Beginning July 1, professors Kevin Brady, Chris Goering and Samantha Robinson started their respective terms as chair of the Faculty Senate, chair-elect of Faculty Senate and past chair of Faculty Senate/chair of Campus Faculty. The Faculty Senate voted in May to formalize and add duties to the past chair of Faculty Senate, including serving as chair of Campus Faculty.

Kevin Brady will serve as chair of the Faculty Senate for the 2025-26 academic year. Previously, he served on the Faculty Senate, including faculty vice-chair during the 2019-20 academic year and both chair of the Campus Faculty and chair-elect of the Faculty Senate during the 2024-25 academic year.

He is a professor of educational leadership in the Department of Counseling, Leadership and Research Methods. Brady is also a licensed mediator serving the Arkansas Civil Courts. In 2024, he was elected president of the Education Law Association. He has been a higher education faculty member since 1999 and has been at the U of A since 2015.

Chris Goering was elected to a three-year term, including serving as chair-elect of the Faculty Senate for the 2025-26 academic year, Faculty Senate chair in 2026-27 and past-chair/chair of campus faculty in 2027-28. Goering, a former high school English teacher, began his career in higher education at the U of A in 2007 and has served in numerous faculty governance roles, including vice-chair of Faculty Senate and vice-chair of Campus Faculty.

"I'm honored to be part of the faculty leadership team and will continue to prioritize strengthening faculty voice and improving the working conditions for everyone at the University of Arkansas over the next three years," Goering said.

Goering, who is also serving as the College of Education and Health Professions Dean's Fellow for 2025-2026, previously held the role of national chair of the English Language Arts Teacher Educators from 2018-2020 in addition to serving on Faculty Senate since 2016.

Samantha Robinson will serve as past chair of the Faculty Senate/chair of the Campus Faculty at the U of A for the 2025-26 academic year. Robinson is an associate professor in the Center for Agricultural Data Analytics and the School of Human Environmental Sciences in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

She also currently serves as a statistical consultant with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest Arkansas campus as well as a senior applications system analyst consulting with the Department of Family and Preventative Medicine's Community Research group at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Robinson is the Faculty Senate past-chair, having previously held the role of chair of Campus Faculty during the 2023-24 academic year and chair of Faculty Senate during the 2024-25 academic year. She has also previously served as a Faculty Affairs Fellow in the Provost's Office and has been actively involved in faculty senate for several years.

Faculty Senate Meeting

The Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate will be elected at the first meeting of the Faculty Senate to be held at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, in ENGR 209. Current members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee include:

Officers		Name		College
Chair		Kevin Brady		COEHP
Vice-Chair		Rhett Hutchins		COEHP
Secretary		Adnan Ali Khalaf Alrubaye		AFLS
Parliamentarian		Robert Brady		ARSC
Outgoing/Past Chair		Samantha Robinson		AFLS
Chair-Elect		Chris Goering		COEHP
Vice-Chair-Elect		Rachel Glade		COEHP

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About the Faculty Senate: The Faculty Senate is the representative body of the University of Arkansas faculty and holds authority as given in the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees Policy 810.1. The Faculty Senate exercises the general legislative powers of the faculty and has sole jurisdiction over admission requirements; transfer of credits; withdrawals; academic honesty; scholastic probation, suspension, and dismissal; curriculum and courses; degrees and degree requirements; awarding of academic honors; and recommendations to the board of trustees for honorary degrees. The faculty may also make recommendations on any institutional matter of faculty concern such as: policies regarding faculty status, including appointments, promotions, granting of tenure, retirement, nonreappointment, and dismissal; policies affecting the general welfare, working conditions, and the services performed by and for the faculty; and policies relating to academic and professional research and other scholarly and creative activities.