Minutes 2026-2027

 

Faculty Senate Minutes
September 2026

I. Call to Order: Chair, Christian Goering

II. Approval of Agenda

  • Agenda Approved (with minor adjustments to speaking order)

III. Approval of Minutes

May 2026

  • Minutes approved

IV. Reports

1. Indrajeet Chaubey, Provost 

  • Enrollment Update:
    • Largest new freshman class ever (7,142 students). This is 1.8% up from last year, demonstrating robust demand. With a 3.87 average GPA, this is the most academically prepared class we have ever welcomed to campus.
    • Total enrollment is 33,990, which is slightly down from last fall.
    • Graduate enrollment is 4,779, which is about 2.7% down from last year.
  • We welcome two new Deans to campus:
    • James Stevens, Dean of Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design
    • Katheleen Guzman, Interim Dean of the Law School
  • Voluntary retirement:
    • Letters have been sent to about 207 faculty who qualify for a voluntary retirement program
    • For those who volunteer, the retirement date will be January 2nd
    • These salary savings will be reinvested in hiring new faculty with the hope of increasing the total number of faculty and to support our Reaching Higher goals

2. Strategic Plan 150 Foward, Indrajeet Chaubey (Provost), Margaret McCabe (Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation), & Kevin Hall (Director of Transformation Management) - https://chancellor.uark.edu/150-forward/

  • Reaching Higher (Phase III)
  • Core transformational goals: 80% graduation rate and $500 million in research expenditures by 2032
  • Three Pillars: Research Excellence, Student Success, & Employer of Choice
  • Student Success:
    • How do we get to an 80% graduation rate?
      • Recruitment/admissions as well as scholarship support
      • We are the only institution in the state seeing an increase in the enrollment of Pell-eligible students. We need to ensure these students are supported.
      • 102 academically gifted students received support from the Land of Opportunity scholarship this year.
      • Integrated student success approach
    • Student Success Initiatives
      • Retention & Graduation: The goal is a 91% retention rate
      • AI Literacy: Employers are demanding this skill set.
      • Experiential learning--Every student should have at least one of these five experiences while at the U of A:
        1. Meaningful Work/Internship experience
        2. Undergrad research
        3. Global learning/study abroad
        4. Service learning
        5. Campus leadership
    • Graduate Student Goal--Increase Graduate Enrollment by over 2,000 students. The university is focusing on three pathways to achieving this goal:
      • Online education
      • Professional Master’s hybrid (online/on-campus) programs
      • Recruiting more research-based PhD students
  • Research Excellence:
    • Vice Chancellor McCabe explained that this plan is about research excellence, and emphasized that one measure of this excellence is the goal of $500 million in research expenditures by 2032; however, she clarified that this number is not the only measure (While “many may not see themselves in this number,” the hope is that all faculty see themselves as striving for research excellence in the context of their department and discipline).
    • We are at $252.9 million (Fall 2025) in research expenditures. The $500 million target will be met by:
      • College and division productivity growth (+125 million)
      • Faculty expansion & investments in research infrastructure (+75 million)
      • Activating institutes & centers (+30 million)
      • University-wide research support (+50 million)
    • Priority research areas are:
      • Materials & Semiconductors
      • Food systems & Nutrition
      • Metabolic Health
      • Contested Logistics & Supply chain
      • Lithium & Critical minerals (this one is particularly important because it relates to our land-grant mission)
    • Vice Chancellor McCabe dispelled rumors that faculty hiring would be limited to priority areas. She assured the senate that this is not true; priority areas will guide decisions, but these are not the only priorities.
    • Financial levers to support activation:
      • Voluntary retirement option for tenured faculty
      • Central and unit-level reserves
      • Strategic reallocation of revenue streams
      • Other operational optimization strategies (ex. operational efficiency and procurement)
      • Philanthropy
      • Student tuition & fees (This is a last resort and keeping education affordable remains a top priority)
    • How do we ensure success?
      • Growing research priority areas
      • Integrating student success
      • Supporting data-enabled decisions
  • Employer of Choice 
    • $18M+ Calls & Comp salary increase
    • $10.8 M Graduate Assistant Compensation Increases
  • TMO—Transformation Management Office
    • The TMO was created to ensure that the strategic plan is implemented successfully. The office has a dedicated support staff and will provide direct operational support to leaders across campus.
    • The TMO provides the following support to campus:
      • Ensuring alignment
      • Coordinating campuswide collaboration
      • Tracking and reporting milestones
      • Helping accelerate the work
    • Our land grant mission is driving this program
      • Director Kevin Hall emphasized the need to lift up the state and to conduct impactful research. He echoed earlier statements that all forms of research are valued (ex. whether that be laboratory research or the writing of a sonnet).
    • If you encounter a roadblock, call Director Kevin Hall!
  • Questions/responses from Senators:
    • Are UADA faculty eligible?
      • No, just UA Fayetteville faculty.
    • Why are the retirements for January and not for the end of the academic year?
      • Doing so spreads the payment across two fiscal years, which is easier
      • Depending on the number of faculty who take the incentive, we need to make a plan to rehire faculty as soon as possible
    • What is the agreement between UADA and UAF regarding the research excellence initiative?
      • The goal is for alignment; We will pool the expenditures together and jointly report them.
    • The slide about financial activation of the research pillar included student tuition, could you help us understand better what was meant by that?
      • This option would be a last resort to cover gaps in funding. After we go through the first set of options, there may be a time when a percentage increase in tuition and fees is considered, but the administration will be very intentional and transparent about where it is going.
    • Regarding the reallocation of resources, a senator suggested that a good mechanism of transparency would be for the TMO to publicly track where money comes from and then where it then goes.
    • Is there a financial backup plan if only a few faculty take the retirement deal?
      • Provost Chaubey noted that we cannot know the exact number of people who will volunteer; however, around 100-150 faculty retire each year. Regardless of what happens, the administration will work with deans on hiring plans and fulfilling strategic goals.
    • People in positions of leadership, such as chairs, have been offered the retirement deal. Is there a plan for how to handle people in leadership vacating positions mid-year?
      • Deans and admin are working to minimize disruptions
    • Can you speak to how you reconcile falling NSF funds with these funding goals?
      • Vice Chancellor McCabe noted that net funding is actually 2-3% up. While there are fewer NSF awards, they are larger awards.
      • She went onto note that we cannot control what congress does; if funding does drop drastically, then this may prohibit the university from reaching this goal.
    • How do you support departments where funding is no longer available?
      • Vice Chancellor McCabe stated that they want to do more on-campus grant opportunities for the humanities & social sciences

3. Faculty Affairs Update, Anna Zajicek, Vice-Provost of Faculty Affairs

  • Why discuss Coache survey from spring 2025 in fall 2026?
    • Doing so allows us to tie results to action
    • Coache data came out in Mid-fall 2025and then a number of other surveys were performed to provide an integrated view
  • What are our existing strengths?
    • Faculty members value colleagues, academic freedom, NWA location, relatively low cost of living
    • Employees are engaged and find meaning in their work
  • Areas for improvement:
    • Leadership, communication, & trust
      • Faculty want better communication, clearer expectations, fair evaluation, meaningful feedback, leadership consistency, climate of trust
      • How are we responding?
        • Expanded leadership development for department chairs/heads, including summer/winter institutes, council of chairs, department chairs/heads leadership development institute
      • Provost Faculty Resource Fellow is working on trust-building and offers presentations to faculty on topic of trust
    • Evaluation, accountability, & recognition
      • Faculty want consistency from peer review committees and evaluation systems that reflect actual workload assignments, use consistent definitions of performance levels, provide actionable feedback, account for a range of activities, recognize excellence, and address underperformance
      • What are we doing?
        • Working in establishing clarity on performance goals and levels
        • Aligning expectations by providing guidance and workshops for how to conduct reviews to reflect variability of faculty activities and to connect to P & T.
        • Encouraging growth by providing support to chairs to create actionable feedback, enhance recognition, and mentor faculty into career success
    • Career advancement, mentoring, & recognitions
      • We need more/better mentoring & recognition as well as more opportunities for advancement and support for development
      • How are we responding?
        • Advancement & mentoring: Bridge program, peer mentoring circles, Provost’s Fellow for Mentoring (Fiona Goggins), every department will have a formal mentoring program, building the bench (programming for program directors/associate chairs), programming for full professors
        • Recognition: Provost’s Fellow for Honorific Awards (Becca Meunich) is working on building a better awards infrastructure
        • Advisory Councils Provide Continuous Feedback
          • Non-Tenure Track Advisory Council
          • Faculty Development Advisory Council
  • Question from Senator--Is this programming just for Tenure Track faculty?
    • All programs are open to all NTT faculty, including instructors. Instructors are valued and can also apply for travel awards from the Office of Faculty Affairs.

4. Passkey Registration, UITS: Shelby Hanson and Chris Terry

  • https://its.uark.edu/passkey/
  • Presentation Slides
  • On August 31, an email went out to everyone on campus talking about Passkey. Passkey is in response to a need to update our multi-factor authentication (MFA) system. Microsoft announced they are eliminating the option to use SMS as an option for MFA. Passkey is now the recommended method for MFA, and a physical device called a YubiKey is one other option.
  • During enrollment, you will set up your passkey. Enrollment should only take about ten minutes; After enrollment, this becomes your MFA.
  • If you are a Windows user, you must set up Windows Hello before Passkey and/or a YubiKey. Computers in classrooms are exempt from Windows Hello.
  • If you want to use a YubiKey you can fill out a request form to get one.
  • Enrollment is open, reminders will go out, and workshops will be held across campus. There are many help resources available.
  • The target completion date is December 1.
  • If you are concerned about forgetting your phone or do not want to use your phone for MFA, you can set up a YubiKey as a backup option.
  • If you have any secondary accounts, these must also be linked to Passkey; therefore, you must set up authenticator for both.

5. Christian Goering, Faculty Senate Chair

  • An orientation with a focus on shared governance was held for new faculty senators.
  • The officers for this year are:
    • Rachel Glade (Vice-Chair)
    • Meredith Neville-Shepard (Secretary)
    • Bob Brady (Parliamentarian)
    • Kevin Brady (Outgoing Chair)
    • Kate Chapman (Chair-Elect)
    • John Walch (Vice-Chair Elect)
  • Chair Goering is forming two ad hoc committees:
    • Committee on Faculty Elections, Procedures, & Policy (Seeking 7 volunteers to work over the next two to three months to update election rules)
    • Committee on Shared Governance/Logistics (Seeking 9 volunteers to work to streamline operations across 18 senate committees, with a report due in February 2027).
  • Representation Review & Elections: Chair Goering expressed concern about representational imbalances in the faculty senate (for example, Fulbright holds a large number of seats while other colleges only have one seat).

V. Old Business

  • None

VI. New Business

  • None

 VII. Consent Agenda:

1. Course Change Proposals—including undergraduate courses approved by the Undergraduate Council on August 28, 2026, and graduate courses approved by the Graduate Council on August 20, 2026. Details  related to course changes may be viewed at:   https://nextcatalog.uark.edu/courseleaf/approve. Under the “Your Role” field, select Faculty Senate.(1_coursechanges_report_09092026).

2. Undergraduate Program Change Proposals approved by the Undergraduate Council on August 28, 2026. Details related to program changes may be viewed at:  https://nextcatalog.uark.edu/courseleaf/approve. Under the “Your Role” field, select Faculty Senate.

a. None

3. Graduate Program Change Proposals approved by the Graduate Council on August 20, 2026. Details related to program changes may be viewed at: http://nextcatalog.uark.edu/courseleaf/approve/. Under the “Your Role” field, select Faculty Senate.
(2_programchanges_report_09092026).

a. Proposed graduate program change for the College of Engineering, Department of Engineering Dean – ENGRME – Engineering, Master of Science in Engineering.

  • Consent agenda passes unanimously.

VIII.  Announcements:

  • Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Campus Council Elections
    • Elections are taking place digitally. Senators have received ballots via email; these are due by 5pm on Friday, September 11.

IX. Adjourn

  • Meeting adjourned at 5:30pm