Executive Council Meeting: 01/23/2002
January 23, 2002, 12:30 pm, Room 260B
Present: Dan Jacoby, Carole Kubota, Ray Lou, Mary Abrums, Kevin Laverty, Kelvin Sung and Linda Watts
Guests: Brad Holt, UW Seattle Senate Chair and Sandra Silberstein, UW Seattle Senate Vice Chair, Bruce Burgett and Mike Stiber.
Budget
Due to the state's budget reduction for the University, Professor Brad Holt, UW Seattle Senate Chair and Professor Sandra Silberstein, Senate Vice Chair, requested time to meet with the EC. Professor Holt explained how budgeting occurs on the Seattle campus and how the UW Seattle faculty provides advice to the administration. The Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting (SCPB) is UW Seattle's long range planning committee. The University Budget Committee advises the President. Brad and Sandra are visiting UWT and UWB campuses to provide information so that faculty can give input and weigh in on budgeting decisions.
Since there is no direct representation on the SCPB by UWT and UWB faculty, their visit provides an opportunity to communicate with this Committee and to open lines of communication. The EC can contribute regarding budget, tuition, salary, etc. Professor Silberstein said that the Provost does not want to do across the board cuts, which means that colleges and campuses will have different budget impacts.
Professor Holt distributed documents from the SCPB. The Faculty Code describes the SCPB's role in advising the Administration and informing the Faculty Senate. The SCPB receives budget proposals from all the colleges; salary and benefits have high priority. Faculty votes on a principles and priority statement. Professor Silberstein chairs the Budget and Planning Committee and provides faculty an opportunity to stay involved and give input through an E-column she generates.
Professor Jacoby stated that the EC is charged with developing expertise in budgeting. The EC will request that Bill Kelleher come to a GFO meeting and clarify budget concerns. EC members will solicit questions from their departments and the GFO will format a question/answer session with Bill to get a better understanding of the budget.
Approval of December 12, 2002 minutes
Procedure for approval of minutes has been changed, the initial draft will be sent to the EC, corrections sent to Professor Kubota for revisions and the minutes will then be sent to the EC for approval at the next meeting. Motion for approval of Dec 12, 2002 EC meeting minutes (Professor Watts), second the motion (Professor Jacoby), minutes approved.
Competitive Offer Policy
EC representatives have been requested to provide their program's policies regarding competitive offers. Professor Abrums presented Nursing's Competitive Offer Policy, developed from GFO recommendations. IAS has a working document, pending vote. Education, CSS, and Business programs are still discussing.
Indentifying EC Role and Work/Coordination with GFO committees
The EC discussed its role in regards to program/faculty representation: what do we want to do; what do we need to do; how do we do it; how do we coordinate EC work with the work of other GFO committees. This is a continuation of discussion begun at the last EC meeting. GFO Committee Chairs were requested to attend to provide information and update.
In order to fulfill our educational mission and to govern ourselves, we would like to make attendance at GFO meetings a faculty priority. Professor Jacoby stated that, as a faculty, we have not operated effectively either on budgeting or strategic planning. The EC and the GFO have not completely used the committee structure; committees are not always sure of their charges.
Current Committees are: Faculty Affairs, Academic Affairs, Curriculum, Honors/Ceremonies, Research/Instructional Support. Other elected representatives serve on the Faculty Council. There is also a Tri-Campus Council involving faculty from all three campuses. Eventually, the GFO webpage will serve as a point of information on committees and who to contact on the committees.
Professor Bruce Burgett and Professor Mike Stiber, Committee Chairs, updated the EC regarding the committees on which they serve. Professor Stiber, Research and Instructional Support Committee, reported that this committee advises Academic Services and its Director, Cynthia Fugate, regarding policy issues. The Research and Instructional Support Committee is involved in decision making regarding the Teaching and Learning Academy, technology (access to hardware/software) and distance learning. Professor Burgett updated the EC on the Curriculum Committee; it has developed more continuity and accountability regarding course approval. The committee has become more proactive than reactive authorizing what our curriculum is and whom it serves. The committee work should be program review, giving guidance and oversight to the structure of what we offer; the core curriculum for UWB undergraduates. It was felt that the committee should be a deliberating body rather than be involved in administrative functions, it should be reviewing for rigor, integrity of the offering and overlap. The question was posed whether the job of program review could be consolidated with Instruction and Research Support Committee, Academic Affairs and the Curriculum Committee which would become one committee. The EC and Curriculum Committee should meet to discuss this question as well as inter-programmatic and interdisciplinary initiatives. Who provides the oversight that assures inter-programmatic and interdisciplinary initiatives address the campus mission?
Announcements and other items as proposed by the faculty or EC
Professor Kubota asked the EC if it would be possible to meet once a month for two hours, rather than twice a month for 1.5 hours. Professor Kubota will contact Professor Sung and Laverty to see if this would be feasible (they left before a poll could be taken regarding the possibility of longer, monthly meetings).
Minutes submitted by Barbara Van Sant.