FACULTY SENATE AGENDA  .pdf file of Agenda

Smith Lecture Hall, WB206-207, 3 pm
Thursday, 19 January 2017
Click on the links to open documents on that Item Number.

1.   ROLL CALL

2.  Review of the minutes from 8 December 2017 meeting.

Information Items

3.   Memorial Tribute to Former WSU President Rodney Brady - Mike Vaughan

4.   Update on Weber State University Activities – Chuck Wight, President

Action Items

5.   Program Discontinuance   - Doris Geide-Stevenson, Faculty Senate Chair

Health Administrative Services Graduate Certificate – Submitted by Carla Wiggins, MHA Program Director.
See the 19 January 17 Faculty Senate Curriculog Agenda to review the proposal Health Administration Graduate Certificate.
(Access Curriculog to view the proposal)

6.   University Curriculum Committee – John Cavitt, Chair
      See  19 January 17 Faculty Senate Curriculog Agenda for Curriculum to be reviewed.  If you need instructions on how to access Curriculog or the Agenda, please contact Brenda, 6233

ARTS & HUMANITIES

Performing Arts

Program Change Proposal  Matt Choberka

ART (BFA)

EDUCATION

Health Promotion and Human Performance – Cass Morgan
OUTDOOR COMMUNITY RECREATION EDUCATION (OCRE)               

New Course Proposal  (Title change from ‘Sales’ to ‘Retailing’ and support of Professional Sales Department)

OCRE     3400  Outdoor Equipment Production and Retailing
OCRE     3450 Adventure Travel and Sustainable Tourism
OCRE     3520 Risk Management & Legal Issues in Recreation Services
OCRE     4000 Recreation programming for Youth Development
OCRE     4500 Grant & Proposal Writing for Recreation

>>End of Proposals<<

7.  APAFT Committee  - Sarah Steimel, Executive Committee Liaison to APAFT

      Review the documents linked to the Faculty Senate webpage 19 January.

A.    Charge:  Evaluate PPM 8-11.IV.E.1 Student Evaluations to determine if other faculty, if needed, could also view course evaluations.

"In an attempt to chart ongoing teaching performance, student evaluations shall be administered and compiled by an impartial third party.  Each year, all contract, non-tenured, and adjunct faculty members will have student evaluations administered in every course taught, and each tenured faculty member shall have student evaluations administered in at least two of the courses. The two courses to be evaluated each year will be determined through consultation between each faculty member and his/her department chair. If the faculty member and the chair cannot come to agreement on which two courses should be evaluated by the students, the choice of courses to be evaluated will be subject to binding arbitration by the dean, after consultation with the faculty member and the chair. The results of those evaluations shall be seen by the chair, the faculty member, and those specified in the review process. The Department Chair, in consultation with the Dean, may also choose to share the evaluations with those who have oversight/input into course assignments, hiring, evaluating, and/or retaining of faculty, such as program directors/coordinators.  The summaries shall be kept on file in the office of the chair. In the case of the faculty member who is on tenure track or who is seeking promotion, the chair shall send to the faculty member’s professional file summaries of that faculty member’s student evaluations mentioned above, plus department averages for similar courses."

B.   Review PPM 8-11,IV,E. Teaching (Evaluation of Faculty Members) with respect to minimum hours of teaching required for a probationary year to count towards tenure. Determine if further clarification or policy revision are necessary.  Suggested changes are below:

E. Teaching

Teaching is defined as instruction conducted under the auspices of Weber State University.

Teaching activities may include, but are not limited to: classroom instruction, on-line instruction, laboratory activities, field work or field trips, supervising projects, preparation of course materials, and a variety of advisory, supervisory, or sponsorship roles including community engaged learning, undergraduate research, student clubs and organizations, events, and programs as well as other types of teaching activities.  This category also includes the preparation and use of teaching materials such as course syllabi and other materials intended for instructional use.

It shall be the responsibility of the candidate and department to provide evidence of successful teaching experiences; therefore, teaching performance shall be evaluated by students, peers and appropriate administrators. Two or more teaching evaluations must be completed in each year of the candidate’s probationary period. The evaluations shall include department or college-wide comparisons.

To be evaluated in the teaching category and to have the year count towards the probationary period, a candidate must teach a minimum of 12 hours or its equivalent as determined by the department chair and the dean. However, up to two one years for professionally related activities approved by the department chair and dean can be counted toward fulfilling this requirement. Equivalency for the Library will be determined by the director of the Library and the provost.  Examples of professionally related activities include but are not limited to research, other contributions to knowledge, leadership in professional organizations, active pursuit of professional competence, administrative assignments, endowed chair positions, faculty governance positions, etc.  

Note: Definition from PPM 8-11, III, D, 2.

C.   Evaluate policy regarding how program directors are selected and their role(s). 

i.    By whom?
ii.   Do faculty vote to support?
iii.  Term length?
iv.  Is anything done differently depending on the number of faculty in that program? 

      Should there be different guidelines if a program is of a certain size?

Recommendation:  The committee members contacted their respective Department Chairs and/or Deans to determine if it would be useful/helpful to better define the selection process, term length, and/or role of program directors.  The overall feedback indicated that program directors are used in a wide variety of ways and attempts to create a policy to standardize a process would become a burden on many and limit the college’s flexibility.  The committee did recognize that colleges and/or departments could choose to develop their own policies/procedures related to program directors if they deemed it to be beneficial.  Therefore, the APAFT Committee voted to not create any new policies related to the selection process, term length, or role program directors at this time.

D.   Suggested change to PPM 1-19  Appointment of Department Chairs

Section IV.  PROCEDURE FOR SELECTION 

Prior to March 1 

When the position of the chair is to be filled by a member of the department faculty, the dean shall conduct a written survey of the faculty on the slate of candidates.  This survey should ask for either "yea" or "nay" on the acceptability of each candidate and should not be a vote between candidates.  In the event that there is only one nominee for chair, the "yea" or "nay" survey is still required. The dean shall report the names of any candidates receiving two-thirds majority support.  The slate of those candidates receiving two-thirds majority support will then become the recommendation of the faculty to the dean for the position of chair.  In the event no individual receives two-thirds majority support of all the faculty, the recommendation of the faculty to the dean shall be the candidate or candidates having at least simple majority support of the faculty.  If there are no candidates with simple majority support, the dean will so advise the faculty and conduct another written survey of the faculty.  The top two candidates from the previous survey will make up the slate for the second survey.  The candidate receiving the most faculty support on the second survey will be the faculty recommendation to the dean. 

Next Meeting: Faculty Senate, 16 FEBRUARY 2017 at 3:00 pm, WB206-207