Faculty Council Minutes - December 2025

Behrend Faculty Council Meeting Minutes

December 2025

  1. Call to order, D. Dieteman
  2. Approval of minutes
    1. Motion M. Naber, seconded by E. Dick.
  3. Purpose and Context of Meeting (D. Dieteman)
  4. Updates from Leadership
    1. Chancellor (R. Ford)
      1. Discussed AI strategy PowerPoint from Provost and the related discussion.
      2. VAR and Emerging Technologies.
      3. Dave Dieteman stated that Faculty Senate will create an ad hoc Emerging Technologies task force to work with the existing AI committee.
    2. Vice Chancellor and Dean of Academic Affairs (Greg Filbeck)
      1. BCF 23 summer pay policy, email going to all faculty, the goal is to break even and stay solvent while offering summer courses.
        1. H1 course format FA 26.
        2. Emerging Technologies Task Force of BFS, Dave Dieteman will work with Greg Filbeck.
    3. Vice Chancellor and Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, (Alicyn Rhodes)
      1. Faculty Showcase coming January 28, 2026.
        1. Research committee will promote and moderate the event.
        2. Western campuses are invited.
    4. Assistant Dean for Innovation and Corporate Strategy, (Amy Bridger)
      1. Winter shutdown is coming.
      2. Feb. 19 Career Fair coming.
      3. Cocoa breaks during classes.
  5. Reports from Committee Chairs
    1. Academic Advising, Erin Dick – hosting AI roundtable, seeking nominations.
    2. Campus Life, Eva Kuttenberg – Frederique Marty spoke for Eva: committee making progress on charges
      1. Seeking input on how to increase attendance at athletic events.
      2. Mentorship of transfer students, need an adviser liaison for them.
      3. Need a SCI faculty member for committee.
    3. Faculty Affairs, Dustin Hemphill – making progress on charges
      1. Met Kathy Noce regarding the creation of new websites.
      2. Charge 2, policy review, surveyed faculty; worked on BCF 23 revisions.
      3. Charge 3, Dustin is still seeking data and bench-marking information.
      4. Professional Development survey is coming soon.
    4. Graduate Affairs, Zhengran He
      1. Review regarding MBA, approved proposal to CIM.
      2. Drafting graduate curriculum guide.
    5. Research Committee, Justyna Skomra – met with Alicyn; Justyna had to leave to teach class.
    6. Undergrad Curric Affairs, Melanie Ford.
      1. PSCM course change, other majors are up for review
      2. How to do cyclical major reviews.
  6. University Faculty Senate Update - Matt Swinarski
    1. FR&R report on tenure denial.
    2. Instructional modes report.
    3. Research misconduct; changed timeframes for investigations.
    4. Facutly Affairs looking at standard workloads for NTL and TL faculty.
  7. Old Business – None.
  8. New Business – None.
  9. Adjournment
    1. Motion J. Bennett, seconded by M. Ford.

Attendance: Everyone present, or reports by proxy