April 27th, 2004 –Faculty Senate Minutes

I. At 3:33 p.m. the meeting was called to order.

II. Roll Call: Senators absent: Robert Brownbridge, Solveig Holmquist, Dovie Trevino, Tom Kelly, Janeanne Rockwell-Kincanon

Ex-Officio Members: WOU President Conn, ASWOU President Rebekah Wilcox

III. Minutes from last meeting were approved at 3:40 p.m. with no corrections.

IV. Reports of the Presidents

A. President of the Faculty Senate

The Faculty Senate President Janeanne Rockwell-Kincanon was absent from the meeting due to the Provost search, so the Vice-President of Faculty Senate, John Rector, led the meeting. The next sessions regarding the developments in OUS for interested WOU faculty will be held at the WOU campus on the 29^th of April. The IFS report to Faculty Senate was passed out, and it was suggested that the WOU Faculty Senate might pass a resolution concerning this report. The main content of this report is that there are a set of actions being taken by OUS and the OUS board to draft legislation that will affect public higher education faculty. The five that have been filed so far at entitled: "Access Scholarships for Education Trust", "Connecting Higher Education to a Statewide Student-Service System", "Removing Institutional Transfer Barriers to Students", "Strategic Investment to Support Increased Student Access to College", and Academic Excellence and Economic Development". Further details can be found on Bob Turner's web site at http://www.wou.edu/~turnerr.

John Rector also reminded the senators that there are two meetings left in May (May 11 and May 25), and both the newly elected and the outgoing senators should show up to those meetings.

B. President of WOU

President Conn gave an update on the various searches on campus. He informed the senators that he was very pleased with the provost candidates, and expected to be able to make a decision by the end of the week. He also said that 9 new faculty members have accepted positions at WOU, and 6 more searches are still underway. 36 faculty members are continuing their tenure-track journey, 12 have been awarded indefinite tenure, and 12 have been promoted to full professors. President Conn also reported that several staff searches are underway for director of admissions, director of financial aid, director of disability services, and director of service learning and career development. He closed by congratulating the two new division chairs, John Marsaglia from Computer Science, and Carol Harding from Humanities.

A. President of ASWOU

The new ASWOU president Rebekah Wilcox was serving on a search committee and was unable to be present at the meeting. She wanted the senators to know that she is still working on PR and that new ideas are always welcome. Also, ASWOU is gearing up to do elections.

V. Consideration of Old Business

A. Academic Information Services Committee Proposal

Steve Taylor was back at the meeting, he restated his proposal to invigorate and reconstitute the AISC. After a brief discussion, there was a motion to adopt the 12 points on the last slide, reproduced below, as a working set of guidelines:

1. Meet on regular monthly basis during academic year.
2. Serve as communication conduit between faculty / divisions and administrative / service units.
3. Review administrative / service unit policies, provide guidance and feedback.
4. Draft faculty position statements related to policies and practices.
5. Convene special problem solving sessions as needed.
6. Plan and propose initiatives to administrative / service units.
7. Send delegates to Student Technology Fee Committee Meetings.
8. Peer review of faculty proposals to Student Tech. Fee Committee.
9. Participate in development of academic infrastructure plans and funding strategies.
10. Provide input on budget decisions related to academic infrastructure.
11. Provide oversight to ensure that issues are addressed and final actions implemented.
12. Notify and advise faculty senate on matters regarding academic infrastructure.

The motion further stipulated that the committee's charge would include academic infrastructure, defined as follows:

1. Academic Space
1. Faculty Offices
2. Lecture Rooms
3. Labs, Studios, Activity Rooms
2. Academic Information
1. “Traditional Media”
2. “Digital Media”
3. Academic Hardware
1. Computer Based
2. Non-Computer Based
1. Lab Equipment / Instrumentation
2. Curriculum Tools
3. Studio Equipment
4. Academic Software

(e.g. multimedia tools, specialty software)

The membership of this committee was to be strictly limited to faculty members and students. This motion was unanimously passed.

VI. New Business

1. Early Registration for Student Athletes

There was a proposal presented by Eric Cooley to grant student athletes the ability to register early, together with the last section of the previous (i.e., next higher) class. The idea of this proposal is to allow student athletes to resolve some of the problems that arise from scheduling conflicts among classes, practice, games, and travel. This proposal was the same proposal that was presented last year at Faculty Senate. This proposal was to be taken to the divisions for discussion.

2. Humanities Division LACC Requirements Change Proposal

The Humanities Division has voted unanimously to propose a change in its LACC requirements. Currently, all students are required to complete WR 135 or its equivalent (4 hrs), and two of the following literature classes, ENG 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, and 109, or their equivalents (8 hrs).

The proposed change still requires students to take WR 135 or its equivalent. It adds to the list of possible literature courses GL 110D, German Literature in Translation, and FR 110D, French Literature in translation. These classes will have the same cap (45 students), and the same goals and methods of instruction as the other literature classes. They will be taught by German and French faculty when available, or by the appropriate Comparative Literature faculty when German and French faculty are not available.

Proposed Requirements:
1 writing class (4)

Wr 135  (4) College Writing II

Plus 2 of the following: (8)

Eng 104 (4) Intro to Lit: Fiction
Eng 105 (4) Intro to Lit: Drama
Eng 106 (4) Intro to Lit: Poetry
Eng 107 (4) Lit of Western World: Greco-Rom
Eng 108 (4) Lit of Western World: Med-Ren
Eng 109 (4) Lit of Western World: 18-20C
GL 110D (4) German Lit (in translation)
FR 110D (4) French Lit (in translation)

This proposal will be taken back to the divisions for consideration.

VII. Reports of Committees

1. IFS Committee

The IFS report is above under the Report from the Faculty Senate President.

2. Writing Intensive Committee

David Hargreaves reported that the Writing Intensive Committee has curtailed its oversight role of reviewing proposals for writing intensive courses and has taken on a more ad hoc status. Katherine Schmidt has taken more responsibility for improving writing intensive courses. Information about can be found on the writing center website. Thus, the new primary role for the writing intensive committee is to provide pedagogical assistance to faculty when they teach writing intensives.

3. International Education and Services Committee

The chair of the committee, Ann Bliss, reported that this committee is very active. Some of the many important roles of the committee are: promoting study abroad, facilitating accessibility and equality of international education, promoting international internships, encouraging faculty to participate in foreign exchange programs, recruiting and integrating of international faculty, working with the Oregon University system in study abroad initiatives, and working as an advisory committee with the Office of International Admission and Advising, headed by Kelly Mills. Some of the initiatives include: creating new WOU scholarships for international students, organizational work for the International Night on May 1, and working on new 3-4 week study abroad programs to make it easier for WOU students to attend.

IX. A motion to adjourn was approved around 5:15 p.m.