The Key — The Faculty Senate’s Priorities for Penn’s Next Phase
Every June, Penn’s Faculty Senate publishes committee reports reviewing the standing faculty's priorities, goals, and progress over the year. This year’s reports, together with the Senate Executive Committee’s resolution opposing the Penn administration's proposed revisions to the Guidelines on Open Expression, reveal a Faculty Senate focused on how to prepare Penn's governance and academic mission for the next era of higher education.
The Faculty Senate’s work this year centered on three issues that have been top of mind throughout the Penn community: artificial intelligence, open expression, and who has a role in Penn’s governance. The Senate’s recommendations demonstrate how the standing faculty hopes to prepare Penn for the future and mirrors conversations taking place across the university.
While the reports address a collection of issues, three areas of recommendation stand out:
Developing university-wide AI policies and guidance
The Faculty Senate recommended that Penn develop a coordinated, university-wide framework for artificial intelligence, including guidance for classroom use, faculty training, shared resources, and ongoing oversight of AI’s impact on teaching and research. Rather than leaving each school or instructor to navigate AI independently, the Senate argues Penn should establish consistent expectations across the university to preserve the value and rigor of a Penn education while still respecting instructors’ academic freedom.
Aligning governance with changing faculty makeup
The Faculty Senate recommended replacing Penn’s existing full-time lecturer track with a new teaching professor track within Penn’s associated faculty ranks (for non-tenure-track professors). It also proposed expanding non-voting participation by associated faculty in Senate committees as a first step toward broader faculty representation in shared governance. The recommendations suggest that the Senate wants to realign the faculty shared governance more closely with the makeup of who is doing a significant amount of teaching at Penn.
Protecting open expression on campus
The Senate Executive Committee voted to oppose the administration’s proposed Guidelines on Open Expression and called on the Provost’s Office to return the responsibility of revisions to the Committee on Open Expression, the faculty body charged with developing and revising the guidelines. It also urged the administration to reaffirm the Committee on Open Expression’s independence and release the Open Expression Task Force’s 2025 recommendations. The Senate argues these steps are necessary to protect both shared governance and free expression at Penn.
As Penn’s form of faculty shared governance, the Faculty Senate’s leaders and committees are constantly thinking about what they want to see change at the university. Its work this year centers on a key question: How should Penn prepare for the next decade of higher education?
The Faculty Senate is not alone in asking this question. This is the same question the Board of Trustees must consider when choosing a new president to replace Jameson. It is the same question administrators across the school are trying to answer through their various strategic plans. And it is the same question the board is asking of itself as it reevaluates its own structure.
Whether or not the Faculty Senate’s recommendations are ultimately adopted, they demonstrate the value of bringing stakeholders together, by convening faculty from across the school, developing concrete proposals, and sharing those ideas openly with the broader Penn community. That kind of collaboration and openness serves as an important example what Penn needs more of as it prepares for the future.
The Almanac
Curated highlights from this week’s Penn news
New director appointed to lead Annenberg Public Policy Center
On July 1, Penn Professor Dolores Albarracin took over as director of Penn’s Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), a world-renowned research center which conducts research on communication and public policy. Professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson retired from the role after leading the center since its founding in 1993.
Albarracin is an Amy Gutmann Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, with appointments in the Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on communication, persuasion, and behavioral change.
Jamieson, who also served as dean of the Annenberg School from 1989 to 2003, will remain at Penn as director emerita while continuing to lead the Science of Science Communication Institute and the Annenberg Science and Public Health survey, as well as continuing her research and teaching.
So what? Albarracin’s appointment marks the first leadership transition in APPC’s history and represents another leadership change at Penn during a year of institutional transition. As the university begins to search for a new president, a new crop of leaders across schools will shape the university’s next decade.
Jennifer Mnookin becomes Columbia University president
Last week, Jennifer Mnookin became president of Columbia University after serving as Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison since 2022. She succeeds interim president Claire Shipman and becomes Columbia’s fifth president in four years following a period of significant institutional turmoil.
Since 2023, the university has navigated campus protests, changes in federal funding, heightened national scrutiny, and a series of university leadership transitions, much like Penn. However, Columbia's 2024 anti-Israel protests drew more international attention and outside intervention, leading the university to close its campus to the public for much of the past two years and challenging its revolving leadership.
So what? Although Columbia has experienced more presidential turnover than Penn in recent years, both universities are searching for leaders capable of guiding their institutions through a rapidly changing higher education landscape. As Penn’s Board of Trustees searches for a successor to President Jameson, Columbia’s transition highlights the importance of selecting a president who the board views as fit for meeting the university’s current and upcoming demands.
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