Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting Monday, September 22, 2014
Members Present: Adler, Ahmed, Barut, Bergman, Brooks, Bryant, Castro, Chang, Close, Decker, Dehner, Horn, Houseman, Huckstadt, Hull, Hunsicker, Johnson, Klunder, Mason, Moore-Jansen, Mosack, Perry, Ramanan, Rillema, Rokosz, Ross, Shaw, Trechek, Walker, Woods. Yeager, Yildirim
Members Absent: Hanawalt, Lu, Taher, Thiessen,
Members Excused: Baker, Celestin, Yao, Yu
I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order @ 3:30 pm by President Mehmet Barut.
II. Informal Statements and Proposals
Senator Rillema noted that the phased retirement program that has been in place for
many years may have undergone some recent changes. He requested that the Executive
Committee look into this and report back to the Senate on the current status of phased
retirement options.
Senator Castro inquired about the process for faculty to handle incompletes that
extend past the one year automatic extension in the grade submission system. Can faculty
automatically extend these incompletes or do they need to go through the exceptions
process?
III. Approval of the Minutes
a. Minutes of the meeting on May 12, 2014 - closing of the previous academic year
were accepted as presented.
b. Minutes of the Election Meeting on May 12, 2014 鈥� elections were accepted as presented.
IV. Informal Information:
Jackie Wise - Campaign Chair for United Way - shared the importance of leadership
giving, noting that United Way supports 35 non-profits in the area, and that for every
dollar given, $1.57 goes out into the community based on grant support.
Janet Brandes - Provided an update on Shocker OneStop. The support office
went live on Aug 6 and has handled over 1900 inbound calls in the past four weeks.
They provide WSU student support across areas: admissions, financial aid, advising,
registration. The self help portal is open 24/7. They also handle outbound
communications - encouraging students to complete applications, get registered for
next
semester, etc. Faculty and Advisor are encouraged to direct students to OneStop first
before specific offices on campus to handle routine questions.
V. President's Report
President Barut recently attended the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents
(COFSP) that meets concurrently with the KBOR. The COFSP regularly encourages
KBOR to proactively use faculty expertise in crafting education policies.
Three main issues were raised:
1. Credit for prior learning (CPL) - and compentency based learning. This helps meet nationwide education goals
as well as university enrollment goals. There is a link on the Faculty Senate Bb regarding
workshops/webinars for faculty and staff - Sept 30 and Oct 30, Attendance is encouraged.
Faculty need to understand these issues well in order to provide strong feedback as
the policy is developed further. The Academic Affairs committee may be asked to review
and recommend policy on the issue eventually. This is a nationwide discussion. KBOR
is working on a 'best practice' document (which will be put up on Senate Bb page).
2. Implementation of the Social Media policy- each university is developing a procedure to follow based on KBOR policy. WSU's
is in process.
3. Performance based funding (at the University level). KBOR is putting together a work group composed of select
university presidents to work on creating a policy for performance based funding (to
be provided to universities above and beyond their fixed funding amounts). The group
has been asked to present a proposal to KBOR no later than Dec 2014. There was no
discussion about expanding the membership.
4. President Barut informed the Senators that Bb group has been created for the Senators
and that new information, proposed policies and discussions etc. will be available
on that page.
5. Ombudsperson training session is scheduled for Oct 4. According to
university policy, past presidents, current president, and president elect can serve
in this
capacity and are invited to participate in the training. It is coordinated by Francisco
Gonzalez EEO, with funding by Provosts office. (Current Ombudspersons (end of term):
Will Klunder (2015), Bob Ross (2016), Victoria Mosack (2017)
6. University Admissions and Exceptions Committee: has completed
process revision for Pre-approval for qualified admissions - putting current practice
into
policy. The Exceptions committee will provide a review in their annual report. This
will
help the Admissions office continue to make timely admissions rather than waiting
for
exceptions committee.
VI. Committee Reports
a.Rules Committee 鈥� Peer Moore-Jansen, chair
1. Motion to accept the report from the Scholarship-Student Aid Committee. Approved.
2. Motion to accept the report from the Undergraduate Research Committee and forward
it to Faculty Affairs committee to deal with a funding issue. Approved.
3. Motion to approve Hyuck Kwon to fill the Engineering seat on the Rules committee.
Approved.
4. Motion to approve Alicia Huckstadt (Nursing) as a new Senator. Approved.
VII. Old Business -- none
VIII. New Business:
a. President Barut welcomed the new and returning senators.
b. Procedure Manual for Online Education - Mark Pocaro, Media Resources, provided some background, noting that the HLC oversees
distance education. In 2007 a WSU task force formed to address concerns raised from
last HLC visit. We now have appropriate support, and a plan in place to support online
learning. A new Online Procedure Manual has been posted in the Bb Discussion Forum
for comment. This was developed by Mark to serve as a guideline for colleges to follow.
It is not a policy document. He is seeking faculty input on what might be unclear
or needs re-framing. Please share with colleagues.
IX. As may arise
X. Adjournment
Respectfully Submitted
Carolyn Shaw, Secretary