Executive Council Meeting: 11/18/2008
Executive Council Meeting
November 18, 2008, 8:30 am, UW1 211B
Present: Chuck Jackels, EC Chair, Dan Jaffe, Pam Joseph, Bruce Kochis, Pete Nye, Suzanne Sikma and Kelvin Sung
Adoption of Agenda
The agenda was adopted.
Approval of EC Minutes of November 4, 2008
The EC Minutes of November 4, 2008 were approved as amended.
Reports of GFO Officers
A. Chair - Dan Jaffe
Dan reported that he charged the Instructional and Research Support Committee at the first IRSC meeting of the year. He offered background information on the work of the IRSC within the GFO structure as an advising body to the Executive Council. He provided some continuity with a review of the committee's recommendations from last year and gave input on the areas that he considered important. In the area of instructional support, an assessment of the Teaching Learning Center and the Quantitative Skills Center would help evaluate student and faculty support on campus. Research support has been an ongoing issue, how well does UWB support faculty research, through the Office of Research Support and in other ways? Dan would like to improve outreach both internally and externally and strengthen our public relations so UWB's image as a strong research institution is publicized through faculty research and scholarship. He announced that Kelvin Sung agreed to serve as co-chair to the committee and will report to the EC. Kelvin added that the committee discussed many of these issues and will address some of the challenges of research support. He talked about the committee gathering input from program representatives on the different approaches that programs are initiating to support faculty in their research, such as teaching assistants and course stacking, and more generally budget and time constraints that limit faculty research opportunities.
Dan discussed the upcoming visit of Provost Phyllis Wise and Executive Vice Provost Doug Wadden to the UWB campus. To facilitate discussion, he would like the EC to draft some questions for the Provost and to present some key points that the EC would like the Provost to know about the campus. Dan serves on the S&T task force and spoke to the issue of departmental structures in the development of new programs. There is consensus that the program must have control of the curriculum and personnel matters and concluded that it is critical to the academic rigor of the program to structure the S&T program as a school.
EC discussion
- The discussion considered the appropriateness of a school/department model within the UWB interdisciplinary context and the tensions that arise between our identity as an interdisciplinary campus and the need to grow programs and look at new models.
- The discussion also considered how the broad mapping of IAS across the humanities, social science, life sciences and physical sciences interacts with our changing identity as we move forward. .
- If the S&T program should find that it needs to become a school, a question to the Provost is - how do we move into that model? What must we demonstrate to her in order to get the approval?
- The S&T Program was approved by the Regents, so promotion and tenure decisions will be made at a program level.
Action item: Questions for the Provost (drafted by Bruce Kochis and Suzanne Sikma)
- If the administration and the faculty bring a proposal to the Provost to move to a departmentalized structure, what are the next steps needed for units to accomplish that?
- The EC could address the issue of tying expectations of growth at UWB to resources. The State budget is mandating a 25% increase in enrollments over the next 5 years, can we count on resources to support this growth? Space issues are already critical on campus, and the EC can stress the current need for resources to meet enrollment needs. We are meeting the needs of the wide region. We serve the students of Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties and will continue to develop new majors that will increase enrollment of students from those areas. We are committed to outreach in northern counties and we are the institution best suited to serve these students.
EC discussion
- With S&T we should be sure resources are adequate before we begin development of the program
- Program success depends on resources, as students need facilities and programs.
Action item: Question for the Provost (drafted by Bruce Kochis and Suzanne Sikma)
To meet the increased enrollment growth and serve the needs of the region, UWB needs an investment in resources/buildings and support to develop new programs.
B. Vice Chair - Chuck Jackels
Chuck met with Marcia Killien, Secretary of the Faculty to clarify some issues on promotion and tenure. The Secretary did not see any issues with voting in the Committee of the Fulls or retaining that vote after serving on program review committees. This is in alignment with the UW Handbook. Faculty on the CCPTFA may continue to recuse themselves, per the GFO Bylaws, although it is permitted rather than required by the UW Handbook.
Chuck also discussed EC review of self-sustaining certificate programs and for-credit graduate certificate programs. The UW Graduate School reviews these transcripted programs, but a campus-level review is not necessary. There is no precident that inserts the EC into the process.
Chuck serves on the FCTCP, one of the issues that the council is discussing is the response to the NW Commission on Colleges and Universities accreditation review indicating that there is need to address the relationship between the three campuses of the UW. The commission could see no clear strategic vision of how the campus' missions relate to one another.
Chuck also reported that Bill Erdly, who serves on the Council on Educational Outreach and the Council's chair visited the last meeting of the FCTCP. It was noted that in some instances fee-based programs offered by one campus through UWEO may be competing with regular fte-based programs offered by a different campus. At present there is no tri-campus review of those situations.
Reports of Programs
A. Nursing
Suzanne - the Nursing Program is planning a Public Health minor for Autumn 2009. This program will integrate public health into the liberal arts. The 25-credit minor will offer an Introduction to Public Health, Introduction to Global Health and community engagement.
Reports of Committees
A. CCPTFA
Chuck updated the EC on the issues the EC had referred to the CCPTFA . A question arose regarding absentee ballots for the Committee of the Fulls and how a quorum will be counted.
EC Motion
The EC is not opposed to the acceptance of absentee ballots for use by the Committee of the Fulls in promotion and tenure cases. Dan called the motion, Bruce seconded, the motion passed, 4 yes, 1 no.
Unfinished Business
A. CUSP/FOCUS Review - Jaffe and Jackels
Report on meeting with Gray Kochar-Lindgren and Susan Jeffords regarding the charge to the review committee.
The assessment of CUSP's performance must be in relation to the goals established in the charter. The EC and the VCAA will review the charter jointly.
EC Recommendation
The EC working jointly with VCAA Jeffords will charge the CUSP Review Committee. The EC recommends that appointments to the Committee include an EC member to serve as co-chair, at least three representatives from the programs, one academic advisor and administrative support.
B. Proposed Transfer Admission Policy - Jackels
After a brief report by Jackels of his meeting with Jill Orcutt and Hung Dang, further discussion of the Transfer Admission Policy will be postponed by consent to the next meeting.
New Business
A. Proposal to the IRSC regarding faculty seminar program - Recommendation: by consent no action was taken, as the IRSC is likely to consider this in the normal course of events.
Meeting adjourned at 10:30 am
Minutes submitted by Barbara Van Sant
The next meeting will be December 2, 2008, will include the first new degree presentation from IAS.
Announcements;
Provost Wise will be visiting campus on Nov 25 at the invitation of the GFO.