AU Steering Minutes

Senate Steering Meeting

10/07/2025 | 107 Samford | 3:30 PM

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

Special Guests: Karen Battye, Registrar and Schedule and Calendars Committee Chair; Norman
Godwin, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs; David Miller, Ad hoc Grievance Committee Chair; Deidre
Tilley, Parliamentarian; Angela Wiley, Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness;
Bobby Woodard, Senior Vice President for Student Affairs 

Minutes

Chair Davis called the meeting to order at 3:34 pm.

Minutes from the September 9, 2025 Steering meeting were approved by unanimous consent.

Agenda for the October Senate Meeting was discussed. A presentation of the Senate Committee Nominee was added. The agenda was approved by unanimous consent.

Remarks and Announcements

Chair Davis discussed announcing the Employee Hardship Fund’s fundraiser and sharing information about the development of survey from the advocacy group AAUP that will be going out to all faculty. She asked the Steering Committee for potential items for remarks. Committee members suggested
several current topics the President and Provost may address.

President is developing remarks.

Provost Nathan will be giving a personnel update.

Information Item

Auburn University Student Affairs
Presenter: Bobby Woodard, Senior Vice President for Student Affairs

Woodard provided an overview of Student Affairs' impact on the Auburn student experience,highlighting key services and data from the 2024–25 academic year.

Business Items

Vote on Senate Committee Appointment
Presenter: Rachel Prado

Secretary Prado presented the nominee to be voted on in the October Senate meeting. 

Academic Standards Committee – Course Overload Discussion
Presenter: Damion McIntosh, Committee Chair
McIntosh was not present in the meeting. A discussion of how the additional feedback on the floor would be gathered was discussed.

Policy Advisory Committee Report
Presenter: Jason Bryant, Committee Chair and Chair-elect University Senate
Chair-elect Bryant presented an overview of the Policy Advisory Committee. The Steering Committee made several suggestions to improve clarity.

Schedule and Calendars Committee Report
Presenter: Karen Battye, Committee Chair
Battye presented the proposed 2028-2029 Academic Calendar.

Ad hoc Grievance Committee Report
Presenter: David Miller, Committee Chair
Miller presented the Ad hoc Grievance Committee report. The Steering Committee made suggestions for improving readability of the motions.

New Business

None.

Adjournment

Chair Davis adjourned the meeting at 4:51 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.