Guest Speaker Presentation —

Dr. Doug Ward: Associate Director at Center for Teaching Excellence/ Assoc. Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications

Dr. Kathryn Conrad: Professor in Department of English/Dean’s Fellow for Humanities Advancement and Fellow, Center for Cyber-Social Dynamics

Doug and Katie talk about using generative AI and its impact on students, faculty, and staff: 

•    There can be confusion across faculty, staff, and students about how to incorporate AI.
•     Estimated at least 86% of students use generative AI (likely higher) so need clearer guidelines. 
•    Faculty are trying to figure out best way forward. There can be a trust problem.
•    We need to talk to students about AI and build trust and partnership.
•    Doug has some AI resources on the Center for Teaching website.
•    Students and teachers are being marketed to. We need to understand AI first before putting in classroom. AI opens the door to various risks. Additionally, using AI detectors further can inhibit trust and they often don’t work. 
•    Alternatively, many businesses are wanting students to know AI and how to use it. We need to adapt to the information age. 
•    There is not a one size fits all for an AI syllabus policy but it’s important to include in syllabus. 
•    Katie attended an institute this summer - it was clear that most of us don’t have the time to know this well. However, building AI literacy in small ways can help with understanding as it’s important to understand AI before putting in the classroom. 
•    Should faculty have an AI policy in the syllabus outlying what is acceptable/what’s not for students? 
•    Katie has authored a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights for Education.

Student Senate Report

Undergraduate senators have been elected to their subcommittees. 
Multiple campaign platforms - 2 have been completed this year: 
•    Opening of the University of Kansas Bar on bottom floor of the KS Union  
•    Purchasing of blue books for all students. Those should be arriving for any student to pick up as needed in the Student Senate office.

Staff Senate Report

Teri introduction: Staff Senate President. Teri has been at KU for 26 years and works at the KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum
•    Some people attended the strategic hiring meeting that the Provost had in August. There were several staff questions. Teri and Marissa had good discussion with Provost Bichelmeyer.
•    The Diversity & Inclusion Committee will resume meeting again. There was a hiatus due to House Bill 2105. There has been guidance from upper administration that it’s ok to meet and name doesn’t need to be changed. It’s up to the committee.  
•    LinkedIn Learning on My Talent has been removed due to HB 2105 but should be returning, likely in Oct. 
•    Many facilities and operations staff don’t have good access to safety training. Staff Senate supporting that facilities should have access to the training they need. 
 

Faculty Senate Report

•    Faculty Senate hasn’t met yet so report will be shorter. 
•    Over the summer, Faculty Senate had Summer Planning Meeting. Still working on filling Faculty Senate spots. 
•    We’re going to have speaker at first Faculty Senate Meeting representing the Asian-American Faculty Staff Council, which is calling for a reinstatement of Dr. Franklin Tao. The speaker will give more information about those who may not be familiar with the case. 
•    KBOR items and metrics/program evaluations will also be topics this year. 
•    Dr. Alex Red Corn will be a speaker in October. Alex is the new Director of Indigenous Studies and the Vice Chancellor of Sovereign Partnerships. Will be interesting to learn more about this role. 
 

University Senate Report

Josh welcomes everyone for the first University Senate Meeting.

Introduction: Josh is the University Senate President and has been at KU for 9 years. 
Josh is a lecturer in the School of Business and has been involved in governance for about 5 years.

•    A topic discussed last year was excused absences:
o    Over the summer when creating charges for subcommittees, we decided to pull back the excused absence charges that were included in some of the committee charges. 
o    We’d like to have more concrete discussions about those with the Provost, so those charges were pulled back to SenEx.
•    There was an e-mail that went out referencing an excused absence “frequently asked questions” that is helpful for both faculty and students. 
•    Student Affairs is putting together some marketing materials about importance of going to class and interacting with faculty. 
•    A testing center may be available down the road for excused absence make-ups. This is still in the early stages of discussion so tentatively Fall 2025 this could be available. 
 

New Business —

Approval of the charges for the University Senate Subcommittees:

Jessica Chilcoat motions to approve the standing committee charges as written and disbursed to the University Senate. Brendan Falen seconds the motion. Standing Committee charges approved for this academic year. 

Ad-Hoc Gateway Committee: 
•    The Planning & Resources Committee recommended an Ad-Hoc Gateway Committee because Gateway District is a new entity outside of the traditional campus operations.
•    Ad-Hoc Gateway Committee is made up of 2 staff, 2 faculty, 2 students.
•    Purpose of the committee is to have discussions with leadership regarding the Gateway District project and if needed, report back to University Senate on issues that are relative to faculty, students, and staff. 
•    Jessica Chilcoat motions to approve the Ad Hoc Gateway Committee charges disbursed to University Senate. Brendan Mattingly seconds the motion. The charges for the Ad hoc committee have been approved. 

Now that charges have been approved, the committees can meet and start working on the charges. 

The establishment of Environmental Committee:
•    Josh received many comments and feedback. Please send Josh an e-mail if anyone has additional comments. 
•    Several e-mails of appreciation for the environmental and sustainability focus on campus.
•    Most of the more critical comments focused on the composition of the committee and the restrictions. 
•    Recommendation to change the name to Environmental and Sustainability committee.
•    More ex-officio members and a broader approach to include specialists in certain areas could be helpful. 
•    Robert Eppler suggested the possibility of greater student representation because there has been a lot of interest among student groups.

Next Meeting: October 10, 2024. Travis Goff rescheduled to February 2025 meeting. 

The Oct 10 meeting will be shorter so people may attend the Chancellor’s Address at 4pm.