If you missed the Jan. 5 Academic Senate meeting or need a refresher, keep reading for the highlights from the meeting. For more information on the Academic Senate, click here.
Meetings are open to the public and held on Zoom. Meetings are recorded only for the purposes of meeting minutes. Although senate meetings are not required to be public under Utah law, the senate has elected to conduct its business in a transparent way, and all attendees are welcome.
Subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, the “university faculty shall have authority ... to legislate on matters of educational policy. ... The faculty has a right to a meaningful role in the governance of the University; ... it has a right to participate in decisions relating to the general academic operations of the university, including budget decisions and administrative appointments.”
“The legislative power of the University faculty collectively will normally be exercised by the faculty through their representatives in the Academic Senate and the college and Graduate and Undergraduate councils ...”
See Academic Policies 6-001-III-B-3, 6-002 and 6-300 to read the policies in full.
Consent Calendar
Linguistics Emphases in TESOL and Computational Linguistics
Two new emphases will be available in the Linguistics major, one in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and one in Computational Linguistics. The emphases complement the department’s certificates in these areas, and they pair well with other fields, such as psychology, computer science and education.
New Graduate Certificate: Student Financial Aid
The proposed graduate certificate in Student Financial Aid Administration is the first of its kind in the U.S., as there are no degree or certificate programs in student financial aid administration, which includes federal, state, institutional and private aid to students attending postsecondary education institutions. Although some existing graduate programs do have a single course on financial aid—typically as part of a master’s degree program in Higher Education, with the most common emphases being either Student Affairs or Enrollment Management—there are no certificate or degree programs.
The administration of student financial aid programs has become increasingly complex and has come to serve myriad institutional and societal purposes, including postsecondary access, affordability, merit and talent development, workforce development, institutional mission fulfillment and institutional revenue, among others. The program design integrates and incorporates specific financial aid topical mastery with theoretical and conceptual aspects of higher education administration and leadership. Courses are designed to connect theoretical frameworks with financial aid competencies and applied subject matter expertise.
New Graduate Certificate: Fintech
The Graduate Certificate in Fintech (GCFT) is a career-focused, skill-based credential designed to meet the growing employer demand for Fintech talent in Utah and across the nation. It is structured as a stackable credential, allowing students to complete the certificate independently to gain targeted, job-ready Fintech skills, while also enabling the earned credits to apply toward a graduate degree, such as the MBA or the forthcoming Master of Science in Financial Technology (MSFT) currently being developed at the David Eccles School of Business in collaboration with the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering and the S.J. Quinney College of Law. This structure makes the certificate valuable both for immediate career advancement and for students who plan to continue into a full graduate program.
Information and Recommendations Calendar
Policy 6-100: Instruction and Evaluation, Revision Sections A-E
Updates to the ongoing work of revising Policy 6-100: Instruction and Evaluation—the policy that governs courses at the U. To increase student, faculty and staff success, an in-depth revision process launched in September 2024 to revise the outdated policy and collaborate as One U. The working group reviewed, discussed, debated and iterated the policy section-by-section and proposed substantive revisions.
Starting in Fall 2025, we are proceeding through a robust feedback process to listen to a broad range of campus stakeholders via constituent group presentations, three townhalls, and presentations to the Academic Senate. The feedback process will be used to iterate the proposed revisions to present to the Academic Senate for a vote in late Spring 2026.
Eccles Health Science Library Charter Amendment
Amendment to the 2025 EHSL charter to establish a Staff Representation Advisory Council and bring Budget Advisory Committee membership into alignment with best practice.
BMus new emphasis in Jazz Studies
Contemporary jazz musicians need to have a diverse and individualized skill set in performance, arranging, improvising and composing. By combining our two previous emphases in the composition and performance of jazz, we will allow our students to choose a more relevant educational journey, building on their own strengths and interests. Through advising from their faculty mentors, students will draw more fluidly from the curriculum of both older emphases to build a more competitive profile for their professional musical journeys post-graduation through this new single Jazz Studies emphasis to the BMus.