Executive Committee & Principal Assistant
Eric Shelden
Faculty Senate Chair
eshelden@wsu.edu
Tracy Klein
Chair Elect
taklein@wsu.edu
Christine Horne
Past Chair
chorne@wsu.edu
Matt Hudelson
Executive Secretary
mhudelson@wsu.edu
Anna Schilter
Faculty Senate Principal Assistant
509.335.8350
faculty.senate@wsu.edu
2023-2024 Faculty Senate Priorities
- Improve the lives of faculty
- Strengthen our academic mission
- Improve Faculty Senate communication
How We Communicate
- Chair Blogs: We provide information about issues of interest to faculty
- Constituent Concerns and Responses: Tell us what’s on your mind and we will do our best to advocate and get answers
- Biweekly emails during the academic year with information about the upcoming faculty senate meeting and speakers, in addition to links to any new constituent concerns, responses, or blog posts
- Senators: Contact your Senators with your concerns / suggestions.
- Email: you can email us anytime at: faculty.senate@wsu.edu
Duties and Responsibilities
Executive Committee
The executive committee consists of the chair, chair-elect, immediate past chair, and the executive secretary. This committee operates as a collaborative team with shared duties and responsibilities, along with a permanent half-time principal assistant that supports this committee in its duties. They oversee the Senate committees and work to keep the senate running smoothly.
In their roles representing all WSU faculty to the administration, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee meets on a regular basis with the president, the provost, and other senior administrators to discuss faculty issues, and serve on high level committees representing a faculty perspective.
Chair
The chair of Faculty Senate, in addition to chairing Senate and Steering committee meetings, serves as an ex officio member of the Honorary Degrees Committee. They carry the mace and lead the processional in Pullman Convocation, Pullman Commencements, and Spokane Commencement. As a representative of faculty on all campuses, the chair visits WSU campuses and locations to meet with faculty and administrators to discuss faculty and student issues, and writes and presents reports to the Board of Regents at each of their regular meetings.
Chair-Elect
The chair-elect has two primary duties, in addition to those that are shared with the Executive Committee. The chair-elect is chair of the Committee on Committees, which coordinates staffing on all Senate committees and makes recommendations for faculty to serve on presidential committees. In the absence of the chair of Senate, the chair-elect acts as chair of Faculty Senate and/or Steering Committee.
Past Chair
The immediate past-chair serves in an advisory capacity to the executive committee and may be responsible for continuing initiatives started during his or her term as chair-elect and chair.
Executive Secretary
The executive secretary’s primary duties, in addition to those that are shared by the Executive Committee, involve conducting Faculty Senate elections in the spring, presenting comments at Steering Committee meetings, acting as a liaison to the PAC-12 Academic Leadership Coalition, and to proofread, review, and edit minutes and agendas for Steering and Senate. The executive secretary, along with the principal assistant, plays a role in inviting and scheduling speakers to visit Faculty Senate meetings.