Abstract of April 5, 2010, Faculty Senate meeting

Daniel Larner, Western Washington University Faculty Senate president, called the 2009-2010 senate to order at 4:04 p.m. Senators accepted Faculty Senate minutes of March 8, 2010, along with the standing committee minutes, including the March 3 and March 10 minutes from the University Planning and Resources Council. Those minutes include motions on intermediate capital projects and minor works.

President Larner reported that he is not still working on the possibility of reconciling the president’s program elimination policy with the faculty handbook, but instead is drafting a proposal to include more significant input from faculty governance on when such a policy would be triggered.

Larner proposed ideas for the spring senate agendas, one of which will include discussion of the General Studies program as well as the white paper for Extended Education and Summer Programs.

WWU Provost Catherine Riordan reported that the Washignton state Legislature may make a decision on the budget in the coming week. Riordan and the vice presidents have been working on proposals to protect the units from larger cuts, and she is impressed by the level of creativity involved. Greater cuts are proposed than it is hoped the university will need to take. If the cut is smaller, the UPRC will be influential in advising the president and others of priorities. Riordan added that proposed reductions attempt to sustain student access to classes. Riordan added that self-sustaining resources will be more important than ever and may differ across disciplines.

Riordan addressed the access issue and the need to enable students to be successful in shorter periods of time and to avoid roadblocks to graduation through improved advising. Riordan spoke about policy changes that may prevent students from retaking class an unlimited number of times to improve his or her grade. Riordan acknowledged the value of Western’s upper division classes and the need to find new ways of collaborating across disciplines, greater support for Extended Education and Summer Programs, longer-term contracts for limited-term faculty and other innovative arrangements to avoid damage to the great job Western does at the junior and senior level.

Riordan said she expects completion of the data warehouse this summer, with enhanced information available to faculty members and administrators. Riordan is conducting a search for the new director of EESP and for a special assistant to the provost, the latter a 12-month faculty position that may include teaching.

Marsha Riddle Buly, legislative liaison, encouraged faculty to lobby legislators and recommended the TVW presentation “Inside Olympia” at which WWU President Bruce Shepard and Bill Lyne, president of the United Faculty of Washington State, appeared with Mike Bogatay from the Washington Student Association. The TVW interviews focus on the impact of Washington's cuts to higher education. The interviews appeared April 1 and 2 in Western Today; the link is http://onlinefast.org/wwutoday/news/7070. Riddle Buly encouraged showing the video clip in the classroom as well as sending it to family, friends and neighbors.

Ramon Rinonos-Diaz, Associated Students vice president for academics, reported that the AS is assessing current AS offices and creating new ones involved in disability outreach and engagement programs. He also reported that there are 19 student candidates campaigning for seven positions on the AS, and faculty are asked to encourage students to vote. Finally, Rinonos-Diaz said that students interested in the trustee position can pick up a packet in Viking Union Room 504 and that the AS is reviewing the renewable energy fee.

Senators heard a presentation on the new capital planning process from Rick Benner, executive director of Capital Planning, and Francis Halle, director of Space Administration and Management, and suggested that greater communication with faculty was needed during the implementation processes. Senators applauded Benner and Halle for an outstanding job in creating an open and transparent bottom-up process while at the same time acknowledging challenges. When buildings remain “works-in-progress” long after they are built, a process is needed to record original stakeholder ideas in order to provide benchmarking during construction and post-operative evaluation.

Senators voted to adjourn at 5:45 p.m.

Appointments and elections - Chuck Lambert, appointments officer

Senate elections:

• Ballots are open for the 2010-12 senate elections until April 16, and faculty can vote via Blackboard. Senators are asked to encourage constituents and colleagues to vote.

Appointment to GSAC:

• LeAnn Robinson, Special Education, appointed by the Woodring governance body to GSAC.
• Roger Anderson, Biology; and Susan Mancuso, Educational Leadership appointed to serve as co-chairs of the GSAC. The chairmanship is an appointment made jointly by the Provost and the Senate.