RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY

UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: April 24, 2026

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Remote via Zoom

PRESENT: Alam, C. Anderson, K. Anderson, Andrews, Ardeshna, Asch, Askew, Bachmann, Barbarello Andrews, Bhuyan, Boison, Borisovets, Boxer, Bridgeman, Brown, Campbell, Carney-Waterton, Chintala, Clarke, Cooper, Curchitser, Dane, DeMatteo, Dixit, Dock, Ebert, Economou, Emmons, Everett, Everts, Fatahzadeh, Fenker, Fine, Flynn, Foster, Georgiou, Giraud, Gittelman, Gordy, Gower, Graham, Granadeiro, Green-Mercado, Greenbaum, Gurbuzbalaban, Gursoy, Haberl, Haley, Haviland, Hayes, Hennessy, Horan, Householder, Hussain, Javanmard, Jordan-McKinney, Kaback, Keates, Kelly, Kettle, Khan, Kiss, Knievel, Kustka, LaMorte, Ladell, Limata, Lobman, Maliga, Markowitz, Mazurek, Mbadugha, McCarthy, Morales, Ntiwunka-Ifeanyi, O’Connor, Oberle, Parikh, S. Patel, Pichardo, Pintar, Pontes, Poylangada, Purcell, Quevado, Quincy, Rabinowitz, Ramachandran, Ramenzoni, Robles, Salas-de la Cruz, Saleh, Saltzman, Samavat, Santos Mendoza, Schafer, Schwartz, Scott, Sergel, Shah, Shaikh, Shinbrot, Salman Sirajee, Sloan-Power, Smith, Spiegel, Stimson, Suh, Szatrowski, Tate, Torres, Wagner, White, Wirtenberg, Yachimovicz, Özel

EXCUSED: Collick, Crooks, Easley, Galego, Lee, Ramirez Polo, Wolfe

ABSENT: Abdelfattah, Adya, Afanador, Agyemang, F. Ahmed, B. Ahmed, Ameri, Amjad, Anderson Eloy, Anner, Apel, Arbuthnot, Doug Baker, Barone, Behrmann, Berkowitz, Bond, Borie-Holtz, Boswell, Bredehoft, Brigham, Burkheimer, Carter, Chiricolo, Choron, Conway, Cortez, Cotter, Cuitiño, Dastjerdi, Davis, DiGiovanni, Dinnall, Fang, Feldman, Fortuna, Friedman, Godoy, Gong, Gould, Grachan, Griffin, Guo, Halkitis, Hisham Hamawy, Hart, Hatefi, Hecht-Colsoy, Hoffman, Hussain, Ivasyuk, Johnson, Kaye, Kayyal, Ketankumar Patel, Khan, Khatal, Kilmurray, La Vigne, Lawson, Lehman, Lei, Leibowitz, Lemish, Luciano, Lutz, Maeng Brown, Maerhofer, Maganti, Mahajan, Mao, Mattis, McArdle, McKeever, P. Morton, C. Morton, Moulton, Murphy, Murtha, Nickitas, O’Connell, Oliver, Oluwadare, Paris, Parna, V. Patel, G. Patel, Pentecost, Pichugin, Pierce, Pradhan, Reshamdalal, Reynolds, Robson, Rodriguez, Rosa, Rosales, Rossman-Murphy, Rubin, Russ, Sarath, Sayde, Schroth, Scott, Searcy, Shah, Shapiro, Simonds, Smith-Jackson, Sorbat, Sow, Span, Spiero, Sriram, Starkweather, Stubin, Syed, Takhistov, Tewfik, Tillis, Tirino, Van Ryzin, Vuppala, Wade, Weiss, Yang, Zhang, Zhou, Zwick,

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIR’S REPORT – Lucille Foster, Chair

Chair Foster called the meeting to order at 1:10 p.m.

Before the Secretary’s report, President Tate wished congratulations to the winners of the leadership election this year and thanked Chair Foster, Vice Chair Purcell, the current Executive Committee, and the various committees of the Senate for their leadership this past year. President Tate then answered questions on the following topics:

• How can the Senate get access to the all-constituency RAMS email list?
• How can the Senate promote itself, especially to incoming students?
• How to get additional funds allocated for the Rutgers Aresty Research Center?
• Who owns the carbon credits for the energy produced by the panels over the parking lots across the campuses?
• Could President Tate visit the Camden campus once a semester for open dialogue opportunities with the constituencies?
• Will President Tate commit to attending every Senate meeting and inform the Senate on any upcoming policies, as well as take the advice of Senate members?
• Could President Tate engage in townhalls at each campus?
• Are there any future plans to ensure buildings are made ADA accessible?
• Is the university going to be looking at contracts that are in place with companies that support ICE and if so, will it ensure the university does not continue to partner with those companies?
• How can Rutgers remain competitive with infrastructure, funding, and support from the best students around the country?
• Does Rutgers have a capital budget plan and who is being asked across the campuses to provide feedback on the plan?
• Can there be more opportunity for the President to engage with students directly?

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY – Taryn Cooper, Senate Executive Secretary

• Agenda: The meeting agenda was approved with the addition of one item for new business proposed by Senator Fine to add the Resolution for the Improvement of Bus Transportation at RU New Brunswick.
• Minutes: The minutes of the March 27, 2026 Senate Meeting Minutes were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary without objections.
  • Senate Social will take place on Friday May 1, 2026 from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. at the Rutgers Club.
  • 2026-27 Senate Calendar.
  • Reminder to Senators log in to the website for attendance and access to voting.
  • Reminder to complete USGC surveys – Pulse, Elections, Communications.
  • Reminder to not raise electronic hand prior to the end of presentations.
  • Email Morgan Smith regarding attendance and committee activities.

STIMSITE RESEARCH PRESENTATION – Patrick Murray (1:20 – 1:50 p.m.)

CAMDEN CHANCELLOR SEARCH COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES – (1:50 – 1: 55 p.m.)

The Executive Secretary read the names of the volunteers to be on the Camden Chancellor search committee. Chair Foster confirmed she has not received a request yet from the President, but the list will be sent proactively. Senator Scott made a motion to debate the act of ranking the four faculty members who volunteered, in the event the President only picks one faculty member to be a representative. The motion did not pass, and the full list will be sent to the President’s office.

UPDATE FROM CAMDEN CAMPUS – Senator David Salas de la Cruz (1:55 – 2:05 p.m.)

Senator Salas- de la Cruz gave an update from the President’s visit to the Camden campus to talk with Camden Senators.

COMMITTEE REPORTS/RESOLUTIONS: The report will be presented/summarized by the committee chair, then will be discussed, and acted upon by the Senate. Substantive amendments to these reports should be given to the Senate secretary in writing prior to or at the time the amendment is moved.

Committee Report and Recommendations (1:50 – 2:05 p.m.)

Faculty and Personnel Affairs – Christine Morales, Sara Campbell (co-chairs)

S-2317: Prevalence, Procedures, and Challenges of Faculty Occupancy of Dual Leadership Roles

FPAC was charged as follows:

FPAC is charged with investigating and making recommendations it deems necessary on the following two issues: How common are dual full-time faculty leadership role situations at Rutgers, and what are the rationales under which such dual roles are undertaken? What is the process by which such dual role leadership situations are undertaken, regarding (but not necessarily limited to): the potentially unfilled portion of FTE in one or both positions; the identification and selection of other individuals to supplement one or both of the dual roles, including how existing procedures for filling such positions are or are not followed (e.g., is one or both role in such situations reverted to being appointed rather than competitively hired in any circumstances); the clarification of the work tasks required for each of the leadership roles held, and evaluation of performance in those roles, given that they are engaged at less than 100% FTE; assurance that potential conflict of interest is identified and pre-empted or managed? Note: This charge focuses on faculty specifically, excludes roles fulfilled through funding buy-outs and/or by involving summer work for those on 9-month contracts, and also omits focus on within-unit dual leadership roles unless each role historically constitutes 100% FTE (e.g., a department chair assuming the chairship of a second department within a school or college).

Senator Morales presented the report and recommendations. The recommendations were adopted.

OLD BUSINESS

PRESIDENT TATE’S LETTER TO THE UNIVERSITY SENATE – (2:15 – 2:45 p.m.)

Vice Chair Purcell motioned that the current draft of a response letter tasked by the Executive Committee to Senators Andrews, Scott, and Vice Chair Purcell during the April EC meeting will be shared with the full Senate via email following the Senate meeting for review and input. The final edits will be presented at the June EC meeting for approval to be sent on behalf of the Senate. The motion passed.

Research and Graduate & Professional Education Committee- Monica Mazurek, Enrique Curchitser (co-chairs)

S-2331: Research Trainee Compensation and Benefits Inequity

RGPEC was charged as follows:

Investigate current practices in postdoc and current doctoral student remuneration, in particular as it relates to inequality following fellowship funding and to develop solutions to reward talent.

Senator Boison presented the report and recommendations. The recommendations were adopted.

NEW BUSINESS**

A motion to add the Resolution for the Improvement of Bus Transportation at RU New Brunswick was adopted. Senator Fine presented the resolution to the Senate. The resolution was adopted.

SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT (3:30 – 3:35 p.m.)– Wendy Purcell, Vice Chair

Senator and Vice Chair Purcell reported on the March 6, 2026 Executive Committee meeting and the April 10, 2026 Executive Committee meeting.

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES (3:35 – 3:45 p.m.) 

Due to time restraints of the meeting, the report was not given.

REPORTS OF CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISONS (3:45 – 4:00 p.m.)

Due to time restraints of the meeting, the report was not given.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 4:01 p.m.

Minutes prepared by:

Taryn Cooper, Executive Secretary of the University Senate

 

Committee Meetings

Academic Standards, Regulations & Admissions Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Budget & Finance Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Faculty Affairs & Personnel Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Information Technology Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Instruction, Curricula & Advising Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Research, Graduate & Professional Education Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

Student Affairs Committee Meeting

No location or time for this committee meeting

University Structure & Governance Committee

No location or time for this committee meeting