UNIVERSITY PARK — At its March 19 meeting, the Penn State Faculty Senate passed advisory reports recommending centralized funding for Student Disability Services and increased recognition for faculty engaged in overseeing global programs. The senate also passed a resolution expressing concern about budget reduction at Commonwealth Campuses and requesting an alternative approach.
The senate heard two presentations from fellow faculty members on the Budget Allocation Working Group Project and the Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) at Penn State Dickinson Law.
John Cheslock, the faculty representative on the budget working group and a professor of higher education in the College of Education, studies the finances of colleges and universities. He explained that his role on the committee was both to represent the faculty perspective and as a subject-matter expert, noting that there were extensive opportunities for meaningful participation.
In his presentation, Cheslock said the committee considered multiple potential budget models, including both incremental and formulaic models. He detailed how each potential option comes with its own set of pros and cons, but emphasized his belief that Penn state’s new budget model best meets the needs of the University.
“I am both a supporter of the model and a critic of the model,” Cheslock said. “I support the model because I believe it is an improvement over the old model. I’m a critic of the model because I want us to acknowledge the limitations and challenges associated with the new model — such as the potential to duplicate courses — and take them seriously.”
A team of faculty members from Penn State Dickinson Law led the discussion on the ADI, which included plans to work with and implement its human-centered approach and antiracist framework with groups across the University, which could potentially include collaboration with an administrative unit.
Committee reports
Committees tasked with working in tandem with University leaders on various initiatives also reported on their progress:
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The Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs, Education, Intra-University Relations reported faculty involvement from across the University on the Academic Portfolio and Program Review (APPR);
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Research Scholarship and Creative Activity and University Planning had nothing new to report on the impact of the budget model and planning on research and creative activity;
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Faculty Affairs, Intra-University Relations, and University Planning reported a productive meeting with Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Sara Thorndike;
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Admission, Records, Scheduling and Student Aid and Education met with Vice Provost for Online Education Renata Engel to talk about the status of blended programs;
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Education, Educational Equity and Campus Environment, and Student Life chairs met with the unit leader of Undergraduate Education, Student Affairs and Faculty Affairs to discuss details of restructuring these offices;
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Educational Equity and Campus Environment met with Executive Vice President and Provost Justin Schwartz to discuss the early planning stages of the new vice president for Inclusive Excellence role;
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Faculty Benefits reported ongoing discussions with the administration on the status of health insurance benefits and retirement plans; and
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Faculty Affairs continues to engage in dialogue with the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Kathy Bieschke about contract renewals for nontenure-line faculty at Commonwealth Campuses.
Senate passes advisory/consultative reports
Faculty Senate passed two advisory/legislative reports, concerning Student Disability Resources (SDR) and faculty-led global programs. Introduced by the Senate Committee on Educational Equity and Campus Environment, the report on Student Disability Resources makes three recommendations for how the University can improve accommodations for students in need of services.
The primary recommendation is that all Student Disability Resource Services budgets be centrally located and concentrated, with the goal of improving the timeliness and consistency of providing accommodation provisions across campuses. The report also recommends that the University assess all testing centers for accessibility-related considerations, including access to quiet, distraction-reduced spaces and assistive technology, such as text-to-speech and magnification software. It was also recommended that SDR staff on every campus participate in every New Student Orientation.
There was some discussion about whether a centralized budget would improve streamlining the process, and what should be done to help faculty better prepare to accommodate the needs of students in their classes.
“We will be launching a faculty portal, hopefully by the fall semester, that will give faculty the ability to see how many SDR students are going to be in their class that semester,” said Leah Zimmerman, executive director of Student Disability Resources. “The identities of the students will not be shared, and they will still need to get their accommodation letters. But the goal will be to identify numbers, including how many students in the class might need extra time, note taking help or other accommodations.”
The senate also passed an advisory report highlighting factors that could disincentivize faculty from leading global embedded programs, including a lack of knowledge about time requirements, curricular demands, insufficient support, and lack of recognition. The report recommends that the University examine these factors.
Both reports will be sent to University leadership for consideration.
Updates from University leadership
Affirming her ongoing advocacy to the state for fair, equitable and performance-based funding for Penn State, President Neeli Bendapudi praised the more than 200 students from across all campuses who attended Capital Day in Harrisburg to share their stories and meet with representatives. She also thanked Vice President for Government and Community Relations Mike Stefan and his team for organizing the event.
Bendapudi also praised Vice President for Human Resources Jennifer Wilkes and her staff for completing the rollout of the Compensation Modernization initiative to better align staff salaries with new, market-informed salary grades.
In response to faculty feedback regarding difficulty with navigating systems and processes related to tracking funding and financial progress of research projects, progress has been made on advancing the Research Support Transformation Project, announced in September, Bendapudi said. She thanked interim Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Read for leading this effort and said he will be sharing more details soon.
Bendapudi also highlighted Penn State’s recent improved Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and thanked the Faculty Senate for its role in creating new sustainability-focused courses and cocurricular activities, and for faculty’s involvement in a wide range of sustainability-focused research.
Provost Schwartz began his remarks by recognizing Cecil Shelton, a lecturer of statistics in the Eberly College of Science, for using the Starfish progress survey reports to identify a student who was falling behind, and then reached out to get that student back on track. Schwartz encouraged all faculty members to use the Starfish progress reports to flag students who need assistance so that advising and other support services can be identified and used as appropriate.
Schwartz said there have been nearly 500 nominations of faculty from across the University to participate in the emerging working groups of the Academic Portfolio and Program Review tasked with carrying out the University-wide review of Penn State’s undergraduate and graduate courses.
With such a high level of interest, Schwartz was asked how he plans to incorporate everyone who wants to be involved. He said his office will work with faculty members who volunteered to define an effective model for participation.
Following up on a recent email update from Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and Executive Chancellor Margo DelliCarpini to campus communities, Schwartz reiterated what was previously shared, including that each campus will have working groups, as well as regional groups, with representation from faculty, staff, students and other stakeholders. More information and nomination forms for people to serve on committees will be coming out soon, he said.
19 credit-hour tuition surcharge
Schwartz mentioned that his office met with the leadership of the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA), Penn State’s student governing body, to discuss the tuition surcharge for credit hours above 19 credits, approved by the Board of Trustees in July.
UPUA passed a resolution in November, calling on the administration to reconsider that decision and highlighting degree programs that exceed 19 credits per semester on their suggested academic plans. After the meeting with Schwartz, the number of those programs was reduced, and the resolution updated.
The discussion also referenced a continued look at other ways to lessen this financial burden on students, including potentially not charging credits for some preparatory training courses, and reassessing where credit hours are lacking.
UPUA leaders gave a presentation during Tuesday’s senate meeting about the impact of the surcharge on students, on behalf of the Senate Committee on Education, which made known its wish to co-sponsor the resolution.
Other business
During the new business portion of the meeting agenda, a nonbinding resolution was introduced, expressing concern about budget reductions at Commonwealth Campuses and calling upon the administration to find an alternative approach. Several senators expressed support, while one questioned the feasibility of the timeline and whether it reflected the reality of Penn State’s budget situation. The resolution passed, 75-39.
The senate also:
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Voted to pass revisions to Senate Policy 67-10 on Division I Athletic Competition. The revisions specify that graduate student-athletes whose grade point average (GPA) falls below a 3.0 will not be in good academic standing, as defined by the Graduate School. They can still participate in practice and games, unless their GPA falls below 2.0, but will work with the Morgan Academic Center to create an academic recovery plan to get back on track.
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The senate approved nominees for the following committees: Faculty Rights and Responsibilities; University Promotion and Tenure Review; Standing Joint Committee on Tenure; as well as Senate Council nominations for the positions of chair-elect of the senate, secretary, academic trustee, and for the Faculty Advisory Committee to the President. Senators will be elected to these roles during the April meeting.
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Heard reports on promotion rates and salary increases for nontenure-line faculty, from the Senate Committees on Intra-University Relations and Faculty Affairs, and on the effectiveness of the general education curriculum, from the Senate Standing Joint Committee for General Education Assessment, including the launch of a confidential, interactive online database for senators to access enrollment and outcome data.
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The senate heard an informational report on the actions taken by the SIMBA team to address challenges with monitoring budgets and spending for funded research. The presentation focused on the reimplementation of the myResearch Portal to track and share financial information. This move is part of the Research Support Transformation Project, announced last September geared toward re-envisioning Penn State’s operations in research by modernizing support systems and streamlining the invoice and payment processes.
The next regular meeting of the Penn State Faculty Senate will be 1:30 p.m. April 16, in 112 Kern Building on the University Park campus, and will be livestreamed via Zoom.
About Faculty Senate
Faculty Senate is a legislative body comprised of 200 faculty, elected by their peers from each college and campus. The senate also includes representatives from the undergraduate and graduate student body and University administration. The senate holds legislative authority on educational matters including curriculum, student policies, admissions, and retention/graduation requirements. The senate also serves as an advisory and consultative body to the University administration, a process referred to as shared governance.