April 16, 2024 Agenda

112 Kern Building

1:30 p.m.

We will use the Faculty Senate Microsoft PowerApps  “portal” to collect attendance and to vote on the legislative/advisory consultative reports during the meeting. Senators who have voting rights should have their full PSU email address (ex. abc123@psu.edu) as well as your two-step authentication app ready.

• Logging attendance (browser or PowerApps app)
• Voting (browser)
• Voting Instructions
• Commonwealth Caucus Agenda
• Senate “housekeeping” information

Senators are reminded to bring their laptop or smartphone for the purpose of logging into PowerApps to vote.

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Senate Agenda (DOCX / PDF)

ALL APRIL 16, 2024 MEETING FILES

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. READING, CORRECTING, APPROVING, OR DISPOSING OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING 

• Minutes of the February 14, 2024 Special Plenary Meeting in The Senate Record
• Minutes of the March 19, 2024 Meeting in The Senate Record

3. COMMENTS OR REPORTS OF THE SENATE OFFICERS AND INVITED GUESTS

• Senate Council Minutes April 2, 2024 
• Invited Guest – Levon T. Esters, PhD, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School: Annual Update from the Graduate School  

Senate Committee on University Planning – Sara Thorndike presenting 

• Report on the Budget Model (Informational) –  Appendix A
  [15 minutes allotted for presentation and discussion.] 
• John W. White Graduate Fellowship: Presented to outstanding undergraduate students who are graduating Summa cum Laude, and who plan to enroll in graduate study.
• Presentation of Senate Service Certificates
• Senate Committee Reports on Consultation and Progress

4. GENERAL DISCUSSION – None

5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS (Voteable) – None

6. NEW BUSINESS (Voteable)

Senate Committee on Libraries, Information Systems, and Technology

• Updates and Recommendations on Bursar Billing (Advisory/Consultative) – Appendix B
  [President’s Response (PDF)]

Senate Committee on Committees and Rules and Senate Self Study Special Committee

• Amendment to Senate Standing Rules, Article II, Senate Committee Structure, Section 4 (Legislative) – Appendix C

Senate Committee on Education

• Revision to Senate Policy 49-60 Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory – Baccalaureate and Associate Degree Candidates (Legislative) – Appendix E
  [Report returned to committee.]

7. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS (non-voteable)

• *Senate Curriculum Report of April 2, 2024 – Appendix F
• *Advisory/Consultative Report Implementation Update April 2, 2024 – Appendix G

*Senate Committee on Admissions, Records, Scheduling, and Student Aid

• 2023 Annual Report on the Reserved Spaces Program – Appendix H

* Senate Committee on Faculty Benefits

• Spring 2024 Report on Faculty Salaries – Appendix I

Senate Committee on Faculty Benefits

• Report on Gender and Race/Ethnicity Pay Disparities Across the University – Appendix J
  [10 minutes allotted for presentation and discussion]

Senate Committee on Faculty Benefits

• Penn State Retiree Benefits – Appendix K
  [15 minutes allotted for presentation and discussion]

*Senate Committee on Intra-University Relations

• Graduate Faculty Status at Penn State – Appendix L

Senate Committees on Intra-University Relations and Faculty Affairs

• Follow-up on Faculty and Academic Advising 2020 Report and Administrative Response – Appendix M
  [10 minutes allotted for presentation and discussion]

*Senate Committee on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

• Human Research Protection Program Updates – Appendix N

Senate Committee on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

• Sustainable Labs Pilot Program – Appendix O
  [10 minutes allotted for presentation and discussion]
• Presentation (Video Recording)

*Senate Committee on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

• Revisions to RP04: Care and Use of Vertebrate Animals – Appendix P

Senate Committee on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

• COVID 19 Impact on Research at Penn State University – Appendix Q
  [10 minutes allotted for presentation and discussion]
  [Delayed to the July 9, 2024 meeting.]

Senate Committee on Student Life

• Update on Student Housing Across Penn State – Appendix R
  [10 minutes allotted for presentation and discussion]

*Senate Council

• Report on Spring 2023 Academic Unit Visits – Appendix S

*Web-only reports.

8. QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST

9. INSTALLATION OF NEW OFFICERS

10. COMMENTS OR ANNOUNCEMENTS

11. ADJOURNMENT

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the University Faculty Senate will be held on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. This meeting will be held as REMOTE ONLY via ZOOM.

Senators are reminded to wait to be unmuted and identify themselves and their voting unit before speaking on the floor. Members of the University community, who are not Senators, may not speak at a Senate meeting unless they request and are granted the privilege of the floor from the Senate Chair at least five days in advance of the meeting.

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Erin Eckley at ele2@psu.edu or call 814-863-1204 at least 2 weeks prior to the next meeting (July 9, 2024) to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.

We have enabled ZOOM automatic transcriptions for our meeting and invite you to turn that on if you wish. Future requests for live captioning will be fulfilled through Automatic Sync Technologies. All Plenary meetings are transcribed, and published in an accessible format: https://senate.psu.edu/senators/agendas-records/