Wichita State University Faculty Senate Minutes of the meeting Monday, November 10, 2003

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Bakken, Behrman, Carroll, Celestin, Conlee, Decker, deSilva, Dooley, Dudte, Enns, Gill0Hopple, Glenmaye, Herzog, Hill, Huxman, Klunder, Lancaster, Lezotte, Loftus, Ma, Mau, Moore-Jansen, Myose, Rokosz, Ross, Roussel, Russell, Scherz, Teshome, Wine, Yeager

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:  Brooks, Chopra, Eichhorn, Hendry, Hershfield, Hiltner, Kear, McDonald, Ravigururajan, Riordan, Wimalesena, Withrow, wolf,

 

MEMBERS EXCUSED:  Goldy, Hodson, Krishnan, Swan, Zhang

 

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS:  VPAA&R Kindrick

 

Summary of Action:

       

     

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

II.    Informal Statements & Proposals:   Sarah McAndrews, SGA Academic Chair,  was introduced and spoke briefly about a Bookstore Advisory Committee.  She also encouraged faculty to use Blackboard, the students like it.
 

III. Approval of the minutes The minutes of October 13, 2003, were accepted as presented.
 

IV.  President’s Report:
President Behrman commented on the following:
1. COCAO and the COFSP are drafting a statement in response to Wagle's amendment. (http://webs.wichita.edu/senate/COFSP-%20Wagle%20amendment%20draft%20response.htm)
2. The Faculty Handbook committee is currently revising Chapters 1 & 2 of the handbook. These changes will be submitted to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee in the near future.
3. The Faculty Senate Academic Affairs committee is investigating the issues of (a) the evaluation of administrators and (b) the marketability raises and possible refinements of the policy and the administration of future marketability raises.
4. A Spring Convocation consisting of a general faculty meeting and the presentation of faculty awards is being considered. Elizabeth King has offered the services of a member of her staff to help coordinate this event.
5. At the last Faculty Senate Executive committee meeting, representatives of the General Education, Academic Affairs, Faculty Affairs and Library committees presented reports on the work of these committees. Some members of the Library faculty present at the invitation of President Behrman participated in a discussion about the library.
6. President Behrman discussed the October, 2003 Kansas Board of Regents meeting, which included a breakfast meeting between KBOR and COFSP. Issues of importance included faculty morale, improving communication between faculty and KBOR and the structure of KBOR visits to university campuses. A survey on faculty morale for the regents system is being developed.

  

 V. Committee Reports:  
    Jeff Quirin reported for the Academic Affairs committee on the issue of differential tuition. The Academic Affairs committee opposes differential tuition as presented but wishes to continue to study this issue. The committee expressed an awareness of the need for additional resources. Various members of the Faculty Senate contributed to a discussion on differential tuition.
  
 

VI.  Old Business: none   

 

VI.         New Business: 
A. Jacqueline Snyder discussed the work of the Ad Hoc General Education committee, which has met twice. She discussed the poor impression which WSU's general education program left with the North Central accreditation committees in 1987 and 1997 and the significant work which has gone into reforming general education over the last five years. The ad hoc general education committee is not planning to duplicate the work of the previous ad hoc general education committee or general education taskforces but to "tease out" necessary information so that proposals for the reform of general education can be developed and brought to the Faculty Senate.  A discussion followed Professor Snyder's presentation. Some topics discussed included models for general education and a comparison of our general education program with that at other institutions.
B. Jim Rodgers and Jennifer Fincham gave a presentation of SOS and SAS. The number of users of SAS dropped from 30 in FY03 to 2 in FY04. Suggestions for enhancing faculty use of SOS and SAS included additional training and improving communication between UCATS and the faculty.

 

VII.      As May Arise: 
President Behrman thanked Kirk Lancaster for acting as Senate Secretary in the absence of Scott Goldy.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted

Kirk Lancaster

Acting Secretary