Meeting Minutes: November 2, 2017

Faculty Senate Minutes

Regular Meeting

November 2, 2017

The Faculty Senate was called to order by J. McDonald, Chair on Thursday November 2, 2017, in FSHN T101 at 3:30 p.m. Forty-five (45) members were present with twelve (12) absent and seven  (7)  nonvoting members present.

Minutes of  October 19, 2017 meeting were approved as circulated.

1. Announcements (Information items).
   1. Information Items.
      1. Executive Officers met with the president on November 2, 2017.
      2. Minor Change Bulletin #4  (Exhibit B)
2. Announcements (Reports)
   1. Remarks by President Schulz
   2. Remarks by Provost Bernardo, Vice Provost Erica Austin, Assistant Vice Provost Craig Parks – NWCCU
   3. Remarks by  Mary Trotter, Assistant Clinical Professor, CAS
   4. Remarks by J. McDonald
      Chair comments will be provided during the Constituents’ Concerns section
3. Additions or Changes to the Agenda.  None.
4. Agenda Items (Action Items)
   1. Recommendation from the Academic Affairs Committee to approve the Undergraduate Major Change Bulletin #4 (Exhibits  O   O1 )– G. Crouch
      1. Motion Carried
   2. Recommendation from the Graduate Studies Committee to approve Graduate Major Change Bulletin #3  (Exhibit  P ) –T. Salsbury/D.Potts
      1. Motion Carried
   3. Recommendation from the Steering Committee to amend the Bylaws and Constitution on Guidelines for Senate Committees when conducting business over email  (Exhibit Q)
      1. Motion Carried.
5. Agenda Items (Discussion Items).
   1. Recommendation from the Academic Affairs Committee to approve the Undergraduate Major Change Bulletin #5 (Exhibits  R   R1  )– G. Crouch
      1. No Discussion
   2. Recommendation from the Academic Affairs Committee to approve the UCORE Bulletin #1 (Exhibit  T)– G. Crouch
      1. No Discussion
   3. Recommendation from the Graduate Studies Committee to approve Graduate Major Change Bulletin #4  (Exhibit  U  ) –T. Salsbury/D.Potts
      1. No Discussion
   4. Recommendation from the Graduate Studies Committee to approve the Revision of the Plan Requirement in PSM in Molecular Biosciences (Exhibits   V  V1) –T. Salsbury/D.Potts
      1. No Discussion
   5. Recommendation from the Graduate Studies Committee to approve Revision of the Plan Requirement in  M.S. in Applied Economics (Exhibits W  W1  ) –T. Salsbury/D.Potts
      1. No Discussion
   6. Recommendation from the Graduate Studies Committee to approve the Revised Graduate Certificate in Protein Biotechnology  (Exhibits X  X1 ) –T. Salsbury/D.Potts
      1. No Discussion
   7. Recommendation from the Graduate Studies Committee to approve Revision of the Plan Requirement in the Ph.D. in Language, Literacy & Technology (Exhibits  Y  Y1 ) –T. Salsbury/D.Potts
      1. No Discussion
6. Constituents’ Concerns.
   1. Prior constituents’ concerns are still in the process of being follow up on. Evergreen reporters were present and introduced.
   2. A follow up from prior concerns:
      1. Campus Climate: A central location to consolidate information on topics, items of interest, seminars is being sought.as a central clearing house.
      2. CAS Strategic Enrollment update: It was noted that the interim dean responded and advised the information being requested was to assist in having a better understanding of data in order to make responsible decisions.
   3. A concern was raised regarding the status of the INTO program. Is this program generating revenue to the university relative to the cost?  It was noted by the chair that Dr. Chaudhry has reported approximately 160 foreign students are enrolled in a preparatory program and if they successfully pass, then will be admitted as students.  Dr. Asif Chaudhry was scheduled to speak at the November 16 meeting but had to cancel and will be rescheduled later.
   4. A question was raised regarding when the grand challenges were initiated with a large number of faculty involved in identifying areas of interest, writing proposals etc. and that the colleges took a 5% reduction to finance the grand challenges. What is the measurable outcome of the grand challenges? Also requested was a comparison of money spent with money gained in terms of successful applications for large, multidisciplinary grants; which was the reason for the grand challenge exercise.
   5. A concern was voiced that It has been suggested that performing arts are being cut because they are not sustainable and do not have permanent funding, but this kind of metric is not being asked of other units.
   6. A question was asked regarding what is the funding basis for the new vice president’s positions, noting that there have been numerous reports of the much more rapid increase of administrative positions and salaries over faculty in higher education over the last 30 years.
   7. A question was posed noting that Central administration spent considerable amounts of money to train faculty to utilize advising software for the purpose of student retention. This seems to have vanished. I am wondering how much money was spent on this software and did it prove successful in terms of student retention? What assessment has been used to evaluate the success of this expenditure?
   8. A request was made that it would be helpful if the central administration were more open about how central administration units are addressing budget shortfalls as well as what percentage of reduction in departments or colleges are being made.  It was reported by the chair that administration is planning to provide detailed information on how the budget deficit occurred and where the reduction of funds are being made.
   9. It was noted the Executive Officers would follow up on these concerns.
7. Adjournment.                                                  

                      The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

                                              Amy Nielsen, Executive Secretary