Faculty Senate Minutes
Monday, September 26, 2016
Clinton Hall 126, 3:30PM-5:00PM
Senators Present:Ahmed, Anderson, Babnich, Barut, Bolin, Brooks, Bryant, Castro, Chand, Chopra, Close,
Cramer, Decker, Dehner, English, Ewing, Hull, Koehn, Johnson, Moore-Jansen, Mosack,
Price, rife, Rillema, Rokosz, Ross, Shaw, Taher, Willlis, Wookds, Yildirim
Senators Absent: Asaduzzaman, Birzer, Deibel, Hendry, Lancaster, Pulaski, Solomey, Wehebe
Senators Excused: Kreinath, Myose, Shukaev
Summary of Actions:
1. Accepted appointment of Business representative Jodi Pelkowski to the Academic
Affairs Committee
2. Accepted appointment of Education representative SoonChun Lee to the Faculty Affairs
Committee
3. Accepted appointment of LAS Math/Physics/Natural Sciences representative Kaandatiga
Wimalasena to the Scholarship and Student Aid Committee
4. Accepted appointment of Engineering representative Abu Asaduzzaman and LAS Math/Physics/Natural
Sciences representative Paul Rillema to the Budget and Planning Committee
I. Call to Order 鈥� Meeting called to order at 3:31PM by President Yildirim
II. Informal Statements and Proposals 鈥� None
III. Approval of Minutes
a. Minutes of the September 12, 2016 meeting were approved as corrected
IV. President鈥檚 Report
a. President Yildirim remembered Dr. Will Klunder, Professor, History Department,
1947-2015. Anyone who would like to be in touch with the Klunder family can contact
Senator Jay Price in the Department of History.
b. Grievance Pool Appointments 鈥� Untenured assistant professors who currently are
in the grievance pool will remain there. The Rules Committee will be looking at aligning
policy and practice. Please send any comments to President Yildirim or Rules Committee
Chair, Senator Shaw.
c. Faculty Senate budget 鈥� Still under discussion
d. FAR 鈥� Dr. Vizzini is open to the idea that faculty senate can work on a FAR that
is more in line with the UniScope model. Please send any ideas regarding this to President
Yildirim.
e. Higher Education Day, January 19, 2017, at the Capitol in Topeka. President Yildirim
asked the senators to think about:
i. What can we present to show what faculty do?
ii. Ways to show why we are valuable to the economic development of Kansas.
f. Faculty Senate Presidents鈥� Meeting with KBOR - the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents
(COFSP) serves in an advisory capacity to the Regents. The COFSP asked:
i. How could COFSP help the board meet its 2016-2017 and Foresight 2020 goals? The
regents suggested that COFSP find ways to get more involved.
ii. COFSP also raised issues related to the exporting of talent and what could be
done to keep faculty given current resource levels. President Yildirim reported that
it was good to share faculty and regents鈥� perspectives on issues.
V. Committee Reports 鈥� The following nominees were confirmed:
a. Academic Affairs鈥� Jodi Pelkowski - Business
b. Faculty Affairs 鈥� SoonChun Lee 鈥� Education
c. Scholarship and Student Aid 鈥� Kaandatiga Wimalasena 鈥� LAS Math/Physics/Natural
Sciences
d. A LAS Math/Physics/Natural Sciences position is still to be filled on the General
Education Committee. Senator Shaw will be contacting individuals.
VI. Old Business
a. Election of Planning and Budget Committee
i. Engineering 鈥� Abu Asaduzzaman - elected
ii. LAS Math/Physics/Natural Sciences 鈥� Paul Rillema elected
VII. New Business
a. Graduate School Strategic Planning, Dennis Livesay, Dean and Associate Vice President of Research and Tech Transfer
spoke to the senate regarding updating the graduate school strategic plan and being
more relevant. The strategic plan has the following four elements:
i. Innovative Academic Programs - looking at new models of graduate degree structure,
a focus on specific niches, and building a structure that is a pathway to a degree
鈥� for example stackable credentials/certificates
ii. Graduate Community 鈥� negotiating for a physical space as a place for students
to hang out as well as virtual space, identifying social events and professional development
events 鈥� for example Anne Krook will be on campus as part of a speaker series
iii. Graduate Enrollment Management 鈥� focusing on an integrated holistic view of
what needs to be done regarding enrollment. It will be program driven with programs
asked to initially consider aspirations, and then to plan accordingly. Graduate funds
including assistantships will be based on plans.
iv. Updating Processes 鈥� not currently using technology effectively, trying to get
out of rule enforcement mentality and looking at processes
v. Dean Livesay also noted a new KBOR policy regarding the graduate assistance insurance
subsidy. The subsidy is not allowed under the Affordable Care Act. Graduate students
will still have access to an insurance plan, but not the subsidy. Funds that were
used to support the subsidy will be rolled over into the general assistantship pool.
vi. E-mail Dean Livesay if you have any questions or comments.
b. Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Update - Rick Muma, Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and
Enrollment Management shared the following information:
i. Accountability Matrix 鈥� the matrix was developed as a result of the 1997 accreditation
visit. It was designed as a planning tool. President Bardo eliminated the accountability
matrix and it was replaced with our current planning tool 鈥� the Strategic Plan
ii. Examples of university wide changes driven by the Strategic Plan include the
Innovation Campus, Honors College, and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Creativity
iii. Online Learning - The 2007 accreditation visit cited inadequate infrastructure
for online learning. The infrastructure was built to support online learning. Faculty
development was provided through programs such as Reboot Camps and the Online Learning
Fellows.
iv. Assessment 鈥� Senior Associate VP Muma discussed the assessment of student learning,
how and where it takes place. Institutionally, we have direct and indirect measures
that are used to access the general education outcomes. The first year seminar (piloting
this fall and spring) is an example of how assessment of student learning can impact
the curriculum.
v. Senior Associate VP Muma provided copies of the Assurance Document (formerly called
the self-study), a handout with possible questions, and an Accreditation FAQ sheet.
Senators were encouraged to become familiar with the documents provided. The HLC site
visitors will have open forums for faculty, staff, and students, the schedule has
not been set.
vi. Find HLC assurance document at: https://wichita.edu/depttools/depttoolsmemberfiles/wsuhlc/HLCassuranceargument91216.pdf
c. Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Update - Rick Muma, Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and
Enrollment Management shared the following information:
i. The SEM plan can be viewed online at https://wichita.edu/depttools/depttoolsmemberfiles/registrar/WSU_SEM_GoalsStrategiesTactics.pdf
ii. Goal 1 focuses on changing the culture on the campus so that enrollment is seen
as the everyone鈥檚 responsibility. To support this, each college will have one or two
individuals who will serve as retention and recruitment fellows.
iii. The faculty senate will be asked to evaluate new degree programs at the undergraduate
and graduate level. Senior Associate VP Muma stated that new programs need to be created
to increase enrollment.
iv. Senior Associate VP Muma has met with college deans to identify college enrollment
goals.
v. Questions were raised regarding 鈥� courses with large numbers of D鈥檚 and F鈥檚; the
need to enforce pre-requisites, dealing with large waiting lists, and provisions for
additional resources including summer resources.
vi. Fall 2016 enrollment is down by 21 students; however, WSU has its largest freshman
class, and its largest population of minority/ underrepresented students. There has
been a significant drop in returning students.
vii. A copy of the WSU Enrollment Management Calendar was provided.
VIII. As May Arise
a. President Yildirim reminded senators that all of the senate presidents and the
president of the Student Government Association have an opportunity to meet with President
Bardo for an hour.
b. President Yildirim also shared his list of next meeting agenda items and asked
senators to send him any agenda items they might have.
IX. Adjournment 鈥� at 4:42PM