Welcome back to a new academic year!
I’d like to update you on what Senate has been doing over the summer. The Senate Executive Committee wants Senate to be functioning as effectively and optimally as possible. We think this is important given the changes and challenges in our university and external environments. With this in mind, we conducted a review of our committee structures, functions, and composition; policies, procedures, and documents; and our communication (particularly with faculty) and identified areas for improvement. This year, we want to implement those improvements. You will see some of these changes come through Senate; some of them will affect our procedures behind the scenes. Senate has already approved a number of updates to committee compositions. We will update you as more changes are made.
Of course, we will also continue our regular work of reviewing new academic programming and policies. We are looking forward to receiving your new curriculum ideas.
President Cantwell Presentation: At our September 24 Senate meeting, President Cantwell spoke to us and provided updates on the system redesign. You can see a summary of some of that information on the WSU New Chapter website. During our meeting, Senators asked several questions. You can see responses to those questions in the FAQ section of the New Chapter website.
Communication: We are reviving our Senate emails, which will be sent out each Monday before our Senate meetings. In those emails you will be able to see the guest speaker for the upcoming meeting, the agenda, as well as links to recordings of the speaker in the previous meeting and their presentation materials. We are also working on helping senators coordinate with each other so that they can better convey information to their constituents. We welcome you to reach out to your senators, the members of the Senate Executive Committee, or the Senate Office. We also have a Faculty Forum where you can post comments and concerns.
General Education Reform: As you have no doubt heard, WSU is undertaking a reform of our general education requirements. A Senate-Provost office joint committee was established last year. Updates on the committee’s work, the phases of the reform efforts, and progress made can be found on the provost’s office website.
As you can see, a lot happening at WSU. We look forward to an eventful year with you!