M121216

Faculty Senate Minutes

Monday, December 12, 2016

Clinton Hall 126, 3:30PM-5:00PM

Senators Present: Ahmed, Asaduzzaman, Babnich, Barut, Birzer, Bolin, Bryant, Castro, Chand, Close, Crame, Dehner, English, Ewing, Hendry, Hull, Kreinath, Mahapatro, Mosack, Myose, Price, Pulaski, Rife Rokos, Ross, Shaw, Shukaev, Walker, Wehebe, Willlis, Yildirim

Senators Absent: Anderson, Brooks, Chopra, Decker, Deibel, Keene-Woods, Koehn, Lancaster, Muthiachareon, Rillema, Solimey, Taher,

Senators Excused: Johnson, Shukaev, Woods

Summary of Actions:
1. Faculty Senate accepts the Applied Learning or Research Approval document with two revisions. Motion approved.
2. Faculty Senate accepts the Statement of Support for Diversity. Motion approved.

II. Call to Order – Meeting called to order at 3:30PM by President Yildirim

III. Informal Statements and Proposals – Proposal that the faculty endorse statement against discriminatory behavior – support for diversity – added to the agenda.

IV. Approval of Minutes
1. Minutes of the November 28, 2016 meeting were accepted as corrected.

V. President's Report –
1. Faculty Senate office move – the Faculty Senate office will remain where it is.

2. Special Budget Advisory Committee – the first meeting will take place at the beginning of January. This is a large group with more than 20 faculty, staff and administrators. Comments and questions from senate:
i. School of Business would like to make sure that faculty are involved.
ii. Is there a representative from Liberal Arts and Science (LAS)?
iii. Can the process be explained? – Provost Vizzini stated that the Deans were asked to provide one representative for the committee. Dean Bibb from the College of Health Professions explained how a representative was chosen in her college.
iv. Is there any formal procedure for how this will work? Provost Vizzini stated that the committee will serve in an advisory capacity on the budget, it will look at the strategic plan and prioritize based on the strategic plan.
v. Would it be more appropriate to have more than one LAS representative on the committee and is there a place for more faculty representation on the committee?

3. Senate Budget and Planning Committee – The committee will meet often during the spring semester, so the faculty senate can provide feedback and comments to the PET budget Committee.

4. Q&A for Concerns and Issues – One idea for improved communication is to have on the MyWSU page a list of questions and answers for faculty concerns and issues.

VI. Ad-hoc Committees
1. Advancement of Teaching Faculty
i. President Yildirim needs one more teaching faculty on the committee. Please send names.

2. Academic Honesty
i. President Yildirim has one faculty member for this committee, needs three more faculty members. If interested contact President Yildirim.

3. Higher Education Day, January 19, 2017 – President Yildirim would like us (WSU) to be present at the meeting. We should have a table that summarizes the vision, mission, and success stories from the university. This year is the renewal of the engineering expansion grant so it might be good to have some highlights on what we have done. There is still lots of space to highlight what we do. If you have interesting ideas on ways to promote the university send the information to President Yildirim.

4. February 28, 2017 – the Graduate Student Symposium will be held at the capitol building in Topeka.

5. Shared Governance Policy – President Yildirim, the presidents of the two other senates, Academic Affairs, HR and the executive committee are working on a shared governance policy which President Yildirim hopes to share with the faculty senate at the end of January.

6. General Faculty Meeting – January 27, 2017 at 2:00PM in Hubbard Hall 211.

VII. Committee Reports – None

VIII. Old Business
1. Cindy Claycomb/Robert Ross - Strategic Planning Advancement Committee, Applied Learning – Senator Ross – reminded the senate members of the process that led to the development of the applied learning document that was presented to the faculty senate at the November 28, 2017 meeting. Changes were made to the document after the last senate meeting. Comments and questions from members of the senate:
i. Is the February 1st date flexible? Senator Ross – suggested the date could be changed to the end of February.
ii. Do all 6 criteria need to be met? This question led to a great deal of discussion, including the mechanism for proposals that would include 4 of the 6 criteria, how the committee would adjudicate these proposals, the use of the term “all” (the underlining of the word “all” was struck from the document), if implementation would be retroactive, the need to create meaningful opportunities for students, and the suggestion that the note listed at the bottom of page 4 of the document follow the section labeled criteria.
iii. Strategic Planning Advancement Committee, Applied Learning or Research Approval Form (2nd reading). Motion to accept the document with two revisions – strike out the line under the word “all” and move the note to follow criteria. Motion approved.
iv. President Yildirim asked Senator Ross to report back to the Faculty Senate next year.

IX. New Business
1. Dr. Jean Griffith, Tilford Coordinator for diversity in the Office of Academic Affairs, presented a preliminary analysis of the university-wide Climate Survey. The survey was completed by 1559 students and 703 faculty/staff members. Dr. Griffith will come back to the senate during the spring semester to share additional information including areas for improvement. Key findings of the survey included:
i. Overall satisfaction with the overall climate of the university
ii. Students feel safe in the classroom
iii. The university is accessible for people with disabilities

The following questions were asked by senators:
iv. Are we planning to do this annually or just one time? Dr. Griffith –it should be repeated but not necessarily annually, once we have more nuanced data we might do three or five year plans.
v. Are we talking about most recent experiences? Dr. Griffith – the survey question about diversity issues asked respondents to consider the past 3 to 5 years, the rest of the questions did not have time attached to them.
vi. What was the biggest surprise from the data? Dr. Griffith – the broad support for the diversity issues.
vii. Is there data available from other Regents' universities for comparison? Dr. Griffith – K State did one a couple of years ago and there should be data available. Senior Associate VP Muma – KU did one as well.

2. Tony Vizzini, Provost and Senior Vice President – Academic Affairs Update
i. WSU/WATC Merger. WATC will maintain their campus. They will do all of their 2 year programs and they will now be a campus of WSU. Less costly to do it this way, allows WSU to create a structure that is easily dealt with, allows WATC to maintain their funding stream.
ii. The note from President Bardo about a 1% raise for individuals earning 90K and below will be in the 2018 budget.
iii. Fall Commencement was good. Provost Vizzini thanked faculty who attended.
Provost Vizzini addressed the following faculty questions and concerns:
iv. WATC development of four year programs: Any 4-year programs created would be a junior/senior only program with our framework and we would have full control over the 4-year program.
v. Is the 1% across the board and is it merit based? It is for individuals making $90,000 and below and you had to have a positive review.
vi. What are the benefits to WSU from the WSU/WATC merger? It provides a closer tie to students who want to come to WSU but are not academically able, allows WSU to have the 2+2 programs more easily, addresses the specific needs of the community, gives our students access to WATC facilities.
vii. What is the curricular impact and is this going to come to the faculty? We currently have 2+2 programs, and students can transfer. Similar to Washburn and Washburn Tech. It is going to come before the general faculty and there is no reason why it would not involve the faculty senate.
viii. Senators commented on concern regarding guns on campus. Provost Vizzini responded that we know what the law is and as an institution we need to follow the law. Is the university preparing to offer some additional protection for faculty? From Provost Vizzini's view point, nothing changes on July 1st. Is the university interested in getting our representative to the state legislature to work with the moderate legislators? As a university we are not an entity that has a political voice. As a private citizen you have the right to talk to your legislative representative.
ix. Senator commented that the perception of the little red signs, currently on buildings, can be extremely powerful. Will there be training for faculty for scenarios that we don't see in the classroom? Provost Vizzini – There should be training and education on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

X. Statement on faculty senate support for Diversity – Faculty senate supports the Statement of Support for Diversity presented by President Yildirim. Motion approved.

XI. As May Arise – None

XII. Adjournment – at 5:10 PM

Respectfully submitted
Janice Ewing, Secretary
Faculty Senate Holiday Gathering – Deano's 21st & Webb – 5:00PM-7:00PM today.