EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
AGENDA
 September 2, 2010

 

 

1.    Approval of the minutes from the August 19, 2010 meeting

2.     Membership Changes

3.    Class Wait Lists

4.    Bookstore

5.    Committee Charges

6.    Other Items

MINUTES
September 2, 2010

 

PRESENT
Shelly Costley, Colleen Garside, Azenett Garza, Ed Hahn, Sue Harley, Michael Hernandez, David Malone, Brian Rague, Peggy Saunders, Kay Brown, Secretary

EXCUSED
Ann Millner, Mike Vaughan

MOTION
Michael Hernandez: Moved to pull the charges for the ASSA Committee from the minutes for further discussion and revisions.
Second: Shelly Costley
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

MINUTES
Colleen Garside: Moved to approve the minutes from the August 19, 2010 meeting as revised.
Second: Shelly Costley
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

MEMBERSHIP CHANGE
General Education Improvement and Assessment Committee
Kathy Oakley replaces Matt Schmolesky Spring Semester

MOTION
Colleen Garside: Moved to have Kathy Oakley replace Matt Schmolesky for Spring Semester.
Second: Shelly Costley
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

CLASS WAIT LISTS
The Registrar’s Office will conduct a pilot program during Spring Semester registration for class wait lists. Departments can volunteer to participate in the program. Following the pilot, the information will be to sent to the Admissions, Standards and Student Affairs Committee to develop policy.

BOOKSTORE
The Faculty Senate Chair would like to have the Director of the Bookstore come to the Faculty Senate to discuss Bookstore policies and programs.

General Education Improvement and Assessment Committee – Ed Hahn, Liaison

1. In consultation with representatives from each of the general education core areas, specifically American Institutions (AI) and Quantitative Literacy (QL), 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. (December 2010 deadline; core courses are scheduled to undergo review during the 2011-12 academic year)

2. Form core- and breadth-area working groups to carry out the assessment of General Education classes. Develop and implement a plan whereby the working groups would systematically collect and analyze assessment data and make recommendations for the improvement of those courses. (December 2010 deadline)

3. 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 this requirement.

4. Review the current policies/procedures for the Diversity (DV) requirement. Develop and recommend a process for reviewing DV courses. (March 2011 deadline; DV courses are scheduled to undergo review during the 2012-13 academic year)

4. Work with the Curriculum Committee, as needed, to evaluate the existing General Education courses that will undergo review during the 2010-11 academic year. Based on the results of the review process, recommend clarifications and modifications of mission statements and learning outcomes to the appropriate core- or breadth-area working group. (as needed/ongoing)

5. Explore the development of distinct/separate learning outcomes for the Creative Arts (CA) and Humanities (HU) breadth areas. (April 2011 deadline)

6. Explore the pros and cons of creating a new Applied Sciences category for general education. (as time permits)

7. In conjunction with the Teaching and Learning Forum, help facilitate a campus-wide discussion around the concept of critical thinking.

Honorary Degree – Peggy Saunders

1. 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.

2. 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.

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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 and Professional Growth – Azenett Garza

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. 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).

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

Salary, Benefits, Budget and Fiscal Planning – David Malone, Liaison

1. Examine the dollar amounts of equity and merit adjustments each year.

2. Revise policy for on-line and overload compensation to make it fair and sustainable.

3. Revisit sabbatical leave policy. Is the way sabbaticals are currently administered fair across colleges? Would we be better served by centralizing sabbatical leave administration? Should policies be developed to prioritize sabbatical leave requests for a) newer faculty, b) more productive faculty, c) faculty whose prior sabbaticals have resulted in productive results, or d) faculty with longer lapsed time since last sabbatical? Should teaching of on-line and overload courses be precluded for faculty on sabbatical leaves? Should there be a policy guiding outside compensation for those on sabbatical?

4. Review campus salary levels using CUPA data, turnover data, and data from regional peer institutions.

5. Monitor the sick and family leave policy for faculty (PPM 3-21a).

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

7. Review the decisions to switch health care providers and its impact on faculty.

Teaching, Learning and Assessment/Teaching and Learning Forum – Peggy Saunders, 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. Continue to investigate and implement 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.

8. In conjunction with the General Education Improvement and Assessment Committee, help facilitate a campus-wide discussion around the concept of critical thinking.

Admissions, Standards and Student Affairs – Shelly Costley, Liaison

1. Review and align academic policies for transfer students (PPM 6-2 III. 2. B) regarding the appropriate admission status of transfer students with a cumulative GPA of less than 2.0 (PPM 4-17).

2. In consultation with the WSU Graduate Council, develop guidelines for new graduate programs, including:

 

ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.