The second semester of the academic year is off and running. I hope everyone was able to get some well-deserved down time over the break.
There is a lot happening at WSU as we being the new year. The provost’s office, under the leadership of Vice Provost Bill Davis, has begun the process of revising the general education curriculum. It has been 15 years since the UCORE curriculum has been revised. The faculty senate recommended a co-chair and 7 faculty members to the General Education Steering committee, the body responsible for leading this curriculum revision. Information on the composition and activity of this will be coming soon.
The faculty senate Academic Affairs committee is working with the provost’s office to create the necessary updates to academic policies to be able offer 90 credit bachelors degrees, a degree type recently approved by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). These proposed changes will be brought to the full faculty senate for discussion and, if supported, approval.
The Faculty Affairs committee created, reviewed, and accepted several changes/updates to the Faculty Manual, including new language regarding faculty workload policy, for inclusion in the version updated at the beginning of January. With a huge investment of energy and time by Greg Crouch, Matt Huddleston, and Beth Doyle, we have launched an on-line version of the Faculty Manual that is compliant with digital accessibility standards.
The faculty senate chair and chair-elect visited the Tri-Cities and Pullman campuses, meeting with faculty, administrators, and student leaders. The visit reinforced what we already knew and that is, we have talented and committed faculty on all our campuses doing amazing work in educating students, undergraduate, graduate, and professional, and in research and service. We are also fortunate to have dedicated administrators working hard in support of the mission of WSU, the work of faculty and staff, and the experience of our students. And our students? Well, they are the best! Everyone has a great story to tell. Many are first generation and all of them make WSU the vibrant university that it is. The faculty senate is the place where faculty concerns are surfaced and discussed. The faculty senate does not necessarily have the authority to remedy all faculty concerns, but we can advocate for change and make faculty concerns known to our administration. As senators, be committed to sharing information discussed at faculty senate meetings with the faculty constituents you represent. Likewise, faculty members are encouraged to contact their senators with concerns that you would like to have brought to the attention of the faculty senate. In addition to talking with your senator, the Faculty Forum page of our website is a place where you can make your concerns known and read about issues brought forward by other faculty members.
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