Approved 11-2-00

Thursday
October 12, 2000
2:00 p.m.
MA 211K

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESENT 
Bruce Christensen, Gary Dohrer, Dave Eisler, Ron Holt, Marie Kotter, Judith Mitchell - Chair, Dan Schroeder, Gene Sessions, Sally Shigley, Alden Talbot - Vice Chair, President Thompson, Kay Brown - Secretary.

MINUTES 
Sally Shigley: Moved to approve the minutes from the October 5, 2000 meeting.
Second: Bruce Christensen
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

STUDENT HOUSING 
The University has been approached by IHC to discuss the possibility of the University purchasing the property where the McKay Dee Hospital is located or exchanging parcels of land. The McKay Dee Hospital is located on a twenty-two acre site. The land south of the Dee Events Center is a twenty-three acre site. If construction is started by April of 2001, housing can be completed by August 2002.

DIVERSITY 
Forrest Crawford presented information on the University Diversity initiative. Information was shared regarding the Diversity Vision (narrative, history, management goals, and stewardship), the Diversity Summer Inquiry, and 2000-2001 Goals. Forrest Crawford felt that we, as a University, have come a long way but we have not transmitted the progress we have made on diversity issues to the community. He wants to encourage partnerships and linkages to build a better climate for learning.

Forrest Crawford will prepare a document for the Faculty Senate.

MOTION 
Gene Sessions: Moved to place the University Diversity Initiative on the agenda for the October 19, 2000 Faculty Senate meeting as an information item.
Second: Gary Dohrer
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

C&GE Curriculum & General Education Committee – Jim Wilson Chair

ENGLISH 
Bachelor of Science course proposal from the English Department for Introduction to the Study of Language - Engl 3010. Students must analyze and categorize data from languages unknown to them, as well as from English. They must formulate hypotheses based on this analysis and categorization, test those hypotheses and refine or reject them based on additional data, draw conclusions based on their observations, and make predictions based on those conclusions.

MOTION 
Bruce Christensen: Moved to forward the Bachelor of Science course proposal from the English Department for Introduction to the Study of Language - Engl 3010 to the Faculty Senate for the October 19, 2000 meeting.
Second: Dan Schroeder
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

ZOOLOGY 
New course proposal from Zoology for Tropical Marine Ecology - Zool 4490. We do not currently offer a course that considers tropical marine ecosystems in depth. These ecosystems are unique in their structure and function and important because of their tremendous diversity, importance for fisheries, role in the global atmospheric and environmental processes.

MOTION 
Gene Sessions: Moved to forward the new course proposal from Zoology for Tropical Marine Ecology - Zool 4490 to the Faculty Senate for the October 19, 2000 meeting.
Second: Dan Schroeder
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

GEOSCIENCE 
Program change from Geoscience for the Certificate in Geomatics. The proposed revision to the Geomatics certificate program expands and refines the list of support courses in the computer science and information technology areas, and is designed to provide students with more flexible options that reflect the rapidly changing nature of computer applications.

MOTION 
Sally Shigley: Moved to forward the program change from Geoscience for the Certificate in Geomatics to the Faculty senate for the October 19, 2000 meeting.
Second: Alden Talbot
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS 
The Executive Committee discussed the statement on page 37 of the Weber State Catalog which briefly states: "Institutional Certificates require a minimum of ten credit hours in residence at WSU. Refer to the listings under the academic department for specific requirements." The Certificate in Geomatics requires twenty-two hours.

The Provost was asked to make an editorial change in the catalog wording to read ". . . a minimum of ten credit hours at Weber State."

COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS 
Judith Mitchell reported on the following committee assignments. Colleen Garside will continue another year with Cliff Nowell joining her on the Union Building Advisory Board. Kathryn MacKay and Mike Palumbo will serve on the Marriott Food Services Advisory Committee. Dan Schroeder will continue on the Bookstore Advisory Board with Linda Eaton, Chloe Merrill and Brad Roghaar joining him.

RELEASE OF FACULTY EVALUATIONS 
Judith Mitchell wrote an introductory paragraph for the Process for Posting Faculty Evaluation Data. It was revised to read:

This summer, the university received a request from a student representing the Signpost for the release of faculty evaluations. The request was initially denied, but on further appeal, University council advised that it would be very difficult to deny access to the information, based on the Utah Code and the precedent set by the releasing of similar information by other universities in the state. Appeals eventually go to the GRAMA committee (Government Records Access Management Act).

The Executive Committee recommends that the Faculty Senate approve the following for the collection and the release of course evaluation information. Please carefully review.

The student responses to the two standard questions will be compiled, one dealing with the effectiveness of the course, and one with the effectiveness of the instructor. Only the responses to these two questions will be released. In addition to the wording of the questions, the scoring procedure will be identical across the campus.

A document including the above statement, the process for posting faculty evaluation data, and the two standard questions will be prepared for the Faculty Senate. Faculty Senate members will vote on the process and standard questions at the October 19, 2000 meeting.

ONLINE COURSES 
In relation to promotion and tenure, online classes can be far more accessible for review by Deans and Department Chairs than are courses taught in the classroom. The Executive Committee agreed that there needs to be a way to evaluate online courses. Online courses are not currently evaluated. Peer review and a college-wide committee were discussed. C.E. monitors the online courses but have no authority evaluating faculty and courses. Currently, online courses do not need to be evaluated by students. The Executive Committee discussed at length various ways of evaluating online courses.

Peg Wherry will be invited to Executive Committee to present the WSU Online Guidelines for Good Practice.

ADJOURN 
The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

NEXT MEETING 
Faculty Senate will meet October 19, 2000. Executive Committee will meet October 26, 2000