Senate Adhoc Committees
In accordance with the University Bylaws, the University Senate has the authority to establish adhoc committees tasked with a specific time-bound purpose.
Anti-Black Racism Course Implementation Working Group
Charge:
At the May 1, 2023, regular meeting of the University Senate, a motion to amend the By-Laws, Rules & Regulations of the University Senate, II.C.2.D (renumber from D) Minimum Requirements for Undergraduate Degrees, General Education Curriculum was presented by the University Senate ABR Implementation Ad Hoc Committee and passed.
The By-Law revision states:
Every undergraduate student at UConn must pass the one-credit course titled U.S. Anti-Black Racism as part of the baccalaureate degree requirements. It is strongly recommended that the course be completed during the first two years of enrollment at the University.
This new degree requirement is scheduled to go into effect starting from the Fall 2025 semester and it is the charge of this Working Group to determine the curricular next steps to ensure the requirement is launched to meet this deadline.
Objectives:
- Determine a subject area (recommended UNIV), course number (recommended 1000 or 2000 level), and catalog description for the course (feel free to include publishable minimum learning objectives, as those will be included in the catalog for all CC courses as of Fall 2026). Submit a CAR for the course.
- Determine whether a substitute is appropriate if a student has taken a 3-credit course in Anti-Black Racism that has the same learning objective (proposal by Senator Jockusch on the Senate floor)
Timeline:
- Goal is to submit a CAR form for the ABR course by October 1, 2024, to ensure sufficient time for curricular processing by the February deadline set by the Registrar for new courses to be added to the catalog for the 2025-2026 Academic Year
Committee Membership & Terms:
Members of the Anti-Black Racism Course Implementation Working Group shall be appointed by the Senate Executive Committee including recommendations by Academic Leadership, Deans, and other constituencies. Members shall be added for the duration of the charge of this Working Group and members may be added or removed based on recommendations from the group or other parties.
Committee Membership
- *Suzanne Wilson, Neag (Chair)
- *Jamie Caruso, Academic Affairs, Waterbury Campus
- Erin Ciarimboli, Office of Undergraduate Advising
- *Kamara Nyahuma, Undergraduate Student
- *Carl Rivers, Registrar's Office
- Shawn Salvant, Africana Studies Institute
- Stephany Santos, Engineering
- Kathleen Tonry, CLAS, W Center
*indicates 23/24 University Senate Member
Multi-Campus Adhoc Committee
Charge:
An ad hoc committee will identify and define specific challenges faced across UConn’s campuses (Avery Point, Hartford, Law, Stamford, Storrs, UConn Health, and Waterbury) to assess whether these areas of concern are being addressed by existing university structures, support groups, or committees, and present their findings to the University Senate by the end of the Spring 2024 semester.
The group will also evaluate if there is a need for this ad hoc committee to be established as a standing committee to address the various needs identified in the initial work of this group. This would require the ad hoc committee to make a recommendation to change the Senate Bylaws to include a Multi-Campus Standing Committee.
Objectives:
The ad hoc committee will operate to identify areas of attention or concern in the furtherance of the following broad goals:
- Improve student academic success across campuses;
- Ensure equitable access to all services provided to UConn students, staff, and faculty; and
- Increase seamless integration between campuses while also celebrating the unique identity of each campus.
Scope:
The SEC recognizes the following goals, but the group may also identify additional challenges not mentioned here. Our shared goals are to:
- Ensure equitable access across all campuses to:
- research/funding opportunities for students, faculty, and staff;
- health services (including mental health services) for students, faculty, and staff;
- course offerings for students;
- Ensure equitable workload expectations for faculty and staff across campuses, including service at multiple campuses, differential advising loads, and recognition of campus differences in merit process decisions and performance reviews;
- Address the gap in retention and graduation rates between Storrs and other campuses;
- Better manage enrollments across campuses;
- Increase student success for students transitioning across campuses;
- Increase coordination across campuses to provide strategic access to online courses;
- Improve coordination of course schedules to meet the needs of individual campuses;
- Improve communication and opportunities for involvement among all UConn campuses;
- Improve transportation among campuses;
- Improve equitable access to affordable student housing; and
- Enhance connections of each campus to their community (city) partners.
For each of these goals, the committee may provide data or other evidence of the challenges, recommend new initiatives or policy changes to be addressed by the Senate, or send recommendations to other standing committees or administrative offices.
Committee Membership & Terms:
Members of the Multiple Campuses Ad hoc Committee shall be appointed by the Senate Nominating Committee including recommendations by Campus Deans, Academic Leadership, and other constituencies. Members shall be added for the duration of the charge of this Ad Hoc Committee and members may be added or removed based on recommendations from the group or other parties.
Committee Membership:
- *Jennifer Dineen, Public Policy, CLAS, Hartford (Co-Chair)
- *Nathaniel Trumbull, Geography, CLAS, Avery Point (Co-Chair)
- *Zachary Boudah, Undergraduate Student, Avery Point
- *Daniel Burkey, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Engineering
- John Cooley, Biology, CLAS, Hartford
- Annamaria Csizmadia, HDFS, CLAS, Stamford
- *Amy Gorin (ex-officio), Provost's Office
- *Oskar Harmon, Economics, CLAS, Stamford
- Katie Martin, Assistant Campus Director, Hartford
- Nakeia Moore, Undergraduate Programs, Waterbury
- *Sidratul Muntaha, Undergraduate Student, Hartford
- *Morty Ortega, Natural Resources & the Environment, CAHNR
- Katherine Pancak, Finance, School of Business, Stamford
- Mohammed Ruwaid, Undergraduate Student
- Linda Sprague Martinez, UConn Health, Farmington
- Shelby Summers, Student Affairs, School of Law, Hartford
- Peter Tribuzio, Student Services, Waterbury
*indicates a member of the 2023-2024 University Senate
Safe Environment Ad-Hoc Committee
Charge:
The University Senate Safe Environment Ad Hoc committee will explore current and identify possible University policies and State Law safeguards that are available to enhance UConn Community Safety. The committee shall provide a report to the Senate Executive Committee as outlined below which provides policy recommendation and/or recommendations for further research.
This Ad Hoc Committee shall be empaneled by the end of the Spring 2024 semester and shall report on its progress to the Senate Executive Committee in the Fall 2024 semester with preliminary reports in December 2024 and February 2025.
Background:
Members of the UConn Community, faculty, staff, and students have experienced personal harassment. Further, there is unfortunately a national epidemic of physical violence on university campuses, and members of the UConn Community and members of other academic institutions throughout the country are being intimidated and their work interfered with by the misuse of state open information laws.
Objectives:
The SEC recognizes the following objectives, but the group may also identify additional objectives not mentioned here:
- Meet with leading members of the UConn Administration, who oversee online harassment, physical safety, and personal information disclosure policies;
- Survey, research, or interview experts, who can discuss state policies regarding harassment and/or information disclosure as well as the safety policies of educational institutions;
- Engage in or review existing outreach to the UConn Community regarding issues of faculty, staff, and student harassment;
- Research and discuss methods in which the number and characterization of incidents of harassment or misuse of disclosure policies are collected and studied by the UConn Administration.
- Evaluate jurisdictional gaps, if any, among the current UConn organizations that respond to harassment reports;
- The Ad hoc Committee can recognize that faculty, staff, and student populations may have different levels of current response and may choose to concentrate its attention on a subset of those populations as it deems appropriate.
For each of these objectives, the committee may provide data or other evidence of the challenges, recommend new initiatives or policy changes to be addressed by the Senate, or send recommendations to other standing committees or administrative offices.
Committee Membership & Terms:
Members of the University Senate Safe Environment Ad hoc Committee shall be appointed by the Senate Nominating Committee including recommendations by Campus Deans, Academic Leadership, and other constituencies. Members shall be added for the duration of the charge of this Ad Hoc Committee and members may be added or removed based on recommendations from the group or other parties.
Committee Membership TBD
Committees Charged by the University Senate
From time to time, the University Senate may also make a recommendation to other units within the university to establish a taskforce or committee to focus on issues that are outside of the purview of the University Senate. The below list is not an exhaustive list but serves as a snapshot of recent and/or active university committees whose origins were a result of a University Senate charge.