By SHANNON O. WELLS

As part of her academic year-end recap at the Senate Council meeting on May 9, President Robin Kear mentioned Faculty Assembly’s support of Pitt’s English Language Institute (ELI), which was eventually granted a one-year reprieve after being set for closure last summer.

In her comments at the meeting, Kear suggested that the ongoing operation of the ELI remains a viable topic.

“In January of 2023 Faculty Assembly passed a statement in support of the work of the English Language Institute and its importance in ensuring that all students have the appropriate level of English-language fluency for their success in our classrooms and labs,” she said.

“I continue to meet with the director of the ELI for periodic updates, and to discuss this with the provost as well. The ELI continues to operate, and discussions continue.”

That was among the range of accomplishments, challenges, policies, leadership changes and discussions about the future of Pitt that Kear summarized in her report at the last Senate Council meeting of the 2024-25 academic year, held at Posvar Hall. (See Senate Matters column by Kear.)

Touching on Senate elections, Kear thanked Penny Morel, who was reelected as Senate secretary, and offered congratulations to those newly elected and returning Faculty Assembly members and the committee membership. “Thank you all for running and being willing to serve, and all of those who ran for election,” she said.

Policies and resolutions

Council passed six policies this academic year that Kear said are “applicable to all members of the University community.” They include the Research Data Management Interim policy; Access to and Use of University Computing Resources; Vaccination and Immunizations Requirements; Access to and Release of Education Records; and Assistance Animals, Therapy Animals and Pet Policies.

Following a rundown by Katherine Wood, Senate Research committee co-chair, Senate Council approved the sixth policy, Unit Level Payments for Research Participants, Students and Other Activities, at the May 9 meeting, with 25 voting in favor, zero opposed, and two abstentions.

Senate Council approved a resolution amending Pitt’s bylaws to include all part-time faculty as voting members of the University Senate. “We looked for impact of this resolution, which was automatically including part-time faculty in the Senate membership for overall vote impact,” Kear said.

While no part-time faculty have come forward for elected positions, “we’re still evaluating to see if it had any impact on the vote. But this was the first year for that,” she added. “Perhaps as it becomes more regular, we will see more of an impact in future years.”

Committee activity

Kear noted that Senate committees continue to be “active and robust, directly impacting and advising on important items related to their missions, even those that … were most impacted by (faculty union) bargaining through this past academic year and the year before.”

• Budget Policies has focused recently on the unit-level planning and budget committee and more robust salary data with the Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee (EIADAC).

• Faculty Affairs made a strong impact on the Zoom video conferencing discussions and clarified questions around tax exemption. “We worked hard to keep Zoom for all,” Kear said.

• Benefits and Welfare continues to provide extremely valuable information to the Pitt community, she said. Now that the faculty union contract has been approved, “Our next year will continue to be one of adaptation, and hopefully collaboration,” she said, “keeping in focus any potential adverse effects for our medical school faculty.”

• Campus Utilization, Planning and Safety continues its “strong role in campus planning and safety” and has representation in the new campus master planning.

AI, search committees

Noting that in her representative capacity, she is involved in several groups related to the rapidly growing field of artificial intelligence, Kear said the Ad Hoc Committee on Generative AI and Research and Education wrapped up its work this spring. The report is publicly available on the Teaching Center website.

“There’s a whole website related to AI and teaching,” she added. “Please take a look at the recommendations and give any feedback. I will be involved in new work around AI literacy that will start this summer that was initiated by Pitt Research.”

The Senate continued its role in electing faculty to search committees for certain academic administrators, including the provost search committee and the Learning Research and Development Center director this past year. “We will be electing another faculty group this summer for the rebooted (University Center for Social and Urban Research) leadership search,” she said.

The Student Health Insurance Task Force convened for one year, related to increases in student health insurance plan costs.

“I believe the group for students will run in parallel with a Medical Advisory Committee for non-represented faculty and staff under an umbrella group, the Human Relations Advisory Committee … for input,” Kear said.

Kear noted another successful Senate Plenary, with the March event theme of “Bringing Disciplines Together to Solve Big Problems” including an interactive discussion on “How to Interdisciplinary.”

Ongoing business

In addition to the future of the English Language Institute, ongoing areas for the Senate Council to monitor, Kear said, include:

• Two memos related to syllabus planning for the fall, one related to considerations for religious observances and another to more general student well-being.

• Senate has representation on the LGBTQIA+ Steering Committee and the General Education Reform Task Force, which is ongoing, Kear said.

• The Senate brought discussion and attention to Testing Center accommodations issues. “The Educational Policies committee continues to engage in the solutions there.”

Listening and understanding

Wrapping up her report, Kear said she appreciated working with Chancellor Joan Gabel and Provost Joe McCarthy, noting that in “words and deeds, they have demonstrated to me commitment to shared governance this year.

“The refocused Plan for Pitt will help us will guide us and help us in the next year in the University.”

Referring to her tendency to share concern and philosophical commentary regarding social unrest and world affairs with Senate Council and Faculty Assembly, Kear addressed the implications of the roiling Israel-Hamas conflict.

“War and its devastation has brought us social upheaval once again,” she said. “So I encourage us to try to listen to each other, to try and understand views that are different from our own and to work toward coexistence, and to be part of the path of compassion and dialogue that many of our colleagues have shown us this year.

“And I know this is difficult work. And it’s difficult for me as well,” she added. “I’m trying to understand students and their worldview and how it is different from mine. So I know it’s extremely hard.”

Kris Kanthak, Senate Council vice president, expressed her appreciation to Kear for navigating shared governance through a rather dynamic and unpredictable academic year.

“I just want to quickly thank you for your leadership this year. It has not been an easy one,” Kanthak said. “And I’m very grateful. And I think a lot of us feel this way of working with you this year and are very appreciative of your thoughtfulness and the ethics that you bring to these really difficult questions that we have to deal with sometimes.”

Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.

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