committee Appointments

Presenter: Rachel Prado

Secretary Prado shared the names of Senate Committee appointees vetted and approved by Rules Committee.

Voting Results: 68 Yes / 0 No / 2 Abstain

The nominees were approved.

Information Items

Office of International Programs

Presenter: Andy Gillespie

Andy Gillespie presented an overview of the Office of International Programs (OIP) and gave the international context that there are over 650 international companies in the state of Alabama which impacts all aspects at Auburn. OIP’s mission covers not only academics, but research and outreach with about 35 staff. Besides immigration, OIP handles study abroad, student exchanges, faculty-led programs, various courses, internships, language training, faculty development, grants, travel funding, research connections, and travel insurance. Gillespie noted Auburn has over 2000 international students and sends ~25% of students to study abroad with the goal of increasing that to over 40% of the student body. Also discussed was changes to green card processing which has changed significantly since 2010, including the ability to use more funding sources.

Questions:

Amit Morey, Senator from Poultry Science, asked if OIP were able to go through the comments from the International Faculty survey given last year? Gillespie responded they were about halfway through the comments and still trying to distill them. OIP from a service point of view is continuing to improve and quicken service. Improved communication is also an objective.

Student Well-being

Presenter: Joeleen Cooper-Bhatia

Joeleen Cooper-Bhatia shared data from the National College Health Association. At Auburn, from Fall 2024 until a few days before classes started this semester, Student Counseling and Psychological Services (SCPS) had over 18,000 appointments for over 3,000 clients. The most common presenting concerns were anxiety and stress followed by depression. SCPS offers many options for students seeking support including individual counseling, group counseling, and workshops. They also offer a Zen Den with a massage chair and nap pod. Cooper-Bhatia shared there is no charge for SCPS services and that seeking out counseling is confidential thus not a part of the academic record. To help connect students with support faculty can call their office or reach out to Auburn Cares. She also asked faculty to help dispel the myth that there is a long wait to get services at SCPS. The average wait time is 17 days with 62% of students assigned to a counselor within 7 days.

Questions:

Amit Morey, Senator from Poultry Science, asked is the office doing anything to raise awareness among faculty and staff on student emotional and stress issues like going department by department? Cooper-Bhatia responded that SCPS is doing the best they can to spread awareness of the services they have available. While the office does not have the capability to go to every department systematically, they are open to any department inviting them to give a presentation on mental health.

Office of Accessibility

Presenter: Barclay Bentley

Barclay Bentley presented an overview of the Office of Accessibility (OA) stating that the office helps students with a documented disability or heath condition that impacts their college experience. In addition to academics, they help with parking, housing, and dining accommodations. OA is also a compliance office operating under the Americans with Disability Act and under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Students now submit accommodations through AIM online system. Faculty will receive an email with details and a list of approved accommodations. The most common accommodation is extended time on exams, and the requests have continued to trend upward with last academic year handling over 7000 requests. To support faculty, OA has released a common syllabus statement that everyone can find on Biggio Center’s website. A consistent statement helps eliminate confusion for students. If faculty need help with understanding an accommodation received or furniture requests from students with physical disabilities, please reach out to OA for support as they are happy to help. Finally, Bentley mentioned digital accessibility and gave the link of aub.ie/a11y where faculty can get more information about the changes about to take place.

Questions:

Rebecca Riggs, Senator from Biological Sciences, asked if students could email to discuss accommodations instead of a face-to-face meeting. Bentley responded that OA has recently changed the language from meeting to communicate with instructors. This gives students more flexibility on how to communicate more efficiently. Email communication is best for standard extended time and reduced distraction exams. If a student requests a one-on-one meeting, either on zoom or in-person OA asks that faculty honor that the best they can.

New Business

None.

Adjournment

Chair Davis adjourned the meeting at 4:41 pm.

Attendance