By ROBIN KEAR with a little help from PittGPT*

I asked PittGPT to analyze the themes from a year of my reports to the University Senate and it gave me a solid representative response in summary. My prompt was intentionally broad, and it gave me themes from this year — some are specific to this year, and some are part of the ongoing work of the Senate.

I then asked deeper questions about specific items that I thought were missing and, of course, I referred to my original documents. It was a different way to start a year-end summary for me. Here is a broad overview of what we discussed and participated in this academic year:

Academic Freedom and Discourse: A recurring theme in our work this year was the importance of academic freedom and fostering civil discourse. Our Senate Plenary in March 2025 shared strategies for maintaining open dialogue in the classroom, especially when dealing with controversial topics. We focused on academic freedom and its role in education.

Shared Governance and Faculty Participation: There is wide involvement of faculty in various committees and decision-making processes, such as Senate elections, committee memberships, and search committees for academic administrators.

• UCIS Search Committee: The Senate was tasked with electing four faculty members from the University Center for International Studies (UCIS) constituent faculty to serve on a search committee. This committee was established to review the interim leadership and consider the structure of Pitt's global efforts. The elected faculty members were Erica Owen, Elizabeth Oyler, Mina Rajagopalan and John Stoner.

• The Senate Expanded Executive Committee consists of the chairs/co-chairs of our 15 Senate committees and the Senate officers. We had two meetings on Oct. 14 on the first fall break day. One was for new chairs/co-chairs to discuss their new roles and the second for all of the committee chairs/co-chairs to discuss current issues facing their committees and the Senate. We will meet again in late May.

• Dear Colleague Letter Working Group: The University has put together a small working group representing areas across campus, including Senate representation. This Dear Colleague Letter or DCL working group will be meeting regularly to discuss potential impacts of the Department of Education’s guidance on the University’s policies, practices, programs, and other resources.

Policy Updates and Reviews: Our work involved ongoing updates and reviews of university policies, including those related to English language proficiency, information security, and identity theft. The importance of faculty input in these policy changes is so important.

• We passed two policies this year, Identity Theft (Red Flags) Policy and the University Information Security Policy, in April.

• Last summer, we assisted in interim edits for CS 20–Sexual Misconduct Policy that were coordinated in response to federal Title IX regulation changes, which were pending due to a court injunction. Ultimately, these interim edits were not needed.

• We gave affirmative feedback on AC 07–Assessment of English Language Proficiency for Admission. This policy was open for public comment and was decommissioned. It is being replaced with a unit-level policy through the Office of the Provost to allow for greater flexibility in assessing English language proficiency.

• TAFC (Tenure & Academic Freedom Committee) came to an understanding about the grievance process for bargaining unit members with the USW (United Steel Workers) faculty union leadership. The CBA grievance process, University Policies AC 22 Faculty Grievance and AC 28 Faculty Reviews and Appeals were discussed to reiterate processes for faculty members inside and outside the bargaining unit.

• Ongoing work: An interim policy group was set up to examine and adjust the Authorization for Release of Records and Information form, followed by a full policy process. The committee includes two Senate representatives, along with representatives from the provost’s office faculty affairs team, Office of University Counsel, the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and the Policy Office. The interim process aims to provide clarity on its use until a full policy process is established.

Antisemitism and Inclusivity: Several of our meetings in the fall discussed efforts to combat antisemitism and promote inclusivity within the University. The formation of working groups and committees to address these issues reflects the University's proactive stance on fostering a safe and respectful environment.

• There was a proposed resolution from the Executive Committee to create an Ad Hoc Committee on Antisemitism to address and examine instances of antisemitism on and off campus. This resolution aimed to improve conditions for the Jewish community at the University. However, following discussions, the resolution was withdrawn in favor of creating a University-level Working Group on Antisemitism authorized by the chancellor and the provost.

Educational Efforts: The Senate has been involved in many educational efforts and decisions this year in the Provost’s Office.

• Centralized Advising for First-Year Undergraduates: There was robust discussion regarding a plan to add centralized advising support for first-year undergraduate students. The new advising model is to be discussed within each school, with leadership and current undergraduate advisors before implementation. This reform aims to enhance support for first-year students and is being reviewed by the Senate Educational Policies Committee.

• We heard updates on the General Education Reform Task Force, now in its second year. The Senate Educational Policies Committee continues to work with this topic.

• There have been positive developments regarding the status of the English Language Institute. The Office of the Provost agreed to support the ELI Intensive English Program for the next three years to focus on rebuilding enrollments post-pandemic. There is a commitment to maintaining and enhancing the English Language Institute's programs and support structures, ensuring they continue to meet the needs of international students effectively.

• We have taken part in communication efforts to streamline the process and ensure equitable access to testing accommodation for students, addressing the challenges faced by the Testing Center during busy periods.

Faculty and Student Well-being: Concerns about faculty and student well-being are evident, with discussions on dependent care benefits, retention, and support systems for mental health and safety.

• Voice of the School of Medicine faculty: There were ongoing discussions regarding the impact of the USW CBA on School of Medicine faculty and shared governance. Concerns were raised about the potential application of negotiated issues to medical school faculty without their input. Meetings were held early in the year with representatives from the general counsel's office to address these concerns and explore potential remedies. Elected School of Medicine Faculty Assembly members continued to meet with Senate officers to discuss the best ways to maintain the faculty voice in shared governance. These meetings aimed to address specific issues that arise in committees and ensure effective communication and understanding.

• We focused on supporting international students as we could, particularly concerning immigration concerns and visa issues. The Office of International Services hosts events to address these matters, demonstrating the University's commitment to its international community.

Community Engagement, Events, and Communication: The Senate assists with various community engagement efforts, including open forums, surveys, and commemorative events. These activities aim to involve the university community in decision-making and celebrating achievements.

• The University is working on enhancing its research communications through initiatives like "Research Matters," aimed at highlighting the impact of research at Pitt.

• We have communicated the desire for ongoing communication efforts from senior administration, especially this spring.

While I had to check and modify these themes, it was useful to engage with PittGPT on this closed data set. PittGPT brought out themes that illustrate our focus on engaging in shared governance and adapting to changing external conditions. What PittGPT cannot do is understand the order of importance and magnitude, and capture what I didn’t say in my reports — the blood, sweat, and tears and sleepless nights, so to speak, of the effort involved behind the scenes, in building and maintaining Senate relationships in many corners of the University for the benefit of Pitt. We are all engaged in this in our way to make Pitt a better place, and while we may disagree on the methods and the processes, I firmly believe the intention is the same.

“Thank you all for your service and dedication to shared governance” has been my constant report closing item at meetings, because it’s true, without those that show up it wouldn’t work at all.

Thank you to our elected Faculty Assembly members for finding value in this work. Thank you especially to our Senate committee chairs and co-chairs and to all who serve on Senate committees. Thank you to the Senate office, Lori Molinaro and Linda SantaCasa, for their hard work and partnership.

Thank you to Staff Council President Lindsay Rodzwicz for your dedication and friendship. Thank you to the chancellor and provost, and the many other thoughtful administrative leaders I have worked with.

A big thank you to the insightfulness of the Senate leadership team, Vice President Kris Kanthak, Past President Chris Bonneau, and Secretary Penny Morel, without whom this work wouldn’t be nearly as fun.

It has been a pleasure working with you and for you over the past four years in this role, and I will continue serving, as I become immediate past president very soon. We move into new Senate leadership this summer, with Kris Kanthak as president and Julia Meade as vice president. Congratulations to Kris and Julia!

Robin Kear is at the end of four years as University Senate president. She is a liaison librarian with the University Library System, and the first librarian to hold the Senate presidency.

*PittGPT is Pitt’s own GenAI tool, designed to ensure that University data remains private. The tool is in a beta version and should be released more broadly for Pitt use this summer.