Research Policies Council Members
MEMBERSHIP: The composition of the council can be found in the Faculty Senate Bylaws, Article VI: Councils, Sec. 1, including at least 18 members including the vice president for research, the dean of the Graduate College, the provost, 11 faculty members elected by the Senate (three from Arts and Sciences鈥搘ith representation from each division recommended, one from each of the other colleges, one from unaffiliated units, and one at large), the Faculty Senate president or executive board designee as an ex officio member, the chair of the Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award Screening Committee as an ex officio member, one undergraduate student selected by the Western Student Association, and one graduate students selected by the Graduate Student Association.
The RPC requires 11 out of its current 19 voting members to be in attendance to establish quorum, as long as there are no Vacant seats, any Vacant seat(s) should be removed from the voting member total so that one more than half of the new total is needed for quorum. (*indicates a non-voting member)
Council officers
Andre Venter, Chairperson
Wanda Hadley, Vice Chairperson
Jesse Smith, Secretary
Ex Officio members
Anthony DeFulio
Faculty Senate Executive Board
Andre Venter
Chair, Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award Screening Committee
Permanent members
Christine Byrd-Jacobs
Dean, Graduate College
Christopher Cheatham (substitute for Provost Vasquez Heilig at alternating meetings)
(designee for the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs)
Remzi Seker
Vice President for Research and Innovation
Julian Vasquez Heilig
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Elected members
Onur Arugaslan (2027)
Business
Mert Atilhan (2025)
Engineering and Applied Sciences
Carrie Barrett (2026)
Representative-at-Large (Health and Human Services)
Patrick Bennett (2027)
Arts and Sciences (Sciences and Mathematics)
Amy Bocko (2025)
Unaffiliated Unit (University Libraries)
Lofton Durham (2025)
Fine Arts
Angela Groves (2026)
Health and Human Services
Wanda Hadley (2027)
Education and Human Development
Selim Ozyurek (2026)
Aviation
Jesse Smith (2027)
Representative-at-Large (Arts and Sciences)
Bilinda Straight (2026)
Arts and Sciences (Social Sciences)
Andre Venter (2025)
Representative-at-Large (Arts and Sciences)
German Zarate-Sandez (2025)
Arts and Sciences (Humanities)
Student members
Michael Osei
Graduate Student
Hellen Agbevey
Graduate Student
VACANT
Undergraduate Student