AU Steering Minutes

Senate Steering Meeting

08/19/2025 | 107 Samford Hall | 3:30 PM

Present: Virginia Davis (Chair), Rachel Prado (Secretary), Lori Eckhardt (Immediate Past Chair), Sunny Stalter-Pace (Secretary-elect), Vini Nathan (Provost), Andrew Pendola (Rules Appointee), J. Brian Anderson (Presidential Appointee), Jeremy Wolter (Presidential Appointee)

Absent: Jason Bryant (Chair-elect), Audrey Gamble (Rules Appointee)

Special Guests: Joeleen Cooper-Bhatia, Associate Director of Student Counseling & Psychological Services; Barclay Bentley, Director of Office of Accessibility; Andy Gillespie, Assistant Provost for International Programs; Norman Godwin, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs; Angela Wiley, Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness, Deidre Tilley, Senate Parliamentarian

Minutes

Chair Davis called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm.

Minutes from the June 3, 2025 Steering meeting were approved by unanimous consent with a small correction to Rachel Prado’s position. (It was updated to Secretary-elect from Chair-elect.)

Agenda for the August Senate Meeting was approved by unanimous consent.

Remarks and Announcements

Provost Nathan and President Roberts will be traveling on university business and remarks will be delivered by Norman Godwin and Steve Taylor/Kelli Shomaker, respectively. Updates are being finalized and will likely include the interim Graduate Dean search and beginning of the year updates.

Information Items

Office of International Programs

Presenter: Andy Gillespie

Andy Gillespie presented an overview of the Office of International Programs and highlighted the areas of academic, study abroad, immigration, faculty development, and co-curricular programs. The presentation focused on specific numbers and programs. After the presentation, the Steering Committee asked for more information related to immigration context to be shared. Slides will be updated for the senate meeting.

Student Well-being

Presenter: Joeleen Cooper-Bhatia

Joeleen Cooper-Bhatia shared an update on mental health trends and services at Auburn. She shared both national and Auburn specific data related to student well-being, services offered, staffing information, and ways faculty can help students. The Steering Committee corrected a minor typo in her slides, and updates will be made before senate meeting.

Office of Accessibility

Presenter: Barclay Bentley

Barclay presented an overview of the Office of Accessibility (OA), emphasizing accommodations available for students with documented disabilities or health conditions affecting academics, parking, housing, or dining. It was noted the increase in use of testing accommodations proctored by OA. The Steering Committee asked for additional information on digital accessibility to be added for the senate presentation. An additional presentation on Digital Accessibility is scheduled for the September Senate Meeting.

Action Items: Officer and Committee Reports

Executive and Steering Committee

Presenter: Virginia A. Davis

Before presenting Virginia clarified that Robert’s Rules allows for Officer Reports. She will not engage in debate or take questions as this is informational only. Virginia shared information about our University Senate, Executive Committee key goals for the upcoming year, and information on how to get involved with Senate.

Vote on Senate Committee Appointments

Presenter: Rachel Prado

Rachel Prado shared the names of Senate Committee appointees approved by Rules Committee who would be voted on in the August meeting.

New Business

Lori Eckhardt, Immediate Past Chair, shared the winners of the Senate Leadership Awards. An agenda item in the Action Items section was added to announce in the August Senate Meeting.

Adjournment

Chair Davis adjourned the meeting at 4:58 pm.

Mission

The Steering Committee acts on behalf of the AU Senate on matters requiring attention between meetings of that body and assists the chair of the Senate in setting the agenda for Senate meetings. In addition, it is concerned with the academic affairs of the University, with particular attention given to the need for developing and recommending policies under which these affairs are conducted. It works closely with other Senate committees to aid them in their assignments.