EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

1. Welcome –David Ferro

2. Meeting Schedule for 2009-10

Committee Chairs Working Luncheon September 3 at 12:30

3. PPM 1-13 Faculty Senate Committees
    Administrative Appointments
    Student Appointments

4. PPM 3-51 Evening School and Off-Campus Pay Rate
    Policy suspended by Board of Trustees March 10, 2009

5. Memo from Bruce Bowen on Committee Charges

6. Draft Committee Charges

Academic Resources and Computing – David Ferro
Admissions, Standards, and Student Affairs – Peggy Saunders
Appointment, Promotion, Academic Freedom, and Tenure – Sue Harley
Constitutional Review, Apportionment, and Organization – Doris Geide-Stevenson
Curriculum – Laine Berghout
Environmental Issues Committee – David Ferro
General Education Improvement & Assessment – Laine Berghout
Honorary Degree – Kathleen Sitzman
Research, Scholarship, and Professional Growth – Azenett Garza
Salary, Benefits, Budget, and Fiscal Planning – David Ferro
Teaching, Learning, and Assessment – Colleen Garside

7. Campus Update – Mike Vaughan

8. Other Items

PRESENT
Laine Berghout, David Ferro, Colleen Garside, Azenett Garza, Doris Geide-Stevenson, Ed Hahn, Sue Harley, Peggy Saunders, Kathleen Sitzman, Mike Vaughan – Kay Brown, Secretary

ADMINISTRATIVEAPPOINTMENTS
Administrative appointments to the Faculty Senate Committees were made by the Provost during the Summer. These appointments need to go to the Faculty Senate for approval.

Guidelines for administrative members and ex officio members are given in the Faculty Senate Constitution:

PPM 1-13, Article B-V Committees of the Faculty Senate

3.3 Ex officio members are appointed by the Faculty Senate at the recommendation of the Executive Committee and Standing Committee. They have participation privileges in the work of the committee but are not eligible to vote or to serve as chairs. The number of ex officio members may vary but will not exceed more than one-fifth of the total membership of the committee.

Term limits for administrative members was discussed. Faculty members can serve a maximum of six years on the same committee. Should similar limits be placed on administrative members?

Mike Vaughan - Administrative members and ex officio members can be 20% independently. The Deans will be made the administrative members.

Administrative Members                       Ex Officio Members

ASSA - Yas Simonian                         Chris Rivera and Mark Simpson
Curriculum - Jack Rasmussen              Mark Simpson and Brian Stecklein
SBBFP - Joan Hubbard                      Bruce Davis

MOTION
Colleen Garside: Moved to approve the administrative members and forward them to the Faculty Senate for approval at the September 17, 2009 meeting.
Second: Peggy Saunders
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

STUDENT MEMBERS
Three students have been appointed to the Faculty Senate Committees. The Student Senate Constitution states three students will be assigned. The Faculty Senate Constitution does not state how many students will serve on the committees. The Executive Committee expressed some concerns with having three students serving on committees. A charge will be given to the Constitutional Review & Apportionment Committee to look at student representation on Faculty Senate Committees.

Student attendance at committee meeting the past few years has been poor. The students have felt that the committees have not been very accommodating in scheduling meetings. Perhaps some of the committees could do a portion of their work online. Committees need to seek ways to allow more participation for all committee members. It was suggested that a faculty member attend the Student Senate meetings.

TEXTBOOK POLICY - Stephanie Hollist, Assistant University Council

Higher Education Opportunity Act - One of the changes to the act deals with textbooks and class schedules. We, as an institution, need to make available for pre-registration purposes accurate and recommended textbook information, including ISBN and retail price. They have had some discussions with the Bookstore and Registrar’s Office to see what things need to happen. The two week period when class schedules come out and the time that registration begins is the critical time frame. Faculty will need to have decisions made on textbooks at the time the class schedule is printed so that this information will be available to students during this preregistration time. A plan needs to be in place by July 1, 2010. Stephanie Hollist will coordinate the discussion with the Bookstore. Ruby Licona from the ASSA Committee will has been assigned to participate in the discussion of the textbook policy. Textbook policies can be found in PPM 4-16, and 4-16a

PPM 3-51 PPM 3-51 Evening School and Off-Campus Pay Rate (Suspended March 10, 2009)

Faculty were not part of the discussion and were not made aware of the suspension. The suspension of the policy was discussed at President’s Council and by the Board of Trustees at their business meeting. There is no faculty representation at those two meetings. The Faculty Senate Chair and Vice Chair will discuss the issue with the Provost and President.

CAMPUS  UPDATE Mike Vaughan reporting

• Salaries - Because no salary increases were given last year WSU drop 3.7 percentage points to salaries at comparable institutions. This put us back to where we were in 05-06. At one time WSU fell to about 84% of comparable institutions. The past couple of years we were at 90%
• Enrollment - We had the largest summer enrollment WSU has ever had. Fall enrollment will be up
• Tuition Revenue - WSU will collect over a million dollars in additional tuition revenue this year. One of the discussions will be what to do with that additional tuition revenue. Budget cuts this year will be 5.7 million. The tuition revenue will help mitigate the cuts.
• Retirement - Two Plans, State and TIAACREF

The State System is a defined benefit. You get so many dollars out when you retire. The fund is now in deficit. In order to correct the deficit the Legislature will be discussing having employees share part of the cost of the retirement program. If employees share the expense of the state retirement program the Legislature will probably make a similar adjustment with TIAACREF.

• Voluntary Separation for Faculty - October deadline.
• Tuition - WSU is in a position because of an anonymous donor to offer students free tuition whose household income is less than 25,000.

CHARGES Draft charges for the Faculty Senate Standing Committees were discussed.

Academic Resources & Computing – Draft Charges, Ed Hahn, Liaison

1. Allocate ARCC resources, including Dee Family Technology Grant funds, using consistent, objective, fair, and maintenance criteria.

2. Assess faculty and student computer needs, solicit faculty input, and lobby for the faculty’s computer-related interests.

3. Review (with computing support) standards and policies for hardware and software purchases.

4. Continue to improve the means of submitting proposals and decreasing the amount of paperwork involved.

5. Monitor the expenditures of all ARCC funds, including those supported through WSUSA funding.

6. Maintain close communication with other computer resource entities on campus, including CE and IT online instruction.

7. Be represented on the IT Council and IT Steering Committee, and routinely invite directors to summarize status of new projects and ongoing IT/CE support.

8. Coordinate faculty representation on other IT related committees.

9. Improve communication between faculty, IT/CE, administration regarding technology issues and advise said bodies of faculty needs.

10. Sponsor a faculty/staff IT Users Group to share information, ideas, and solutions regarding the use of technology at Weber State.

11. Continue to function as a nexus of information regarding IT issues between faculty, staff, and students, acting in an advisory capacity, and investigate its position as a decision making body.

Admissions, Standards & Student Affairs - Draft Charges, Peggy Saunders, Liaison

1. Meet with the Vice President of Student Affairs to review any student affairs issues which may need to be addressed by ASSA and/or Faculty Senate. (on-going)

2. Receive a report from the Associate Provost about continuing evaluation on MAPP. (annually)

3. Appoint a person from ASSA as a faculty liaison to the committee overseeing the alignment WSU’s textbook policy with the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. (this academic year)

4. Revise current policy to allow associate of arts and associate of science degrees from select colleges/universities in the surrounding states to be given the same transfer status as AA/AS degrees within the Utah System of Higher Education. (by December, 09)

5. Review and make recommendations about the policy of not allowing final exams the week prior to the regularly scheduled final exam period. (by December, 09)

6. Review and align academic policies for transfer students. (PPM 6-2 III. 2. b. regarding the appropriate admission status of transfer students with cumulative GPA less than a 2.0. Policy refers to PPM 4-17 [Academic Standards Policy] for placement of "warning" or "probation." However, PPM 4-17 II states the cumulative GPA of students who transfer to the University will be computed on the work taken only at WSU. PPM 4-17 needs to address transfer admissions placement of warning or probation. (by December, 09)

7. Review whether the test results of DANTES military exams should be considered for WSU credit similar to CLEP test results. (by December, 09)

• Credits required
• Requirements such as a thesis
• Number of 5000 level courses accepted and/or dual numbered courses
• Common core emphasis
• Foreign language requirement in MA programs
• Other items?  

      (by March, 2010)

Appointment, Promotion, Academic Freedom & Tenure – Draft Charges, Sue Harley, Liaison

1. Determine the status of proposed changes to the intellectual property sections of the PPM that are currently under review by the University Counsel. If appropriate, make recommendations for policy changes in response to the results of that review. Open deadline because the committee is working with an entity outside of the committee itself.

2. Review language in Section 8 of the PPM regarding consistency of language and policy. Particular attention should be paid to the language used for Instructors, Instructor Specialists, and Visiting Professors. December 2009 deadline for completion.

3. Develop a comprehensive review policy for non-tenure track part-time or full-time faculty. Final deadline is open at this time. Progress report due March 2010.

Constitutional Review, Apportionment & Organization – Draft Charges, Doris Geide-Stevenson, Liaison

1. Calculate apportionment for Faculty Senate representation using the Hamilton Method and present the apportionment figures to the Faculty Senate during Autumn Semester. (November deadline)

2. Research questions and make recommendations that are brought to the attention of the CRAO Committee.

3. Review PPM 1-13, clarify language and make a recommendation regarding Library representation on the Executive Committee. (January deadline)

4. Review the policy on student representation on Faculty Senate Standing Committees. (January deadline)

5. Review PPM policies (20 years or older) to identify possible action.

Curriculum Committee – Draft Charges, Laine Berghout, Liaison

1. Review and approve curriculum and program proposals.

3. Implement the adopted review process for assessment of General Education courses. In consultation with the General Education Improvement and Assessment Committee chair, recommend improvements to the review process. (November Curriculum meeting deadline)

4. Develop new general education approval forms for the core general education areas that incorporate the learning outcomes for those areas as they are approved by Faculty Senate.

5. Incorporate in the Curriculum Committee PPM the guidelines recommended by ASSA for graduate program level courses.

6. Provide a report on the recent history and current status of Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degree-requirements at WSU. Recommend changes to the current university requirements for the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees that will promote a more natural fit of degree with major. This report and recommendation will provide the ASSA Committee with a starting point for discussion and development of recommendations to change the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. (March deadline)

7. Work with the General Education Improvement & Assessment Committee in an advisory role to review the strengths and weaknesses of the Diversity requirement.

General Education Improvement & Assessment – Draft Charges, Laine Berghout, Liaison

1. Develop and implement a plan for formalized collection and reporting of assessment data and systematic improvement of all general education, diversity (DV), and scientific inquiry (SI) courses. (An outline of the plan including milestones should be submitted for Executive Committee review by the end of September, 2009 with monthly review of progress thereafter.)

2. In consultation with the Provost’s office, review the organization of Gen Ed at WSU and develop an improved organizational plan than will allow for effective oversight and development of Gen Ed. The plan should address issues of consistent leadership and incorporate representative subcommittees for breadth and core Gen Ed areas. (An outline of the plan including milestones should be submitted for Executive Committee review by the end of September, 2009 with monthly review of progress thereafter.)

3. In consultation with representatives from each of the general education core areas, oversee the development of mission statements and intended learning outcomes for WSU General Education Core Requirements that are consistent with Utah State Board of Regents policy. (This charge should be completed by December, 2009)

4. In consultation with the WSU Student Senate, assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Diversity (DV) requirement. Propose changes that will better accomplish the goals of the diversity requirement. (This charge should be completed by March, 2010)

5. Work with the Curriculum Committee, as needed, to evaluate the existing General Education courses that will undergo review during the 2009-10 academic year. Based on the results of the review process, recommend clarifications and modifications of mission statements and learning outcomes to Gen Ed breadth area committees.

Environmental Issues – Draft Charges, David Ferro, Liaison

1. Help facilitate the modeling of best practices for economic and environmental sustainability at WSU.

2. Serve as a local and statewide source for scientifically-based information and for leadership on environmental issues affecting Utah and the Wasatch Front.

3. Help facilitate integration of environmental initiatives into academic affairs, student affairs, and facilities management.

Honorary Degree – Draft Charges, Kathleen Sitzman, Liaison

1. Utilizing information gathered last year, discuss the advisability of eliminating December Commencement and aligning Weber State University practices with other higher education institutions in the state of Utah. Recommendation due December 2009. 

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Consider ways to encourage more nominations from faculty for honorary degrees,

5. Encourage the selection of at least one honorary degree recipient each year who has made an outstanding academic contribution to higher education, preferably a retired WSU faculty member or past faculty member who has left Weber State University. Current faculty members are not eligible.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Provide the larger committee with a way to carry forward information so next year’s committee can benefit from work done this year.

Research, Scholarship & Professional Growth – Draft Charges, Azenett Garza, Liaison

1. Continue to issue requests for proposals (RFPs) for Research and Instructional Improvement grants, and Hemingway Vitality, Excellence and Collaborative awards, and review the proposals in a timely manner.

2. Continue to coordinate deadlines for submission of proposals with the chairs of the Institutional Review Board and the Animal Care and Use Committee.

3. Review and update as needed the proposal guidelines. Clarify and report the criteria for awarding the grant. Explore ways to simplify the process and broaden the criteria.

4. Provide feedback to authors why proposals were not funded.

5. Continue efforts to publicize the committee’s activities. Seek ways to broaden participation campus wide including adjunct faculty. Explore opportunities to disseminate information about the funded projects, including workshops, in order to provide consistent information and feedback to potential applicants.

6. Work with the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee to find non-monetary ways to promote and recognize faculty research and scholarship.

7. Work with the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee to help faculty identify new methods of scholarship.

8. Look at the committee description and membership regulations listed in the Faculty Senate Bylaws, PPM 1-13, for possible revisions and updates. Any recommendations should be given to Executive Committee by December, 2009.

9. Keep in communication and continue to cooperate and coordinate with OUR (Office of Undergraduate Research), CIC (Community Involvement), Hall family, and ARCC (Academic Resources and Computing Committee).

10. Continue to coordinate with OUR to provide faculty with funding for research assistants.

Salary, Benefits, Budget & Fiscal Planning – Draft Charges, David Ferro, Liaison

1. Equity Adjustments and Merit - Look at dollar amounts each year.

2. Investigate the difference in compensation between online and face to face teaching.

3. Review salary compression by rank using CUPA data, and make a recommendation.

4. Monitor implementation of the new sick and family leave policy for faculty.

5. Re-review salary increments given current faculty for completion of a degree in light of the level of the degree and the expectation of the job.

6. Review policy 3-51 concerning fixed and adjunct salary rates.

7. Review CUPA salary comparison data for recommendation on salary.

Teaching Learning and Assessment – Draft Charges, Colleen Garside, Liaison

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:

2. Experiment with new forms of professional development to expand Teaching and Learning Forum activities, promote more participation across campus, and engage faculty in multiple ways.

3. Explore ways to increase participation in all TLA sponsored events and further promote professional development in teaching and learning.

4. Support efforts of individual faculty, departments, and other groups in experimenting with pedagogical innovation, curriculum design, and assessment and evaluation.

5. Work with various campus entities (OUR, CIC, etc.) to help faculty identify new methods of scholarship.

6. Work with other campus entities (e.g., WSU Online) to further support adjunct faculty.

7. Investigate models for professional development at other campuses and develop a plan for professional development that is incorporated into the general university plan for 2010-2013. (March 2010 deadline)

Other items

• Audio recordings of Faculty Senate meetings and Executive Committee meetings will be available on the web.
• Annual Committee reports will be standardized and posted on the web.
• Luke Fernandez is streamlining voting for Executive Committee members.
• No adjunct faculty representation on Faculty Senate.
• Liaison reports monthly beginning in October.

ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.

NEXT

MEETING Next Meeting: Chairs luncheon, September 3 at 12:30 in UB 320