The Iowa State University Faculty Senate discussed academic programs, new salary evaluations, handbook language and new graduate certificates in its December meeting at the Memorial Union Tuesday.
The meeting opened at 3:30 p.m. with President Meghan Gillette introducing substitute senators.
Special orders
The first of three special orders commenced with the unanimous approval of the Fall 2025 graduation list.
The next special order was a memorial resolution honoring former and current faculty members who had recently passed away. A moment of silence was held while Gillette read the names of the 11 deceased faculty members.
Sarah Bennett-George, an apparel events and hospitality management professor, presented reminders to members about the faculty senate’s recommendations for annual elections.
Bennett-George said that a new faculty senate member uncovered multiple inconsistencies within the senate’s procedural manual, where procedures do not align with policies.
“One of those places is Section 5, which states that the council on faculty governance will report to the faculty senate each year its recommendations for the annual elections, which includes a list of departments and at-large needs to be filled,” Bennett-George said.
The governance council approved the policy changes with unanimous consent.
Various faculty senate elections will be held throughout the spring semester, including an election for a new president-elect.
Unfinished business
Academic affairs chair Jennifer Schieltz, genetics development and cell biology professor Carly Manz and Bennett-George presented a reading of new academic programs, evaluations and the termination of the international business secondary major.
All readings were voted on and approved by the faculty senate unanimously.
- New master’s program: Master of Science in Nursing
- New B.A. program: Psychology (online)
- New B.S.N. program: Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing
- Termination of program: International Business Secondary major
- New standards for promotion and tenure
- Post-tenure review timeline
- Change in evaluation of homeschool GPA for admission
New Business
The faculty senate presented 11 readings. Annemarie Butler, a philosophy and religious studies professor, discussed FH 4.1.4, salary assessment.
Butler said that faculty members will receive a merit-based salary increase that begins Jan. 1, 2026.
“In May 2025, we adopted a change to the faculty handbook concerning salary assessment,” Butler said. “At the time, we had said that a faculty member may request a salary assessment at any time they wish.”
Butler said that constant evaluations, especially in a year where faculty members will receive raises, will cause confusion. She proposed changes to the evaluation window that would implement a limit on evaluation requests.
Schieltz presented the next nine readings, with the first being a proposed change to the approval process for changing a program’s status as in-person, hybrid or online.
Schieltz said that it is unnecessary to have the entirety of the faculty senate vote on the modality of the program, arguing that the senate should still have oversight, but simply among the academic affairs council.
Butler pushed back against the proposal by raising concerns about the makeup of certain programs, saying that it is unwise to remove decision-making from most of the Senate on the issue.
“A shift to online or in-person changes the character of their own programs,” Butler said. “If they don’t have somebody as a representative on a curriculum committee who is knowledgeable, then their concerns might be overlooked.”
Schieltz read the proposal for two new academic programs, four new certificates and one certificate discontinuation, receiving no objections.
- New undergraduate minor: Animal nutrition
- New undergraduate certificate: Companion animal science and management
- New graduate certificate: Leadership in business
- New graduate certificate: Quantitative principles in business
- New M.A. program: User experience design
- Discontinuation of graduate certificate: Breeding of organic crops
- New undergraduate minor: American Midwest studies
Schieltz’s final reading discussed adding required Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training to the graduate handbook.
Schieltz said that the proposal comes directly from the Vice President of Research Peter Dorhout and is required by federal agencies if a graduate student is receiving a grant.
Bennett-George read the final proposal, which would remove redundant language in chapter two that is similar to chapter eight of the faculty handbook.
Dave Peterson, a political science professor, objected to the proposal, saying that the language that would be removed in chapter two includes protections for marital status and gender identity.
Peterson said that he would like to add new language to the handbook that would ensure discrimination protections for marital status, gender identity and ethnicity.
“We as a faculty cannot remove protections for race or gender or religion,” Peterson said. “The law and the policy documents do not set the ceiling, and we as a faculty have control over our anti-discrimination policy inside the faculty handbook.”
Steve Freeman, an at-large representative for agriculture and biosystems engineering, agreed with Peterson.
“We have the ability to hold ourselves as faculty accountable for things that the law does not,” Freeman said. “I propose that we put it in chapter seven, because then it would be clear to any faculty member that their only recourse is a faculty conduct charge based on that behavior.”
Bennett-George said that Freeman’s proposal would create more confusion over the language of the handbook.
After a lengthy debate, Gillette told the three representatives to have their disagreements discussed before the next faculty meeting.
Announcements
Gillette opened the announcements by briefly discussing the reception that took place after the senate faculty meeting,
President-elect Michael Olsen, a mechanical engineering professor, discussed the upcoming spring faculty conference by highlighting presentation times and intermissions.
Senior Vice President and Provost Jason Keith said that he looks forward to working with new President David Cook and Interim President David Splading.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m., but did not end because retiring ISU President Wendy Wintersteen was in attendance to be honored at the final faculty meeting of her tenure.
Various staff members took to the podium to give speeches and present Wintersteen with gifts.
An emotional Gillette said that Wintersteen brought an “exceptional level of integrity, dedication and loyalty” to her work.
“Because of you, Wendy [Wintersteen], I am less skeptical of administrators and I view them as partners rather than adversaries,” Gillette said. “On behalf of the Faculty Senate, words cannot express our gratitude for your servant heart, your generosity, your humility and inspirational leadership.”
Wintersteen closed the meeting by thanking the faculty.
“I want to say thank you to all of you,” Wintersteen said. “You represent all the faculty at Iowa State University. The university could not exist without all of you.”
The next Senate meeting is slated for 3:30 to 5 p.m. Jan. 27 in the Memorial Union.
