Excellence in Teaching awardees are Fred Hofsetter (third from left), education; Angela Hattery (fourth from left), women and gender studies and Laura Salsini (second from right), languages, literature and culture, with Provost Carlson, Senate President Morrison and President Assanis. (Not pictured was Carolyn Voter, civil and environmental engineering.)

Faculty Senate May 2024 meeting

Article by Jamie Washington Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson June 03, 2024

Committee of the Whole and President Assanis address cost-saving measures

The University of Delaware’s Faculty Senate held its final meeting of the academic year on May 6, with an open discussion on how UD’s budget measures and guidelines have affected faculty and staff.

Matt Robinson, professor of hospitality business, had called for a Committee of the Whole after colleagues had approached him about the impact of the guidelines, which were implemented in February.

“There is an expectation of us to represent the interests of all of our faculty. Hopefully, we can move forward in a positive way as a university,” Robinson said.

More than a dozen Faculty Senate members expressed concerns about staff vacancies, restrictions on travel and other expenses, increased administrative processes, and events that had to be scaled back or canceled. Some faculty members said they are concerned about how the budget measures will affect research and participation in scholarly conferences that are important for career development, student experiences and UD’s reputation.

President Dennis Assanis sincerely thanked faculty members for sharing their perspectives on the impact of the guidelines and welcomed continued input. He reiterated that some early measures have been clarified or revised based on feedback from individual faculty and staff members and the Senate’s Budget Committee. He also mentioned that deans and department chairs are authorized to make unit-level spending decisions. While the University will continue to pursue greater operational efficiencies, he emphasized that the University needs to pivot to a growth mindset.

“We want to create incentives for the faculty. We want to be able to have more opportunities for everybody,” Assanis said. “Being mindful of the cost doesn't mean that you shouldn't be enabling the great things, like creating and supporting new academic programs. The solution isn’t to cut; it’s to think about revenue generation, which is in everyone’s hands.”

Faculty Senate President Jim Morrison presented this year’s Jon Olson Exemplary Senate Service award to Earl “Rusty” Lee, civil and environmental engineering.

Earl “Rusty” Lee (center), civil and environmental engineering, receives the Jon Olson Exemplary Senate Service award, with Provost Carlson and President Assanis.

Sarah Trembanis, chair of the student and faculty honors committee, presented the 2024 awards for Excellence in Teaching for faculty and graduate students, and Excellence in Advising and Mentoring.

The Excellence in Teaching awardees were:

Angela Hattery, women and gender studies
Fred Hoffsetter, education
Laura Salsini, languages, literature and culture
Carolyn Voter, civil and environmental engineering

The Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching awardees were:

Ophelia Cristoph, earth sciences
Conner Balickie, chemistry and biochemistry

The Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award was presented to Connor Balickie (second from right), chemistry and biochemistry, with Provost Carlson, Senate President Morrison and President Assanis. (Not pictured was Ophelia Cristoph, earth sciences.)

The Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring were:

Christina Barierie, education
Sebastian Cioaba, mathematics
Alexander De Rosa, mechanical engineering
Jennifer Nauen, biological sciences

The Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring awards were presented to Christina Barbieri (third from left), education; Alexander De Rosa (center), mechanical engineering; Jennifer Nauen (third from right), biological sciences; and Sebastian Cioaba (right), mathematics, with Provost Carlson, Senate President Morrison and President Assanis.

The Consent Agenda portion of the Faculty Senate meeting included a single vote to approve 79 undergraduate proposals and 49 graduate proposals.

On the Regular Agenda, the senate voted 57-5 to approve a resolution requesting greater transparency regarding the University’s budget.

Also, a vote of 31-30 removed the request to adopt the UD teaching quality framework.

A unanimous vote of 60-0 granted the executive committee of the Faculty Senate the ability to expedite the approval for corrections of any editorial inconsistencies made to the Faculty Handbook.

“The rationale is to streamline edits that are not under the purview of the Faculty Senate – the efficient updates to items such as office name, phone numbers, website links, contact information,” said Jackie Fajardo, faculty senate secretary and chair of the rules committee. The edits will be posted on the Faculty Senate’s website.

Unanimous votes of 64-0 elected John Jebb and Meghan McInnis-Dominguez as the 2024-25 Faculty Senate president-elect and vice president-elect, respectively. Senators approved the confirmation of committee members with a vote of 63-1.

Morris and Adam Wallace, chair of the Committee on Committees and Nominations, shared that several committees have vacancies and encouraged senators to represent their college’s interest on those committees. Morris shared that the standing committee annual reports are available.

Further information about the Faculty Senate, including meeting minutes and agendas, can be found on its website.