Approved 9-6-07
Thursday
August 23, 2007
8:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m.
MA 211K
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
PRESENT
Laine Berghout, Lloyd Burton, Colleen Garside, Bruce Handley, Wade Kotter, Peggy
Saunders, Gene Sessions, Mike Vaughan, Jim Wilson Kay Brown Secretary
EXCUSED
Ann Millner
CAMPUS UPDATE
Mike Vaughan reporting -
Economy - The economy of the State of Utah is good. Last year the
legislature allocated additional funding to higher education institution and we
anticipate this coming legislative session will again address the needs of
higher education with some institutions submitting specific line items they are
requesting the legislature to fund.
Faculty Salaries - The Provost is looking at increasing increments for promotion to Associate and to Full Professor by a substantial amount. WSU faculty salaries are now at 91.25% of CUPA averages. In 2003-04 those comparisons were at 85.93% of CUPA averages. Classified and professional staff salaries are closer to their CUPA averages. Professional and classified staff have opportunities to move up through the ranks.
RSPG - This committee will have more discretionary money this year because the endowment is growing rapidly. They average the dollar value of the endowment over a twelve-year period, and pay a percentage of the increase.
Curriculum - Two degree programs are at the Regents, Master of Nursing (which will probably be approved in September), and the engineering degree. We dont anticipate any opposition to the Master of Nursing program, but the proposed Engineering degree has considerable opposition. Warren Hill brought in an administrator from Arizona State University to review the engineering program, and gave WSU a glowing report on the proposed program. The Dance program is in the process of redefining their emphases.
Enrollment - Fall enrollment figures will probably be down 2 or 3 percent. We have more closed classes for fall, but we dont have the classroom space available to open additional sections. Gen ed courses in English, math and communication are full. Social Science enrollments are up. The demolition of Buildings 1 and 2 and the renovation of the UB has left us short of classroom space. In the future we may want to build on bare ground rather than tear down existing buildings and rebuild on the same piece of ground. With the demolition of Buildings 1 and 2 we have reduced our classroom space by 3%. If Buildings 3 and 4 were demolished we would lose 5 or 6 percent of our classroom space. Because classroom space is limited Department Chairs can increase enrollment in online courses and still be in compliance with the guidelines for online class enrollment.
Union Building - The vast majority of services faculty and students access in the Union Building are housed in the west wing. This space will be available by the end of September.
New Registrar - The new Registrar will be on board in a couple of weeks.
Tri-Semester Calendar - Electronic polling of support
to or opposition to a tri-semester calendar was done during the summer. Support
for it was about 80/20. Only a little more than 100 faculty participated out of
about 450 faculty. A survey was again sent this week to faculty to obtain more
faculty input. A decision will be made in October. This item went to department
chairs last spring and received overwhelming support from them. The Provost will
bring to the Executive Committee the results of the survey.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Committee assignment changes -
Replace Cliff Nowell on the Faculty Board of Review, and drop him from the
Environmental Issues Ad Hoc committee.
MOTION Gene Sessions: Moved to review the votes for members of the Faculty Board
of Review and replace Cliff Nowell with the next highest vote recipient.
Second: Wade Kotter
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.
Replace Cliff Nowell on the General Education Improvement and Assessment
Committee.
MOTION Gene Sessions: Moved to replace Cliff Nowell on the General Education
Improvement and Assessment Committee with Doris Geide-Stevenson.
Second: Laine Berghout
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.
Replacements for Stella Chang on ASSA and for Carol Hansen on CRAO.
Peggy Saunders will call Joan Hubbard to see if she wants to
replace Stella on the ASSA committee with a Library representative. Lloyd Burton
will call Joan Hubbard and see if she wants to replace Carol Hansen on the CRAO
Committee.
CHARGES
Academic Resources and Computing Committee John Kelly
John Kelly will talk with John Armstrong and present charges at the September 6,
2007 meeting. The Provost wanted the committee to discuss sight license
purchases for software and whether or not such purchased would need to go out
for bid.
Admissions, Standards, and Student Affairs - Peggy Saunders
1. Work with the Registrar and the Provost to ascertain the viability of a
changed academic calendar (tri-semesters).
2. Have Bruce Bowen meet with the committee to present current information and
statistics on MAPP. This should be done on an annual basis.
3. Meet with Jan Winniford fall semester to review any student affair issues
which may need to be addressed.
4. Review and make a recommendation on granting graduate credit for experience.
Appointment, Promotion, Academic Freedom and Tenure - Wade Kotter
1. Ensure that policy changes recommended by APAFT and approved by the Faculty
Senate in 2006-07 are adequately communicated to the faculty, especially for
example, the policy change that mandates student evaluations in every course
taught by tenure-track, contract or adjunct faculty.
2. Determine the status of proposed changes to the intellectual property
sections of the PPM that are currently under review by the University Counsel
and make recommendations for policy changes in response to the results of that
review.
Constitutional Review and Apportionment Lloyd Burton
1. Calculate apportionment for Faculty Senate representation using the Hamilton
Method and present the apportionment figures to the Faculty Senate during Autumn
Semester.
2. Research questions and make recommendations that are brought to the attention
of the CRAO Committee.
Curriculum Committee Laine Berghout
1. Review and approve curriculum and program proposals.
2. Continue to conduct workshops on an as-needed basis with college curriculum
committee chairs to acquaint them with curriculum procedures.
3. Work with the General Education Improvement & Assessment Committee to develop
curriculum approval forms for core and breadth areas.
4. Work with the General Education Improvement & Assessment Committee to review
the strengths and weaknesses of the Diversity requirement.
Environmental Issues Ad Hoc Committee Gene Sessions
No changes to the charges approved April 2007
General Education Improvement and Assessment Jim Wilson
1. Complete the forms needed for new gen ed course approval fall semester.
2. Communicate learning outcomes to the campus.
3. General Education Faculty Retreat: Plan and implement a retreat for faculty
teaching general education courses, to be held May 2008.
4. Assessment: Revisit assessment plans and progress in the breadth areas.
Develop an assessment plan for the key gen ed courses identified by enrollment
data (Nutrition, Environmental Appreciation, Natural Environments of the Earth,
etc.), i.e. the courses which a considerable majority of students take to
satisfy their gen ed requirements.
5. Diversity Requirement: Assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the
Diversity requirement is needed before meaningful reforms can be devised.
Honorary Degree Gene Sessions
1. Examine the differences between the December and May Commencements and
recommend ways to make the events more uniform. Discuss the Advisability of
eliminating December Commencement as a possible solution to the problem.
2. Analyze reasons for the increasingly poor attendance at May Commencement.
Recommend possible solutions to the problem.
3. Meet separately and early as the faculty portion of the committee to discuss
representing in a unified manner the constituent needs and interests of the
faculty in the deliberation of the larger committee.
4. Ensure faculty involvement in the nomination and selection of candidates for
honorary degrees and for commencement speakers through maintaining the important
voice of the faculty and the Faculty Senate as a major force on the
institutional committee.
5. Consider ways to encourage more nominations from faculty for honorary
degrees,
6. Encourage the selection of at least one honorary degree recipient each year
who has made an outstanding academic contribution to higher education,
preferably a WSU faculty member.
7. Work to achieve a representation of gender and ethnicity among degree
recipients and ensure that all recipients are of stature to enhance the image of
Weber State University.
8. See that the criteria for honorary degrees are considered , so that the
understandable desire of the administration to cultivate donors and potential
donors does not overwhelm the deliberations and pass over otherwise worthy
candidates.
9. Provide the larger committee with a way to carry forward information so next
years committee can benefit from work done this year.
Research, Scholarship and Professional Growth John Kelly
John Kelly will talk with Therese Grijalva and present charges at the September
6, 2007 meeting.
Salary, Benefits, Budget and Fiscal Planning Bruce Handley
1. Look at a proposed change in the PPM related to sick leave for faculty.
2. Equity Adjustments and Merit - Look at dollar amounts each year.
3. Narrow the gap between online teaching and face to face teaching.
4. Discuss how to communicate more effectively to faculty their contract period
and how long their salary and benefits continue once they have tenured their
resignation.
5. Review CUPA compressions data by rank and make a recommendation.
6. Review and make a recommendation on WSU employee benefits, i.e. life
insurance.
Teaching, Learning and Assessment/Teaching and Learning Forum Colleen Garside
1. Continue to provide faculty development of teaching and learning through a
range of established forums and opportunities yet to be created. These may
include, but are not limited to the following:
Sponsor an Adjunct Retreat in conjunction with the Office of Academic Affairs;
Revise and re-organize the Last Lecture Series in partnership with WSUSA;
Sponsor the annual Faculty Forum in conjunction with Academic Affairs and RSPG;
Promote book discussion groups, workshops, and retreats;
Assist the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Community Involvement
Center in providing faculty awareness and develop in these areas;
Sponsor the annual New Faculty Retreat.
2. Compile a database of faculty and community expertise in various aspects of
teaching and learning which would serve as a resource when planning professional
development activities.
3. Continue to assess the effectiveness of established forums in serving faculty
needs in teaching, learning, and assessment.
4. Develop, monitor, and assess a number of ways to promote faculty awareness,
attendance, and support for TLA sponsored opportunities for professional
development which might include re-instituting a semester newsletter.
5. Work with the Research, Scholarship and Professional Growth Committee to find
non-monetary ways to promote and recognize faculty research and scholarship.
6. Work with the Research Scholarship and Professional Growth Committee to help
faculty identify new methods of scholarship.
ADJOURN
Lunch was served and the meeting adjourned at 1:10 p.m.