Approved 2

Approved 2-8-07

Thursday
February 1, 2007
2:00 p.m.
MA 211K

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

RESENT
Shannon Butler, Tamara Chase, Dave Ferro, Bruce Handley, Ron Holt, Wade Kotter, Jack Mayhew, Gene Sessions, Mike Vaughan, Jim Wilson – Kay Brown Secretary

EXCUSED
Ann Millner

GUESTS
Fran Butler, Hal Crimmel, Brian Dorsey, Eric Swedin

MINUTES
Gene Sessions: Moved to approve the minutes from the meeting.
Second: Wade Kotter
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

TLA
Teaching Learning & Assessment – Fran Butler, Chair

Last Lecture - Fran Butler requested that the TLA be given the responsibility of putting together the Last Lecture which honors a faculty member and what they would present if this were their last lecture. The Last Lecture was proposed by the students and has been run with the help of the Teaching and Learning Forum. With the changing nature of the Student Senate and Student Senators, the responsibility of the students to run the program has gotten lost in the change over. Fran is proposing that the Last Lecture be the responsibility of the TLA, with inclusion of students on the committee.

Third Annual Faculty Forum will be held Tuesday, March 27, 2007 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. in the Wattis Business Building. Deadline for abstracts for poster sessions is March 1.

Committee membership change. They are proposing that Kara Hansen-Suchy be replaced by Kathy Sitzman from the Dumke College of Health Professions..

MOTION
Wade Kotter: Moved to forward to the Faculty Senate the proposed membership change for the TLA Committee replacing Kara Hansen-Suchy with Kathy Sitzman.
Second: Jack Mayhew
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

The Adjunct Faculty Retreat was held Saturday, January 27, 2007. The Forum sent out 700 invitations. There are about 350adjuncts teaching spring semester. Attendance at the conference: 260 adjunct faculty registered for the event, 94 attended Vista training, and there were 40 guests and presenters. Those attending the retreat were given the book, "The Adjunct Professor’s Guide to Success: Surviving and Thriving in the College Classroom." Attendees and presenters were given a $50 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.

ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPUS ISSUES
Hal Crimmel and Brian Dorsey proposed the addition of a Faculty Senate Committee to review environmental issues on the WSU main and Davis campuses. "This committee would allow the Faculty Senate to engage in decisions that involve sustainable campus status, e.g. energy auditing, waste reduction, CO2 emissions reductions, etc. The Committee could bridge the gap between the classroom and campus operations. . . "

Discussion Items:

Issues are broader than faculty.
The committee should not be limited to faculty .
If not faculty driven, it may not go anywhere.
Important to have Facilities Management people on the committee.
Faculty involvement in the Environmental Issues Administrative Standing Committee has been limited.
The Environmental Issues Administrative Standing Committee has had limited success.
If this was a Faculty Senate Committee how would it insure faculty input on important administrative decisions, e.g. transportation master plan, Ed Pass program, parking fee increases, energy efficiency in new building design, campus recycling program, xeriscaping on campus.
Would the formation of an Environmental Issues Faculty Senate Standing Committee be an encroachment on administrative prerogatives?
Should the Senate approve the concept before it goes to the Constitutional Review & Apportionment Committee?
This committee could function as an ad hoc committee for a couple of years.
Membership? - Faculty, Administrators, Facilities Management Staff.
It is important to talk with Kevin Hansen, Assistant Vice President/Facilities Management.

Hal Crimmel and Bryan Dorsey will put together information to be included in the Faculty Senate packet.

MOTION
Gene Sessions: Forward to the Faculty Senate the recommendation for establishing a Environmental Issues Ad Hoc Committee.
Second: Tamara Chase
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

ANONYMOUS REPORTING
The Executive Committee discussed the memo from Kathleen Millner, from the Internal Audit Department, dated January 30, 2007, which discussed an anonymous reporting system. Questions were raised about why the University would want to use EthicsPoint when we have a system in place for reporting inappropriate activity or behavior that is not in keeping with WSU policies. Bruce Handley will contact President Millner to discuss some of the Executive Committee concerns.

Mike Vaughan indicated that reporting of inappropriate behavior was issue of concern for Dan James from the Audit Committee of the Board of Regents.

Points of Discussion

Tone of the memo.
Is it a mandate?
Will students be using EthicsPoint?
University legal counsel involvement?
Why does the memo come from Kathleen Millner and the Internal Audit Department?

FACULTY EVALUATIONS
The Deans are discussing and investigating the software and equipment used to tabulate faculty evaluations.

SECURITY
Eric Swedin reporting on campus security.

Julie Park (Internal Audit) chairs the Internet Security Task Force. Eric Swedin is the only faculty member on the committee with Warren Hill representing the deans. The general consensus of the Executive Committee is that they would like to have more faculty input so that programmers and managers understand the needs of the academic departments.

Security Points of Information

Employees are targets of opportunity.
1 out of 20 who receive phony emails and are lured in.
The task force evaluates all intrusions.
All servers now need to be registered.
The campus firewall is changing to become more secure.
There is an effort to look into a new Spam Filter.
Out of 300,000 emails a day to University employees 2/3 are spam.

Banner Issues

Who do you report problems to?
Graduation Evaluations - Contact Jane Stout.
Bruce Bowen or John Allred could meet monthly with the Department Secretaries.
Registration Problems - The default interface does not work well.
We need to build a web interface.
What’s working well?
What’s not working well?
Priority List - What does it look like?
Transfer Courses - How are they evaluated?

Dave Ferro suggested that the survey to the faculty could include a priority list of Banner issues faculty would like to see addressed.

COURSE REDUCTION
Mike Vaughan felt that the mini sabbatical (one course reduction for one semester for pre-tenured faculty) approved by the Salary, Benefits, Budget and Fiscal Planning Committee is not clear and not ready for the Faculty Senate. The policy will come to the Executive Committee February 8 for the Agenda Setting meeting for discussion.

CURRICULUM
At the January Faculty Senate meeting it was suggested that a short summary of the curriculum proposals and the vote of the Curriculum Committee could be included on the cover sheets. This item will be discussed next week when Laine Berghout, Chair of the Curriculum Committee is present.

ELECTION TELLERS
Three faculty are needed as election tellers. They will be selected at the February 8 meeting.

LIAISON REPORTS

APAFT - PPM 8.1a, Degree Requirements, is being finalized.

ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 4:05 p.m.