May 11th, 2004 –Faculty Senate Minutes

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

II. Roll Call: Senators absent: Roy Bennett, Robert Brownbridge, Brian Caster, Scott Grim, Tom Kelly, Dovie Trevino

Ex-Officio Members: WOU President Conn, ASWOU Representative Katie Carpenter

III. Minutes from last meeting were approved at 3:40 p.m. with three corrections: a spelling mistake in the name of Senator Trevino, Judie Rhoads was actually present at the meeting, and ASF meeting mentioned in the report of the Presidents section actually referred to local meetings at WOU for interested faculty.

IV. Reports of the Presidents

A. President of the Faculty Senate

The Faculty Senate President Janeanne Rockwell-Kincanon welcomed the newly elected senators who were present at the meeting. She reported that a number of curriculum proposals have been endorsed by the Executive Committee's members, mainly due to their uncontroversial nature.

The President also mentioned that one of IFS senators, Solveig Holmquist, would like to continue for another term (her term expires in December 2004).

The nominating committee chaired by Brian Caster is hard at work, and one more member from the old Senate is needed. Judie Rhoads volunteered for this position.

Faculty Senate is scheduled to have its summer meeting on July 13^th at 3:30 p.m.

B. President of WOU

President Conn reminded the Senators of the successful end of the search process for the new Provost. He shared his excitement about Dr. Jem Spectar's beginning his duties in mid-July.

The President also talked about the State Board Meeting at Eastern Oregon University where he gave a very well-received presentation about WOU. This was the meeting when the resignation of Governor Goldschmidt was announced, and currently there is a 0re-organization of the Chancellor's Office staff.

Lane Shetterly, the director of the Department of Land Conservation and Development, will be the Commencement speaker this year. He will also receive the Alumni Award for Excellence.

The number 1 capital construction project at WOU is to secure the financing of a new classroom building which is to host the Business Division, the Mathematics Department, and the Computer Science Division. This project will cost approximately 14 million dollars and will involve the demolition of Arnold Arms.

C. President of ASWOU

The ASWOU president Rebekah Wilcox was unable to come. Katie Carpenter was representing ASWOU. She reported that the elections were going really well. The Student Senate turned down the proposal from the student athletes for early registration.

V. Consideration of Old Business

A. Humanities Division Proposal

There was only one question from the senators: would another modern language class satisfy the literature requirement? It was clarified that the proposal wanted to preserve the skill set of the original requirement, so the answer is no.

The proposal was approved unanimously

B. Proposal from Student Athletes for Early Registration

Senators from most divisions reported that this proposal was not supported. Issues of optimal scheduling across departments, practice scheduling, and equity were discussed before the proposal was unanimously rejected.

VI. New Business

A. Cumulative FS Subcommittee Reports

The Faculty Senate Secretary will distribute a condensed version of the reports of the committees, and further action will be taken at the next meeting.

VII. Reports of IFS

The IFS senators reported on the latest meeting of the More Better Faster working group. There is a proposal to generate a common set of requirements at the OUS level for the first two years. Thus it is imperative that faculty members get involved by going to the meetings of all the working groups that are held in Salem. More information can be obtained from the following web-site: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ifs/ifs.html

The next meeting of IFS will happen at SOU in early June.

There was a proposal to invite Gretchen Schuette, who chairs the MBF group, to a special session of the Faculty Senate. This session is to be scheduled by early June. This proposal was unanimously accepted.

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