FACULTY SENATE
Minutes of March 5, 2012

Call to Order

Karen Stout, Faculty Senate President, called the 2011-2012 Senate to order at 4:05 pm.   Stout welcomed twenty-six (26) Senators along with seven (7) others for a total of thirty-three (33).  (See Roster).

Items from the Faculty Senate President:

Approval of Senate Minutes: Senators accepted the Senate minutes of February 13, 2012. 

President Stout reported that:

§  The final report on the review of administrators will be provided to Provost Riordan shortly;

§  The main critique of online teaching evaluations was the loss of connection with students once the process is removed from the classroom.  Review of the possible integration of new technology such as e-tablets with our academic services on campus is planned;

§  Appreciation is expressed to Joe Myers, AS legislative representative in Olympia who has also received kudos from the EWU faculty representative for his work on our behalf.

Reports

§  President Shepard reported that he worked over the weekend with people in Admissions and Financial Aid to find solutions to the current budget situation which may still require some patience to unravel.  President Stout mentioned that an email reporting on the same had come from Dan Boxberger, the Senate FLR.

§  Provost Riordan reported that the searches for tenure track faculty are going well.  Riordan complimented the Arts & Crafts Fair displaying the work of talented staff and encouraged faculty to attend.

§  Steve Garfinkle, UFWW President, encouraged continued involvement with legislative issues (Western Advocates is one avenue) and reported that collective bargaining is proceeding well.

§  Fabiola Arvizu, ASVP Academics, reported that the AS is considering a 5% increase of the alternative transportation fee which currently costs students $25 per academic quarter.

Report on Elimination and Merger Policy (ppt. available at http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/Senate ):  

Spencer Anthony-Cahill, Senate Vice President, reported on the Executive subcommittee’s work on the policy supporting the principles of open and transparent decision making subject to early scrutiny by the faculty. 

o   Anthony-Cahill reported that the effort was initiated based on concerns with recent examples of merger/eliminations, and related issues raised when the policy was under consideration by last year’s Senate.

o   The committee focused on: 1) how to assure that faculty have opportunities to provide timely input that informs decision-making; 2) how to assure that the data driving these decisions are accurate and complete; and 3) criteria used in decision-making -- what data address these criteria, or how are the criteria “operationalized.”

o   Anthony-Cahill presented various slides with examples of current practice and weak points in the process that do not ensure that complete and accurate information informs decision making and do not provide for full vetting by the faculty. 

o   Anthony-Cahill asked Senators:  1) Are the issues adapted from policies at several other public universities appropriate to Western; 2) Are faculty willing to commit to a culture change that would involve decision-making with faculty-developed criteria and reliance on complete and accurate data? 

o   Such policies would provide early faculty collaboration with administration and deans to shine a parallel light on successful programs that could profit from further enhancement as well as on those which might be undervalued or in need of improvement. 

Senators commented:

§  An ideal policy could incorporate input from employers to create new state-of-the-art programs;

§  A healthy policy would provide continuous assessment in a feedback loop;

§  Criteria proposed by one university such as Indiana State could also be merged with the model from another such as Humboldt State (examples provided in Anthony-Cahill’s presentation);

§  The strength of faculty-developed criteria would provide a horizontal model of assessment rather than top-down. 

Anthony-Cahill will announce future plans for the policy.

Appointments and Elections – Jackie Caplan Auerbach, Officer

§  Auerbach asked faculty to encourage colleagues to complete Senate nominating petitions.  Candidates will be sought to fill the preliminary list of 2012-2014 faculty vacancies on committees once the Senate elections are complete.  

§  Vacancies on the 2012-14 Faculty Senate to date:  Area A-2; Area B-2 (Candidate:  Kathleen Saunders, Anthropology) Area C-3 (Candidates: Sheila Webb, Journalism, Sandra Alfers, M&CL); Area D – 2, Area E – 2, Area G -1; Area H -2; Libraries – 1. 

§  In addition, one replacement for Area A, 1-year term (Candidate: Jackie Caplan-Auerbach) and 1 replacement for Area C (1 year term).

Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. Karen Stout reported that a faculty member is requested to evaluate candidates for the Faculty Award for Outstanding Faculty Mentor.  Candidates for this award are nominated by alumni and they are looking for a faculty member willing to evaluate.  Stout reported that since the process is streamlined the reviewers will not be evaluating large biographies.

ACTION ITEM: 

President Stout reported that the Sections 7 and 8 of the Code of Faculty Ethics as approved at the Senate meeting of  January 23, 2012 had been forwarded to the faculty for comment.  Stout had received no substantive comments, just some questions of clarification and therefore the Executive had brought a motion to approve via second vote.

MOTION from Senate Executive:  Code of Faculty Ethics, Section 7 and 8.  In a unanimous second vote, Senators then approved Sections 7 and 8 of the Code of Faculty Ethics (Appendix 5 to the Faculty Handbook).

CONSTITUENT CONCERNS:   Faculty Handbook:  Anthony-Cahill reported that Sandra Alfers and Babafemi Akinrinade agreed to work with him on reviewing the Faculty Handbook to harmonize with the collective bargaining agreement.

ADJOURNMENT

Senators moved to adjourn at 5:39 pm without caucus.

March 5, 2012 – Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder

__________________________________

Kathleen Saunders, Secretary 2011-2012

FACULTY SENATE – ROSTER 2011-2012