On Monday, May 2, 2022, Faculty Senate President, Kate Ellis, presented a Freedom of Expression for the Senate's continued review. During the discussion there was a question and answer session with NAU Legal Counsel, Michelle Parker. Following this discussion, a motion was made, and seconded, and the Senate approved this Freedom of Expression Statement, adopting the core principles of the Report of the Committee on the Freedom of Expression from the University of Chicago, otherwise known as the Chicago Principles.…

On April 18, 2022, the Council on Learning Chair, Rebecca Rinsema, presented the following best practices documents at the FS meeting. These were created in consultation with the Teaching Academy and Vice Provost Astrid Klocke. Best Practices for Administration and Use of Student Opinion Surveys The first document, Best Practices for Administration and Use of Student Opinion Surveys, addresses when student surveys are available, how faculty can encourage students to fill them out, and how they should be used to promote…

On April 11, 2022, Faculty Senate hosted the general faculty meeting for Spring 2022. At this meeting, FS President, Kate Ellis, presented the revised Constitution of the Faculty. A motion was made and seconded to approve the revised Constitution of the Faculty through an online vote. A Qualtrics survey was sent out to all faculty. The deadline to vote is 04/27/2022. If you have any questions, please send these to Faculty.Senate@nu.edu. View 2002 Constitution View revised Constitution View Recording of 04/11/22 General…

Diversity Curriculum Committee On February 24, the Chairs, Chris Paige and Gretchen McAllister, of the Diversity Curriculum Committee (DCC) presented the Diversity Initiatives proposal. The initiatives are required to transition to and support General Studies. DCC aspires to make NAU a leader in this area for other institutions and students. DCC created an FAQ document to address Initiative #1, which proposes creating a position for a Director of Diversity Curriculum; the FAQ is available on the Faculty Matters Forum (link…

On February 7, FSEC passed a Resolution opposing AZ Senate Bill 1123 and House Bill 2247 with a vote of 9-0-0.  ASU senate asked NAU FSEC to review the ASU Resolution regarding firearms on campus. FSEC discussed the resolution and previous senate resolutions opposing legislation permitting firearms on campus. View Resolution

On January 24, 2022, the Faculty Senate endorsed Vice Provost Astrid Klocke and Director Amy Rushall’s proposal on a Teaching and Learning Center with a vote of 36-1-3.  The proposal presents a re-organization to convert the Faculty Professional Development Program into a “Center” that provides integrated support services and resources to faculty. View Proposal 

On October 25, 2021, Faculty Senate endorsed ASNAU’s Resolution for the Suspension of Attendance on General Federal Election Days with a vote of 34-2-1. A senate resolution is an expression of our values and not meant to be a binding policy. We welcome ASNAU’s attention on student voting rights. The bill asks faculty not to take attendance for these federal election days and not penalize students for absences. At our senate meeting, we discussed the importance of this bill. View Resolution On November 22, 2021, Faculty…

On February 22 the Faculty Senate voted to support ASNAU's Mental Health Days Resolution with a vote of 32-3-3. A senate resolution is an expression of our values and not meant to be a binding policy. We welcome ASNAU's attention to community mental health. At our senate meeting, we discussed  how some faculty may be unable to implement excused absences. Senators asked for language to be added to the resolution that would include "other adjustments" to our course schedule. By…

FSEC Summer 2020 Report This report lists the items NAU faculty asked the FSEC, in our role as faculty representatives, to raise with the president and provost. If you have a question or concern you'd like represented, please contact your senator, post on Faculty Matters, or email faculty.senate@nau.edu. View report.  

View Full Report President Cheng’s email follow-up. azcentral. article – NAU President Rita Cheng will repay part of travel spending criticized by audit

Food Insecurity on College Campuses and Recommendations View Paper

View November 4, 2019 presentation.

Resolution in support of carbon neutrality metric in the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) critical goals. WHEREAS climate change is a crisis demanding emergency actions to avoid exacerbating political, economic, environmental and social problems, and WHEREAS our institutions of higher education are uniquely poised to innovate and demonstrate climate solutions facing Arizona and the world, and WHEREAS we believe universities achieving carbon neutrality goals will see significant benefits, increased innovation and competitiveness, risk management, and growth in student enrollment, recruitment,…

Federal dollars, Pell grants, educational services, and more....all student count View the 2020 Resources Guide.

November 13th, 2018 Dear President Cheng, One month ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report indicating that societies worldwide need to make unprecedented changes to their energy usage by 2030 in order to avert the worst—meaning irreversible, and likely catastrophic—impacts of global climate change. In light of this report, and of the clear way in which climate change will shape the lives of those young people who are currently our students (and their progeny for generations to…

Whereas (Conditions)... University values of free speech and academic freedom accomplished through a rigorous exchange and challenge of ideas that leads to excellence in education, student success, educational access, diversity, integrity, and civility are incompatible with the NRA mission to protect the right to “to acquire, possess, collect, exhibit, transport, [and] carry firearms.”[1] The National Rifle Association (NRA) has, since 2008, called for the allowance of guns on university campuses,[2] and published a 2013 report “calling for armed officers or…

 February 19, 2018 Whereas (Conditions)... The Provost has announced that as many as 50 NTT to TT conversions will occur in the next several years. The administration has acknowledged that the proportion of NTT faculty members at NAU is too high and has been increasing. As a result, they have called to convert these positions to TT positions. (More than 50% of full-time NAU faculty members are NTT and Part Time.) NAU departments and programs have been consistently asking for more…

Senate Resolution on Diversity and Sanctuary, December, 2017 WHEREAS the recent national political campaign has exacerbated social tensions and created an atmosphere in which hate speech and other types of aggression have started to escalate, the NAU community wishes to reaffirm our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and freedom from discrimination and harassment. According to NAU’s Safe Working and Learning Environment Policy (Personnel Policy Manual, Policy No. 5.16), revised February 2016, NAU protects “the safety of all individuals at university sites and…

Faculty Senate: Northern Arizona University Approved by the NAU Faculty Senate September 11, 2017 The Faculty Senate supports an environment conducive to teaching and learning that fully incorporates opportunities for all students to study and learn free from discrimination, harassment, and fear of deportation. Therefore, we strongly object to the recent move to rescind DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) which threatens the ability of nearly 38,000 Arizonans to live, work, learn, and contribute to the economy of our state.…