The first University Senate meeting of the academic year lasted nine minutes, as senators chose to regroup with their respective committees regarding their meeting schedules for the year.

While Wednesday’s meeting — the first formal one since April — was short, senators filled nearly all of Maxwell Auditorium.

Chancellor Nancy Cantor was unable to attend the meeting due to a conference of Atlantic Coast Conference presidents in Virginia, said Vice Chancellor Eric Spina in an email.

A report from the Subcommittee on Nominations was passed out at the beginning of the meeting, which addressed which faculty and staff members would be added or removed from individual committees. A motion to approve the nominations was passed unanimously.

A motion was then made to recommend to the Board of Trustees the promotion of Timothy Korter and Amy Criss, both of the College of Arts and Sciences, to professor and associate professor, respectively. The motion also passed unanimously.

The main question facing the senate for the 2013-14 academic year will be the senate’s transition into the spring semester, when it will begin working alongside the new chancellor. Cantor will be leaving SU to become chancellor of Rutgers University’s Newark campus effective Jan. 1.

“In the absence of any information about the search, the University Senate isn’t sure how exactly a new chancellor will affect them,” said Bruce Carter, senate moderator and chair of the Agenda Committee.

The structure of the senate won’t change at all with the incoming chancellor due to the bylaws of the senate itself, but the new chancellor may have a specific agenda or particular issues he or she want to focus on, he said.

He also said the new chancellor could choose to spend the beginning of the spring semester getting to know the senators.

“The status of things for next semester is honestly unknown,” he said.

As for Cantor’s involvement in the senate for the remainder of the semester, Carter said the decision is hers. He does predict her traveling back and forth to Newark, N.J., throughout the semester, though, in order to become familiar with the university and prepare for her new position.

Said Carter: “It’s her choice how involved she decides to be.”

Published on September 12, 2013 at 2:52 am

Contact Marwa: meltagou@syr.edu | @marwaeltagouri