Faculty Senate Minutes

Monday, February 13, 2017

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

Senators Present: Anderson, Asaduzzaman, Babnich, Birzer, Bolin, Brooks, Bryant, Chand, Chopra, Close, Cramer, Decker, Dehnere, English, Ewing, Hendry, Keene Woes, Koehn, Kreinath, Mahapatro, Mosack, Mutthiachareon, Myose, Price, Pulaski, Rillema, Rokosz, Ross, Shaw, Shukaev, Solomey, Walker, Wehebe Wilis, Yildirim

Senators Abssent: Ahmed, Deibel, Hull, More-Jansen, Taher

Senators Excused: Barut, Castro, Johnson, Llancaster

Summary of Actions:

1. Faculty Senate accepted the amended revision to the constitution regarding faculty senate membership.
2. Faculty Senate accepted the Shared Governance Statement
3. Faculty Senate approved the formation of a Council for Former Senate Presidents
4. Faculty Senate accepted with amendments the Weapons Resolution

I. Call to Order 鈥� Meeting called to order at 3:30PM by President Yildirim

II. Informal Statements and Proposals 鈥� President 鈥揈lect Shaw stated that Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) would like feedback on how to help graduate students and new faculty in the classroom. If you have ideas/suggestions contact: Carolyn Speer.

III. Approval of Minutes
1. Minutes of the January 23, 2017 meeting were accepted as presented.

IV. President's Report 鈥�
1. President Bardo sent a message supporting international faculty, students and staff. On behalf of the faculty, President Yildirim thanked Dr. Bardo for immediately releasing a statement.
2. President's FAQ 鈥� The FAQs will be posted on the WSU webpage and will include questions from faculty, staff and students. Questions will be shared with President Bardo and individuals in the appropriate units. Once questions are answered they will be posted onhttps://wichita.edu/?u=quinn&p=/faq_faculty_president/
3. Faculty Senate Feedback Forum 鈥� Several questions and concerns have been raised through the feedback forum The faculty voice has been heard and there will be answers provided. President Yildirim shared the questions/comments that had been submitted.
i. Question: What is meant by online classes cannibalizing our own students? Response from President Yildirim and Senior Associate VP for Academic Affairs and Strategic Enrollment Management Muma indicated that there are 1000 students who are taking 100% of their courses online and 25% of WSU students are taking online courses, but Senior Associate VP Muma was not sure if there is true cannibalization. President Yildirim will be inviting Mark Porcaro, Executive Director of Online Learning to speak to the faculty senate.
ii. Questions/Comments from senators regarding the SPTEs, the need to fix them, SPTE bias, sharing SPTE information with students, and issues surrounding confidentiality. When President Yildirim asked whether senators would volunteer to be on a committee to review SPTEs, there appeared to be interest.
4. Spring 2017 Surveys 鈥� There are three upcoming surveys that faculty need to be aware of:
i. Faculty Survey of Student Engagement, Tuesday, March 28th;
ii. Provost Feedback Survey 鈥� this survey will be sent to everyone in a week or so; and
iii. National Survey of Student Engagement
5. AAUP 鈥� There will be an AAUP meeting on Friday, February 24th from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm in the Pike Room (RSC 266). If faculty have agenda items, please send them to Senator Dehner.

V. Committee Reports
1. Rules Committee 鈥� When the senate approved the expanded membership proposal, the word 鈥渞esearch鈥� was not included. The proposal approved at the general faculty meeting on January 30, 2017 was amended to include the word 鈥渞esearch.鈥� The senate needs to vote on the amended proposal. Question: Does this include the staff at NIAR? Response: No, they are a different E-class designation. Senator Pulaski moved, Senator Willis 2nd -- Amended proposal accepted.
2. President's Budget Advisory Committee - President Yildirim reported the following:
i. The President's Budget Advisory Committee discussed the guiding principles that should be used when looking at how cuts/reallocation are determined.
ii. The Priority subgroup is discussing a framework for long term planning. Short term planning has not been discussed.
iii. The Revenue and Efficiency subgroups are currently discussing:
1. Idea generation; and
2. The development of an online form for submitting ideas on ways to increase revenue and/or efficiency.
3. Faculty Senate and Planning Budget Committee 鈥� President Yildirim reported that this group is meeting weekly. The following ideas have come from the meetings:
i. Potential priorities and opportunities, including;
1. Investing in:
a. existing promising programs
b. infrastructure development
c. faculty 鈥� How do you increase morale?
d. creating a culture of continuous improvement
ii. Creating incentive mechanisms for entrepreneurial risk-taking initiatives
iii. Propose/Design new programs to increase the head count
4. Teaching Advancement Committee- This committee is beginning its work and will look at:
i. Possible ranks; and
ii. Framework for promotion
5. Crisis Committee: - The committee has accomplished their task 鈥� the development of a Weapon's Policy.
6. Academic Affairs: - The committee has reviewed and supports the Bachelor of Applied Arts (BAA) proposal. Student Government Association: The SAG has reviewed and also supports the BAA proposal.
7. General Education Committee: The committee is evaluating the First Year Seminar.
8. Faculty Affairs Committee: The committee is beginning the discussion of Department Head versus Department Chair, the Pros/Cons. Question: What prompted this discussion? Response: Two things. President Yildirim noted that Provost Vizzini is a firm believer that a department head could empower administration at the department level and there are department heads on campus; however, there is no policy or procedure that is defined for this role. President Yildirim would like to have a discussion and statement from faculty senate on where we stand and communicate what we think about this issue. Provost Vizzini commented that we should have a dialogue and look at this issue. According to Provost Vizzini the current structure doesn't empower departments and he would like to see consistency and equity across the institution. President Yildirim noted that head versus chair and consistency are two different issues.

VI. Old Business
1. Proposed Shared Governance Statement 鈥� 2nd reading A motion to approved made by President-Elect Shaw, Senator Mosack.2nd -- The motion was accepted.
2. Proposed Council for Former Senate Presidents 鈥� 1st reading Question: Is there a need for this as the executive committee has two individuals who are past presidents? Response: These individuals would not sit on the executive committee. Current individuals who are on the executive committee provide institutional memory for two years and I (President Yildirim) appreciate the former presidents' feedback and the longer institutional memory. Question: It seems that this is a life-long proposition, why not have the executive committee invite all the past presidents to meet twice a year? Response: I (President Yildirim) would like to formalize the process. Senator Comment: Seems like an unnecessary council. Senator Comment: It would provide a more formal mechanism to solicit ideas. Seems the we don't have a lot of institutional memory and it is not formalized or brought into the discussion, if this gets us further down the line it seems like a good idea. Vote called for. Motion accepted with 1 abstention and 1 opposed.
3. Proposed Weapons Resolution 鈥� The discussion on the resolution focused on the confusion over the fact that what was being presented was not what went out with the original agenda. President-Elect Shaw stated there was a miscommunication regarding the version attached to the agenda. Senator Close noted that the resolution needed to be cleaned up. Senator Walker moved to accept the resolution, cleaning up the typographical errors and checking the numbers. Senator Walker moved, Senator Mosack 2nd. Motion was accepted with two abstentions.

VII. New Business
1. Judy Espinoza, Director of Human Resources, shared a Power Point Presentation Perform to Transform with the faculty senate and will keep the faculty senate informed as HR moves forward. Key points shared include:
i. Non-transformed is what we do right now. For example, there is a lot of duplication entering information into data systems three times.
ii. Transformed is what we aspire to do. For example, integrate technology, shared service model, and highly skilled business professionals who will work for and are connected to the college and administration leaders. We need a robust employee and manager self-serve system with centers of expertise using subject matter experts.
iii. The top three priorities for 2017 are:
1. Technology gap analysis
2. Timekeeping
3. Hiring process
iv. This change is a sensitive issue, and Director Espinoza spent her first four months validating the study. It was clear that the current process is inefficient, ineffective and needs to be change.
v. This is an evolutionary process because of budget constraints, but there is a completed roadmap for the work HR2020.
Comment: Senator Prices supported the one-person model and commented that timekeeping is now more clunky for faculty. Question: Some of us are in units that get grants are you thinking there is software available to keep track of those employees? Response: We haven't had that specific conversation, but if they are employees we should talk to you about how they are assigned.

VIII. As May Arise 鈥� Senator Willis reminded senators that the Technology Fair is coming up next month, March 28th, if you have ideas you would like to share please submit a proposal.

IX. Adjournment 鈥� at 4:35PM