Faculty Senate Rules Committee – Annual Report – 2025-2026

Members:

Name	Rank	Department	Div	E/A	Term Ends	Email
Alexa Anderson	FAC	Nursing	PR	E	2026	andersoa@uwm.edu
John Boyland	FAC	Electrical Engineering & Computer Science	NS	E	2026	boyland@uwm.edu
Veena Brown	FAC	Accounting	PR	E	2026	brownvml@uwm.edu
Erin Parcell	FAC	Communication	SS	E	2026	eparcell@uwm.edu
Gillian Rodger **, Chair	FAC	Music	AH	E	2026	grodger@uwm.edu
John Reisel	FAC	Secretary of the University (Chancellor Rep)	–	o	2026	reisel@uwm.edu

Charter:

A2.6 Faculty Senate Rules Committee

The Faculty Senate Rules Committee sets meeting calendars for the Faculty Senate and University Faculty, recommends procedures for initiating agenda items, resolves questions of committee jurisdiction, and coordinates relationships between committees and the Senate. It also assigns Senators as liaisons to Faculty standing committees without Senate representation.

1. Membership. The committee is composed of the following members:
   1. Faculty committee members, who must be faculty senators, are elected annually by the Faculty Senate.
      1. There shall be one faculty committee member from each Faculty Division and
      2. one additional faculty committee member shall be from any Faculty Division.
   2. the Chancellor or designee, ex-officio and non-voting.
2. Chair. The Chair is elected from among the members of the committee by majority vote of the Faculty Senate and becomes President pro tem of the Faculty Senate, who also serves as a member of the University Committee Any given college may not be represented in consecutive years in the Chair of the Rules Committee; further, membership composition restrictions of the University Committee with respect to college and departmental affiliation of its members shall also be followed when electing the Chair.
3. Functions.
   1. Sets the schedule and prepares calendars for Faculty Senate and University Faculty meetings.
   2. Recommends procedures to ensure that individual Senators and Faculty members-at-large may initiate items for deliberation by the Faculty Senate and/or University Faculty in conjunction with or independent of proposals from Faculty standing committees or special committees.
   3. Resolves questions of committee jurisdiction.
   4. Coordinates committee relationships with the Faculty Senate.
   5. Designates Senators to serve in a liaison capacity with those Faculty standing committees which do not have a Senator as a member.
4. Procedures. Any member of the University Faculty as defined in 1.01(1) may propose a matter for consideration by the Faculty Senate by submitting it in proper form (1.04(4)(b)) to the Faculty Senate Rules Committee through the Secretary of the University, according to the following procedures:
   1. Proposals are normally referred by the Rules Committee for review and recommendation to the appropriate Faculty standing committee, which will make its recommendation within 4 weeks.
   2. If a Faculty member believes that consideration of a proposal is being unreasonably delayed by any Faculty standing committee, they may appeal to the Faculty Senate Rules Committee for intervention and decision.
   3. Emergency proposals, which should be considered by the Faculty Senate without delay, may be placed on the calendar of a Faculty Senate meeting by the Rules Committee without the customary referral to a Faculty standing committee.
   4. Proposals submitted by non-Faculty Senate members of the Faculty and which appear on calendars of Faculty Senate meetings are placed before the body on motion of the appropriate standing committee or the Faculty Senate Rules Committee, if that Committee has assumed original jurisdiction as in (c) above.

Meetings:

The Rules Committee met nine times during the 2025-26 academic year. Apart from setting regular business for the senate, the committee also responded to calls from the University Committee to return to in-person only senate meetings because of a concern about a lack of engagement from senators. The senate meetings eliminated the remote option during Spring semester, which resulted in spirited debate at the March 2026 senate meeting. The senate affirmed the elimination of virtual attendance at the April senate meeting.

The UC also suggested that Vice Chancellor for Research, Ali Abedi, report to the senate given the changes in the office of research in the last year. This could not be achieved during 2025-26 but it is hoped that it will occur during the coming academic year.

The on-going issue of the student cultural centers came up during both the chancellor’s report and student reports and the resolution to the relocation of these centers should be included in the coming year.