Faculty Senate Minutes - October 2025

Behrend Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, October 29, 2025 
11:30 a.m. – 236 Burke 

  1. Call to Order
    1. David Dieteman, Faculty Senate Chairperson
  2. Approval of minutes from the August Faculty Senate Meeting
    1. Motion M. Naber and seconded by J. Bennett
  3. Leadership Updates
    1. Ralph Ford, Chancellor
      1. Census numbers
        1. Seventy students down
        2. Residential Campus drop less at Behrend than other campuses (10-12%)
      2. Focus on AI
        1. Being prepared
        2. Discussion at Leadership and Program levels
          1. What background in AI does a Behrend graduate need to be successful?
            1. High School graduates may have a better job future than our current students.
            2. Programs are being asked for a template of how we are integrating AI into our programs.
            3. Publish and share findings
          2. Academic Leadership Council
            1. Good discussion
            2. Stand tall comparatively
            3. An engaged AI Task Force
      3. Provost visit
        1. Very happy with visit
        2. Tour of campus and Knowledge Park, impressed by what he saw
        3. Provost very cognizant of culture of engagement; he said he could feel it
      4. Question for Chancellor, Jason Bennett, “When do they update the dashboard for Penn State website, last checked it still had Fall 2024 numbers (enrollment, faculty numbers, etc…)
      5. Ralph- “It should have been updated on the 5th or 6th; I will check on it.”
    2. Greg Filbeck, Vice Chancellor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
      1. Revision of BCF23
        1. 2-year-old model has changed; model has evolved; overhead changes
          1. Break-even analysis underway with Summer Classes
          2. Latest revision is due 10-29-25; plan to present with full-transparency calculator
          3. Bill Samluk is working with school directors
          4. Emphasis that summer aims to generate credit hours and cover faculty pay; substantial enrollments needed; undergraduate enrollments include World Campus and residential
          5. Ensuring viable enrollments; evolving overhead introduces complexity; risk of low-enrollment courses causing imbalance.
          6. Nov. 10th next Alt meeting, present revised model
            1. Question from Jason Bennett “does this encompass all? Or just Behrend”
            2. Answer from Greg “will discuss with Faculty Affairs.”
          7. Distribute materials if aligned
        2. COACHE Committee (1-year, 2-year, 3-year)
          1. Walking through survey and feedback
          2. What is feedback from Behrend College
          3. Short-term vs long-term?
          4. What is an appropriate mix?
        3. New Instructional Modalities, Fall of 2026
          1. Change what counts as an “in-person class”
          2. Changing to H1 (8%-24% Zoom) In-person allows no more than a week, 2 lecture days.
          3. Prior definition 75% in person, up to 25% Zoom.
          4. Student demand expecting in-person.
          5. Modality change involves school director's approval and changes by Registrar.
          6. Many questions
            1. Sara Luttfring – Modalities and use of Zoom or Teams for sickness or emergencies. If only 1 week, and you surpass that level, do you change modality during semester
            2. Greg F. – Re-explained the modalities, one-offs can be discussed but moving forward students want value/in-person classes.
            3. Ralph F. – Ways to deal with this administratively.
            4. Matt W. – Faculty should be able to decide which modalities work best for them, no administrative decree without consultation (Faculty Senate).
            5. Jason B. – How hard is it to change modalities? Is it up to School Director and Registrar?
            6. Lucianna A. – This seems to be an ongoing problem with our process. There has been no faculty discussion. This affects our workplace and colleagues.
            7. Greg F. – May not have been discussed, but all changes to policy went to Faculty Affairs/Senate.
            8. Matt S. – Transition is a process.
            9. Ralph F. – Transition process would be presented and discussed and put to a vote.
    3. Alicyn Rhoades, Vice Chancellor and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies
      1. Thank you to Research Committee reviewers on quick turnaround on Sabbatical Applications
      2. Two new small seed grants from OVPCC, $3-5,000.00, must be spent this fiscal year.
        1. AI
        2. Community Engagement
        3. Possible Issues: Short window, Uncertainty of AI grant details
    4. Amy Bridger, Assistant Dean for Innovation and Corporate Strategy
      1. Plea for names of companies for career fair.
        1. Email survey “What could you use (one-time cost)”
          1. Need Cost
            1. Purpose
            2. Back pocket, rainy day
          2. Amy B. mentions Jake Marsh’s progress on STEP       
            1. STEP Networking
              1. Year-long course/program
              2. How to work with businesses
              3. 2-day block, working with industry
  4. Old Business
    1. University Faculty Senate Update – Matt S.
      1. Assignment process for closing campuses
      2. Tenure-line have already started moving
      3. Health care, open enrollment changes, posted on Faculty Senate Website
      4. WPSU, future, how to transition
      5. Budget model where does money come from, how is it allocated to certain pots.
      6. Formal thinking, new pass/fail policy
        1. If you are concerned, please talk to Matt S. or other Senators
      7. New Task Force
        1. Student Life International Students
      8. Concern about process of re-assignment
        1. Tenure-line
        2. Re-assignment of NTL
        3. Will Tenure-line replace NTL’s when contracts are to be renewed?
      9. IRC- re-appointment, re-approval, new report
      10. Questions or input
        1. David D.
          1. There have been questions about the administration being transparent about how it acts on FR&R recommendations.
        2. Jason B.
          1. Once recommendation has been made, is there to be formal feedback?
          2. Only one thing came back to FR&R, no formal feedback system.
          3. Well? No answer…
  5. Updates/Announcements
    1. Academic and Advising – Erin Dick – David D. substituted for, gave report.
      1. A & A Committee formally recruiting students, December 3rd.
      2. Undergraduate Research Conference
        1. Goal is to move from being at the school level to the college level
      3. Behrend Faculty Showcase
        1. Taking place in January
    2. Undergraduate Curricular Affairs – Melanie Ford - Absent
    3. Graduate Curricular Affairs – Zhengran He – Absent – David D.
      1. Committee reviewed IUG Proposal
      2. Moving ahead with CIM process
    4. Faculty Affairs – Dustin Hemphill
      1. Short meeting
      2. Reports due October
      3. Aligning goals through November
        1. 4 Sub-committees
          1. Faculty retention
            1. Website with policies, CANVAS may be better as it is actively managed.
          2. Policy Review
            1. BCF 23 policies slated to be revised this year, looking at how to survey the faculty to get comments and feedback.
          3. Workload Flexibility
            1. Gathering data from peer campuses
            2. Goal of workload proposal with recommendations.
          4. Professional Development
            1. Survey for faculty interest in professional development.
              1. Piloted by Rick Hedrick in School of Business.
              2. Expanding to send to all faculty.
    5. Research, Scholarship & Professional Development – Justyna Skomra
      1. Alicyn mentioned that we submitted our review of sabbatical applications
        1. Research Committee meets in November
        2. Undergraduate Research and Behrend Faculty Showcase are next on agenda.
          1. Goal is to move it from being School of Science gig to being a full college event
        3. 2 other charges to deal with after showcase and UGRC.
    6. Campus Life – Eva Kuttenberg (absent) David D. reported for her.
      1. Spirited meeting in September to discuss their charges.
      2. Meet with Aaron Sanner in November over the needs of transfer students.
  6. New Business – David D.
    1. BCF should have been sent out for review
    2. Serious need for people at meetings so we can have a quorum.
    3. Need to see a website for Behrend Senate
      1. Not a big fan of CANVAS, need transparency.
      2. Tic sheet recording new ideas.
      3. Ad Hoc tank, forced from Faculty Senate.
    4. Matt S. comments – Need dates well ahead of time to allow scheduling. People need times and notice for meetings, maybe try for Spring 2026.
    5. Jason B. comments – Who exactly gets emails from Lisa?
    6. Ralph F. comments- Jane Brady says new numbers are coming out at 4:30 p.m.
  7. Adjournment

Adjournment motioned by J. Bennett, seconded by M. Swinarski