RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY

UNIVERSITY SENATE

 

MINUTES: Organizational Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: April 24, 2026

TIME AND PLACE: 9:30 a.m., Remote via Zoom

PRESENT: Abraira, Akdogan, Anderson, Andrews, Arbuthnot, Ashraf, Askew, Bachmann, Baker, Barbarello Andrews, Barsoum, Bhuyan, Boison, Borisovets, Boxer, Bridgeman, Brilliant, Brown, Campbell, Carney-Waterton, Cañares, Chintala, Clarke, Colavito, Cooper, Crincoli, Dane, DeMatteo, Dixit, Dock, Ebert, Economou, Elashal, Emmons, K. Esposito, I. Esposito, Everett, Fatahzadeh, Fenker, Filippelli, Fine, Flynn, Foster, Frenkel, Giraud, Gittelman, Grachan, Graham, Green-Mercado, Gurbuzbalaban, Gursoy, Gutierrez, Haberl, Hadash, Haley, Haviland, Hennessy, Householder, Hunter, Hussain, Jacob, Jordan-McKinney, Kaback, Keates, Kettle, Kiss, Klimczak, Knievel, Kustka, LaMorte, Ladell, Langowski, Limata, Lyons, Maerhofer, Mathews, Matott, McCarthy, McCrossin, McKeever, Mittal, Morton, Newhouse, Ntiwunka-Ifeanyi, Pai, Paris, S. Patel, Payne, Pierce, Pilch, Pixley, Pontes, Poylangada, Punjabi, Purcell, Quevado, Quincy, Rabinowitz, Ramachandran, Ramenzoni, Rastogi, Rehman, Robles, Rombach, Salas-de la Cruz, Saltzman, Samavat, Santos Mendoza, Schafer, Scharf, Schwartz, Scott, Seiden, Sese, Sesti C. Shah, D. Shah, Sheaffer, Sheppard, Shinbrot, Silver, Sloan-Power, Smith, Spiegel, Szatrowski, Tamboli, Tate, Torres, Trott, Tsilomelekis, Uzoma Nwachukwu, Vasquez, Walker-Mason, Wang, Wasniowska, Wirtenberg, Yachimovicz, Zarbl, D. Zhou

EXCUSED: Abedullah, Bucher, Crooks, Lee, Ramirez Polo, Vera

ABSENT: Ahmad, Amjad, Bambara, Behrmann, Carmona, Cartmill, Cramer, Curchitser, Dastjerdi, Davis, Fang, Fortuna, Fraga, Godoy, Gong, Gunthner, Gupta, Hatefi, Hoffman, Javanmard, Jjuuko, Kamara, Kamchaji, Kayyal, Kelly, Ketankumar Patel, Khan, Kim, Knight, Korczak, Lawino, Layne, Lee, Lobman, Lotts, Luciano, Lutz, Maeng Brown, Maganti, Mahajan, Maliga, Mansukhani, Mao, Mazurek, McGuire, Morera, Murphy, O’Connor, O’Keefe, Obiorah, Oluwadare, Pabbathy, Patil, Patkar, Paul, Pintar, Pittman, Ratajczak, Reddy Koduru, Santa Ana, Syed, Tewfik, Turbin, Varzgani, Zhang

CALL TO ORDER AND DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM – Lucille Foster, Chair

Chair Foster called the first meeting of the 2025-26 Rutgers University Senate to order at 9:36 a.m.

SECRETARY’S REPORT – Taryn Cooper, Executive Secretary

• Committee Preference Form for New Senators
• 2026-27 Senate Calendar
• SAVE THE DATE: New Senator Orientation – Fri. September 11, 2026

REPORT OF THE ELECTION COMMITTEE – Robert Schwartz, Election Committee Chair

Election Committee Chair Robert Schwartz gave a brief overview of the nomination and election process.

Chair Schwartz announced candidates for all positions, calling for nominations from the floor in each category except for Chair and Vice Chair, as mandated by USGC report S-1501.

After nominations were completed, including those made from the floor, the resultant slate of candidates was:

Chair: Lucille Foster, Newark Staff; Anna Haley, SSW-NB (F)

Vice Chair: Paul Boxer, SAS- N (F); Brian Everett, Camden Staff; Wendy Purcell, SPH (F)

Executive Committee Newark Faculty: Adam Kustka, SAS-N (F); Michelle Gittelman, RBS: N/NB (N-F)

Executive Committee Camden Faculty: Timothy Knievel, FAS-C (F)

Executive Committee New Brunswick Faculty: Sara Campbell, SAS-NB (F); Rob Scott, SAS-NB (F)

Executive Committee RBHS Faculty: Geza Kiss, RWJMS (F); Kusum Punjabi, RWJMS (F)

Executive Committee Full-Time Faculty At-Large: Adam Kustka, SAS-N (F); Rob Scott, SAS-NB (F); Kusum Punjabi, RWJMS (F); Wendy Purcell, SPH (F)

Executive Committee Lecturer Faculty: Heather Pierce, Lecturer-New Brunswick (F)

Executive Committee Alumni: Rochelle Andrews, Alumni Association; Rachel Maeng Brown, Alumni Association

Executive Committee Staff: Jonathan Paul Langowski, RBHS Staff; Siatta Davis, Camden Staff

Executive Committee Camden Student: Amisha Rastogi, CCAS (S)

Executive Committee New Brunswick Student: Nathaniel Paris, MGSA (S); Andrew Rombach, SMLR (S)

Executive Committee Newark Student: Josue Vasquez, SCJ (S)

Executive Committee RBHS Student: Simon Sheppard, RWJMS (S)

Board of Governors Faculty Representative: Suzanne Crincoli, SON (F); Heather Pierce, Lecturer- NB (F)

*Note- Elected Chair is faculty member, therefore the BOG representative turns to staff.

Board of Governors Staff Representative: Siatta Davis, Camden Staff; Brian Everett, Camden Staff; Jonathan Paul Langowski, RBHS Staff

Board of Governors Student Representative: Chidera Ntwiunka-Ifeanyi, SGS (S); Gavin Walker-Mason, SAS-N (S)

Board of Trustees Faculty Representatives: Suzanne Crincoli, SON (F); Heather Pierce, Lecturer-NB (F); David Salas- de la Cruz, Camden At-Large (F); Robert Schwartz, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences At-Large (F); Wendy Purcell, SPH (F)

Board of Trustees Undergraduate Student Representative: Prithika Chintala, RBS-C (S)

Board of Trustees Graduate Student Representative: Uswa Ashraf, GSAPP (S); Nathaniel Brilliant, SCI (S); Chidera Ntiwunka-Ifeanyi, SGS (S)

Members of the Policy Approval Committee: Siatta Davis, Camden Staff; Rob Scott, SAS-NB (F); Troy Shinbrot, SOE (F)

NJ-MADC Senate Representative: Paul Boxer, SAS-N (F)

RESULTS OF THE 2026-27 ELECTIONS:

Chair: Anna Haley, SSW (F)

Vice Chair: Paul Boxer, SAS-N (F)

Executive Committee Camden Faculty: Timothy Knievel, FAS-C (F)

Executive Committee New Brunswick Faculty: Sara Campbell, SAS-NB (F)

Executive Committee Newark Faculty: Michelle Gittelman, RBS: N/NB (N-F)

Executive Committee RBHS Faculty: Geza Kiss, RWJMS (F)

Executive Committee Full-Time Faculty At-Large: Adam Kustka, SAS-N (F); Wendy Purcell, SPH (F)

Executive Committee Lecturer Faculty: Heather Pierce, Lecturer-New Brunswick (F)

Executive Committee Alumni: Rochelle Andrews, Alumni Association

Executive Committee Staff: Siatta Davis, Camden Staff

Executive Committee Camden Student: Joseph Lescht, Camden College of Arts and Sciences (S)

Executive Committee New Brunswick Student: Amisha Rastogi, CCAS (S)

Executive Committee Newark Student: Josue Vasquez, SCJ (S)

Executive Committee RBHS Student: Simon Sheppard, RWJMS (S)

Board of Governors Staff Representative: Brian Everett, Camden Staff

*Note- Elected Chair is a faculty member, therefore the BOG representative turns to staff.

Board of Governors Student Representative: Gavin Walker-Mason, SAS-N (S)

Board of Trustees Faculty Representatives: Heather Pierce, Lecturer-NB (F); Robert Schwartz, RBHS At-Large (F)

Board of Trustees Undergraduate Student Representative: Prithika Chintala, RBS (S)

Board of Trustees Graduate Student Representative: Chidera Ntiwunka-Ifeanyi, SGS (S)

Members of the Policy Approval Committee: Rob Scott, SAS-NB (F); Troy Shinbrot, SOE (F)

NJ-MADC Senate Representative: Paul Boxer, SAS-N (F)

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 12:23 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