Faculty Senate Minutes
Monday, February 8, 2016
Clinton Hall 126 3:30PM-5:00PM
Senators Present:Barut, Babnich, Bergman, Bryant, Castro, Celestin, Chand, Chang, Close, Decker, Dehner, Ewing, Hendry, Huckstadt, Hull, Johnson, Moore-Jansen, Musack, Muthiachareon, Myose, Palmer, Ramanan, Rillema, Ross, Shaw, Shukaev, Solomey, Woods, Yildirim
Senators Absent: Adler, Ahmed, Birzer, Chopra, Deibel, Huaghes, Hunsicker, Jin, Lu, Yao
Senators Excused: Brooks, Cramer, Rokosz, Wlaker
I. Call to Order - Meeting called to order at 3:30PM by President Moore-Jansen
II. Informal Statements and Proposals: None
III. Approval of the Minutes
a. Minutes of the December 7, 2015 meeting were accepted as presented
IV. Updates: see President's Report
V. President Bardo address to the Senate: He provided the following information prior to responding to faculty questions.
a. Salaries 鈥� The assumption last year was there would be money for salary increases; however,
enrollment decreased and the Legislature placed a 3.6% limit on tuition increases.
President Bardo stated he is looking into what needs to be done to regularize salary
increases. There is a need for increased enrollment as enrollment is a source of revenue
the university has control over. President Bardo apologized for not doing a better
job of sharing this information last spring.
b. WSU/WATC - The possible amalgamation of WSU and WATC is moving into the formal process of engaging in discussions with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). No decisions have been made beyond moving forward with engaging HLC. A bill is being introduced into the Legislature to approve the amalgamation, but it would not go into effect until HLC has given its approval.
President Bardo responded during the Q&A session
鈥� Question about to sports and enrollment
o Better students make a college decision earlier and freshmen make the decision
to stay within the first 6 weeks
o Enrollment is one of the biggest drivers regarding the addition of football
鈥� Question about increased enrollment and subsequent increased demand on faculty/staff
o Current WSU student-faculty ratio 18 to 1, peer institutions 20 to 1
o Some programs are oversubscribed and some are undersubscribed - this needs to be
evened out
o There is a need to rationalize our budgets
鈥� Question about the rationalization process
o Begin the process by looking at the 8 peer institutions
o Examine how we are expending funds
o Look at alternative ways to expend funds
o Determine if what we are doing is rational and reasonable
鈥� Question about how financial priorities are set
o WSU is under an obligation to expand the engineering program
o President Bardo allocates a block of funds to divisions and divisions allocate
the funds
o Divisions set the priorities, with the exception of what the university is required
to do
鈥� Concern about the impact increased tuition will have on enrollment
o The number of students admitted from Sedgwick county is up
o Looking at building a parking garage and using parking fee money to partly fund
it
o President Bardo will ask for the Dallas-Fort Worth area to be considered in state
for tuition purposes
鈥� Question about faculty involvement in WSU-WATC
o In the informal process stage to determine where to bring people together for conversations
o HLC will require all to be at the table
President Bardo concluded his address to the Senate by stating that we need to 鈥渇ind a model that allows the core essence of who we are and what we value, but adapts to the world of where we are now and where higher education is going.鈥�
Additional questions for President Bardo should be sent to President Moore-Jansen or Bobbi Dreiling, Faculty Senate Administrative Assistant
VI. President's Report
a. Announcements
a. Office of Diversity and Inclusion 鈥� Dr. Tim Wise 鈥� Wednesday, February 17th at
6:30PM at the Metropolitan Complex, 鈥淏lack Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter & White
Privilege鈥� tickets for faculty and students are free
b. Department of History 鈥� Dr. Rebecca Miller Davis 鈥� Thursday, March 3rd, 鈥淒ixiecrats,
Dissenting Delegates, and the Dying Democratic Party鈥�
c. Committee openings 鈥� If you are interested in serving on a committee, send your
committee preference to Bobbi Dreiling, by Thursday, February 11th
d. Process for electing Senators for the 2016-2017 academic year will begin soon,
look for an e-mail from Bobbi Dreiling
b. Concealed carry 鈥� President Moore-Jansen shared the results of the two surveys
(WSU and KBOR Institutions). The Committee of Faculty Senate Presidents (CoFSP) will
continue to use the government liaisons at each institution to mediate faculty concerns.
VII. Committee Reports: None
VIII. Old Business: None
IX. New Business 鈥� Rick Muma, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs distributed the new syllabus template and discussed the following
a. The HLC visit will take place in October 2016.
b. Site visitors will randomly select course syllabi to review.
c. The syllabus template has several required items, and there are five critical
areas - academic honesty, course description, credit hour definition, measurable leaning
outcomes, and topics with course assignments corresponding to the outcomes.
d. Dr. Muma would like syllabi updated by the end of the semester and every course
required for the major (undergraduate and graduate) should have an updated syllabus.
For special topics, seminar courses, dissertation and thesis courses one common syllabus
is acceptable. Courses with multiple sections should have a common syllabus for the
content.
e. 500 and 600 level courses must have separate learner outcomes for graduate students
and undergraduate students
New syllabus requirements can be found at: https://wichita.edu/?u=academicaffairs&p=/facultydevelopment/:
X. As May Arise 鈥� none
XI. Adjournment 鈥� at 5:01 PM