OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Note: Complete proceedings of the meeting were recorded are available at https://senate.oregonstate.edu/feburary-20-2025-faculty-senate-webcast.
Senators Present:
Agricultural Sciences: Calderon (remote), Cannon, Creason (remote), Elliott, Ellsworth, Gwin (remote), Selina Heppell, Hooven, Jose Uscanga (v. Jones), Moyer (remote), Rondon,
Associated Faculty: Aguiar (remote), Alvarez-Cortez (remote), Bird, Amanda Ronay (v. Bruce) (remote), Burns (remote), Fleury, Gillies (remote), Hansen (remote), Elizabeth Wolfram (v. Hayes) (remote), Henry (remote), McCarley (remote), Merrell, Ramos, Stefanie Buck (v. Riggs), Rooney, Schaffer, Stephanie Pearse (v. Seton) (remote)
Business: Baldridge (remote), Blackburne (remote), Hall, Morris (remote), Taplin (remote), Trinidad
Cascades: Adoretti (remote), Brauner (remote), Orr (remote), Shaw (remote), Smith (remote)
Earth, Ocean, & Atmospheric Sciences: Creveling (remote), Crump (remote), de Silva, Dever, Fehrenbacher, Fram (remote)
Education: Dykeman (remote)
Engineering: Apte, Bobba (remote), Calvo-Amodio (remote), Haller (remote), Jovanovic, Mallette (remote), Mills (remote), Moon (remote), Redfield (remote), Joy King (v. Rich), Scheel, Tadepalli, Wildenschild (remote)
Extension: Arispe (remote), Jones (remote), Riggs (remote), Elvira Alvarez (v. Sundquist) (remote)
Forestry: Panwar, Powers, Robinson (remote), Warren
Hatfield Marine Science Center: No senators present
Health: Mendy Gayler (v. Armington) (remote), Bovbjerg (remote), Garcia (remote), Gunter, McGraw (remote), Newsom (remote), Riportella
Liberal Arts: Becker-Blease, Bernardin, Bude (remote), Cramer, Detar, Gurung, Inderbitzin (remote), Long (remote), Mize (remote), Plaza (remote), Reason (remote), Sullivan-Vance (remote), Whitebear (remote)
Library: Margaret Mellinger (v. Hussong-Christian)
Pharmacy: Morley (remote), Suchy
ROTC: Field (remote)
Science: Carter, Christie (remote), Clark (remote), Cozzi (remote), Escher (remote), James (remote), Kerish (remote), Kirk (remote), Root, Rowe (remote), Walsh (remote)
Student Affairs: Baxter, Chambers, Karen Schlieder (v. Douglas), Garry, Mott, Nishihara, Wolford (remote)
Veterinary Medicine: Chappell, Hall (remote), Tanenbaum
Senators Absent:
Agricultural Sciences: Busby, Cassidy, Scott Heppell, Velez
Associated Faculty: Dorbolo, Elmshaeuser, White Eyes, Walton, Ward
Business: Trinidad
Cascades: No senators absent
Earth, Ocean, & Atmospheric Sciences: No senators absent
Education: Wright
Engineering: Conley Jr., Haller, Howard, Simon
Extension: Tanner
Forestry: No senators absent
Hatfield Marine Science Center: Wengrove
Health: No senators absent
Liberal Arts: Johnston
Library: No senators absent
Pharmacy: No senators absent
ROTC: No senators absent
Science: Carter, Kayes, Minot
Student Affairs: Mott
Veterinary Medicine: No senators absent
Ex-Officio members present: Bailey (remote), Dahl (remote), Mary Ellen Dello Stritto (v. Du Pont), Dugger, Gorgen-Doll, Mathew, Murthy (remote), Spitz, Valls
Non-Voting members present: Beachley, Palmer
Staff: Caitlin Calascibetta, Susie Sprinson
Guests: Katelyn Ambrose (remote), Linsay Andrews (remote), Whitney Archer (remote), John Bailey (remote), Virginia Balbi (remote), Becky Bangs (remote), Nancy Barbour (remote), Zack Barnett (remote), Christina Batten (remote), Stephanie Baugh (remote), Samuel Bell (remote), Staci Beymer (remote), Warren Blyth (remote), Vrushali Bokil (remote), Chris Branam (remote), Nya Buckner (remote), Jillian Coleman (remote), Jenn Creighton, Gloria Crisp (remote), Todd Cross (remote), Sandra DeBano (remote), Marcia Dickson (remote), John Edwards (remote), Susan Emerson (remote), Liz Etherington (remote), Eleanor Feingold (remote), Melanie Fewings (remote), Ana Lucia Fonseca (remote), Alica Formiga (remote), Ashlerose Francia (remote), Elsa Frey (remote), Kali Furman (remote), Ann Gannon (remote), Heather Garcia (remote), Zachary Gill, Alix Gitelman, Liz Gire, Kat Goetting (remote), Brenna Gomez (remote), Becca Gose, Troy Hall (remote), Claudia Hamilton (remote), Sara Hamilton (remote), Jeff Hare (remote), Janet Harrison (remote), Johana Hernandez (remote), Jessica Hertel (remote), Kim Hogeland (remote), Ashley Holmes (remote), Naomi Horne (remote), Kathryn Howard (remote), McKenzie Huber, Nadia Jaramillo (remote), Thomas Jima (remote), Karen Johnston, Mateo Estrada Jorge (remote), Elizabeth Kennedy (remote), Laurel Kincl (remote), Blythe Kneedler (remote), Zach Kronser (remote), Deborah Kurnik (remote), Ricardo Letelier (remote), Jim Lerczak (remote), Leela Magdaleno (remote), Caiden Marcus-Brist (remote), Rebecca Mathern (remote), Aedra McCarthy (remote), Andrea McDaniel (remote), Luther McDonald IV (remote), Keahi McFadden (remote), Jan Medlock, Devin Miles (remote), Jennifer Moore (remote), Raul Moreno (remote), Phil Mote (remote), Chad Murphy (remote), Kendell Nave (remote), Megan Naxer (remote), Robo Odom (remote), Todd Palmer, Angelique Pearson (remote), Julie Penn, Belizario Nigenda Perez, Kirsten Petersen (remote), Amy Peterson (remote), Jamie Ramirez-Galardi (remote), Suzanne Segerstrom (remote), Tianhong Shi (remote), Anne Sinkey (remote), Marilyn Stewart (remote), Caryn Stoess (remote), Roni Sue (remote), Rebecca Symons (remote), Elizabeth Thomas, Amy Thomson (remote), Nicole Thompson (remote), Shawn Tucker (remote), Margaretta Underhill (remote), Scott Vignos, Jess Waldschmidt (remote), Bridget Watson (remote), Karen Watte (remote), Cameron Wilson (remote), Erich White (remote), Joe Wolf, Nicole Wolf (remote), David Wooster (remote), Steve Wuhs, Shiao-Ling Yu (remote)
Faculty Senate President Andrew Valls called the Faculty Senate (FS) meeting to order. He thanked everyone for coming to the rescheduled session after the February 13, 2025 FS meeting had to be cancelled due to inclement weather. He then went over voting guidelines and procedures for asking questions and making comments.
He informed the FS that a Bylaws Work Group has been tasked by the Executive Committee (EC) with examining the current FS bylaws, reviewing those of peer institutions and proposing potential revisions. The work group membership includes Michael Beachley (FS Parliamentarian), Susie Sprinson (FS Director of Operations), Katheryn Yetter (University Policy) and Andrew Valls (Ex-Officio). They will meet biweekly for the rest of the academic year and will report regularly to the EC and FS. Jan Medlock (guest, former senator) from College of Veterinary Medicine rose to make a comment and encouraged the work group to consider verifying start dates within the Bylaws.
Andrew then brought up the possibility of moving the venue for FS meetings to the Memorial Union Multipurpose Room (13) for May and June with the hope of increasing in-person attendance. If it goes well and there is positive feedback, this may be a permanent change.
Andrew introduced the 2025 Lead Senators and noted that a meeting was scheduled to go over the role and expectations.
A call for nominations for select university awards has gone out. Nominations close on at noon on April 4, 2025.
Director of Core Education, McKenzie Huber, presented an update on Core Education implementation. The Core Education Committee (CEC) meets for 2 hours each week, reviewing approximately 20 courses each meeting, and have made significant progress. The CEC had to do some prioritization of proposals but have been able to expand their capacity and review other courses. McKenzie asked all course proposers to review returned courses in CIM, address comments, and resubmit within 5 days. To date, the CEC has reviewed and approved/conditionally approved 252 courses. McKenzie noted that Ecampus redevelopment proposals are due May 10, 2025 for Winter 2026 courses.
No questions were brought to the floor.
Oregon State University President Jayathi Murthy led a discussion about OSU’s response to changes in federal leadership. President Murthy expressed that the university will continue to be guided by their values and mission, and the OSU administration remains focused on supporting faculty. President Murthy emphasized the importance of academic freedom and encouraged faculty to reach out if they had questions or concerns.
Becca Gose, Vice President and General Counsel, explained that OSU administration has multiple groups that focus on analyzing new federal actions with potential impacts to the OSU community. The groups interpret if the action applies and if it will be implemented, if it has significant negative impact, and what advocacy tools there are.
Scott Vignos, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer next discussed principles that the OSU administration is using to guide decision making. The administration will also be advocating for OSU’s mission in strategic and thoughtful ways via advocacy, conversations with our congressional delegation, and more. They will continue to engage frequently with the faculty and be transparent through regular communication.
Jenn Creighton, Associated Vice President for Research Administration, Finance, and Operations, noted she is available for questions regarding research. Attendees asked questions about grants, DPO courses, sanctuary status, and changes to tenure guidelines.'
Curriculum Council Co-Chair Jim Coakley presented a curricular proposal to the FS. The motion on the floor is to rename the Nuclear Engineering Undergraduate Major (BS, HBS) to Nuclear Science and Engineering Undergraduate Major (BS, HBS). The name change has been reviewed and approved by the Budgets & Fiscal Planning Committee, the Curriculum Council, and the Executive Committee. The name change is associated with significant overhaul of the of the program as the Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics majors will sunset. Transcript visible options have been added and the curriculum has been adjusted for new Core Education and student success initiatives.
No questions were brought to the floor.
While the motion was open, Jim shared reviews and approvals made by the Curriculum Council since the January 9, 2025 FS meeting.
Motion: Approve proposal to rename Nuclear Engineering Undergraduate Major (BS, HBS) to Nuclear Science and Engineering Undergraduate Major (BS, HBS); the motion passed with 96 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 2 abstentions.
Associate Vice Provost and University Registrar Rebecca Mathern presented the Accreditation update. Rebecca went over the timeline for the year 6 and year 7 reports and the focus of each. OSU will have a site visit in April 2026 as part of the year 7 report. Faculty Senate President Andrew Valls asked about faculty participation in the site visit. Rebecca noted that the site visit has four meetings: one with faculty, one with students, one with employees/non-teaching faculty, and one with board members. There will be other meetings over the course of the site visit, and Rebecca encouraged faculty engagement in those forums.
Faculty Senate President Andrew Valls called for any new business. He reiterated that there will be time devoted to the budget during the March 13, 2025 Faculty Senate meeting.
There was no new business.
With no further discussion or business before the Faculty Senate, Andrew adjourned the meeting at 4:11PM.
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Land Acknowledgement