WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

Regular Meeting – March 8, 2010

Call to Order

Daniel Larner, Senate President, called the 2009-2010 Senate to order at 4:03 pm.  Larner welcomed twenty-five (25) Senators, and fifteen others (15) for a total of forty (40) people.  (See attached roster).  President Shepard was away from campus. 

Approval of Senate Minutes - Senators accepted Senate minutes of February 22, 2010 as written.

President Larner reported the following:

·         The program elimination policy is complicated.  The item will be postponed on the agenda pending outcome of Larner’s discussions with the President and Provost.  The effort at present is to find the way to reconcile the policy with the Faculty Handbook.

·         Faculty are encouraged to volunteer for the 2010-2012 Senate.  Election of Area candidates will take place in early April. 

Items from the Administration:

Provost Riordan thanked faculty who had volunteered for the Graduate Strategic Advisory Committee.  The decision on the chair of the committee will be announced shortly pending discussions with the Senate President.

·         Riordan reported she had recently sent a memo to Chairs to allay fears about freeze language which is unrelated to faculty positions.

·         Riordan will announce the dates of a campus presentation with Bill Lyne on the Graduate White paper.

·         Riordan expressed appreciation to the faculty who have volunteered to serve on the Search Committee for the position of Vice Provost for Extended Education and Summer programs.  Riordan has launched the search in connection with recommendations from the EESP white paper.

Other Report Items:

Legislative Liaison:  Marsha Riddle Buly, Legislative Liaison, reported

ü  that State budgets are in reconciliation and include a potential lottery bill for Higher Education.  However, prospects are “bleak” for Higher Ed with continued cuts on the horizon. 

ü  A strong faculty message is needed to convince legislators that 4-years can no longer be the State’s “rainy day fund”.

Other Report Items:

ASVP Academics:  Ramon Rinonos-Diaz, Associated Student Vice President – Academics, reported:

ü AS is recruiting for the Student Trustee as well as other positions.

ü AS will consider whether to continue purchasing renewable energy or to fund the student technology fee.

UFWW:  Steven Garfinkle, UFWW President, reported

ü  UFWS President Bill Lyne will report on the legislative session at an All Faculty meeting (not limited to union members) on Tuesday, March 16, at 4 pm-Fraser 3;

ü  Garfinkle was proud of the 26 students from Western, the largest student contingent present, at a recent breakfast in Olympia hosted by the trustees of the six baccalaureates. 

Constituent Concerns  included:

o   Lack of an overall campus plan about both wired and wireless computer networks and potential impact on the academic mission of the university;

o   Imminent new security upgrades that may potentially compromise faculty ability to teach.   

Resolution on Earth Week:   James Loucky, former Senate President, visited the Senate and presented a resolution encouraging faculty to remember Earth Week in their classes.  The resolution was brought forward as a motion by Robert Marshall. 

o   Loucky reminded Senators that concern for the earth is one of the most critical things we can express.  Earth Day was initiated 40 years ago and in the ensuing years planetary issues have become very sobering. 

o   Loucky added that we have a compelling ethical responsibility to make teaching the health of the earth a priority.  While Earth Week is symbolic it can provide an opportunity to bring people together to share common concerns.  Loucky thanked the Office of Sustainability for support including Seth Vidana, Lawrence Squires and Grace Wang.  Loucky encouraged dissemination not only at Western but to other university Senates and Presidents at the urging of our Western Senate and President.

A MOTION in support of the Resolution on Earth Week made by Robert Marshall, seconded by Steve Garfinkle, was passed unanimously by the Senate.  Text follows:

“EARTH WEEK RESOLUTION:  On March 8, 2010 the Faculty Senate passed the following Resolution:  Recalling that the first Earth Day was celebrated forty years ago on April 22, 1970; and aware that the integrity of many ecosystems continues to deteriorate; and believing that addressing common concerns is central to the mission of the University:  The Faculty Senate of Western Washington University  1) affirms our institutional commitment to educating about, and developing effective responses to, the environmental challenges we face; and 2) encourages faculty and students to include activities in classes during the week of April 19-24 that acknowledge the vital and ethical connections that humanity has with Earth.”    -end text.

Senate President Larner added that he will look into disseminating the resolution to other Senates.

DISCUSSION:

John Lawson, Vice Provost for Information Technology and CIO made a presentation to the Senate entitled “Information security, upgrades, current developments and future considerations”.  Lawson and members of his technology team discussed with the Senate its concerns about wireless and wired computer networks, the timing of server and security upgrades, state regulations regarding security and other issues. 

Ø  Lawson emphasized his approachability and suggested that problems be brought to him right away so they can get fixed before they become constituent concerns.  Lawson laid out Information Technology Services (ITS) goals as a result of accreditation and security audits.  His team’s goal is to “serve and protect”, including to protect the intellectual mission of the university. 

Ø  Some current projects include Elluminate for video conferencing, Blackboard upgrades, homepage revisions, SharePoint rollout, staff and computer lab renewals, and Windows 7 support.  Lawson mentioned that the “digital millennium copyright act” was a federal law protecting copyright and that recent changes to the Higher Education Act require a more proactive stance from institutions to prevent copyright violations.   Telecommunications’ network switches will undergo a major upgrade next summer.  Call Pilot will be upgraded this spring.  Lawson expects that Academic Technology Committee will weigh in discussions of wireless and wired implementation.  There is really only one network, which you can access either through wireless or wire cord.  You still have to have the wired infrastructure to go wireless (note the box up on the wall).  You can also build meshes that reduce the need for wires, but increase traffic and thus reduce capacity.  It is always faster and more secure to be on a wired connection.

Ø  Lawson reported that state dollars have never increased for telecommunications infrastructure despite growth in faculty and staff.  New ways of funding are being explored. 

Ø  We are considering email outsourcing to provide people with larger mailboxes.  The Washington Higher Education Technology Consortium includes the State CIOs who are attempting to collaborate and potentially save money together.  University of WA is leading the investigation of outsourcing email which could provide savings in the long run.

Ø  Senators asked about ongoing classroom mediation and requests from department for capital request for overhead projector, sound, lighting, connectivity, teaching podiums.  Yet some departments, especially music, find it difficult to “get on the radar screen”.  Lawson responded that so far his area primarily upgrades general use classrooms. Departments have requested mediation thru student tech fees.  We need to turn our attention to are minor cap requests to do this.

Ø  One Senator mentioned that there is little opportunity to provide input into classrooms mediation.  For instance not everyone is sure how the smart boards work.  They may be a trial or experiment but faculty input might give some insight.  ITS has tried to make sure that there is at least a white board and screen available, it is not always known who will be teaching in general use classrooms. 

Ø  Senators also mentioned the poor timing of upgrades, especially during finals week or dead week.  Lawson apologized for the communication that was supposed to happen but obviously did not.  For most people the recent upgrade was a seamless non event, but not for the Psychology department.  In Chemistry a departmental server was affected.  Lawson would like to hear about these events even if “after the fact”.

Ø  Lawson added that the upgrades have to happen mainly during the short breaks so faculty have a chance to react and tweaking can take place when people are around on campus to respond.

Ø  23% of our machines are MACs. The MAC software that we recommend and instructions about how to get to it is available on the MAC site.  ATUS tries to help MAC users, but more help would be appreciated as the new technology is not necessarily a mesh with both MAC and PCs.  Lawson recommends writing to him with specific requests for MAC help.

Ø  Blackboard also should have someone handling it.  Lawson had to cut people and will have to cut more in July, so some support has been reduced but Blackboard has a high priority in our workload.

Ø  James Hearne mentioned that he has never had a problem with ATUS.  Regarding virus updates his area chose to blanket only 1/3 at a time, not 100%.  If faculty and departments had conversations they could choose different timings, which seemed to work well. 

Ø  ATUS has about eight or so desktop support people in ATUS and close to 40 people employed by the different colleges who also do some level of desktop support.  We meet with those people regularly to solicit feedback from faculty.  Lawson noted that there really is no way of verifying that faculty are talking to the college support staff. 

Ø  One Senator pointed out that it might sound like we are complaining, but we are really grateful because most of the time things work very well.  We can ask our constituents if they have a preference for upgrades happening during break or not, especially if the upgrades are somewhat minor.  However, if there is a possibility of having a catastrophic failure, phone your guys and phone the chairs, and please schedule outside of classroom time.  Our ability to teach was compromised this quarter.

Ø  Another Senator asked about customer service as a priority, and learned that this has been a tough year, with budget cuts and the need to position ourselves for the future.  Lawson suggested it would be helpful to know what expectations are and to compare that with reality.  Regarding Bb, the annual license may be as high as $60,000 with the level of support declining. 

Ø  State mandates guide us regarding data and confidentiality, especially information about individuals, student grades, personnel records, IT information and security.  The Universal ID is the preferred authentication method.  The WEB4U pin system will be modified soon.  Lawson hesitates to get rid of that little pin since it is still used by Alumni to access their records.

Ø  Provost Riordan suggested that the entire conversation today was really important and should continue because of the filtering that has to happen.  Riordan suggested that long range planning continue with UPRC.  Faculty need to be in active conversations with IT staff, and Academic Technology.  If we are going to take a classroom offline and make it into a hard wired computer room -- we need to be hearing about that.  The staff is right with us and we all appreciate the learning and interaction today which can lead to continuous improvement.  The Senate and Tech people and ATC can keep this discussion going, and route the information out there that it is okay to call the HELP desk. 

Ø  Larner added that we need to encourage department chairs and deans to encourage the IT person in the colleges to be in touch with faculty on a more regular basis.  Everybody realizes that departmental staff work hard and struggle with communication just as we do.

Lawson expressed appreciation for the conversation and encouraged continued direct interaction.

STANDING COMMITTEE MINUTES – Reading and Acceptance (Exhibit B)

APPOINTMENTS AND ELECTIONS – Chuck Lambert, Appointments Officer

Senators are asked to request constituents to nominate colleagues for the Senate for 2010-2012.  Nominating petitions can be obtained from the Senate office via email.  Candidates for the search committee for Vice Provost for Extended Education and Summer Program (Provost appoints): Marsha Riddle Buly, Education; Babafemi Akinrinade, Fairhaven; Daniel Boxberger, Anthropology; Leza Madsen, Library

ACTION - Motion to Endorse Honorary Degree Policy:  The Faculty Senate moved to endorse University Policy U5000.xx, Honorary Degree Policy which allows the nomination of a person to receive consideration for an honorary degree (see discussion in previous minutes).

Adjournment:  Senators voted to adjourn at 5:46 pm.

Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder, 3-8-2010

                                                                                                ___________________________

                                                                                                Karen Stout, Secretary 2009-10

FACULTY SENATE ROSTER 2009-2011