WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

Regular Meeting – June 7, 2010

Call to Order and Welcome

Senate President Daniel Larner welcomed members of the 2009-2010-2011 Senate to order at 4:02 pm and called the roll.  Larner welcomed twenty- four (24) of the 2010-2011 Senate and six (6) member of the 2009-2010 Senate along with seven (7) others for a total of thirty-seven (37) people.  (See attached roster).

Approval of Senate Minutes - Senators accepted the Senate minutes of May 17, 2010 as written.

Report from President Daniel Larner: 

RESOLUTION ON SB1070

·         The 2010 Senate’s completion of old business included endorsement of the resolutions of the University of Arizona and the Arizona State University Senates on Arizona Immigration Law - SB 1070.  President Larner led the WWU Faculty Senate in a vote which passed the following Resolution: 

“Resolved that we stand with our Arizona colleagues in their efforts to call attention to the adverse effects of this legislation on their students and their institutions, and to counteract the damage done to education and to society at large by its passage into law.” 

Items from the Administration

·         President Shepard thanked everyone for their hard work and noted that faculty agreement on postponing the merit raises allowed the university to claim credit towards the furlough deficit.  Shepard reported that additional ideas are being considered to avoid the furloughs which will differentially affect classified staff.

·         Shepard is planning future opportunities for new Board members to engage in open discussion with faculty leadership, Chairs of Standing committees, Deans and others on campus.  Shepard encouraged building on the university’s strengths in a variety of underdeveloped areas such as Allied Health, EESP, and International programs.

·         Provost Riordan introduced the idea of “catalog cleanup” to take place in Fall quarter, an idea which will provide mileage for us in Olympia.  Eliminating moribund programs will provide truth in advertising for students.  Any catalog cleanup will go through normal ACC and Senate processes. 

·         Riordan suggested that “wait listing” worked out well for 100 and 200 level classes and following “some tweaking” will be introduced next year to the 300 and 400 level.

Other Items:

·         Marsha Riddle Buly, Legislative Representative, called on faculty to seek legislators’ support for affordable four year higher education opportunities for Washington residents as election campaigning is about to begin.

·         Steven Garfinkle, UFWW President announced the importance of the survey that will ask about faculty issues to be brought to the bargaining table when the new contract will be ratified.  Faculty are asked to reach out to their stewards, a member of the union board, or Garfinkle himself to immediately address problems that arise.

This marked the completion of old business by the 2010 Faculty Senate.

RESOLUTION HONORING SENATE PRESIDENT DANIEL LARNER

Scott Pearce, newly elected Faculty Senate President (who takes office on the first day of summer school), read a Resolution of the Senate which honored Daniel Larner for his year of service as Senate President, and the Senate passed the Resolution unanimously as follows:

RESOLUTION Of the Faculty Senate of Western Washington University For the Outstanding Service of Daniel Larner

“WHEREAS, Daniel Larner has served as Western Washington University’s  Faculty Senate President during the 2009-2010 academic year; and,  WHEREAS, Daniel Larner has proven to be an effective and judicious leader,  Who has served the University with dedication, integrity, and humor, And who has shown courage and vision in directing the Senate’s Deliberations on crucial issues throughout the 2009-2010 academic year; and WHEREAS, the members of the Faculty Senate of Western Washington University are Grateful to Daniel Larner for his commitment to shared governance, to Broadening faculty participation in meaningful decision making Throughout the University, and to making the Faculty Senate Of Western Washington University such a force for Effective faculty governance,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, By the Faculty Senate of Western Washington University, At its regular meeting of June 7, 2010, that Daniel Larner be and hereby is HONORED for his outstanding service as Faculty Senate President from June 23, 2009 to June 21, 2010.”   -- end text

SEATING OF THE 2010-2011 FACULTY SENATE AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS: 

Seating of New Senate and Election of Officers. President pro tem Dan Larner announced the following slate of faculty willing to serve as Executive Officers in 2010-2011.  The Senate then approved the nominees and they were elected by the Senate.

·               Scott Pearce, Liberal Studies, Senate President;

·               David Meyer, Music, Vice President and Parliamentarian;

·               David Hartenstine, Mathematics, Secretary;

·               Chuck Lambert, Special Education, Appointments and Elections Officer,

·               Steve Henson, Economics, At Large. 

·               Marsha Riddle Buly, Senate Legislative Representative through 2011, serves as a voting member of the Executive.  Mary Lynne Derrington was voted in as Deputy Legislative Representative for one year, and will then serve as the Senate Legislative representative in 2011-2013.

·               Roger Anderson as chair of ACC and Jeff Newcomer as Chair of UPRC serve on the Executive as non-voting members along with the Past President of the Senate (Daniel Larner).

·               UFWW President, Steven Garfinkle, is a non-voting member of the Senate Executive and attends every meeting.

Constituent Concerns brought by Senators included the following:

·         A suspension of equipment ordering has left faculty no way to acquire equipment that science faculty require in the summer to complete research, especially in Chemistry which works to get grants during that time;

·         More notice is requested so Senators can learn who has offered to serve on the Executive Council.  This advance notice will give Senators more time to consider the vote.

Appointments and Elections:  Chuck Lambert, Officer

The following Senators were appointed to Standing Committees (1 yr term):

ACC:  Spencer Anthony-Cahill, Chemistry; Kathleen Saunders, Anthropology

UPRC:   Scott Pearce, Liberal Studies; Senate Library Committee:  Ron Helms, Sociology

One Vacancy:   Senator to Academic Technology Committee

The following faculty were appointed to Senate Standing committees:

To Academic Technology Committee:  Geoffrey Matthews, as Chair of CS; Rieko Darling, CSD; Raine Dozier, Woodring; John McLaughlin, Huxley (confirm 10/27).

To Senate Library Committee through 2012:  Nicholas Wonder, CBE; Cristina de Almeida, CFPA,

Stanford Goto, Woodring; Brian Bingham, Huxley (confirm 10/27)  

OTHER UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES:

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Concerns Committee (LGBTCC), 2010-2012

Rich Brown, Theater; Trula Nicholas, Human Svcs; Diana Gruman, Psychology; Charles Sylvester, PEHR; Timothy Fitzpatrick, Music (As Vice Chair, confirm 10/27)

University Services Dining Contract Committee – Sunsets in early 2012

Babafemi Akinrinade; Billie Lindsey (as alternate); Kathleen Young; Randall Burtz (as alternate)

Academic Coordinating Commission:  The new Senate confirmed the appointments made on May 17^th.

For all committees, please check the Faculty Senate website at http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/senate

For updated rosters– see center of web: “Memberships on Committees”

MOTION from Executive Council re University Planning and Resources Council. 

The Senate passed a motion approving an Executive Council recommendation that CHSS governing council and the Graduate Council faculty select the representatives to UPRC for 2010-2011. 

Rationale:  The Senate makes a recommendation each year for two areas to send an additional representative from a particular college or unit’s faculty governing council to the UPRC, with the idea of giving extra voice to those areas which may have topics under special consideration by the University.  In this case both CHSS and the Graduate Council have been asked to recommend the continued service of last year’s representatives to provide continuity as their topics are still under consideration.

REPORTS FROM CHAIRS OF SENATE STANDING AND AD HOC COMMITTEES

Senators received the following reports from the Chairs of Senate Standing committees and heard Jeff Newcomer comment on UPRC’s first year.

Academic Coordination Commission -- Jim Hearne, Chair; Roger Anderson, Vice Chair

Besides exercising usual curricular oversight, the ACC has passed the following actions:

1.       Creation of Creation of Council on University Programs (CUP), a curricular body to vet courses from academic units not associated with a college.

2.       Guidelines to Fairhaven College were formulated better to communicate the contents of major concentrations to ACC in their minutes.

3.       Name of ‘Student Course Evaluations” changed to ‘Survey of Course Experience’ better to reflect their status and role in personnel evaluation.

4.       Two year rule changed to a three-year rule, so courses may be taught on a three-year cycles without the threat of elimination from the catalog.

5.       Created an Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Policy (AHCAP) to work with the Registrar.  Proposals for revisions for policies will be forwarded to ACC.

University Planning and Resources Council - Jeff Newcomer, Chair

During the academic year UPRC:

·         Reviewed and endorsed the capital and operating budget processes.

·         Reviewed, but did not act upon, the draft Climate Action Plan.

·         Discussed concerns with the implementation of capital projects.

·         Discussed the development of university ‘themes’ for accreditation and UPRC’s role in the process.

·         Reviewed capital budget proposals and endorsed a ten-year capital plan and major, intermediate, and minor capital projects for funding requests.

·         Suggested changes to the capital budget proposal process.

·         Reviewed operating budget proposals for the 2010–11 and 2011–13 budgets and suggested funding priorities.

·         Discussed and made suggestions regarding the future of Western’s Strategic Plan.

Senate Library Committee - Ron Helms, Chair

This past academic year the Senate Library Committee has been involved in a variety of oversight activities as well as substantive discussions about issues and concerns facing the library and its Dean, Chris Cox. 

·         Utilization of library space.  This culminated in a visit by a widely respected library space consultant, Dr. Scott Bennett.  Dr. Bennett made a variety of recommendations for prioritizing uses for the library’s limited physical space resources and also urged alternative uses of working (social) spaces to meet the needs of students and faculty and stimulate lifelong learning.  Many of the insights outlined in Dr. Bennett’s subsequent report have subsequently been taken under consideration by the SLC. 

·         SLC Charge.  We engaged in a successful effort to increase the representation of the committee so that all of the university colleges and student body are represented.  Recommended changes to the SLC Charge were recently passed by the Faculty Senate, reflecting this change. 

·         Strategic Plan.  SLC spent time with the Dean and his staff discussing and reviewing the Library Strategic Plan, a process that is central to the overall university assessment process.  The updated Strategic Plan is currently in the midst of being implemented.

·         Collections Assessment.  This is an ongoing and critically important process, as we have quite diverse and rapidly evolving student and faculty needs for library resources here at WWU.  And of course, this has been supplemented with ongoing evaluation of potential shifts in allocations and collections development processes. 

·         Digital Archiving:  Discussions regarding development of a system allowing for digital archiving of university intellectual products and performances.  In support of these considerations, we recently met with Marisa Ramirez, a digital archiving consultant, who has been deeply involved with development of a digital archives project on the California Polytechnic State University campus. 

·         Library Building.  The committee has overseen a variety of changes to the library building itself, including the new Special Collections renovation on the 6^th floor, the addition of the ATUS Student Tech Center & computer labs, as well as the permanent addition of the Writing Center as part of our libraries. Really, there has been something of a metamorphosis taking place at the main library this past year.  Much of this change is in response to library assessment surveys, student demand, and the dynamic changes going on in academic libraries. 

The SLC has been an active participatory body in discussions surrounding each of these projects and processes and has remained an engaged oversight body throughout the implementation of these important changes.  In sum, we have experienced a quite busy and productive academic year.  We anticipate the coming year will be equally filled with challenges and oversight responsibilities that should keep the expanded membership busy and productively engaged in these critical concerns related to, and in support of, the university’s ongoing education and research mission.

Academic Technology Committee - David Bover, Chair

The ATC has provided a forum for the faculty voice during a year of significant change in the campus technology infrastructure.  During the 2009-2010 academic year, the committee has discussed the following issues and their impact on academic programs:

• Outsourcing of student email and the first line of defense against spam.  This change has had significant impact on email servers hosted within academic departments and prompted discussion of the merits of centralized and distributed administration.
• The switch from Novell to Microsoft Active Directory for the campus network file servers.
• Upgrade of the Banner system and the resulting improvements to the security of access to confidential data.
• The long-term objectives and plans for wired and wireless networks on campus.

A major topic for discussion during the year was the proposal for the use of set portion Student Technology Fees for scheduled computer laboratory upgrades.  This proposal originated in the ATC in 2006 but could not be given serious consideration in the absence of data to determine its feasibility.  This year, Rob Galbraith, Assistant Director of ATUS has collected data on all the computer laboratories on campus and devised planning options for discussion by the ATC and consideration by the STF committee. 

Ad Hoc Faculty Awards Committee Final Report -- Karen Stout Chair: Members: Joseph Garcia,

Babafemi Akinrinade, Trula Nicholas, Deborah Currier, Ozan Sula, and Frances Howard-Snyder

The Ad Hoc Faculty Awards Committee was charged with providing feedback about a variety of proposed campus awards that affect faculty. Senators had concerns about proposed awards, as well as procedures for existing awards. The ad hoc committee worked in coordination with the Western Recognition Program Committee (also chaired by Karen Stout). We kept several core values at the forefront of our decision-making: inclusion, transparency, streamlining, and standardization. 

A summary of some proposals we’ll make to President Shepard includes:

·      We feel that a proposed scholarship award should complement the existing Olscamp award, and we used the Elich and Excellence in Teaching awards as a model for procedures, processes, and committee structures. We believe the Olscamp award should be limited to faculty from CHSS and CST, and the new award focus on faculty from Fairhaven, CBE, CFPA, Huxley, and Woodring.

·      We propose to re-name the Academic Advising Award to the Outstanding Mentor Award and the Outstanding Service Award to the Outstanding Leadership Award. We also propose a new GUR Teaching Award.  We have developed a set of criteria and processes for each of these awards. 

·      We gave input on other awards examined by the WRPC, including the new Community Service Award and the existing “years of service” award, which was given to faculty for the first time this year. We have streamlined and standardized the processes and language for awards and for selection committee structures.

·      We are proposing to increase the amount of financial awards to match current economic realities. Finally, we will provide suggestions about which awards should be celebrated at different university events.

DISCUSSION

Senators considered language in the Faculty Handbook which includes changes to Bylaw 7: Senate Legislative Representative and will consider the matter in Fall Quarter for a vote.  The following draft represents language presented for consideration:

DRAFT OF REVISION OF BYLAW 7.2  Faculty Legislative Representative

BL7.2 Faculty Legislative Representatives

The Faculty Senate shall maintain a Faculty Legislative Representative (FLR) and a Deputy Faculty Legislative Representative (DFLR). 

The FLR represents the Faculty of Western Washington University in relations with the Legislature and individual legislators, (monitors legislative issues, establishes effective rapport with legislators, their respective staffs, and the legislature as a whole), and reports to the Faculty Senate.  He or she shall be guided by policies approved by the Faculty Senate upon recommendation from the Executive Council. The DFLR shall assist the FLR in his/her duties. The FLR will seek to coordinate her/his legislative activities with those of Western's administration and the Council of Faculty Representatives, the Associated Students, the United Faculty of Western Washington, and the WWU Alumni Association.

The FLR, DFLR, and the President-elect of the Faculty Senate shall constitute the delegation of the Faculty of Western Washington University to the Council of Faculty Representatives.

Every other spring, coinciding with the short session of the Washington State Legislature, the Faculty Senate will elect a new DFLR, who will serve one year as DFLR, followed by two years as FLR, followed by one year as DFLR, for a total of four years served.

The FLR shall serve as a voting member of the Senate Executive Council during her/his two year term.

The FLR shall receive 0.33 FTEF release time from other duties to carry out the responsibilities of his/her office during his/ two years as FLR.  The partial FTEF shall be returned to the FLR's unit.  The Provost shall arrange administrative support for the FLR through the Faculty Senate’s operating budget.

BL7.3.1 Membership  [ACC]

A faculty member as chairperson will receive release time of 0.33 FTEF to carry out the responsibilities of the office.  The partial FTEF shall be returned to the ACC chair's unit. The Provost shall arrange administrative support for the ACC.

BL7.4.1 Membership of the UPRC shall be as follows:

The chair will receive released time of 0.33 FTEF release time.  The partial FTEF shall be returned to the UPRC chair's unit. The Provost shall arrange administrative support for the UPRC.

--end draft

Senators voted to adjourn prior to meeting in the Solarium for the University President’s dinner for retiring, continuing and new Senators and chairs of Senate Standing committees and guests.

Adjournment:  Senators adjourned at 5:30 pm.

Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder, 6-2-2010

                                                                                                ___________________________

                                                                                                Karen Stout, Secretary 2009-2010

                                                                                   
FACULTY SENATE ROSTER 2009-2011