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UNL FACULTY SENATE MEETING MINUTES
October 6, 2026
Presidents Rich Leiter, Jamie Reimer, and John Shrader, Presiding
1.0 Call to Order
President Leiter called the meeting to order at 2:34 p.m.
President Leiter stated that before we take up the first item of business, he was making an announcement about today’s schedule. Pursuant to Rule 4 of our Rules of Order, he is adjusting today’s published agenda so the Senate can properly show hospitality to our guests who have come to help us honor several outstanding colleagues. He stated that at 3:15 p.m., we will pause business to present the Faculty Senate awards. He noted that we have the privilege of presenting the Louise Pound-George Howard Distinguished Career Award and the James A. Lake Academic Freedom Award. He reported that the recipients’ families, friends, and colleagues will be joining us for the presentations and the reception will follow the meeting. To ensure we have ample time to celebrate with them, the Senate will adjourn at 3:30 p.m.
2.0 Announcements
2.1 Faculty Feedback Form on Faculty Senate Website
President Leiter announced that the Executive Committee has created a Microsoft form to gather feedback from the faculty and the form will be available through the Faculty Senate website. He noted that to test pilot the form, the link will be sent only to the Senators, and they must log in with their university ID to access the form. He stated that the link will eventually be sent to the faculty.
3.0 Report on Actions to Improve Trust and Faculty Morale (President-Elect Reimer)
President-Elect Reimer noted that at the Aprill 28 Faculty Senate meeting, the Senate adopted a motion for members of the Executive Leadership team and members of the Senate Executive Committee to work together on an ad hoc committee to develop a report on actions that can be taken to improve trust and faculty morale. She noted that the ad hoc committee has met several times but pointed out that the committee feels that this report is only a blueprint because more time would be needed to provide more thought and clarity on the five deliverables that are identified in the report.
President-Elect Reimer noted that the five deliverables are: defining shared governance and its principles, updating the UNL Bylaws and APC procedures, substantive communication and leadership visibility, biennial campus climate survey, and program indicators and future unit review. She reported that the ad hoc committee came to agreement on shared governance with information gathered from existing documents. She wanted to be clear that shared governance is not shared agreements and the committee agreed that there needs to be a greater understanding across the campus of what shared governance means. She noted that substantive communication and leadership visibility is already occurring, and EVC Button is scheduled to meet with the Executive Committee and APC next week to present the revised and updated program indicators. She stated that there was some discussion about the importance of faculty service and the need for it to be valued, and the ad hoc committee will be exploring this further to see how service work can be valued more highly across the campus.
President-Elect Reimer stated that she would be reporting to the Faculty Senate monthly, and she asked Senators to send feedback using the new Microsoft form available on the Faculty Senate website. She noted that because the work of the ad hoc committee is ongoing, she is making a motion to move that the deadline for submitting a final report be extended to December 2026. She reported that the Executive Committee had already approved the motion, so a second was not needed. Coordinator Griffin suggested that the deadline be in February 2027 to give the ad hoc committee more time to thoroughly work to clarify the deliverables and to identify action steps. She pointed out that next week it will be mid-October, that November is a shortened month due to the Thanksgiving break, and the semester ends in December when the faculty will be very busy with the completion of the semester and final exams. Chief of Staff Gonzales agreed that February would be a good timeline. President-Elect Reimer accepted the revision.
Professor PeeksMease, Sociology, stated that he appreciates the thoughtfulness that went into the report and asked if actionable steps will start in February. President-Elect Reimer pointed out that some actionable steps are already in place and other deadlines may appear as the committee works through clarifying the deliverables.
President Leiter stated that he feels very confident that the report will be successfully delivered in February and asked if there were any objections to extending the deadline to February. Hearing none, he stated that the motion was approved.
4.0 Interim Chancellor Ankerson
Interim Chancellor Ankerson reported that it had been a very full and robust fall but given the events of the meeting she would speak about three things of importance to the faculty.
Interim Chancellor Ankerson noted that the five-member HLC accreditation team arrived on Sunday and would be finishing their work at UNL tomorrow and would then go to UNMC’s data center. She pointed out that the team visit served two purposes, one was our regular 10-year accreditation review, and the other was the follow-up visit after the HLC formally recognized our joint accreditation in June. She stated that joint accreditation allows us to report our data together to IPEDS and HERD which now places us as 55th in the nation, where previously UNL was ranked at 87th in the nation and UNMC was 131st.
Interim Chancellor Ankerson stated that our accreditation is a self-study report that we developed. As part of the HLC team’s visit, faculty and staff were invited to three meetings and the HLC team asked many questions. She stated that there were candid discussions at each of the meetings and she thanked everyone who attended and spoke. She noted that topics of discussion were mission, shared governance, and resources and the team members were looking to see that faculty members have real channels of communication. She pointed out that the Senate Executive Committee members and ELT members on the joint ad hoc committee mandated by the Faculty Senate in April is evidence of a channel of communication.
Interim Chancellor Ankerson stated that the HLC team should have a rough draft of their report by the time they leave the university and then the campuses should hear something back from them in a few weeks.
Interim Chancellor Ankerson reported that enrollment is a mixed picture. She noted that the good news is that we enrolled 4,835 first-time freshmen which is up 8.3%. She stated that despite having a record-breaking graduating class in May, our undergraduate enrollment remained strong. She reported that our total enrollment dipped by 1.6% and the reason for this was due to our graduate enrollment which fell by almost 11%, which was not surprising because this has been a trend across the country. She stated that problems obtaining visas and current government policies have contributed to the decrease in international graduate student enrollments. She noted that recruiting international graduate students is something we need to work together on.
Interim Chancellor Ankerson reported that last Wednesday, she, along with UNMC Chancellor Davis, hosted the first UNL/UNMC summit. She noted that 100 faculty and staff attended and they broke into groups comprised of people from both campuses with a co-leader identified for each group. She stated that the groups shared opportunities and left with practical next steps. She pointed out that shared governance patterns were evident and the energy in the room was real. She reported that President-Elect Reimer and APC Chair Bradshaw both attended the summit. She pointed out that the summit was not to make us more alike but to make our distinct strengths known so we could work together more powerfully.
President-Elect Reimer stated that she initially felt that the summit was like an arranged marriage, but after the meeting she no longer felt that way. She stated that there were shared conversations and agreements that the campuses would not give up their individual entities, but that the joint accreditation would allow us to provide opportunities for our students to grow beyond what the individual campuses could do, particularly in allied health opportunities. She pointed out that it was made clear to the leadership in the room that there were difficulties, if not impossibilities, with some bureaucratic problems that need to be addressed. For instance, access to each campus libraries and the group she worked with charged the leadership to start working on addressing these problems, but to also have the time to implement the solutions. She noted that the faculty are looking forward to smoothing out the problems so they can move forward with initiatives.
Interim Chancellor Ankerson reported that the last few weeks included a tour of leaders from US STRATCOM which enabled us to put the excellent work of the faculty on full display, we also welcomed President Pavel from the Czech Republic, cut the ribbon on the expansion of the Mesonet system which now has over 100-station marks, ribbon cutting and open house for the new Westbrook School of Music building. She stated that next week there will be a fall leadership summit with over 100 people attending. She noted that none of these things would happen without the people in this room.
Professor PeeksMease noted that a lot of energy was spent with the UNL/UNMC summit and asked what our improved rankings would be counting towards. He asked if the libraries on both campuses will be accessible, and if there is any sense of how many faculty from both campuses plan to collaborate on their work. Interim Chancellor Ankerson noted that our new ranking will improve our reputation and will help in our effort to be readmitted into the AAU. She pointed out that the lowest ranked university in the AAU is ranked 69th while we are now at 55. She stated that lists are now being compiled to see how far reaching the collaborations with UNMC will be.
Professor Harris, Biochemistry, pointed out that in his field, access to biomedical publications is crucial but currently UNL faculty are blocked from getting articles from UNMC’s library. Interim Chancellor Ankerson noted that we need to work together to resolve this problem. She stated that contracts with the publishers are the main problem for not being able to get access, but this is something that the campuses will try to resolve.
5.0 Approval of September 1, 2026
President Leiter asked if there were any revisions to the minutes. Hearing none, he asked for a motion to approve the minutes. Professor Peterson, Agricultural Economics, moved for approval. Motion was seconded by Professor Vakilzadian, School of Computing, and then approved by the Faculty Senate.
6.0 Committee Reports
6.1 Academic Standards Committee (Director Lynch)
Director Lynch reported that he is Director of University Advising and the Explore Center, and he helps to coordinate the Academic Standards Committee. He noted that the Committee is charged with reviewing written appeals from students who have been academically dismissed from the University. He pointed out that 380 students were academically dismissed and the Committee met 21 times during the academic year to review 79 students who made appeals. Of that number, 54 were reinstated by the Committee. He noted that none of the dismissed students appealed to the EVC.
7.0 Unfinished Business
No unfinished business was discussed.
8.0 New Business
8.1 Executive Committee Goals
President Leiter stated that due to the compressed time with the presentation of the awards, the Executive Committee goals will be moved to the November 3rd meeting.
8.2 Presentation to the Louise Pound-George Howard Distinguished Career Award to Dr. Beth Theiss-Morse and to Dr. David Wishart
President Leiter noted that the Louise Pound-George Howard Distinguished Career Award was established in 1990 to recognize individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the University of Nebraska. The individual’s contributions may have been made through teaching, research, public service, administration, or a combination of these factors and reflects a long-standing commitment to the University.
After reading a brief biography from the nomination materials of Dr. Theiss-Morse, President Leiter presented the award to Dr. Theiss-Morse and thanked her for her work and service to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
After reading a brief biography from the nomination materials of Dr. Wishart, President Leiter presented the award to Dr. Wishart and thanked him for his work and service to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The biographies for Dr. Theiss-Morse and Dr. Wishart can be found on the Faculty Senate website at
8.2 Presentation of the James A. Lake Academic Freedom Award to Elizabeth Lewis, and in absentia to Susan VanderPlas and Sarah Zuckerman
President Leiter noted that the James A. Lake Academic Freedom Award, established in 1980 and supported by a generous contribution by former Regent Ed Schwartzkopf, is given by the Faculty Senate based on nominations by the James A. Lake Academic Freedom Award Committee. The Award recognizes an individual whose efforts have helped to preserve the most basic freedom of all, the freedom to seek and communicate the truth.
President Leiter read a brief biography on Dr. Lewis, who was present to receive the award and thanked her for her work on behalf of all faculty members at the University of Nebraska. He then presented the award to Dr. Lewis.
Professor Lewis spoke: Thank you so much, I am honored and would like to thank Regina Werum as my nominator and the committee of senators who have selected me, Sarah, and Susan for this award. In their absence, we should also acknowledge that Sarah and Susan also served the faculty senate executive committee. We wish that they could still be with us here at UNL and send them and our other absent colleagues all our best wishes.
The UNL Faculty Senate and its work and members have taught me a lot about shared governance and how important it is to defend academic freedom. Academic freedom has been a familiar space for me as both a former high school science teacher and now a professor of science education. Science content can find itself, like any other subject, to be the focus of contention, thus science teachers and scientists know a bit about what it means to defend the right and freedom to learn even widely accepted theories.
We hear the words “innovation,” “excellence,” and “success” a lot. But innovative thinking requires creativity and a critical and inquiring mindset, and we are regularly informed these aspects are highly valued in the workplace, as well as in educational circles by leaders both internal and external to our campus and state. And thus, our students need academic freedom just as much as faculty members do because they need the freedom to learn and ask questions about local and global issues.
Margaret Atwood is a favorite author of mine and is popular among readers around the world. At least one of her books about a dystopian future has been banned. In fact, in 2025-26 there have been 12,000 schoolbook bans nationally. So, as a way to raise funds to continue to monitor censorship in public education, Atwood collaborated with PEN America to turn her book, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” into an unburnable book, which sold at auction. Here’s a photo of her showing the result. I love this image of her [with a flame thrower and the fire-resistant book], as I am sure our library and literary colleagues do so as well.
I like the idea of not just an object being unburnable, but also ideas. I would like to invite everyone here to consider how they can continue to foster unburnable ideas, like the freedom to learn across our university, state, and nation. This is what is needed to solve “grand challenges” such as global warming, food and health care for all, and discrimination and hate against those who have been historically marginalized, to name a few. As faculty members, it is our collective mission to uphold for others the opportunity to learn and be educated.
Thank you again for this honor.
President Leiter stated that Dr. VanderPlas and Dr. Zuckerman have both moved on to another university, but their plaques would be sent to them.
The biographies for Dr. Lewis, Dr. VanderPlas and Dr. Zuckerman can be found on the Faculty Senate website https://facultysenate.unl.edu/sites/unl.edu.academic-affairs.faculty-senate/files/media/file/2026%20AFA%20Information%20on%20Nominees.pdf.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:37 p.m. The next meeting of the Faculty Senate will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 2:30 p.m. in the East Campus Union, Great Plains Room A and via Zoom. The minutes are respectfully submitted by Karen Griffin, Coordinator, and Ann Tschetter, Secretary.