University Senate prepares for 2026 with special reports

At the final University Senate meeting of 2025, the body discussed proposals to merge two departments, teacher evaluations, the regional campuses restructuring to polytechnic and potential new engineering majors.

The meeting marked the end of a semester focused on adapting to changes passed down from Ohio’s law. Now, senate faces a challenge in maintaining a relevant voice at Miami University, following Associated Student Government suggesting its dissolution. The body foreshadowed extensive work for next semester with four special reports and a discussion of the winter retreat on Jan. 26.

“We have learned that differing institutions across the state have responded to these policy developments with a spectrum of responses. Some university administrations have engaged segments of existing shared governance bodies to consult on policies. At others, however, faculty, staff and students have been fully locked out of consultations with administrators,” Nathan French, vice chair of senate and chair of the senate executive committee, said. “We remind the University of the value of this senate with each interaction that we have on its behalf.”

A proposal to merge two departments – French, Italian and Classics (FIC) department with German, Russian, Asian and Middle Eastern languages and cultures department (GRAMELAC) – into one department was presented by Mila Ganeva, chair and professor of German, and Mark McKinney, professor and acting chair lead departmental advisor of French.

FIC and GRAMELAC plan to create a new World Languages and Cultures department, since the two departments consist of the same size of faculty and share an administrative assistant. However, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese would remain separate. Senate will revisit the topic next semester to discuss whether or not it recommends the combination.

Ellen Yezierski, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and professor of chemistry, Sarah Watt, associate professor of educational psychology and faculty associate and Claire McLeod, associate professor of geology and environmental earth science, gave a special report on the topic of teaching evaluation.

They proposed to facilitate the implementation of a research based process to evaluate teaching, which would de-center student evaluations. This draft focused on the teacher-scholar model, implementing Miami THRIVE and relying on “authentic evidence.”

“We want to call out what student evaluations are right now, and they’re not evaluations of teaching effectiveness,” Watt said. “They’re really evaluations of student perceptions of teaching in courses, and so that’s a really important piece of how we want to move forward with this work.”

At the previous meeting, Melissa Thomasson, associate vice president for strategic initiatives and professor of economics, presented a preliminary proposal on the restructuring of Miami’s regional campuses toward a polytechnic structure. This project highlighted the goal of focusing on areas aligned with Ohio’s workforce needs.

Senate members said they were concerned about faculty being physically moved or laid off because of the consolidation. Faculty concerns, along with suggestions, were emphasized by the executive board faculty alliance of Miami in a recent opinion article in The Miami Student.

The senate was visited by Moira Casey, interim dean of the college of liberal arts and applied science and regional campuses, who answered questions about previous concerns from senators.

“I know that department mergers and consolidations come with a lot of anxiety for faculty,” Casey said. “We’re just going to work through them, take input and try to create the best and strongest set of academic structures.”

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

Mohammad Mayyas, associate dean for strategic initiatives and professor, presented a proposal for two new engineering technology associate degrees of applied science options: engineering technology and mechatronics engineering technology.

The regional campuses restructuring to a polytechnic structure and senate’s stance on the two new majors are set to reemerge as topics in the senate during the spring term.

The University Senate's next meeting will be during spring semester 2026.

duganec@miamioh.edu