Approval of Previous Minutes —

Approval of minutes from Nov 18, 2025, and Jan 27, 2026. Jessica Chilcoat motions to approve. Marissa Marshall seconds. Minutes approved without objections. 

Guest Speaker Presentation —

• Shelley Hooks presents on the current research landscape and uncertainties around federal funding and F&A. There are new opportunities as well. 
• NIH is only approximately 25% of research funding on the Lawrence campus so we need to look across all types of funding. There are opportunities for new federal funding areas. 
• KU is an AAU member and RI university with high research activity, so the goal is to give students research experience. 
• One of the recommendations from the HLC accreditation process is weaving KU’s research identity throughout the institution. 
• The Office of Research is trying to build a resilient and efficient research administration. There have been a lot of changes at once which the campus is navigating through. These changes bring uncertainty, but they also bring opportunities. 
• Some areas of funding which have historically been strong at KU now have less funding which has led to concern and uncertainty about future research programs. 
• There is opportunity for strengthening the career paths of staff scientists and faculty with differing research that can feel undervalued. There is potential to increase undergraduate and graduate student participation in research.
• There are now “pivot grants,” a new category of one-time funding to help faculty whose previously funded research is now at risk due to changing federal funding. 

Student Senate Report

• Student Senate leadership participated in Higher Ed Day in which they went to Topeka to lobby on behalf of post-secondary education and promote the value that KU and peer institutions provide the state of Kansas, both economically and in research. 
• A Wellness Center will be going up with the goal of 2028 completion date. Student leadership has been meeting with architects to see what students would want and how the Wellness Center would look. 
• Henry has been meeting with KU Parking about expanding student parking spaces. New parking spaces will be opening over the summer behind the tennis courts. 
• Henry was asked if the Wellness Center will still be going in near Ambler Rec Center and if there is going to be a focus on financial well-being and financial literacy. Henry confirms there has been a lot of feedback received that financial well-being is important. 

Staff Senate Report

• Wrapping up the Docking Institute Survey information that the Docking Institute Ad Hoc committee has been collecting and working on. 
• Marissa and team will present findings to the provost at the next leadership meeting and hopefully schedule a campus-wide address over the next couple of months. 

Faculty Senate Report

• Misty is looking at the current rules and structure of Faculty Senate to see if there is a way to adapt to be more focused on “One KU” and look at innovative ways to bring faculty into Faculty Senate in which they have more input in their departments. 
• There was a proposal submitted in Topeka surrounding tenure, so keeping an eye on that for updates. 

University Senate Report

• It was a nice opportunity to get facetime with the four Provost candidates.
• All four candidates stressed the importance of working together in shared governance. All four also emphasized getting contract signed with the Union. 

New Business —

• Article X, Section 2 regarding membership of Standing Committees of the University Senate:
  • This is a request for an amendment which allows for a representative from Academic Affairs to be an ex-officio member on the University Senate AP&P committee. 
  • Henry Whalen motions to approve. Jessica Chilcoat seconds. 
  • Poll goes out. Marissa will vote for a member who has recently resigned. Vote passes unanimously. 
• There will be a couple of amendments to the University Senate Code coming up through Student Senate. This will be placed on the University Senate agenda later this month after seven-day notice period. 
• A question was raised about the Gateway District project. Questions can currently be sent to the Planning & Resources Committee as the Gateway District falls under that committee’s purview. 
• Grade Replacement Policy amendment– replacing honors course with non-honors: 
  • This would allow students to retake an honors course with a non-honors equivalent instead of requiring the exact same course code for grade replacement. 
  • Sometimes an honors section is not offered the following semester, and some students are unable to replace the grade. 
  • The replacement would apply to the grade only. Honors credit would not be awarded if the student retakes the non-honors version. 
  • Some concerns were raised how the Office of the Registrar would process this replacement when the course code differs. It would be helpful to get perspectives from the University Registrar. 
  • There is not opposition to the concept, but there is some uncertainty surrounding the administrative capability. 
• Meeting recordings and agendas
  • There was a request to have the agendas and meeting recordings available online so there is improved transparency and a reduced need for open records requests to access the meeting recordings.
  • There was discussion on the concern of posting the recordings as they are primarily for minute-taking accuracy, and the intent is not for public archiving.
  • Most of the governance bodies only retain the recordings temporarily and store them on the cloud for so many days.

  • There is concern regarding the potential impact of openness and feeling comfortable to share during meetings.

     

Meeting adjourned.