Wichita State University Faculty Senate meeting  Monday, October 22 2007

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Acker, Byrum, Campbell, Carruthers, Celestin, Coufal, Decker, deSilva, Gordon, Hamdeh, Hathaway, Heershfield, Jarnagin, Jeffres, Klunder, Lancaster, Liera-Schwichtenberg, C. Moore-Jansen, Myers, Myose, Ravi, Rillema, Ross, Roussel, Russell, Scherz, Schneegurt, Skinner, Smith-Campbell, Spurgeon, Uning, Vanderburgh, Yildirim

 

MEMBERS ABSENT: Bolin, Duncan, Forlaw, Hager, Hemans, Miller, Yeager

 

MEMBERS EXCUSED:   Brooks, Craig-Moreland, Riordan, Rokosz, Thibeault, Turk

 

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS:  Provost Miller

 

Summary of Action:   
        1.  Endorsed the use of External Reviews should be in the Primary Dossier

        2.  Accepted the appointment of T.S. Ravi to replace Siginer as Engineering Senator  and Wm. Miles appointment to the Scholarship and Student Aid Committee  
   
    

I.       Call of the Meeting to Order:  President Carruthers called the meeting to order at 3:30pm

 

II.      Informal Statements and Proposals: none
   

 

III.  Approval of the Minutes:  Minutes postponed

       

 

IV.  President's Report:    President Carruthers reported the following:
A.  During the KBOR October meeting 

  1. Chair Robinson’s top 5 issues: K-12 alignment, participation rate in higher education, retention rate, alignment with economy, assessment of learner outcomes (discipline specific competencies, measurements of outcomes—the only role for COFSP mentioned at the meeting).
  2. Presentation to Board on Higher Ed and the Workforce—align higher education with workforce needs; tech training, just a nod to liberal ed.  Problems: WSU doesn’t fit the model.  Even if offered, students might not chose those programs.  Institutional barriers, including quickly shifting interests/needs.  The state’s “levers for change” include various threats via funding of institutions of higher learning.  Provost Miller reassured senators that the report was aimed at community and technical colleges, not the Regents institutions (KBOR is the only higher education governing body in the nation that is responsible for both universities and tech colleges).
  3. A number of legislative initiatives will come before KBOR this year.  E.g., elimination of the cap on Faculty of Distinction program (wide support for this measure, it should pass).

 

       V.  Committee Reports:

Executive committee  --  Need to resolve contradiction between Handbook versus Policies and Procedures Manual regarding the placement of external reviews (one document says external reviews should be in the primary dossier, another says they should be in the secondary dossier).  A revision passed by the Senate in 2000 to put the external reviews in the primary dossier stalled at the VP’s office.  Executive committee recommends either retaining the language in the P&P Manual and revising the Handbook, or sending forward the revised language again.  Snator Klunder (Lancaster-2nd) moved to Revise P&P to attached external reviews for tenure and promotion to the primary dossier—Keep Senate’s intent from 2000, but use the wording of the proposed insertion from Exec Cmte  Motion passed. The policy would read--  "Primary Dossier: The primary dossier consists of the basic document, the required cover sheet which records each step of the review process, copies of the annual reviews (and rebuttals if filed) for untenured faculty, the chair's nonevaluative role statement, statements of evaluation by the committee and administrator at each level of review and rebuttals (if any are filed), letters of external reviewers (if any were obtained) and items added during the review process.

 

Rules  --  Chair Spurgeon submitted the following for acceptance:

                            T.S. Ravi appointed to senate for Engineering to complete the term vacated by Siginer

                            William Miles (Business) appointed to Scholarship Committee.
        All were accepted

 

Academic Affairs: the BioEngineering program proposal is being re-considered.

 

        VI.  Old Business:  none

 

VII.  New Business:  
            A.  Martha Shawver, Associate Provost,  presented information on CLA and NSSE: .  Our baseline tests show that our seniors perform above the expected level.

 

                B.  Connie Landreth: She  gave an Explanation of Health Benefits.  Pick Option A: Same or better benefits, and cheaper.  Topeka just today revised its policy: people who do nothing will automatically be enrolled in the Plan A version of the plan closest to the one they are currently enrolled in.

 

VIII:   As May Arise:  none

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm

Respectfully Submitted,
William Vanderburgh, Secretary