Faculty Senate > Recent Posts > Minutes > 2022-2023 - Minutes > Meeting Minutes: March 2, 2023

Meeting Minutes: March 2, 2023

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Guest Presentation: Legislative Update (PDF)
  • Steve Bollens, WSU Faculty Representative to the Washington State Legislature
    • The increase in funding distribution will be allocated to all faculty, non-unionized staff, and graduate students by 4% and then 3% for the subsequent year. The internal matters of identifying the fund split of fiscal responsibility by the state and the university in support of the state salary increase is still pending.

Minutes

The Faculty Senate met on Thursday, March 2, 2023, in French 130D and via Zoom. Sixty (60) senators were present with twenty-one (21) absent and eighteen (18) non-voting members present. The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Christine Horne at 3:54 pm.

  1. Call to Order: 3:54pm
  2. Approval of minutes from the February 16, 2023 faculty senate meeting (PDF).
  3. Announcements
    1. Information Items
      1. The faculty senate officers met with the provost’s leadership team on February 21, 2023.
      2. The faculty senate officers will meet with the president and provost on March 20, 2023.
      3. The faculty senate chair will present to the board of regents on March 10th, 2023
      4. 2023-2024 Senate Executive Election Candidate Announcement.
      5. (Item #2023.03.02_296_Catalog) Minor Change Bulletin No. 8 (Exhibit 296A).
    2. Reports
      1. Remarks by Faculty Senate Chair, Christine Horne
        1. Faculty Senate Concerns & Activities Table 03.02.2023 (PDF).
  4. Additions or changes to the agenda
  5. Agenda Items
    1. Action items
      1. (Item #2023.02.16_289_AAC) Proposal to Change the Fine Art course prefix to ART (Exhibit 289A 289B). -P. Sekhar
        1. Approved; 52 approved, 0 rejected.
      2. (Item #2023.02.16_290_GSC) Graduate Major Change Bulletin No. 8 (Exhibit 290A). -E. Nicol / G. Wayman
        1. Approved; 51 approved; 0 rejected.
      3. (Item #2023.02.16_291_FAC) Changes to the Faculty Manual Section IV.I regarding the use of faculty authored materials (Exhibit 291A 291B). -J. McDonald
        1. Approved; 50 approved, 0 rejected.
      4. (Item #2023.02.16_292_AAC) Undergraduate & Professional Major Change Bulletin No. 10 (Exhibit 292A 292B).  -P. Sekhar
        1. Approved; 53 approved; 0 rejected. 
    2. Discussion Items
      1. (Item #2023.03.02_293_Exec) Proposed Amendment to the Faculty Senate Constitution: Article II, Section 4 (Exhibit 293A). -M. Hudelson
        1. Comment: Recommendation that there is one career track and one tenure track senate seat at a minimum in addition to the apportionment needed according to the senate formula. -A. Dimitrov
        2. Response: Confirmation of designated tenure track representatives is guaranteed, while career track representation is not guaranteed per the current faculty senate constitution. -M. Hudelson
      2. (Item #2023.03.02_294_PHSC) Professional Health Sciences Major Change Bulletin No. 2 (Exhibit 294A 294B). -J. Mattoon
        1. No discussion
      3. (Item #2023.03.02_295_GSC) Graduate School Policies and Procedures (Exhibit 295A 295B 295C). -E. Nicol / G. Wayman
        1. Comment: Concerns with the International Teaching Assistant (ITA) exams and the reducing the notification period of non-renewal assistantships to 15 days prior to the end of the current assistantship appointment. -A. Dimitrov
        2. Response: The Graduate School is adopting their policy to remain consistent with the policies from international programs. Through continued partnerships with the international programs unit, the graduate school will update its policies to remain compliant. -T. Barry
        3. Comment: Graduate school committee membership clarity. -B. Tanner
        4. Response: WSU is proposing a standard similar to peer institutions; different departments can adjust their specific prescriptive guidelines about the program of study / program of change form, but the graduate school will set the baseline standard. -T. Barry
        5. Comment: Who is responsible for the nomination / renewal process for the associate and auxiliary graduate faculty as described in the exhibit and what exactly is being prioritized in the nomination process. -B. Cooper
        6. Response: The departmental bylaws will identify the responsible departmental which will include the departmental chair and director. Research activity is being prioritized in the nomination process. -T. Barry
        7. Comment: Timeline for submitting the final thesis or dissertation is going to be extended from 5-10 days; what is the impact on the final exam dates. -R. Magnan
        8. Response: Commencement is purely ceremonial. Completing the final exams after commencement should not be an issue. -T. Barry
        9. Comment: When will the new policy take effect if approved?
        10. Response: 2023 – 2024 Academic Year
      4. (Item #2023.03.02_297_AAC) Undergraduate & Professional Major Change Bulletin No. 11 (Exhibit 297A 297B). -P. Sekhar
        1. No discussion
      5. (Item #2023.03.02_298_AAC) UCORE Changes Approved by the UCORE Committee Bulletin No. 2 (Exhibit 298A). -P. Sekhar
        1. No discussion
      6. (Item #2023.03.02_299_AAC) Proposal to Establish Rule 60, Student Vaccination Requirements (Exhibit 299A). -P. Sekhar
        1. No discussion
      7. (Item #2023.03.02_300_AAC) Proposal to Revise Rule 50 (Exhibit 300A). -P. Sekhar
        1. Comment: Can Health Science programs be excluded from this rule. -M. Neeway
        2. Response: Health Science programs are excluded from this rule. -J. McDonald
      8. (Item #2023.03.02_301_AdHoc) Proposal for a Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Step Salary Structure Committee (Exhibit 301A). -A. Felsot / N. Devarie-Baez
        1. Comment: Will this committee have overlap with equity, merit, cost of merit increases? -J. McDonald
        2. Response: this committee will have a separate charge from the work that the FAC is working on. -J. McDonald
        3. Comment: Is this ad hoc committee only open for faculty senators? -M. McDonnell
        4. Response: Any faculty can join. -C. Horne
        5. Comment: Based on the ad hoc committees’ findings what steps can be taken to enact change? -L. Premo
        6. Response: Depending on the analysis of state law, steps can be both rolled back and frozen. -T. Klein
        7. Response: Other universities have adopted similar styles of pay scale structures, so a proposal with the full weight of the faculty senate, the office of the provost, and legislative approval would likely be needed to enact change. -A. Felsot
  6. Constituent Concerns
    1. Concern: Interest on the WSU budget information and an inquiry as to additional information that may be shared. -M. Dunn
    2. Response: This is something that the President and Provost may address at the last faculty senate meeting of the year. -D. Call
  7. Meeting Adjourned: 4:38pm

Respectfully submitted,

Matt Hudelson, Executive Secretary

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