WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

Regular Meeting – February 7, 2011

Call to Order

Senate President Scott Pearce called the 2010-2011 Senate to order at 4:01 pm.  Pearce welcomed twenty-six (26) Senators along with seventeen (17) others for a total of forty-three (43) (See attached roster).

Approval of Senate Minutes:   Senators accepted the Senate minutes of January 24, 2011.

Senate President Pearce announced the following:

1. A new “Spring Senate Award Ceremony” in the Western Gallery on May 23^rd from 4 to 6 pm., to present teaching, research and several other new faculty awards.  Pearce expressed special thanks to Karen Stout and the Ad Hoc Faculty Awards committee for its excellent report and preparation for this event.
2. Regarding Bike Routes, no final decision has been made although an ad hoc status quo will continue into next year when the Senate will interface with Rick Benner and others in anticipation of the completion of the Miller Hall construction.
3. Research is continuing on possible relocation of course evaluation scoring.
4. Scott Pearce and David Meyer met with enrollment committee chairs Dan Guyette and Karen Copetas to discuss the enrollment aspect of Western’s future and the possible growth of EESP as a funding source.  Discussion of the GURs as tailored to individual departments was also part of the discussion.
5. A “Survey Monkey” will to go out to faculty in the next several weeks as a preliminary to the evaluation of Provost Riordan.  Chuck Lambert made the announcement.
6. Faculty can request an email copy from the Senate office of the following documents:

§  John Krieg’s report on electronic course evaluations;  

§  Preliminary outline of academic affairs objectives;

§  Conflict avoidance registration for athletes (prepared by Brent Carbajal); and

§  A proposal for modification of faculty awards.

Items from the Administration

President Shepard suggested we must constantly remind legislators of the need for adequate funding of baccalaureate education in the State and asked for patience in developing a future budget that protects Western’s core mission despite cuts totaling more than 9% in the current biennium.

Ø  Shepard mentioned the 3% cut some State employees may be asked to take and considered it to be a machete approach rather than strategic, and that a fundamental value, a fairness principle, was at stake when only one group was targeted for cuts.  However Shepard added that protecting core mission and high quality programs are our top priorities.

Ø  Shepard does not see an Everett university as a possibility in this budgetary environment.  Shepard emphasized that the cuts we are asked to take will fundamentally change the nature of the university and we have to let people know what this means. Western is planning for what comes down the pike but some of the other campuses might not be doing so. Defining our core mission is a challenge, and values, judgment and politics all fit into the mix.

Ø  In answer to the question by what percentage has the university been cut over the past few years Shepard spoke in terms of cut in state support which has gone from 60% to 30% in just a few years.  Proposed cuts are greater than anything we have seen to date. 

Ø  The Board of Trustees has also strategically identified legislators to address about this.

Provost Riordan emphasized that legislators seldom hear from constituents about Higher Education issues whereas constituents from social services and other areas are much more vocal.

o   However Riordan is more encouraged because of progress made in terms of planning within the colleges, including ideas about raising graduate tuition.  Riordan expressed concern about morale, and controlling negative rumors and suggested that the Deans should be good sources of information.  Riordan will present a PowerPoint on Instructional Costs at the UPRC this week, related to time to degree.

Other Reports

·         Marsha Riddle-Buly, Faculty Legislative Representative, reported that she had used this week in Olympia as an opportunity to present legislators with narratives on what faculty do in a day, how connections are made to the community as well as students. Riddle-Buly thanked faculty who had provided these narratives, and reported that new legislators unfamiliar with higher education issues expressed interest in learning more.

·         Ramon Rinonos-Diaz had the following requests:

Ø  Please send him names of student candidates as potential student trustee by February 23;

Ø  Encourage completion of applications for the “Elect Her” program, which empowers women to run for office.  The “Elect Her” day is this Saturday from 10:30 to 4 pm;

Ø  Encourage completion of applications for Green Energy Fee grants which are now open;

Ø  Please comment on the Student Technology Fee 2010-2011 proposals.  These are available for viewing at http://www.wwu.edu/stf 

Constituent Concerns

Publications.  David Wallin brought a concern from a colleague in Environmental Science where a student thesis was submitted for publication with page charges and the Dean of the Graduate School could not support the cost.  Wallin found it hard to believe that university policy is to stop publishing until the current financial crisis is averted.

• Wallin mentioned that student authored publications are not on the RSP list for funding, but two people as authors, namely a faculty/student combined research paper should be on the list.  The distinction between undergraduate and graduate papers is not clear either.
• Spencer Anthony-Cahill agreed that some of these distinctions make no sense and that there should be a policy.
• Chris Suczek suggested asking RSP for the policy, and if there isn’t one they should produce one. 
• Ramon Rinonos-Diaz does not think the student could apply for funding through the AS, although there is funding available for travel related to the clubs, and it doesn’t matter whether the student is graduate or undergraduate.

Disabled Parking.  Mike Mana mentioned that a faculty member had a disability permit during leg surgery but upon return to normal parking was placed far out on the campus and not given back his previous space.  Scott Pearce will speak to the parking office about it.

Presentations:  

Electronic Course Evaluations:  Steven VanderStaay, VPUE

VanderStaay discussed Electronic Course Evaluations and outside vendors such as the “Idea Center” which offers norming against other faculty in the same field as well as a link to resources and strategies.  Another option, “Gradebook” withholds a student’s grade until the survey is completed.  The advantage to online evaluations is the savings from assembling the results packages currently mailed to faculty.  The ultimate question is the value of the information provided. VanderStaay offered to assist a subgroup in piloting an option with a vendor.

Teaching Learning Academy (TLA) and Writing Instruction Support (WIS): Carmen Werder, Director.

Werder presented these two programs, now physically and organizationally located in the Libraries: 

Ø  Werder highlighted WIS development events, writing research fellowships, and print/virtual resources for teaching writing. .

Ø  Werder also recounted some of Western's writing requirement history including the 1998 decision to add a second general education required writing course, later rolled back.  Spencer Anthony-Cahill noted his department needs more in-house instructional support, but agreed that the model is costly.  

Ø  Werder said the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) is re-examining the upper-level Writing Proficiency (WP) requirement including gathering more information about instructor needs.

Ø  Werder described the TLA, a dialogue forum to strengthen Western’s learning environment that includes faculty, staff, community members, and students. Besides co-sponsoring teaching-learning forums, its main activity is to serve as a brain trust by facilitating dialogue groups for 75 to 140 participants each quarter. 

Ø  What distinguishes the TLA is the inclusion of students who participate in connection with course work especially Comm 322  (Civil Discourse as Interactive Learning) and Comm 339 (Applied Practicum).  Students come from various departments and often volunteer.

Ø  Participants collectively define a “big question”  that leads to proposed action.  E.g. last year the question on reflective learning resulted in a proposal for a "reflective garden," and a $10,000 donation was secured to begin its installation between Carver Gym and College Hall.  This year's question centers on creativity.  A new initiative for summer 2011 is a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Institute to support faculty/staff/students researching and writing on teaching and learning.

Ø  Student Colin Moy said the TLA is the only place on campus where teachers and students come together regularly to talk about how to improve the Western learning experience.  Moy said his TLA experience empowered him to create a new center connecting businesses and departments through the Rec Center.  Staff Marli Williams, Student Outreach Services,  said the TLA has enabled her to extend outreach services.  Communication professor Michael Karlberg, a TLA participant since its inception, noted that students gain agency regarding their own learning process, pointing to data showing one of the strongest indicators of student success is student-faculty bonding.  The TLA is a significant way to do that outside of the evaluative situation in class, and for him has also been a way to create dialogue with faculty outside his department.

Werder concluded by expressing a hope to build closer ties between both these programs and the Senate.

Appointments and Elections:   Chuck Lambert, Officer

Senators appointed Sarah Campbell, Anthropology, to the Academic Technology Committee, replacing Derrick Mears.

ACTION ITEMS:

Faculty Handbook Revisions approved.  Senators moved to approve the following revisions to ByLaw 7, and will vote a second time after publication to the faculty: 

v  Executive Council Motion:  ByLaw 7.2, Faculty Legislative Representative clarifies the role of the faculty legislative and deputy legislative representative.  PASSED.

v  ByLaw 7.7 Senate Library Committee.  A revised charge brought by the co-chairs of the Senate Library Committee clarifies the role of committee as advisor to the Dean of Libraries and the committee’s relationship to the library and the wider campus community.  Moved by David Meyer, second by Chris Suczek, PASSED.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Faculty Handbook: Article V, Elimination and Merger.  

§  Senators reviewed an expanded document and will continue to forward edits or comments to Senate President Pearce.  The document will be brought to the Senate for a first vote at the next meeting.

Senators continued discussion on a document entitled  Guidelines on Faculty Governance in Colleges. In a straw vote it was agreed that a faculty forum would be held on the topic.

Adjournment

5:55 pm – February 7, 2011  – Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder

                                                                                                David Hartenstine, Secretary, 2010-2011

FACULTY SENATE – ROSTER 2010-2011