The Rutgers University Senate currently has seven active standing committees, and one Executive Committee. Senators are usually appointed to the standing committee of their choice. The Executive Committee general functions as a steering committee, and its members are elected each year by the full Senate. Senators (other than Executive Committee members) may serve on only one standing committee at a time. As a Senator, your attendance at committee meetings, and participation in committee activities, are vital to Senate effectiveness. Standing committees ordinarily meet on the mornings of Senate meeting days.
| Senator | Constituency |
|---|---|
| Peter Gillett, Chairperson | Rutgers Business School: Undergraduate NB, Faculty |
| Jon Oliver, Vice Chairperson | New Brunswick Staff |
| Natalie Borisovets, Full-time Faculty Newark | Libraries, Faculty |
| Babu Dasari, Full-time Faculty Camden | University College-Camden, Faculty |
| Vacant, Full-time Faculty At-Large | No constituency for this term. |
| Ann Gould, Full-time Faculty New Brunswick | School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Faculty |
| Vacant, Full-time Faculty At-Large | No constituency for this term. |
| Vacant, Full-time Faculty RBHS | No constituency for this term. |
| Houshang Parsa, Alumnus | Alumni Association |
| Tina Pappas, Staff | New Brunswick Staff |
| Julie Serrano, New Brunswick Student | School of Arts and Sciences-NB, Student |
| Karen Thompson, Part-time Lecturer/Annual Appointee | Lecturer-New Brunswick, Faculty |
| Michael Van Stine, Camden Student | Graduate School-Camden, Student |
| Vacant, Newark Student | No constituency for this term. |
| Marc Henry Estriplet, RBHS Student | New Jersey Medical School, Student |
| Senator | Present | Excused | Absent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gillett, Peter | Rutgers Business School: Undergraduate NB, Faculty | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Oliver, Jon | New Brunswick Staff | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Borisovets, Natalie | Libraries, Faculty | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Dasari, Babu | University College-Camden, Faculty | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Gould, Ann | School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Faculty | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Parsa, Houshang | Alumni Association | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Pappas, Tina | New Brunswick Staff | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Serrano, Julie | School of Arts and Sciences-NB, Student | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Thompson, Karen | Lecturer-New Brunswick, Faculty | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Van Stine, Michael | Graduate School-Camden, Student | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Estriplet, Marc Henry | New Jersey Medical School, Student | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Charge Number | Title | Description | Committees Being Charged | Charge Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-2311 | Professional Development Opportunities | Review the university’s policies regarding professional development opportunities to attend conferences and meetings. Investigate and, when appropriate, make recommendations regarding campus and unit rules on (i) How long a faculty member may be absent for professional development opportunities? (ii) What are the policies for making alternative arrangements if a faculty member is absent? (iii) Who covers costs if a guest lecturer is hired? (iv) Can all faculty members, including PTLs, teach occasional classes online if necessary due to justified absences? (v) How do policies about professional development opportunities differ among schools and Chancellor-led units? | Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee | Pending | February 21, 2024 |
| S-2111-1 | Late Course Add/Drop Policies | Investigate current practices for approval of late course add/drop policies and determine best practices for their approval and adjudication when they are not approved. Consider best practices used by peers to guide approval of late course add/drop requests and whether an appeal process (or an alternative mechanism) would be appropriate for evaluating, approving and adjudicating late add/drop requests. As appropriate, propose such a process, including procedures, factors to be considered in adjudication, and appropriate levels of discretion to be exercised by deans, advisors, instructors, and other. | Student Affairs Committee | Pending | August 30, 2023 |
| S-2310 | Equitable and Transparent Policies for Grading Appeals | The Academic Standards, Regulations, and Admissions Committee, in conjunction with the Student Affairs Committee, should investigate the state of grading appeals, looking at various policies across campuses and schools to determine better possibilities for standardization as well as a more uniform and fair approach to grade appeals. | Student Affairs Committee | Pending | February 21, 2024 |
| S-2310 | Equitable and Transparent Policies for Grading Appeals | The Academic Standards, Regulations, and Admissions Committee, in conjunction with the Student Affairs Committee, should investigate the state of grading appeals, looking at various policies across campuses and schools to determine better possibilities for standardization as well as a more uniform and fair approach to grade appeals. | Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee | Pending | February 21, 2024 |
| S-2309 | Increased Representation of Graduate Students and PTL Faculty in the University Senate | Evaluate the current criteria, bylaws, and policies that decide graduate student representatives and PTL faculty in the Senate. Make appropriate changes to increased graduate student representation and PTL faculty in the Senate. | University Structure and Governance Committee | Pending | December 20, 2023 |
| S-2308 | Conflict of Interest Declarations | Investigate and make recommendations on public declarations of conflicts of interest by politically exposed persons at Rutgers, including all members of the BoG and all those involved in significant financial decision-making. | Budget and Finance Committee | Pending | January 31, 2024 |
| S-2307 | RCM Detailed Recommendations | Examine and propose detailed recommendations for implementing two central elements of the 1/20/2023 Senate-approved resolution on S2010-1: “transparency” and “shared governance” in University budget preparation and reporting. | Budget and Finance Committee | Pending | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2305 | Auditing Courses at Rutgers | Review course auditing at Rutgers. Make any appropriate recommendations. | Instruction Curricula and Advising Committee | Pending | October 25, 2023 |
| S-2304 | Common Hour Exams | Review the experiences of students, faculty, and staff with common hour exams at Rutgers University. Make any appropriate recommendations. | Student Affairs Committee | Pending | October 25, 2023 |
| S-2304 | Common Hour Exams | Review the experiences of students, faculty, and staff with common hour exams at Rutgers University. Make any appropriate recommendations. | Instruction Curricula and Advising Committee | Pending | October 25, 2023 |
| S-2302 | Budgetary Considerations Underlying Potential Merger of the RBHS Subunits Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and New Jersey Medical School into One Medical School | Investigate any relevant financial issues that will emerge if there is a proposed merger of RWJMS and NJMS. Make necessary recommendations to the Senate. | Budget and Finance Committee | Pending | May 24, 2023 |
| S-2301 | Science Communication Efforts at Rutgers University | Review efforts in science communication initiatives across the University and provide recommendations for any measures and limitations to raise awareness of the current limitations in the field of science communication across the entire Rutgers research community. | Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee | Pending | October 25, 2023 |
| S-2301 | Science Communication Efforts at Rutgers University | Review efforts in science communication initiatives across the University and provide recommendations for any measures and limitations to raise awareness of the current limitations in the field of science communication across the entire Rutgers research community. | Instruction Curricula and Advising Committee | Pending | October 25, 2023 |
| S-2208 | Divestment of Retirement Funds from Fossil Fuels | Investigate whether the investment companies utilized by Rutgers for university employees should divest from fossil fuel companies within their retirement portfolios that are known to contribute to climate change. Report back to the Senate Executive Committee. | Budget and Finance Committee | Pending | September 27, 2023 |
| S-2204-1 | Impact of CourseAtlas | Explore the impact of CourseAtlas to benchmark institutional goals of the system, on academic units and departments, on faculty work-life balance, and make recommendations as appropriate. Specifically, (i) Investigate to what degree CourseAtlas has achieved the goals it was designed and implemented to achieve, (ii) explore the impact of CourseAtlas on academic units and departments’ ability to manage their own academic programs, (iii) assess the impact of CourseAtlas on the work-life balance of faculty, and (iv) propose feedback mechanisms which allow timely and meaningful faculty input on scheduling changes. | Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2115-1 | Academic Freedom | Identify and investigate any recent attacks on the academic freedom of our faculty and students with a particular focus on the University's response to these attacks. | Student Affairs Committee | Reissued | February 21, 2024 |
| S-2207 | Office of Climate Action | Consider the current funding for the Office of Climate Action and investigate the funding model. Based on the action plan, determine if an adequate level of funding is provided to the office and report back to the Senate with any recommendations. | Budget and Finance Committee | Pending | October 25, 2023 |
| S-2206 | Socially Responsible Investment | Consider the University Investment policy 40.2.14. Investigate whether the current investment policies should be modified by environmental, social and governance metrics to modify, add or remove investments based on the Endowment Justice Collective 2022 Divestment Proposal and the Resolution adopted by the Board of Trustees in March 2021. Report back to the Senate with any recommendations. | Budget and Finance Committee | Pending | October 25, 2023 |
| S-2205-1 | Review of the University Senate’s Governance Documents and Formulation of University Senate Bylaws | Review the existing governance documents of the University Senate, including University policies, past Senate reports, and the Senate Handbook. Develop Bylaws for the University Senate consistent with Robert’s Rules of Order. | Ad Hoc Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2204-1 | Impact of CourseAtlas | Explore the impact of CourseAtlas to benchmark institutional goals of the system, on academic units and departments, on faculty work-life balance, and make recommendations as appropriate. Specifically, (i) Investigate to what degree CourseAtlas has achieved the goals it was designed and implemented to achieve, (ii) explore the impact of CourseAtlas on academic units and departments’ ability to manage their own academic programs, (iii) assess the impact of CourseAtlas on the work-life balance of faculty, and (iv) propose feedback mechanisms which allow timely and meaningful faculty input on scheduling changes. | Student Affairs Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2201-1 | Approved Electronic Notebook Programs | Investigate the use of electronic lab notebooks. Review the current policies and practice of notebook creation and cloud storage. Recommend the best practices for maintaining the security, integrity, and accessibility of these notebooks. | Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2202-1 | Honors College Student Senators | Investigate and recommend how Honors College Students from each campus can best be represented in the Senate. The creation of the Honors Colleges on each campus has created a new unit and community that students live, learn and participate in within the University. Student entitlements to the Senate are based on their academic association and Honors College Students can participate based on those associations if elected via their student governing associations. However, since student Senators are not specifically elected from the Honors College they may not be able to properly represent the needs of the Honors College community. | University Structure and Governance Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2117-1 | Hiring Transparency and Equality | Investigate the current practice of hiring faculty at RBHS with full titles but described on appointment as part time and contingent on their maintaining employment at RWJBH. Make any appropriate recommendations. | Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2116-1 | SIRS | Investigate the validity and accuracy of Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET), as well as the details of how the SIRS is implemented at Rutgers and make recommendations for its role in our new approach to the evaluation and improvement of teaching effectiveness. Please report to the Senate Executive Secretary by March 16, 2022. | Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2115-1 | Academic Freedom | Identify and investigate any recent attacks on the academic freedom of our faculty and students with a particular focus on the University's response to these attacks. | Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee | Reissued | February 21, 2024 |
| S-2111-1 | Late Course Add/Drop Policies | Investigate current practices for approval of late course add/drop policies and determine best practices for their approval and adjudication when they are not approved. Consider best practices used by peers to guide approval of late course add/drop requests and whether an appeal process (or an alternative mechanism) would be appropriate for evaluating, approving and adjudicating late add/drop requests. As appropriate, propose such a process, including procedures, factors to be considered in adjudication, and appropriate levels of discretion to be exercised by deans, advisors, instructors, and other. | Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee | Reissued | August 30, 2023 |
| S-2103-1 | Review of the Current Procedures for the Periodic Evaluation of Deans | Review the current procedures for the periodic evaluation of deans. | Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2020-1 | Investigation of Changes to the Rutgers University Patent Policy | Review the changes made to University Policy 50.3.1 - Patent Policy. Investigate potential impacts the changes may have on research, innovation & technology transfer, faculty retention and recruitment, and the financial viability of research units. Explore the extent of faculty input and notification prior to the change in policy. Make recommendations on appropriate processes for faculty consultation on these and similar issues in the future. Respond to the Senate Executive Secretary by March 31, 2021. | Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |
| S-2002-2 | Challenges Related to Parking and Transportation | Review the ongoing planning and financial status of parking and transportation, including its use of permits and citations as a source of revenue, and the long-term planning as it relates to transportation and parking, including plans to reduce parking on campus and how the administration plans to meet the challenges this will create. | Budget and Finance Committee | Reissued | November 22, 2023 |