Thank you for your tireless service and support over this long, yet potentially perilous year. Before I head into a recap of that year, I wanted to start with some celebratory information about this May’s graduation. I attended 9 graduation ceremonies in College Station, which consisted of 8,903 undergraduate degrees and 3,497 graduate degrees. The student speeches were spectacular at all of the graduation ceremonies and demonstrated the strength and excellence of character of our graduating students.

My year as Faculty Senate Speaker started harmlessly enough last May, when the year of the Path Forward seemed to have somehow merged three colleges, the creation of schools, the movement of departments, and an enormity of other changes without the chaos that many of us expected. Removal of tenure of the libraries was a terrible shock and hurt to everyone, but by May, all the librarians who wanted to, found a home in another department. Dr. Heather Lench had already reached out to all of them and found that practically all of them were happy and well-situated in their new department. The other librarians were making great strides in advancing the library in their new roles as staff members.

It was at that moment in May that I laughed at my hubris thinking that this was going to be a difficult year for the faculty, and wondered if I was needed at all as Speaker for this coming year. I figured I would be twiddling my thumbs for the next year and was incredibly proud of how well Dale Rice had gotten us through what I thought would have gone down in history as one of the hardest two years in A&M history. I asked him to be my official mentor during the next year, as I had little experience, and he graciously agreed.

It is at this point that I would like to give you the story of how I ended up becoming Speaker of the Faculty Senate in the first place.

In the Fall of 2019, I was a full-tenured professor, with full having been granted a good five years ago. I had a thriving research group, publishing over or under 10 journals and prestigious conference papers a year. I had over 10 million in research funding, with 5 more NSF grants to be awarded within the next few months. But I felt like something was missing. I wanted to do more. So I asked my department head if I could sign up for the mid-career faculty semester-long workshop led by Dr. Heather Wilkinson and Nancy Simpson. My department chair agreed but was confused as to why I wanted to participate since it would be more geared toward associate professor faculty working towards full. I signed up anyway, and my department chair was right, other than one other person who had just come to A&M two years ago as a department head, and who now found himself as a member of that department trying to start up a new research group, the rest of the participants were associate professors. That said that group was a powerful group of movers and shakers including the prestigious Dr. Julie Harlin, a prior Speaker of the Faculty Senate, who is now an associate Dean continuing to make significant impacts across the university.

I will say to you that participating in that workshop during the Spring of 2020 was one of the most life-changing experiences, and I will strongly recommend you take that workshop or one of the myriad other workshops led through the Office of Faculty Affairs by Dr. Heather Wilkinson.

When we went around the room discussing why everyone was there, the answers were impressive, and I felt at a loss. When it got to my turn, I said I wasn’t sure, from all external metrics, I was a successful full faculty member, but I wanted to do more, and I felt that I was capable of doing more, but I wasn’t sure exactly what that was.

That workshop, as well as all of the other workshops led by Dr. Heather Wilkinson, included an intense amount of self-reflection. And, from that reflection, I realized that what was missing for me was the impact I wanted to make to service at the university. It was during that semester, that I applied (and later was selected) to be director of the TEES/TAMU Institute for Engineering Education and Innovation. And I thrived in that role, loving enhancing our research prominence and accomplishments in engineering education. We have become a powerhouse that the world’s largest and most prominent engineering education conference, ASEE. However, what has come to be my favorite thing that I do in that role is mentor and even formally chair and advise other faculty members, many of whom are now close to receiving their Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering with a research focus on Engineering Education.

But inspired by Dr. Julie Harlin, prior Faculty Senate Speaker, who was a colleague in the workshop, I decided to run for membership in the Faculty Senate.

Throughout my career, I had been discouraged from participating in the Faculty Senate. I was told to focus on my research. But even with that advice, over my tenure at TAMU, I couldn’t help but advise over a thousand undergraduates on research, which many had also told me was not a good use of my time. But I couldn’t help myself. Working with undergraduate researchers and seeing the impact on their careers was so meaningful to me. And despite the amount of time I devoted to undergraduate research, I continued to be successful through traditional metrics. So, I thought, maybe the Faculty Senate would be no different.

So, I ran for Faculty Senate in Spring of 2020, and yes that was the start of COVID time. However, with the many warnings that I had received, and knowing that I tend to over-commit, I chose the safest route I could to make sure I could participate fully in the Senate without over-committing myself. I ran for seat number 19, a slot in Engineering that for some reason, as the last seat on the ballot, had only a one-year term. Now that I know more about these things, it was either due to someone stepping off early, or given that it was the last slot was due to restructuring the slots due to Engineering’s Fastly climbing enrollment.

So, I ran for seat 19 and was elected. Now be sure to not think it was because anyone thought I was going to do a good job. I ran unopposed, probably the only person who wanted to run for a one-year seat.

I spent that first year on the Senate riveted, enjoying being able to participate from my living room chair during COVID. And it didn’t seem to be an overwhelming amount of work. I was highly engaged in the research committee and the engineering caucus. That year the chair of our research committee passed away, and Dr. Matt Sachs and I threw ourselves headfirst not just into finishing up the committee and presenting our reports, but also in recommending him for the best first-session senator award, which he ended up receiving post-humously.

But one of the most important things about being in the Senate was that I enjoyed engaging with my colleagues more than I ever had in the past. After at that point about 15 years at A&M, I was finally starting to engage with colleagues across the university. And I really enjoyed that. The faculty here are amazing.

And so, I decided to run again. on the same seat. This year for a three-year term. And I decided to throw my hat in the run for the executive committee.

However, I signed up to run for the executive committee a bit too quickly, and I was quite inexperienced. Thus, when I found out that I was not just on the executive committee, but also the Secretary of the Faculty Senate, I was more than just a little confused. But upon looking into things further, again, rest assured that it was not because anyone thought I would do a good job, but rather because I had run unopposed.

That year as Secretary, was incredibly illuminating. I learned how much work the executive committee did behind the scenes, solving problems before they became problems. That was also the year Dr. Kathy Banks became president. It was the year our current Speaker-Elect, Dr. Patty Smith, stepped down because she became a department head. (Congratulations again, Patty!) So given the turmoil, Speaker Dale Rice generously threw his name in the hat again to be the next Speaker for year two!

Dr. Kathy Banks is a brilliant woman, and I worked with her for about 10 years in Engineering. I was used to the massive changes that she sometimes enacted, and I also knew how to voice discontent with the changes so that she could hear and act appropriately to our suggestions. NK played a huge role in that. He was the one who made sure the faculty voice was well represented. Many of you were surprised at how many engineering faculty came to the defense of NK when his character has been attacked at times, and I will tell you that it is because, over the last many years, he has proven to us over and over again that he represented our voice fairly.

But when Dr. Banks first became president, I was worried that a disaster was imminent. She was not used to being the internal voice of the faculty. In my concern, I used to voice, oh this is not going well… “She needs an NK.” Never in my wildest dreams did I ever guess that NK would be that NK.

So as the MGT report rolled around and working groups were popping up, I feared the worst, that the university would break down because of differences in communication styles. And I thought strongly that we needed a full professor in engineering with a strong research profile who was respected by and respected Kathy, to be the next Speaker of the Faculty Senate. And so, I ran for Speaker-Elect.

And I will pause for a moment to talk about Kathy. She, like all of us, is far from a perfect person. What happened last summer was horrible, and I don’t excuse any of it. But I do want to mention a few things. First, there are very few women in Engineering, and a very small minority of them rise to Engineering leadership positions. Second, I still remember when she first arrived at Texas A&M. I believe she might be the only dean in history to make individual meetings with every faculty member in the entire college upon first arrival to get to know them and their research, and their students. I still remember that first meeting with Kathy in my lab with my students. She encouraged me to develop a center for my Sketch Recognition Research, and she has continued to be supportive of me throughout my career, I have heard similar stories from other faculty members.

I would also like to speak for a moment about ETAM and the rationale for the merging of the three colleges. ETAM stands for Entry to a Major and it started in 2014. It meant that students could not choose their major upon entry, but rather it meant that students were admitted into general Engineering, and they chose their major at the end of their first year. I am a Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, and I will say that we were the fiercest opponents of ETAM. Initially, students were unable to take any computer science classes during their first year, causing huge bottlenecks in our degree. Our Hispanic student population went down from 22% in 2014 to 11% a few years ago. They were being admitted at the same rate, but they were self-selecting out. For the earlier part of the years, students had to get a 3.5 to get into the major, but now they need a 3.75 for automatic entry, leaving only 18 out of 600 students for holistic review. And let me tell you it is a hard decision to reject a student with a 3.74. But we have students in holistic review who have done amazing things, such as starting their own companies and others. But I will also say that during that same time, our retention went from the low 40’s to the high 80’s approaching 90% retention. Across the college, the numbers are very similar. Our retention in Engineering is orders above the national average. All of the Engineering departments have benefited from this in regard to their national ranking. (Data from Chris.)

Now many of you have wondered about the rationale behind the merging of the colleges. I know you have guessed, surmised, and even read text messages regarding the rationale behind the merging of the three colleges. For me, being from Engineering, the rationale seemed immediately obvious. When students enter a major from high school and don’t succeed, it harms the department in terms of retention and ranking, but also in terms of resources. But most importantly, it harms the student. So, Kathy, with her knowledge of where students usually transfer from, and to, realized that if she could put those departments in the same college and create a shared first year for those students who transfer between programs, they would be much more likely to be successful. This was the rationale not only for the merged colleges but also for the movement of departments to other colleges, as well as the multi-majors that had a shared first year. (I am not sure if I have that multi-major term yet, but hopefully, you all know what I am talking about.) I was explaining this to one of my colleagues on a phone call one day, and my husband overheard me while watering his plants, and he said “That is genius. No one ever enters Geography, his discipline, directly from high school. They always enter after transferring from one of the programs in the College of Science.” And I will tell you that the University has already started to see retention increases after these changes. (Data from Chris?)

Now, I am not a Pollyanna. And I am fully aware of other things that have gone on throughout her tenure here at A&M. But after the summer of 2023, it is easy to vilify someone and forget all the good things that they have accomplished. People are multifaceted. I am a big fan of recognizing that cognitive dissonance is a thing and that I think as the world gets more and more complicated, we need to become more and more comfortable with it.

I mention this in part because the Investigative Committee that I created because of the resolution that you all insisted on is done with their report. At this point, it is still going through a minor fact check, and at this time it has only been reviewed by the EC and one or two staff members. We plan to release it out to the full faculty and post it on the Faculty Senate website as soon as it is ready. However, before we do that, I urge you to let us release it to the named persons in the document. Not because I expect that we will change anything because of it, but to ensure that we are fair and that the document is accurate. They won’t have the ability to change anything, but they would be able to provide additional documentation for any potentially inaccurate part of the document.

So, you are probably curious about the outcomes of the report. For the most part, they are what you expect. But there are two things I would like to point out. The first is that all evidence supports that Kathy was 100% supportive of Dr. McElroy’s hire all the way up to 1-2 weeks before the deal went down. Second is that Dr. NK Anand had zero awareness of the final contracts as he said during our July meeting. Those contracts were never submitted to the Office of Faculty Affairs. Now it is true that if he had suspected anything, his office could have gone into interfolio to look into the unsubmitted documents from others in the chain, but that would have been unprecedented and also a violation of the common respect given to the department heads and deans during the hiring process.

Okay, so back to the timeline. As Speaker-Elect, I tried to ask the difficult questions. In December 2022, I asked President Banks what NK’s role was. Did he represent the voice of the faculty, or did he represent the voice of the president? To which NK immediately stated that he was both. And then the president immediately corrected him to state that he was the voice of the president.

I also spoke on behalf of myself regarding SB17 and SB18 in Austin in April of 2023 while Speaker-Elect, and I have shared with you on more than one occasion of my own personal thoughts on the importance of DEI, and how I define DEI personally, which does not involve hiring people for any reason other than merit but does involve considering systemic and historical impact. And most importantly, we make sure to support each one of our students and help support their success.

There were a few more bumps along the way, but as I mentioned earlier in this long dialogue, by the time I became Speaker of the Faculty Senate, it seemed the enormity of the bumps had been solved, and we were on our way to a calm Path Forward.

So back to the timeline. June was quite calm. We had decided to cancel the July meeting to give people some time to unwind during the summer to get ready for the new year. All of that changed I was driving back from a trip to the ASEE conference and sometime in New Jersey and I started getting calls from the press about Dr. McElroy. I don’t think I need to rehash the July meeting, but I will thank you all for being very faithful to your faculty constituents during that time. (Do I mention my interactions with Susan and Hart? What I would say. I don’t want to give a lot of extra details, but I will say that I worked closely during that time with Susan Ballabina, Dr. Hart Blanton, and even Dr. Jose Bermudez to ensure fair treatment of all, including President Banks. Thank you all) That same summer, details about Dr. Joy Alonzo surfaced from her treatment during the previous March. I will tell you that since that time, I have had many personal discussions with Dr. Alonzo, and she is a brilliant researcher and an amazing person.

That was a hard time for us, but some amazing things came out of that summer. And the most important thing that came out of that was the impact on our policies, or SAPs as we call them, related to Academic Freedom. Dr. Heather Lench and the Office of Faculty Affairs have been stupendous in their efforts to support and create change in this area… There have also been several senators and faculty members who have made significant efforts to make these changes. Thank you all for your efforts.

We have had a record number of difficulties that we have gone through this year, with one of the most significant being the closure of the Qatar campus. As many of you know, I have been meeting the faculty there weekly since the closure, Additionally, I traveled to Qatar this month, and have met all the wonderful faculty there. They should be so proud of what they have created over the last 22 years there. I certainly am.

One item that has brought new hope to the university has been the appointment of a new president of the university. President Welsh has shown incredible support for shared governance. He has created several committees that have strong and legitimate involvement with vocal faculty. The President has involved me, personally in several committees, including the President’s Cabinet. The Speaker of the Faculty Senate has not been a member of the President’s Cabinet in many years. It was President Gates who first started the tradition of involving the Speaker of the Faculty Senate in the President’s Cabinet, but the tradition was lost several years later. The President has also engaged me and other faculty in several influential committees that include deans, vice presidents, and other senior administrators. The President has not only paid lip service to the importance of shared governance but also has made new impactful actions that demonstrate his full commitment to shared governance. I encourage all of you to step up to these new opportunities and continue to make sure we step up and make sure we as faculty play our appropriate roles in shared governance.

It is at this point that I think it is important to repeat that shared governance does not mean that the faculty necessarily gets a vote in the process. Rather, it means that our voice will be heard, and the actions will reflect that our voice has been provided significant consideration.

As I leave this position, I ask you for several things. I ask that you continue to be brave in this coming year and support your constituents. I also encourage you to be authentic. And most importantly be kind to yourself and others. We are all imperfect. Be kind to yourself and others through the many more challenges that are certain to come forward. I also urge you to respect the diversity of thought that your colleagues and community members bring to the table. We learn so much from the differences that we each possess. I learn so much more from those whom I might disagree with than from those who think similarly. As the world becomes more and more divisive, please continue to try to stretch your thoughts and beliefs and work to understand those who might differ from you.

Okay with that, I will complete my talks, with one more earnest comment. Thank you so much for your support and help over this year. It has been a pleasure working with all of you. I will continue to support you all as best I can in whatever role I have in the future. This has been a difficult year, but one that I will treasure forever. Thank you for everything.

At this point, my speakership ends, and I will pass the gavel to the new Speaker of the Faculty Senate, Angie Hill Price.

PASSING OF THE GAVEL- Speaker Price

VOTING FACULTY SENATE OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AT-LARGE –Speaker Price to manage, along with Elections Committee

Meeting closed to executive session to conduct voting.

Voting for Speaker Elect:

Andrew Klein - College of Arts & Science

I am a Professor in the Department of Geography and hold the EOG Teaching Professorship in Geosciences. I was first elected to the Senate in 2003 and served as its speaker in 2019-2020. Today I am running for Speaker-Elect. The political and legislative landscape of the next two years promises be difficult for higher education. I believe my experience and extensive service will help the Senate navigate what could be turbulent waters. While recent administrative changes bring the promise of improved communication and shared governance at Texas A&M, its faculty’s voice still needs to be strengthened. For many years I have worked diligently on behalf of the Senate and have developed a reputation as a trusted and reasonable voice in effectively communicating the concerns of the faculty. As Speaker-Elect I will continue to strongly advocate for shared governance and academic freedom protections for our faculty across the university.

Election Results -

Senator Adam Kolasinski - Elections Chair, certified the election for Speaker Elect as Senator Andrew Klein.

Voting for Candidates for Secretary:

Patricia Bartoskewitz – Mays Business School

Patricia is an Executive Professor in the James Benjamin Department of Accounting at Mays Business School. She teaches courses in Corporate Taxation and Accounting Data Analytics, both in-person and through the MS Accounting Flex Online program. Prior to joining Texas A&M in 2022, Patricia spent 30 years at EY, a global consulting firm, where she served as a partner in their Tax practice. Patricia is committed to active involvement in university governance, and since November 2023, she has served as a member of the Faculty Senate and was recently re-elected. Patricia is a graduate of Texas A&M with a BBA in Accounting and Finance, and an MS in Accountancy, and she understands the culture, spirit, and values of our university. If elected to the Executive Committee, Patricia will bring her passion for academic excellence, collaborative spirit, and dedication to the role and is excited about this opportunity to serve.

Dave Tarvin-College of Arts & Science

Dr. Dave Tarvin is an instructional associate professor and the director of the undergraduate departmental honors program for the Department of Communication & Journalism. He teaches courses in public speaking, intercultural communication, and rhetorical theory, all with a strong focus on humor and sustainability. Dr. Tarvin serves as the department coordinator for education abroad and he strongly advocates for students to participate in such transformative experiences. This past year, he served as the Secretary/Treasurer for the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society TAMU Chapter and will serve as President-Elect next year. Dr. Tarvin won the A&S Undergraduate Mentoring Award in 2024, the Director’s Award for Outstanding Service to Honors Programs in 2023, Aggies Celebrate Teaching Award in 2020, was named a namesake for Transfer Camp in 2020, and a namesake for Fish Camp in 2019. He is running for the Executive Committee to contribute to the continued success of our university.

Election Results –

Senator Adam Kolasinski - Elections Chair certified Dave Tarvin as the Senator elected for Secretary.

Voting for Candidates for Executive Committee at-large. Vote for top 9 candidates:

Patricia Bartoskewitz – Mays Business School

Mark Burge-School of Law

Mark Burge is a passionate believer in the values of university shared governance and academic freedom and in promoting those values through constructive dialogue and persuasion. Mark is a professor with the School of Law, where he teaches contracts, commercial law, and legal skills courses. He is a Contributing Editor for the Hawkland Uniform Commercial Code treatise and for the Contracts Prof Blog. Mark has been in legal education since 2005 and on the faculty of Texas A&M University since 2013. He has twice been chosen by students as Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Professor of the Year, and he received the Texas A&M Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award – College Level for 2023-2024. Mark currently serves on the Faculty Senate Legislative Affairs Committee and would cheerfully bring a lawyer’s perspective—along with his faculty perspective—as an at-large member of next year’s Executive Committee.

Eduardo Gildin-College of Engineering

I have been a faculty in Petroleum Engineering since 2010. I rose through the ranks to become a professor in 2015. I have served on the Faculty Senate for a number of years now (this is my second term) and I continue to learn and understand the "machinery" of the university system. I have also served as the Engineering Caucus leader for the 2021-2022 term. As a dedicated member of our faculty, I am commitment to academic excellence, and a deep understanding of the needs and concerns of our faculty community. Serving on the EC will help me achieve my ultimate goal of fostering collaboration and advocating for the interests of faculty members across all engineering departments and, most importantly for the university at large. I have full confidence that I will excel in this role and will make invaluable contributions to the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate.

Adam Haney-Texas A&M University at Galveston

Colleagues, I have been honored to serve on the EC for this past year. Together we weathered events from Banks' departure to attacks on tenure and are recovering from the disastrous MGT debacle. I have learned a lot from the current EC team and especially our EC veterans. We still have much to do. We need to brace for the next Legislative session and whatever new challenges we face, I'm confident that we will have the courage to face it all. We must continue to listen to one another and while we will not always agree on the best course of action, we must remember that we serve the faculty and not outside forces nor at the behest of Administrators. Friends can disagree, but our focus must remain on what is best for Faculty so that we can serve our University, State, and Country. Please consider voting for me. Thanks!

Shelley Holliday-School of Architecture

Shelley Holliday, Associate Dean Academic Affairs/Professor of Practice, School of Architecture. Shelley has served on Faculty Senate for 10+ years. Shelley has received AFS Distinguished Achievement Awards teaching at the Department/College/University. As senator, she enjoys being a vital member with experience as senator, educator, administrator. She serves on Core Curriculum and been a part of Cultural Discourse implementation. She realizes importance of our Senate and communication, especially shared governance. Faculty Senate needs to lead communication. I serve on many committees: core curriculum, working groups path forward, operations looking at path forward one year forward, APT, many more. It’s important to have active Faculty Senate with an engaged Executive Committee. We need to make sure that the EC represents Senate as a whole and discussions at EC come back to Senate. I would like to continue with my goal to contribute and practice shared governance as a representative of the Executive Committee.

Fadi Khasawneh-Irma Lerma Rangel School of Pharmacy

As a junior faculty member at the time (2008), Fadi realized that teaching and research are not the only components in a professor’s job. Thus, he has been engaging in service and leadership activities throughout his academic career. This included serving as chair of several committees at all institutional levels and being elected at the national level (e.g., American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics). In terms of shared governance, which is something he is very passionate about, while Fadi is new to the TAMU Faculty Senate, he had actually been elected to the Faculty Senate at two previous institutions. In fact, he had the pleasure of serving in the capacity of Chair and Secretary, respectively. Fadi has been representing the School of Pharmacy (SOP) for one year now, and he resides on the Kingsville campus. He hopes to be the first EC member in the history of SOP.

Andrew Klein-College of Arts & Science

Blanca Lupiani-School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

I am a professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. Over the course of 10 years, I have held various administrative roles in the Office of the Dean of Faculties, where I passionately advocated for faculty rights and steadfastly supported shared governance. In 2010, as a faculty member, I was elected to the EC of the Faculty Senate and later served as an ex-officio member as Dean of Faculties. This dual membership in the EC made me appreciate the EC's important role in representing the faculty and advocating for shared governance. My understanding of university rules and processes will be a strong addition to the EC, especially as faculty-related rules and processes are being revised. I am currently a member at large of the Faculty Senate EC and would like your support to continue representing the faculty in this very important committee.

Krista Oldham-Texas A&M University Libraries

I have witnessed first-hand the important work that the Faculty Senate does, thoughtfully raising concerns to faculty and administrators on matters including academics, campus-climate and scholarship, and striving to find solutions that foster an intellectually vibrant campus. I have embraced every opportunity to deepen my engagement with shared governance at TAMU because I believe that I have a responsibility to contribute to the processes that shape the University. Our institution continues to thrive in an ever-more complex educational environment, with an outreach and research mission that requires, more than ever, constant faculty input and dynamic involvement to find constructive solutions for challenges that arise daily. I strongly believe in the need for transparency in these matters and an open platform for discussion, with the aim of fostering collaboration and interaction among the faculty and administration across the university. Hence, I believe that serving on the Executive Committee will further these goals.

Daniel Pugh-School of Education & Human Development

While having only completed my first year as a member of the faculty senate, I have been a member of the Texas A&M community for 9 years, having served as an executive-level administrator for six years. During that time, I had numerous interactions with the Faculty Senate, including monthly meetings with faculty that included past faculty senate speakers. I am exceptionally familiar with the current opportunities and issues facing Texas A&M and am also a faculty member in the Higher Education program where I teach a variety of courses that are directly applicable to the position.

Mark Sicilio-School of Medicine

A graduate of the Charter Class of the College of Medicine, I was Chief Resident in Pediatrics at Scott & White, and the first physician at Scott & White, College Station, where I practiced Pediatrics and taught Aggie medical students for 35 years. I was the youngest member ever elected to the Faculty Senate, have been selected by my peers as a Texas Monthly “Super Doctor,” and am the recipient of the Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching for the School of Medicine. I now serve as Associate Head, Department of Humanities in Medicine; School of Medicine Faculty Senate Caucus Leader; on the Faculty Senate Executive Committee; and Co-Chair of our Faculty Senate Bylaws Committee. If elected, I would be honored and strive for clear dialogue, consensus building, and fairness among all, with honesty, shared governance, integrity, and the Aggie Spirit at the core of deliberations.

Grace Townsend-Texas A&M University at Galveston

I am an Instructional Associate Professor from Galveston and have served multiple terms on Faculty Senate and the Executive Committee. During my career at A&M, I have seen a lot of change, some of it good, some not. Through the years we have expanded, relocated, and shut down campuses. While we hope for time without change, I believe it is inevitable in some form. Currently we have challenges in growth, expansion, and budget constraints. One of the best ways to support you during this time, is by giving your committees robust charges, enabling you to work more effectively. My time on EC has taught me the importance, and responsibility, of looking past a personal agenda. EC members must consider all aspects of the university and the incredible faculty who keep it going. If elected to EC I will strive to thoughtfully consider each of you and the interests, you serve.

Election Results –

Senator Adam Kolasinski - Elections Chair - certified the following Senators elected to the Executive Committee At-Large:

Patricia Bartoskewitz, Mark Burge, Adam Haney, Fadi Khasawneh, Blanca Lupiani, Krista Oldham, Daniel Pugh, Mark Sicilio, Grace Townsend

DISCUSSION ITEM

Former Speaker Hammond wanted to mention the Executive Committee decided to pull the information off the Code of Conduct. The Executive Committee decided to delay the Code of Conduct discussion needing more information.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

Senator Jorge Alvarado – College of Engineering, mentioned in past conversation about keeping the Faculty Senate meetings via zoom or going hybrid. He comments that he feels it’s time to move these meeting to hybrid and comments on the importance of having the meetings in person.

Senator Rajesh Miranda – School of Medicine, shared things that are happening on the highway 47 campus and students being affected by lack of transportation and that University Transportation ends at 6:00pm and we really need better access for student transportation to campus.

Senator Adam Kolasinski – Mays Business School, provided comments on the SAPs for Dean and Department Head selections have been revised. The language that was added by the Banks administration to prohibit disclosure of numerical results from the surveys was removed; however, language in the previous version of the rules before the Banks administration amended them, which was the statistics on numerical questions, statistics were to be released has not been put back in. He comments that the rule right now is vague.

Senator Catharina Laporte - College of Arts and Sciences, mentioned a couple of items, ne being recently received proposed changes for review on a couple of SAPs. They came through and were not red lined or green lined and is asking if it can made as part of policy to always send them back asking for the red lined version instead of disseminating them to the Faculty Senate without some kind of red lining. The second item she raised was that since several senators will be away for the next three months, she is wondering if the Legislative Committee will be on task and on point with the interim charges being given to the higher education committee by the Texas Senate. Specifically, the first charge of review and analyze the structure in higher education focusing on the role of faculty senates.

Senator Madhav Pappu – May Business School, mentioned an issue brought up by the faculty in the MIS and supply chain program and most likely its across other schools too. It’s regarding advising and the process of centralizing advising and its interference with how students receive information leading to student dissatisfaction. Students are upset about the advising process.

Senator Jorge Alvarado – College of Engineering, Lieutenant Governor has made announcement about higher education agenda for the next biennium, one of them having to do with faculty senates across the state of Texas. He asked how much is known about what is in the agenda, potential legislation and what is the Senate going to do proactively before something gets passed into law.

ADJOURN

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