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Meeting Minutes: October 31, 2024

Faculty Senate

MINUTES


The Faculty Senate met on Thursday October 31,2024, in French Admin Graduate Studies Conference room 324F and via Zoom. Fifty-six (56) senators were present, six (6) vacancies with thirty-one (31) absent, and twenty-six (26) non-voting members. The meeting was called to order by Tracy Klein, Faculty Senate Chair, at 3:30 pm.

Guest Presentation (30 minutes): University Budget and Finance update – Leslie Brunelli, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration – Faculty Senate Comprehensive Budget Overview – 10.31.24

  1. Call to Order: 3:30 pm
  2. Approval of minutes from October 17, 2024, faculty senate meeting (PDF).
    1. Approved by consensus
  3. Additions or changes to the agenda
    1. None
  4. Announcements
    1. Legislative affairs – Reminder to please vote on Tuesday 11/5/24.
    2. Reports
      1. Remarks by Faculty Senate Chair – Everett visit scheduled 11/14 & 15. Encouraged everyone to review the committee information on the website to help us ensure the information is correct.
      2. Remarks by Faculty Senate Executive Team
        • E. Shelden, Immediate Past Chair – E. Shelden is on the University AI committee and there will be a survey coming out soon regarding how you use AI, please complete the survey.
        • K. Roberts, Chair Elect
          1. Committee openings (COC) – K. Roberts has been working with committee members to fill vacancies, we still have a few to fill.
        • M. Hudelson, Executive Secretary – We almost have a full senate roster.
  5. Information Items
    1. (Item #2024.10.31_453_) Notice of Intent to Rename the College of Education (Exhibit 453A) Please provide feedback on this proposal to Faculty Senate no later than 11/13/24
    2. (Item#2024.10.3_438_FAC) Faculty Manual updates to language and style, formatting, and Section III.C (Exhibits 438A, 438B, 438C, 438D) – Updates approved by President Schulz.
  6. Agenda Items
    1. Action Items
      1. (Item #2024.10.17_428_Steering) Formal process for petitions and motions (Exhibit 428A, 428B, 428C, 428D) – Faculty Senate Forms website page
        • Approved; 49 approve, 0 rejected
      2. (Item #2024.10.17_429_Steering) Faculty Compensation Committee (Exhibit 429A)
        • Approved; 52 approved, 0 rejected
      3. (Item #2024.10.17_446_AAC) Undergraduate and Professional Major Change Bulletin No. 2, Requirements (Exhibit 446A)
        • Approved; 52 approved, 0 rejected
    2. Discussion Items
      1. (Item #2024.10.24_447_GSC) Proposal to extend the Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences degree to the University of Nairobi (Exhibits 447A, 447B, 447C, 447D, 447E, 447F, 447G, 447H)
        • A. Dimitrov – The expenses for the program indicate a deficiency in revenue, what is WSU obligation if the expenses for the program are not covered? WSU is not funding this project, fully funded externally. The students are funded by grants and contracts.
        • GSC did not have any major concerns. The only concern was lack of detail in Library section. How do you ensure quality over time?
      2. (Item #2024.10.24_448_GSC) Proposal for a new Electrical Engineering and Computer Science program plan within the PhD Engineering Science Program (Exhibits 448A, 448B)
        • A. Dimitrov – There were only a couple small comments about this proposal, can you provide more background on it?
          1. G. Crouch – Yes, this is a request to add a new plan under a current program and is not normally a concern to the committees who reviewed the proposal because it is standard practice to introduce new program plans in this manner.
      3. (Item #2024.10.31_449_AAC) Undergraduate and Professional Major Change Bulletin No. 3 Courses (Exhibit 449A)
        • No discussion, move to November 14th agenda as action item
      4. (Item#2024.10.31_450_AAC) Graduate Major Change Bulletin No. 3, Courses (Exhibit 450A)
        • No discussion, move to November 14th agenda as action item
      5. (Item #2024.10.31_451_AAC) UCORE Renewals and Changes approved by UCORE Committee – Bulletin No. 2 (Exhibit 451A)
        • A. Dimitrov – invalid committee reference of GSC (corrected),
          this item went through the course review process.
      6. (Item #2024.10.31_452_AAC) Undergraduate and Professional Major Change Bulletin No. 3, Requirements (Exhibit 452A)
        • No discussion, move to November 14th agenda as action item
      7. (Item #2024.10.8_444_Steering) Proposal to place to hold on Academic Rule 60 (Exhibit 444A, 444B)
        • A. Dimitrov – The rationale for the request was sparse, issues are more complex and need more discussion. Based on the discussion with Risk Management, the health risk was not evaluated. Suspending this will impact individuals with compromised health issues who are at high risk. Question: This hold is requested through January 2025, is this the final deadline? No, the students will have a window until Fall 2025 semester and then the regulation would go back into effect.
        • D. Grigar – The Council of Faculty Representatives (CFR) committee spoke with many faculty in Vancouver. Initial reaction was “they were appalled”. Students were upset that there were staff and faculty who were not vaccinated. This issue is currently impacting 274 students in Vancouver. CFR will be meeting with ASWSU. CFR would like a larger discussion involving faculty and staff.
        • G. Taub – There are about 80ish students are impacted in Everett which is about ½ of the incoming juniors. The request to place a hold on AR60 is only for Everette, Spokane, and Vancouver.
        • V. Cozza – Of the 443 new/transfer students in Tri-Cities, 263 of them have holds, 22 of those were incorrect dates and held in error. Question: What happens to these students? Are there any options to help them?
        • M. Netzhammer – Vancouver started with 700 students and are now down to 274. Cougar Health says it is easy to get the information, students are not finding the process easy. As a reminder, all high-school students in the state of WA must be vaccinated (which is about 94% of the students in Vancouver).
        • E. Shelden – It doesn’t sound like there are the same level (numbers) of unvaccinated students on other campuses. Question: Can we extend the timeframe for these students to comply vs. suspending the rule?
        • J. McDonald – Resident vs. non-resident doesn’t seem to be a big issue. How do we have advisors work with the students on a 1:1 basis to find the information, can we find a way to help them Question – is this a new requirement? No, it has been in effect for Pullman and the requirement added to the other campuses recently.
        • C. Riley-Tillman – Have received varied responses to this issue. This is asking for a temporary hold on AR60, not enrolling these students would be a major complication to WSU. There are 1,200 students with holds.
        • T. Klein – Asked M. Netzhammer for more details based on this conversation. As a reminder, ALL health science majors MUST be vaccinated to attend classes and/or labs or work.
  7. Constituent Concerns
    1. None additional
  8. Adjournment: 5:12 pm

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