I. At
II. Roll Call: Senators present: Charles
Anderson, Kit Andrews, Brian Caster, David Foster, Maria Fung, Camila Gaboldon
(for Roy Bennett), Jessica Henderson (for Tom Kelly), Solveig Holmquist, Gudrun
Hoobler, Sriram Khe, John Rector, Janeanne
Rockwell-Kincanon, Adele Schepige (for Trevino), William Schoenfeld, Bob
Turner, Zenon Zygmont
Ex-Officio
Members: WOU President Conn
III. Minutes from last meeting were approved
at
IV. Reports of Committees
A. Academic
Requirements Committee's Chair Bob Broeg reported that the ARC committee has
considered a number of different questions during the past two years. Some
examples have been competency and placements exams, the number of times a
student can repeat a class, and looking at the pass/ no credit policy. At the
moment the ARC committee is looking at an aerospace minor along the lines of
the military science minor that is offered through OSU. Typically Sharie Zeilman comes to the meetings and brings
issues for discussion. At the moment the ARC is not very busy. They are dealing
with the Associates of Arts degree and what should constitute its language
requirement; also they are considering whether there should be a limit on
credit earned solely by examination. The Chair addressed Faculty Senate asking
if perhaps the structure and meeting times of the committee need to be
re-thought. This is a part of the general process of examining each committee
and its role that the Senate is going through. Recommendations will be drafted
as soon as the Senate hears a report from each of the committees,
V. Reports of Presidents
A. Senate President Janeanne Rockwell-Kincanon reminded the Senators that
the Nominating Committee for the officers of the new Senate needs to be formed.
It will consist of five people: Brian Caster from the current Executive
Committee, two members of the current Senate, and two members of the upcoming
Senate. Interested senators should contact Brian Caster if they are interested
in serving on this committee.
B. President Conn's Report
President
Conn started by reporting that more and more faculty are involved in the
Strategic Planning process. It is paramount that this process be completed in a
timely fashion since President Conn needs to report to the Board of Higher
Education in May with our institution's vision statement. The next big
strategic planning event will be held on May 20th. It will be a
Stakeholders' Conference and all faculty are urged to attend it.
President
Conn also shared a handout from the Inter-Institutional Faculty Senate that
shows OUS faculty getting salaries considerably lower than their counterparts
in peer institutions.
Finally,
he discussed briefly tentative plans for adjusting the tuition for the
2004-2005 academic year. Choices between eliminating the tuition plateau or going
to a rate per credit hour were discussed. If we keep the tuition plateau we
would need to raise tuition rates next fall.
C. The ASWOU president Jeremy Quintanilla was
not present at this meeting
VI.
Consideration of Old Business
A. Academic
Information Services Discussion
One
of the members of the Student Technology Fee Committee Justin Hoeckle was present at the meeting. He reported that
this Committee has 8 members: two appointed by ASWOU, two each appointed by the
Deans of LAS and Education, and two appointed by Bill Kernan. Each WOU student
pays $74 a term that cover e-mail services, technology services, computer lab
technicians, and have also generated grant funds for faculty ($150,000 in the
past two years). The mission of the committee is to encourage and promote the
use of technology on campus; the technology fee keeps the computer labs on
campus running and pays for replacing old computers. Due to the general budget
shortfall, the budget coming from the student technology fee has been
approached in an ad-hoc manner, and there has not been a system to closely
monitor the budget. The student members of the committee feel that input from
faculty and staff would be necessary to ensure that good decisions are made
about the revision of the budgetary process. Questions to the committee can be
addressed at techfee@wou.edu
Gary Jensen was also present
at this meeting. He suggested that the two directors who have participated in
this committee historically perhaps should be moved to Ex-Officio status and
possibly be only brought to meetings on an as-needed basis. This arrangement
might guarantee freer exchange of ideas among the faculty members of the AIS
committee. He was very supportive of change that turns this committee in a
faculty-driven enterprise.
More discussion about the
role and purpose of the AIS committee will continue at the next meeting.
VII. Consideration of New Business
A. Procedure for Faculty Searches
Senator John Rector brought
to the Senate a discussion of the procedure for faculty searches. It is a
common feeling on campus that there are some problems with the search process
procedures like inaccessibility of files, a cumbersome travel authorization
process, lack of administrative encouragement to candidates, and undermining of
search committee authority.
Due to time constraints, it
was voted to move this item to the next meeting under Old Business.
VIII. Reports of
IFS
IFS Senator Bob Turner
distributed information from the OUS Board Meeting on March 4th and
5th. Four standing committees (Executive/Chancellor's Office Review;
Access; Excellence in Delivery & Productivity; Academic Excellence/Economic
Development) have been formed and direct input from OUS faculty is sought.
Faculty should contact Bob Turner with ideas and input on the "More,
Better, Faster" initiative.
IX. A motion to adjourn
was approved around