The Faculty Senate’s Executive Council met Friday to hear updates from University President Scott Beardsley on his future strategic planning for the University, which will aim to build upon former University President Jim Ryan’s 2030 Plan. Brie Gertler, interim executive vice president and provost, also shared updates on current dean searches, and the Representation and Governance Committee introduced a resolution for next week’s full Faculty Senate meeting.
Beardsley said that he is still in the early stages of forming the University’s next strategic plan, which will lay out the University’s goals and projects for the next five to 10 years. Currently, he said, he and his team are working to review the accomplishments of the 2030 Plan and learn what remains to be finished or built upon.
“My topline assessment is that we start from a good place, [with] a lot of momentum … I'm doing my best to try and listen to the community,” Beardsley said.
He also highlighted that the University aims to be transparent during the process of building a strategic plan, both celebrating past successes and recognizing potential challenges and areas for improvement. The goal, Beardsley said, is to build a shared understanding among the community regarding areas in need of improvement.
“Not everybody likes everything that comes out of the diagnostic,” Beardsley said. “[But] it will not be adequate to say [the University is] best on everything and not change anything.”
Following this stage, during which Beardsley said he is working to solicit input from all stakeholders, the University will form a strategic planning committee composed of a variety of members of the community, including faculty members. Beardsley emphasized that he is doing this work with a focus on ensuring that all plans created align with the University’s mission.
The Faculty Senate’s Representation and Governance Committee, a temporary committee formed in 2025 to study how effective the Faculty Senate is as a representative body, later shared a resolution in support of a new document they had composed, titled “Best Practices for Electing Senators,” which aims to encourage schools to elect representatives to the Faculty Senate rather than appoint them.
Judith Thomas, director of faculty programs at the University’s libraries, explained that during the Committee’s research it had found that election of senators is not consistent across schools — some are appointed by their deans or department chairs, while others run for election. Because representatives join the Senate in numerous different ways, she said, senators’ understanding of their roles is at times inconsistent.
The informational document, to be shared with departmental and school leaders, aims to encourage elections or appointments of representatives who have time and are willing to be an active member of the Faculty Senate.
The Executive Council approved the resolution, meaning that it will be added to the agenda for the full Faculty Senate’s next meeting to be voted on by all senators.
Gertler also gave updates on current academic dean searches — the Darden School of Business, the School of Medicine, the School of Data Science and the McIntire School of Commerce currently all have interim deans. The School of Architecture’s dean will step down from his position in June 2026.
The search committee for the next Architecture dean is currently completing its first round of interviews, while the Darden search is developing a pool of candidates. Gertler noted that both positions have attracted high interest.
The School of Medicine will launch a dean search soon and continue this search through the summer, while Commerce will launch its search in the fall. Gertler said she is continuing to have conversations with members of the School of Data Science, who recently lost founding Dean Philip Bourne, to learn what they might look for in a leader, although the school has not begun planning a search.
The full Faculty Senate will reconvene at 2 p.m. Friday.
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