Faculty Senate Minutes | April 20, 2022

Committee reports to the Senate.
Guest presentations: Dr. Shea Kidd Brown, Vice President for Campus Life, and Dr. Christina Soriano, Associate Provost for the Arts and Interdisciplinary Initiatives

Faculty Senate Meeting

Note: To facilitate open discussion, the identity of most Senators making comments or questions is not recorded. Such comments as recorded here are generally not verbatim. The identity of comments from Senate Officers and Senate Ad Hoc and Standing Committee Chairs are given, as is the identity of persons commenting in their official administrative capacity (e.g. EVP, Provost, or College Dean.) 

Call to Order

Vice President Raja Chatterjee called the Senate to order on Zoom.

Approval of March Meeting Minutes (unanimous)

Announcements and Updates

• Senate President Tracey Banks’ absence was expected and accommodated by the Executive Committee

Guest Presentation

• Integration Committee – Melissa Jenkins presents Dr. Shea Kidd Brown, Vice President for Campus Life, and Dr. Christina Soriano, Associate Provost for the Arts and Interdisciplinary Initiatives
• Dr. Soriano reported that this Associate Provost position was created in 2018 with a role to develop student engagement in the arts. The “Wake the Arts” Program was created with an array of departmental support. “DeacLink” created to connect arts alumni with current students. The Interdisciplinary Arts Center was established and is endowed and available to assist in funding projects. A questionnaire based survey of students has revealed wide ranging interest and support of the arts. 
• Dr. Kidd Brown provided a personal introduction and overview of the first months in office, which have focused on learning about Wake Forest and initiating interactions with students, faculty, staff, and administrators, examining university activity space utilization, assessing divisional culture, and creating the position of Director of Strategic Initiatives.

Committee Reports

• Integration Committee – Melissa Jenkins: Positive reflection and thanks regarding the Faculty Senate Collaboration Ideation Forum.
• Fringe Benefits Committee – Pat Lord: Information about impending changes to health care benefits can be requested, and concerns expressed, to HR via a form on their website. Key criteria for choosing a new provider include minimizing disruption to existing providers and minimizing costs.
• Athletics Committee – John Sumanth: Update to telegraph a change in NCAA regulations which allows colleges and universities to pay students for academic success. Only a few schools have announced participation thus far. This is being discussed by the committee in conjunction with other campus athletic groups. The central topics of concern and guiding principles of discussion are to preserve equity, assess fiscal responsibility, assure compliance with NCAA rules, and to pay attention to student-athletes’ retention, graduation, and career preparation (e.g. internships and career training).
• Committee of Collegiate Senators – Olga Pierrakos: Recently discussing three general topics. The lack of detail about medical plan details is a topic among faculty, and advice is to visit the HR information page. Strong discussion of modality of college faculty meetings moving forward following low attendance issues. General discussion of student enrollment changes.

New Business

• Introduction of new College and Business School Senators

Adjournment

Appendices

• none