AU Steering Minutes

Senate Steering Meeting

09/09/2025 | 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: David Miller and Murali Dhanasekaran, Senate Leadership Award Winners; Damion McIntosh, Academic Standards Committee Chair; Kristin Roberts, Ed Youngblood, Mark Bransby, Accessibility Working Group Members; Norman Godwin, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs; Angela Wiley, Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness

Minutes

Chair Davis called the meeting to order at 3:36 pm.

Minutes from the August 19, 2025 Steering meeting were approved by unanimous consent.

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

Remarks and Announcements

David Miller and Murali Dhanasekaran were presented with Senate Leadership Awards.

Congratulations to both for their leadership in the Senate!

President Roberts announcements will be developed after the Board of Trustees meeting. Provost Nathan plans to address academic matters, retention data, graduation rate, promotion and tenure reception, faculty awards, and update on graduate school interim dean search.

Business Items

Rules Committee Report

Presenter: Rachel Prado

Rachel Prado presented a report on the Rules Committee. It included current members, information on Senate Committees, University Committees, and answers to frequently asked questions. Suggestions were made on improving the presentation.

Academic Standards Committee

Presenter: Damion McIntosh

Damion McIntosh presented the proposed course overload policy. The new policy addresses five areas and compared the current standard to the proposed revision. The changes would reduce workload significantly. Discussions included suggestions for improvements for readability in presentation. Steering requested a motion be made to help gather feedback for the policy.

Information Item

Accessibility Working Group

Presenter: Kristin Roberts, Ed Youngblood, and Mark Bransby

The Accessibility Working group presented information on changes to the accessibility law including background, scope, exclusions, duties, standards, why comply, and what faculty can do. Suggestions were made to improve wording and add acknowledgment of challenges. Discussed potential faculty questions and requested information to be add that the Biggio Center team will present at the October University Faculty meeting.

New Business

None.

Adjournment

Chair Davis adjourned the meeting at 4:53 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.