EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESENT 
Shannon Butler, Tamara Chase, Dave Ferro, Bruce Handley, Ron Holt, Wade Kotter, Jack Mayhew, Ann Millner, Gene Sessions, Jim Wilson – Kay Brown Secretary

EXCUSED 
Michael Vaughan

GUESTS 
Richard Greene, Frank Guliuzza

MINUTES 
Wade Kotter: Moved to approve the minutes from the September 7, 2006 meeting.
Second: Jim Wilson
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

CHAIRS MEETINGS 
Frank Guliuzza reporting - A core group of 10-15 chairs met regularly during 2005-06

Purpose of the Group

• It gives a forum for chairs to talk and compare notes

• Develop a list of issues of concern and a communication strategy

• Bolster the effectiveness of the Faculty Senate

• Take action if-and-when necessary

Accomplishments

• Bookstore - The Bookstore initiated a policy of listing textbooks with a section number and a bar code. The Professor’s name was not listed. The Bookstore was contacted and the problem was discussed. he professor’s name is now listed with the section number.

• Human Resources - Hiring policy to generic. Departments who hire in different ways (locally vs. nationally; hourly vs. professional) now have some flexibility in how they hire.

Current Concerns

• Banner

• Facilities Management

Bruce Handley would like to see the group formalized with a charter. He also felt that they should have representation of Dean’s Council.

CURRICULUM 
Curriculum Committee – Laine Berghout, Chair, reporting

The State offers other avenues for this endorsement.

MOTION 
Gene Sessions: Moved to approve from Teacher Education and Child and Family Studies the program option deletion for Early Childhood Education Endorsement.
Second: Wade Kotter
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy Department - Course proposal for Deductive Logic - Phil 2200 put forward as an option to fulfill the quantitative literacy requirement (core gen ed requirement). The Curriculum Committee had some concerns and added Math 1010 as a prerequisite instead of the remedial math courses of Math0950 and ND Math 0960.The proposal with the amendment that added Math 1010 as a prerequisite passed with a vote of 8 in favor of the motion and 4 against.

Richard Greene from the Philosophy Department attended the meeting. The Executive Committee discussed the quantitative literacy outcomes outlined by the Board of Regents, state articulation of math QL courses, and what learning outcomes are desired by a WSU quantitative literacy course.

MOTION 
Wade Kotter: Moved to forward to the Faculty Senate the course proposal for Deductive Logic - Phil 2200 with the QL designation.
Second: Tamara Chase
Outcome: The motion passed with 1 opposed.

The Curriculum Committee would like some guidelines to work with as they evaluate master level programs. The Executive Committee would like to discuss the possibility of setting up an ad hoc committee to study how we deal with graduate curriculum, administrative structure, growth of the university and bringing forward the right kinds of programs. This item will be placed on the October 5 Executive Committee agenda.

RSPG 
Research, Scholarship, and Professional Growth Committee – Susan Matt, Chair, reporting

Hemingway New Faculty Grants-Spring 2006
Autumn Behringer - "Building Boundaries or Building Bridges?
A Study of In-Law Relationships" $684
Robert Fudge - "Adam Smith and the Euthyphro Problem" $1004
Colleen Garside - "4th Intl Conference on New Directions in the Humanities" $1000
Valerie Herzog - "Revision of the Athletic Training Major" $1800
Kerry Kennedy - "Theories of Motivation in Addiction Treatment" $1230
Nicole Okazaki - "Presence of the Diapause Hormone
Gene in the Brine Shrimp Artemia" $2460 + Undergrad$2720
Michelle Zwolinski - "Stable Isotope Probing to Identify Active Methylotrophic" $1200

Hemingway Faculty Excellence Grants–Spring 2006
Alicia Giralt - "16th Conference of the Intl. Assoc. of Hispanic Women Writers" $5000
Adam Johnston - "Science Education at the Crossroads 2006" $1800
Julie Rich (Geography) - "Rwanda Well Service Learning Project" $3000
Viktor Uzur (Performing Arts/Music) - "Bonneville Chamber Music Festival" $4630

Hemingway Collaborative Grants-Spring 2006
Jeff Eaton, Mohammed Sondossi and Colin Inglefield - "Microbial Survival in
Evaporated Salts" $2300
David Ferro and Eric Swedin - "Murray Leinster Project" $4452
Mohammed Sondossi and Jonathan Clark - "Isolation and Genetic Characterization of Microorganisms with the Capability to Metabolize" $4177

Weber Writes Grants–Spring 2006
The Office of Academic Affairs created the Weber Writes Program in the Spring of 2006 and asked RSPG to administer it. The program offers incentives for scholarly writing. During the Summer of 2006, successful applicants received $3000 to support their writing projects. In the Spring of 2007, rather than paying faculty a stipend, the program will buy out one course of successful applicants. The following faculty received $3000 grants for Summer 2006:

Matthew Choberka - "Something/Nothing: Abstraction and Representation in Contemporary Painting"
Matthew Domek - "Bacteriocin Production by Locally Isolated Strain of Bacteria"
London Draper - "2 Articles for Publication in AAOHN Journal"
Yuhong Fan - "Overreaction and IPO After Market Performance"
Valerie Gooder - "Scholarly paper describing the development of a course of mass casualty care and disaster nursing"
Kristin Hadley - "Elementary Teachers and Mathematics Anxiety"
Edward Hahn - "The Value of an MBA for Business Librarians"
Richard Hooper - "The Transfer of Writing Competency Skills"
Kerry Kennedy - "Substance Abuse Treatment Research"
Becky Jo McShane - "Knitting and Technical Communication: The Physical Connection"
Loretta Walker - "Stories from the Front"
Jeffrey Ward - "Research and Documentation of the Plasma Fluid Finite Difference Time Domain Model"
Michele Zwolinski - "Case Studies for Geomicrobiology"

Total RSPG funds dispersed, Fall 2005: $14,036.24
Total RSPG funds dispersed, Spring 2006: $21,060
Total RSPG funds dispersed 2005-06: $35,096.24

Total Hemingway Vitality, Fall 2005: $10,613
Total Hemingway Vitality, Spring 2006: $8,230
Total Hemingway Vitality funds 2005-06: $18,843

Total New Faculty Funds: $9,378
Total Hemingway Collaborative and Faculty Excellence Funds: $25, 359
Weber Writes, Spring 2006: $39,000
Undergraduate Research Assistant Funds: $6581

Total All Funds: $134, 257.24

The purpose of Weber Writes is to fund untenured faculty with a one course reduction for one semester during their first six years. The RSPG Committee would like to see every tenure track faculty member guaranteed a Weber Writes grant for one semester. The RSPG Committee felt uncomfortable judging the relative need of faculty and judging the merit of the proposals. "One issue that presented itself during the first round is whether funding should go to reward faculty who have established records as scholars or whether it should fund those who have not yet published in their fields. We hope to be able to support both types of faculty in the future."

The Executive Committee suggested that Susan Matt discuss the Weber Writes program with Jim Hutchins to see if every tenure track faculty member could receive one Weber Writes grant. A recommendation could then come to the Executive Committee from the RSPG Committee.

NEXT MEETING 
The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be October 5, 2006.

ADJOURN 
The meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.