EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE                                                         Approved 2-10-2000

Thursday
January 27, 2000
SS115, 2:00 p.m.


PRESENT Karen Dewey, Dave Eisler, Bruce Handley, Judith Mitchell, Candadai Seshachari - Chair, Sally Shigley, Gene Sessions, John Sillito, John Sohl, Alden Talbot, Paul Thompson, Kay Brown - Secretary

MINUTES John Sohl: Moved to approve the minutes for the January 13, 2000 meeting.
Second: John Sillito
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

COMMITTEE COORDINATION 
Gene Bozniak, Rosemary Conover, Gary Godfrey, Sandra Powell, Richard Ulibarri, and Jim Wilson met with the Executive Committee.

CURRICULUM APPROVAL 
Concern was expressed about the need to have the Department Chair approve proposals being submitted for curriculum development. Bruce Handley would like the signature line for the Chair to read, AHas the department approved the development of this course?@ The current form indicated the chair is aware of the proposal. General consensus was, Departments need to approve course development prior submitting those proposals for funding.

Concern was also expressed over courses funded for development prior to or without going through the Curriculum and General Education Committee. If courses have received funding for development and are then submitted to the Curriculum and General Education Committee, the CGE Committee may feel some obligation to give their approval because the course was approved and funded by another committee.

Curriculum proposals are being funded for development through RSPG awards and the Diversity Task Force on Teaching and Learning. Richard Ulibarri and Sandra Powell indicated that most of the funding from the Diversity Task Force on Teaching and Learning has been for improving existing courses. One or two new courses have been funded for development. The question of what should be funded was discussed. Sometimes seed money is beneficial to help start new course development.

WORKSHOPS 
The Curriculum and General Education Committee is receiving a huge proliferation of workshops. Workshops go under a very limited review. Some of the workshops are turning in to multi-week courses. The Executive Committee discussed the possibility of including a signature line indicating that the workshop has been reviewed by the department and given approval.

EXPERIMENTAL COURSES 
Experimental courses essentially escape the approval of the department, the college curriculum committee, and the University Curriculum and General Education Committee. The chair of the Curriculum and General Education Committee signs off on the experimental course. Experimental courses are only allowed to be taught twice and then they should be submitted as a regular course for approval at all levels.

FORMS 
Jim Wilson indicated that the forms could be modified to include a line that states, AHas the department voted on this proposal?@ Jim Wilson will make some modifications to the curriculum forms and meet with Gene Bozniak, Sandra Powell, Gary Godfrey, and John Sillito to discuss changes to the curriculum forms. Gary Godfrey felt it would be helpful for the RSPG Committee to see that course enhancement and new course development has been approved by departments and college curriculum committees.

AWARDS 
It was agreed that it is important to have better discrimination of information on awards and funding. The Executive Committee would like all committees giving awards to publicize those awards, come to the Executive Committee, and then present to the Faculty Senate a report of funds disseminated and proposals funded. Sandra Powell will contact the Executive Committee on future awards. Richard Ulibarri felt that his committee should avoid having those who vote on funding proposals be award recipients.

NAME CONFUSION 
The similarity of the names for the Teaching and Learning Task Force on Diversity and the Teaching and Learning Forum have caused some confusion. Richard Ulibarri indicated that his committee would discuss a name change for the Teaching and Learning Task Force on Diversity.

DIVERSITY COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP 
Committee membership on the University Diversity Committee was discussed. Sandra Powell indicated that there is plenty of work for everyone to do on the Diversity Task Force. They are desirous of involving more people in diversity issues. The standing committee is limited on membership, but there are many action groups in need of more members. There is an open call to all interested faculty to become involved. The exclusion of LDS members from the committee was discussed. Richard Ulibarri indicated that the University Diversity Task Force has tried to make their membership as broad as possible and were not aware that LDS faculty were excluded.

RSPG COMMITTEE 
The Executive Committee discussed a replacement member on the RSPG Committee for Debra Huber. The committee discussed the importance of appointing a full time faculty member. Karen Dewey will contact faculty from the College of Health Professions who would be willing to serve on the RSPG Committee and submit a name to the Faculty Senate Office. An email will be sent to Executive Committee members asking for approval of the name. This process needs to take place fairly rapidly as the RSPG Committee is currently looking at Hemingway Proposals and will meet on February 7 to vote on those proposals that will receive funding.

DATED GUIDELINES FOR 2001-2002 
The Executive Committee referred to the Appointment, Promotion, Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, Frank Guliuzza, Chair, the charge to look at the Dated Guidelines for 2001-2002. Classes for Spring Semester 2002 begin January 2 and meet through February 1. The campus will be closed from February 2 through February 26. Classes begin again on February 27 and meet through May 3 without a break. Final exams will be May 6-9 with commencement on May 10, 2002.

Frank Guliuzza asked the Executive Committee for a suggested time frame to have the tenure process completed. The Executive Committee discussed beginning the tenure review process early during the Fall Semester and completing the review prior to the Olympics.

CLEP CREDIT The issue of clep credit is being raised as Dr. Seshachari has been contacted by several students requesting English clep credit. Dr. Seshachari indicated that the present policy states if a student is already registered for a course, they cannot clep out of the course. This policy was reviewed by the ASSA Committee in 1988. The ASSA Committee at that time chose to not revise that element of the policy. There is a committee under the Regents= General Education Committee looking at the clep exams and AP credits. The Regents= committee feel there should be some consistency across the state regarding clep exams and AP credits. Predicted recommendations coming from the Regents= Office will be a tightening of current policies.

MOTION Judith Mitchell: Moved that the clep policy be sent to the ASSA Committee for review and recommendations.
Second: John Sillito
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

The clep policy will be referred to the Admissions, Standards, and Student Affairs Committee, Georgine Bills, Chair, and they will report back to the Executive Committee their recommendations

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES 
Jeff Morris, Director for Services for Students with Disabilities, indicated at the December Faculty Senate meeting that he would meet with the ASSA Committee. The following excerpt is taking from the December 16, 1999 Faculty Senate meeting:

Jeff Morris requested support from the Faculty Senate and suggested that all faculty include the following statement on their course syllabus:

AAny student requiring accommodations or services due to a disability must contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) in room 181 of the Student Service Center. SSD can also arrange to provide course materials (including this syllabus) in alternative formats if necessary.@

A. . . Several members of the Faculty Senate were concerned that a legal statement had been published in a booklet that was being distributed to students, and that this statement was forming a legal interface between student rights and responsibilities, and faculty responsibilities. The Faculty Senate discussed the need for a PPM policy. This information will be sent to the Admissions, Standards, and Student Affairs Committee for a PPM proposal. The committee will then bring the proposed PPM policy to the Faculty Senate for approval.@

Motion: Moved to have the Admissions, Standards and Student Affairs Committee take up the issue of codifying the statement on p. 4 of The Disabled Student & Weber State University booklet and bringing it back to the Faculty Senate.
Made: John Sohl
Second: John Sillito
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

Kay Brown will check with Jeff Morris and have him call Georgine Bills, Chair of the ASSA Committee, to put this item on the ASSA agenda.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 
President Thompson gave an update on the legislature. The Governor in his proposal for funding for Higher Education has proposed that they fund 4.5% for compensation. The legislature is somewhat divided on the issue. The House is saying there is not enough money. The Legislative Fiscal Analyst indicated in his report that there was not enough money to allocate a 4.5% compensation increase for Higher Education so they were exploring other ways to obtain additional compensation dollars. Two approaches are being proposed: (1) Increase out of state tuition by 33%, particularly for graduate programs and international students. WSU has a very small percentage of out of state graduate students, and would gain little from this proposal. (2) Increase the class size by 10% and, therefore, be able to reduce the size of the faculty by 34 members at WSU.

President Thompson predicted a 4% compensation increase from the legislature. Public Education is still discussing the possibility of striking.

NEXT MEETING 
The next meeting of the Executive Committee is scheduled for February 10, 2000. This is the Agenda Setting meeting for February.

ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.