February 5, 2003, 1:15 pm, Room 211B
Present: Mary Abrums, Andrea Anderson, Frank Cioch, Patricia Kelley, Sandeep Krishnamurthy, Carole Kubota, Barbara Van Sant and Linda Watts
Carole to report on permanent facility for GFO
Carole reported that the GFO now has an official office; it is located in UW2, room 318. This office will be open to all faculty for reference and as a resource for information on the General Faculty Organization.
Updates on -
Faculty Council Voting Structure
The Faculty Council is a key body on the UWB campus that looks at P and T decisions for associate professors. At this time, the voting structure for the FC does not ensure programmatic representation and this is a problem. Last year's Faculty Council made a series of recommendations that were reported to the EC. The EC reviewed these recommendations and did not agree with them. Specifically, the EC was uncomfortable moving from campus-wide to programmatic elections. The EC made counter-recommendations which where then shared with the FC. This has raised several issues about coordination between the EC and the FC. Carole and Sandeep will meet with the FC to coordinate the efforts of these bodies to meet faculty needs.
President's Medal
Ufuk Ince, Chair of the Honors and Ceremonies Committee is collecting data regarding the awarding of a President's medal at UWB and the criteria for these awards. This is a Tri-Campus issue and must be signed off by the UW President. No proposal has been made; it is under discussion with the Honors and Ceremonies Committee.
Lecturer voting information
Carole has been in communication with Lea Vaughn about the voting issue for lecturers. Two groups at UWS are also looking at this issue and a committee has been formed and is compiling data on the subject.
Invitation to Gen McCoy to attend future EC meeting
Carole will ask Gen McCoy to come to an EC meeting and give her insight on voting rights. Some suggestions for recognizing and rewarding part-time faculty, other than voting rights are the Teaching, Learning Center Awards and other awards. Grants are also available to part-time faculty, although the Worthington Awards are not. There will be an ongoing discussion on this matter within the EC and as a tri-campus issue.
Website Update
Sandeep updated the EC on the GFO website, the 2002 Faculty Retreat information is on the website - the Catalyst survey results and the information from the breakout sessions: distance learning, plagiarism, educational technology, quantitative reasoning and writing issues. Follow-up sessions to the retreat were discussed; none have been scheduled at this time. Faculty Affairs Committee should set these up.
Human Subjects Review Committee
Sandeep has asked Helen McGough to visit the EC on February 19, after she meets with the Nursing Program to discuss UWB reconstituting a Human Subjects Review Committee or assigning a staff person to act on or configure proposals for human subjects. This issue was considered last spring and is still being researched before a proposal is drafted.
Sandeep to introduce potential faculty survey
Jane Decker and Mary McGuire conduct polls with prospective students, faculty and staff and the data is now available. Sandeep will work on a faculty survey to measure faculty satisfaction. The EC fully supports Sandeep on this. Suggestions for a survey included identifying title or rank of the participants, so that levels of satisfaction can be determined within the ranks and to include the concept of what would make the biggest change in satisfaction, if one thing could be changed. The Catalyst type survey was suggested, a simple electronic version.
Budget Workshops
The Budget Workshops conducted by Bill Kelleher have been useful and faculty attendance is encouraged so that faculty representation on the budget issues are strong. The faculty voice needs to be heard and a strategic plan for departments and UWB should be developed for current and future growth. The GFO needs to be proactive on budget issues and the EC should formulate a plan. The current budget dilemma could affect programs directly, as in courses offered and equity issues.
Minutes submitted by Barbara Van Sant
