UNIVERSITY PARK – In its first meeting of the 2024-25 cycle, the University Faculty Senate voted to pass changes to Penn State’s Faculty Rights and Responsibilities policy (AC76), expanding its scope and introducing a new interview process for petitioners. The senate also discussed the role of the Commonwealth Campuses and heard its first update from the Shared Governance Task Force.
This meeting marked the first with Josh Wede, teaching professor of psychology, as chair. Wede and the other newly elected officers officially began their terms on July 1.
“When I got here (elected to the senate), I realized that Penn State is full of individuals who are dedicated to the success of the institution and to the success of our students. I see a room full of dedicated individuals today,” Wede said. “I believe that the work that we do as an institution can have a positive impact on the world. But it’s not easy. We are in a time of massive change, and change is uncomfortable. These challenges are scary, but they also present opportunities to bring our best minds together to meet these challenges.”
Faculty Rights and Responsibilities policy
The senate voted to pass an advisory/consultative report amending the University’s Faculty Rights and Responsibilities policy (AC76). The policy changes will go into effect upon review and implementation by the University administration.
The changes, which broaden the scope of the policy and modernize language and update processes, were proposed by a Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Joint Task Force consisting of faculty senators and administrators.
Implementation of these changes would expand the purview of the policy, which is the grievance policy for the University, from procedural unfairness, academic freedom and professional ethics to include decisions, actions or inactions related to a faculty member’s employment that conflict with University policy or are perceived as unfair. It also clarifies the role of the University ombuds in conciliation and organizing the unit ombuds, and replaces the Hearing Board process with a Secondary Review Process, which would allow petitioners to engage in confidential interviews with the committee to clarify their grievances and those named in the petitions to share their side. That committee then advises the executive vice president and provost and vice provost for academic affairs, who determine the ultimate outcome of grievance situations.
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Kathy Bieschke, a member of the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Joint Task Force, clarified that areas of academic judgement, such as tenure decisions, are not included in the purview of this grievance policy. However, this process can help with correcting errors that may have influenced those decisions.
A question was raised about faculty members who also serve in administrative roles and how to distinguish whether an issue falls under their duties as faculty, and therefore covered by the grievance policy, or under their administrative duties. Keith Shapiro, associate professor of art and co-chair of the joint task force, said the committee will look at adding more detail to the AC76 administrative guidelines, established by these revisions, to offer more direction on procedures not covered by the policy.
Shared Governance Joint Task Force update
The Shared Governance Joint Task Force, co-chaired by Amit Sharma, professor of hospitality management, and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Michael Wade Smith, gave a brief update after its first meeting was held June 26. The charge for this task force came from an idea proposed by the Senate Committee on Committees and Rules during the Faculty Senate’s January meeting.
The first task of the committee, according to Sharma, is to come to a shared understanding of what they intend to accomplish. They are starting by examining shared governance frameworks at peer institutions and the documents outlining the model at Penn State. The committee plans to meet three more times before the next scheduled Faculty Senate meeting. Information and updates on the work of this group will be published on the senate’s website.
“The initial meeting of the six of us have been high-candor and enormously productive,” Wade Smith said. “We’ve talked about places where shared governance has worked and where it has fallen short at Penn State. Work is well underway, conversations are honest and candid, and it has been a strong partnership.”
Committee reports
Committees tasked with working in tandem with University leaders on various initiatives also reported on their progress:
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The Senate Committees on Curricular Affairs, Education and Intra-University Relations reported several updates on the Academic Portfolio and Program Review (APPR) since the last regular plenary meeting. Renata Engel, vice provost for online education, and Elizabeth Wright, chancellor and chief academic officer of Penn State Hazleton, are now serving as project co-chairs to lead the APPR process. The request for proposal (RFP) for selecting an external partner went out in May and several bids have been received. The RFP selection team will evaluate the proposals and report back to the APPR steering committee, said Victor Brunsden, associate professor of mathematics at Penn State Altoona and chair of the Education Committee. Brunsden also reported that the steering committee and other APPR teams are continuing to hold meetings with different stakeholders throughout the summer.
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Research Scholarship and Creative Activity and University Planning reported no updates on the impact of the budget model on research and creative activity.
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Faculty Affairs, Intra-University Relations, and University Planning reported no updates on consultation on the 2025-26 budget implementation.
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Admission, Records, Scheduling and Student Aid and Education reported continued meetings with Engel on the progress of implementing more blended learning programs. More information is expected to be shared with the senate in the fall.
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Education, Educational Equity and Campus Environment, and Student Life reported meeting with Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Kathy Bieschke, Vice President for Student Affairs Andrea Dowhower and Interim Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education Jeff Adams on progress made restructuring their offices.
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Educational Equity and Campus Environment reported no updates on the status of the Vice President for Inclusive Excellence.
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Faculty Benefits reported no updates on the status of health insurance benefits and retirement plans.
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Faculty Affairs reported no updates on the status of non-tenure-line contracts at Commonwealth Campuses.
Updates from University leaders
Having recently returned from attending the Pew Charitable Trust’s Leadership Forum on Public Impact Research and the National Academies of Science workshop on engaged research in June, President Neeli Bendapudi shared highlights of Penn State’s leadership role in advancing public interest research.
As a co-founding chair of the new Presidents and Chancellors Council on Public Impact Research, Bendapudi met with stakeholders from government agencies, community organizations, private companies and other institutions of higher education to talk about strengthening the contributions of the research ecosystem for the public good.
“Our public impact is something I’m extremely proud of, particularly on our Commonwealth Campuses,” Bendapudi said. “But one of the challenges is that a lot of the research done on our campuses that impacts communities doesn’t always get the same recognition as traditional research.”
As part of her administration’s commitment to advancing this research at the Commonwealth Campuses, Bendapudi announced that two cohorts – representing 11 Commonwealth Campuses – have been selected as recipients of the Presidential Public Impact Research Award (PPIRA). Research benefitting from this funding will include addressing microplastics pollution in the Delaware River watershed, helping Pennsylvania communities transition to green jobs, enhancing cybersecurity readiness in nonprofit organizations and leveraging emerging technologies to respond to opioid abuse.
Bendapudi also acknowledged Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Read for his leadership in pursuing high-impact grants and in building consortia to advance the University’s research agenda. She also thanked Interim Vice President for Development David Lieb his office’s work on raising $430 million in first year of the “quiet phase” of the University’s impact campaign. More information on the public portion of that campaign will be forthcoming, Bendapudi said.
In her remarks to the senate, interim Executive Vice President and Provost Tracy Langkilde shared that on June 26, the Middle States Accreditation commission completed Penn State’s self-study review and voted to reaffirm the University’s accreditation with no follow-up actions required. The next self-study evaluation won’t occur until 2031-32.
As requested by faculty during the June special Faculty Senate meeting to discuss the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP) offered to eligible faculty and staff at the Commonwealth Campuses, Langkilde presented self-reported demographics information from those who accepted the package.
According to the data, 70% of VSIP-eligible staff and 40% of VSIP-eligible academic positions (faculty and administrators) were female. Of those who participated in VSIP, 76% of staff and 41% of academics were female.
The uptake of those identifying as female is within a couple of percentage points of those represented in the eligible pool for both staff and academic faculty and administrator positions, Langkilde said. And the breakdown of numbers across race and ethnicity shows no notable differences.
“I will keep working with all unit leads and faculty to continue to lean on initiatives to better diversify our faculty and staff across all of our Penn State campuses,” Langkilde said.
Looking ahead to the fall semester and the upcoming U.S. presidential election, Langkilde said she is looking into how to better engage Faculty Senate on educating the campus community on issues of free speech, First Amendment rights and civil discourse. She said work is already underway on reviewing and updating campus safety and event policies, including those for protests. The information is expected to be published on the provost's website and shared with groups across the University.
Faculty members continued to have questions about the impact of VSIP, as the fall semester approaches. Questions raised included how lines of reporting will change with VSIP and the transition to Optimized Service Teams for some staff, and what structures are in place at campuses moving to the regional leadership model to retain intuitional knowledge of those campuses at the senior leadership level.
Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Sara Thorndike said her office has been working closely with all of the chancellors and Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses Margo DelliCarpini to establish reporting structures for positions that fall into facilities, finance or business services, information technology and police and public safety to minimize gaps in services. According to DelliCarpini, chancellors, such as Elizabeth Wright, who will be overseeing the Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton campuses, are working on getting to know and engage with the new campuses under their leadership.
“I really look forward to getting to know all of you, knowing it is going to look different,” Wright said. “But I remain committed to talking together about students and faculty and staff and how we work together to think about what Scranton’s goals are, and the Northeast in general, and how we move toward them.”
Other Business
The senate held a general discussion on the role that the Commonwealth Campuses have traditionally served and the new direction being planned. Kristen Pueschel, associate teaching professor of mathematics at Penn State New Kensington, presented a fact sheet on the campuses, developed by the Commonwealth Caucus, and led the discussion.
According to University data, the Commonwealth Campuses serve greater percentages of in-state students who are Pell Grant eligible, the first in their families to attend college and from minoritized groups than University Park. Students graduating from Commonwealth campuses are also more likely to remain in Pennsylvania after graduating, according to the Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes reports from the U.S. Census.
The report also details the benefits of the 2+2 program pipeline in enrolling these students at University Park.
Discussed were concerns about how the budget and staff reductions at the campuses will impact their ability to continue delivering these benefits to the University and the commonwealth, as well as the impact to the University’s accessibility mission and commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB).
The senate also heard informational reports on the impact of COVID-19 on research productivity and on Senate Council visits to Penn State Law, the Graduate School, College of Education, College of Engineering and College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
The next regular meeting of the Faculty Senate is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Sept. 10 in 112 Kern Building on the University Park campus, and will be livestreamed via Zoom.
About Faculty Senate
Faculty Senate is a legislative body comprised of 200 faculty, elected by their peers from each college and campus. The senate also includes representatives from the undergraduate and graduate student body and University administration. The senate holds legislative authority on educational matters including curriculum, student policies, admissions, and retention/graduation requirements. The senate also serves as an advisory and consultative body to the University administration, a process referred to as shared governance.