The Faculty Senate held their weekly meeting on Thursday, Apr. 2, in ChemSci 102. There were many conversations between senators and guests before the meeting began. The agenda was very busy with proposals to shelf degrees, nominees for upcoming elections, and a possible constitutional amendment.
The meeting started with nominees for the different positions. Up for secretary is Stephen Morse from mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Up for Vice President is Patty Cobin and Chad Arney. Cobin is the current Vice President and is the Assistant Director of the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum, while Chad Arney is the current associate registrar. There are three people up for President; Robert Hutchinson, Holly Hassel, and Paul Bergstrom. Robert Hutchinson is the current President of the Faculty Senate, Paul Bergstrom is a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Holly Hassel is the Director of First-Year Writing. For president, a candidate needs a majority vote, if no candidate gets a majority, the one with least votes will be stricken and more votes will follow until one candidate gets the majority of votes. The full statements of the candidates can be found on the faculty senate website in the voter administration under resources.
After the statements, the senate voted on 33-26, which would modify a policy that was last changed 14 years ago. These changes clarify language to avoid confusion. It also adds some quality of life for first-year students. Another is to change the drop date from week 10 to week 12, allowing more time for advisors, students, and instructors to make decisions they would not have time to otherwise. The changes would also change language around the census date to make it more clear. The proposal was voted on and passed unanimously. The full language and proposal can be found linked on the agenda for the meeting.
Through both old and new business, a slough of programs and degrees were shelved, a new master was put in place, PhDs were shelved and renamed, and one new minor was put in place. All of these passed unanimously. The Graduate Certificate in Computational Materials Science, Graduate Certificate in Fundamentals of Materials Engineering, Vehicles Dynamics Graduate Certificate, and Safety and Security of Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems. The B.S. in Natural Resource Management was shelved as the enrollment is low, and the B.S. in Ecological Engineering is seen as very similar, but with somewhat more students. The M.S. in STEM Public Policy was voted in and focuses on data analytics, engineering, and technology management more than other public policy masters. The PhDs in Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering were voted to combine into the PhD in Computer and Electrical Engineering. A new minor in Applied Process Control was voted in for chemical engineers that would add a focus into process control and plant wide control. The PhD in Integrative Physiology was renamed to the PhD in Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology to reflect the change in the program and greater diversity of student interest. All of the specifics can be found linked in the agenda on the Senate website.
The hot topic of the meeting was 16-26, a proposal to amend the constitution to allow staff to vote on more proposals, specifically including academic ones. The contention comes from possible accreditation concerns. The specific organization brought up is ABET. Criterion six states “…and demonstrate sufficient authority to ensure proper guidance of the program.” This could be an issue with more staff voting and may threaten accreditation. The people presenting the proposal stated that they were in contact with the compliance officer and she said to the people that the new proposal wouldn’t. A bit of a back and forth followed before being cut off. There was also an argument by a senator whose constituents were concerned about an erosion of academic freedom. The topic was tabled until next week and a recommendation of bringing in people to get all possible voices on the topic.
The next Faculty Senate meeting will be held Thursday, Apr. 7 at 12:30 pm in ChemSci 102. The meeting minutes and agenda are available on their website. Visit mtu.edu/senate/meetings/docs/2025-26/ for the meeting minutes and agenda and mtu.edu/senate/resources/voter-information-page/ for the candidates statements.
