Brandeis faculty gathered in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall on Oct. 10 for the second faculty meeting of the 2025-26 academic year. The meeting consisted of a presentation on the new Moodle Learning Management System policy, an update on the University’s marketing plans, an introduction to the new Center for Careers in Applied Liberal Arts and a discussion on a proposed handbook amendment to change the language describing the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice committee. 

Prof. Jeffrey Lenowitz (POL) called the meeting to order and provided several brief updates, including a reminder that faculty have all received an invitation to volunteer for the Student Support Team. The group was created last year and is meant to assist at student protests as a separate entity from campus security, and potentially limit how often campus security is called. Training is provided to volunteers who will then be part of the roster of team members that may choose to help out at any event. 

University Librarian Matthew Sheehy presented on the new LMS policy, which enforces Moodle as the official university LMS. Sheehy serves as chair of the Academic Technology Advisory Committee, whose subcommittee oversees Moodle and has decided to outline a policy to help govern the LMS. The policy aims to make students familiar with the online environment they are working in and ensure that faculty have the technical support needed to teach. 

Sheehy explained that while faculty are not required to use Moodle for teaching, they are required to upload their syllabi to the site. Uploading their courses’ syllabi allows students to more easily navigate class materials, and adds the syllabi to the University’s archive, which helps maintain a record of past curricula. Sheehy also announced that third party software applications may be used but only with approval from the ATAC. The committee’s ultimate goal in reviewing alternative applications is to maintain accessibility, privacy, security and sustainable systems. 

Lenowitz added that the syllabus requirement will also be valuable in the reimagination of the Brandeis core. He noted, “ the more information we have about the content and learning goals in every course that's being taught here, the more effective we can be in aligning our course offerings with the core competencies that we're working on.”

The Vice President of Marketing Communications, Sheila Georger, then took the stand to share current efforts, priorities and plans for the University. Georger explained that the division consists of six integrated teams dedicated to increasing recruitment at Brandeis.

The division has begun working with SimpsonScarborough, a marketing agency for higher education. According to the agency’s research and surveys with prospective students and donors, Brandeis’ value proposition appears to be between “elite” and “value.” While this is not necessarily “a bad place to be,” said Georger, it indicates that Brandeis lacks a distinctive position. A rebrand of the University would push it to a place of “niche prestige,” characterizing it as “prestigious but in a category of its own,” given that the University is smaller, mission-driven and purpose-oriented. The division is currently working through creative concepts that will then transition into testing among prospective students and donors. This will be followed by opportunities for input from the community later this year.

Georger provided an overview of the media campaign focused on engaging and enrolling prospective students. She discussed the Brandeis Plan’s launch at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 10, noting its significance as a major milestone: “It positioned Brandeis as a thought leader in the future of liberal arts education and enabled us to be on a national stage.” 

Other initiatives in the works concern lead generation — or the process of generating consumer interest. This has been implemented by putting promotional videos on sites where prospective students and their families are doing their college research, and by placing video advertisements on Connected Television platforms. Georger also discussed the effort that has been poured into increasing social media presence, especially on TikTok. These platforms are being used to spotlight academic majors and student internships in order to engage different audiences, especially high school students doing college research. 

Georger discussed the initiative to support philanthropy through a fundraising campaign. Currently in the “quiet phase,” the campaign will create an integrated strategy that promotes engagement across donor audiences and platforms to facilitate giving. 

Lastly, Georger elaborated on the redesign of Brandeis’ websites. “This is the front door to our university,” she said, emphasizing that it is a top priority in the effort to build a brand, drive recruitment and facilitate donations.

Former trustee and alum Lewis Brooks ’80 introduced himself as the director of the new Center for Careers and Applied Liberal Arts. Brooks firstly emphasized that the mission of the center is “to ensure that Brandeis students, upon graduation, are career-ready and have a direction.” Some of the offerings of the center include designating a career counselor to every student, a one-credit career class offered each year and opportunities for experiential learning such as internships, research or study abroad programs.

Brooks defined elements of the Brandeis Plan such as second transcripts and micro credentials. The micro credential is the certificate of the mastery of a competency among eight “durable” or soft skills. He explained that the second transcript will be a document that will accompany the academic transcript and will summarize experiential learning, extracurricular activities and Micro Credentials. He announced that the center will be piloting four Micro Credentials and a one-credit career course in the spring of 2026. 

The final item on the agenda was a discussion on the motion to amend the description of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice committee in the faculty handbook (VI. D. 2f). The amendment would serve “to align with recent changes made to the Office of Access and Excellence, remove unnecessary functions and better reflect existing federal and state law,” as read by Lenowitz.  Lenowitz called on the chair of DEIS-J, Prof. Aida Wong (FA), to speak in favor of the motion. 

Wong contextualized the motion, explaining that due to fear of personal and professional safety, many members of the committee do not wish to be publicly associated with the name “DEI.” As this grew apparent, the names of committee members were removed from the website. She elaborated that there is a need for other changes, and the proposed amendment will address some of the more immediate concerns. Some of these involve legal matters and changing the language of the handbook to reflect the name change in the DEI office. “Our committee will discuss and determine further changes to its name, charge, and mission with the goal of advancing additional handbook changes later in the academic year,” said Wong. 

With no votes to oppose the motion, and two votes to call to question, faculty decided to put the amendment to an official vote the following week and subsequently adjourned the meeting.