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Executive Council Meeting: 05/03/2007

Executive Council Meeting

May 3, 2007, 10:00 am, UW2 327

Present: Constantin Behler, Bill Erdly, Kevin Laverty, Alan Leong, Carol Leppa, Nancy Place and Mike Stiber

Absent:  Steve Collins

Guest:  Tom Bellamy

Adoption of Agenda

            Agenda was adopted.

Approval of EC minutes of April 23, 2007

            EC minutes of April 23, 2007 were approved unanimously, with revisions.

Reports of Officers

A.         Chair - Steve Collins  

    
B.         Vice-Chair - Mike Stiber

             Mike updated the EC on the status of the bylaws and the timeline for ratification.  He stressed that the bylaws must be circulated to all voting faculty members at least three weeks prior to the date on which the ballots will be tallied.  This puts the mail vote the final week of Spring Quarter.         

            Mike informed the EC that he, Steve and Dan Jacoby met with Chancellor Olswang to discuss the UWB budget last week.  The EC will receive the campus budget for review before the AC/EC retreat on May 31.  Mike discussed some charges in the budget and stated that the administration is working to regularize some budget items, moving them from temporary to permanent.  Underenrollment at UWB still will require a reduction in the amount of increase in the budget.  Tom reiterated that the budgeting process is looking at conservative spending in the next year.  The AC/EC retreat will look at the academic side of the budget and provide the Chancellor with recommendations and a draft stage of the budget.

            Mike will meet with Chancellor Chan tomorrow to discuss shared governance at UWB and what that means in the function of this campus.  He wants to talk about faculty service at UWB and issues of program versus campus service.  He will also share information on the EC's strategic planning efforts, the GFO bylaws and the EC's role in shared governance.  He asked the EC for input on any of these issues or any areas they wish to bring forward.  At this time there are no nominations for the Vice Chair of the GFO.  Mike stated that without a GFO Vice Chair, the EC will not convene next year.

Reports of Committees

A.   Curriculum Committee - will meet on May 9. 

The Curriculum Committee will review the criteria for designating "W" courses at UWB.  The designation of writing courses varies from college to college at UW.  We would like to standardize our criteria for graduation requirements.

B.   Faculty Affairs - no report.

C.   Instructional and Research Support Committee - met on April 16, a decision was made that the IRSC will remain as a GFO committee in the bylaws.

D.   Strategic Planning and Budget

Dan Jacoby, Chair of the committee met with Steve, Mike and the Chancellor to discuss the UWB budget.

E.   Student Relations

Carol and Pete are reviewing admission files.  They will submit a summary report to the VCAA on student admissions.  We have about 125 confirmed admissions for Autumn Quarter 2007.

Kevin reported on the Facilities Use Approval Committee (FUAC).  There are current issues involving office space and this problem will only worsen in the future.  The UW3 building has been pushed back in the budget to 2013 and we are running out of space.  Kevin asked the EC for input on space allocation, should we move walls at this time or look at off-site accommodations?  Tom shared some information on a process to draft an annual classroom schedule to offset some of these problems.  He told the EC that he is working on a process to have a full draft of the annual classroom schedule by March or April, 10 months in advance of room utilization.  He is also working with Cascadia Community College to develop shared space arrangements.  Kevin will keep the EC updated on this situation.
 
Reports from Programs

Business - will not be hiring an accounting professor at this time.

Nursing - will begin a new curriculum starting summer quarter, with a 5-credit course structure rather than the 3-credit course structure.  The northern cohort in Skagit Valley is offering an RN to BSN program.

Education - is exploring an Early Childhood concentration and will offer a Summer Quarter program.  The Summer certificate program does not count FTE credit, this presents a dilemma for the Education Program.  Self sustaining programs could count toward FTEs, Environmental Education and a mentoring certificate programs are two options.

IAS - has begun working within the curriculum areas work groups.

CSS - moving forward on the BA in Applied Computing, it is in the final stages of review by other institutions.  The Masters of Science in Computing and Software Systems is ready to be implemented.

Old Business

A.   GFO Bylaws (Stiber)

       Mike brought the EC up to date on the revisions in the GFO bylaws, a change to the Faculty Council on Promotion, Tenure and Faculty Affairs ends the term of service two years after election on June 15 rather than September 15.  Full professors, including directors can serve on the Council, but a minimum number of Full Professors is not required; this new configuration may revise or do away with the current structure of the committee of the fulls. The final draft of the bylaws will be emailed to the voting faculty for review before the vote to approve is distributed. 

B.   Revision of student evaluations reports (Stiber)

      Mike asked the EC to review the "Student Evaluation of Instruction" from the UW Office of Educational  Assessment.  He would like input from the EC on whether this tool is useful to our faculty or how it may be improved.  One issue that should be resolved is how UWB is considered by the Office of Educational Assessment; we are viewed as an external customer. 

EC discussion:

• Is the current information on this evaluation useful to UWB?
• Did FCAS formulate this evaluation and was UWB included in the formula?
• What should UWB do to make UWS realize that we should not be considered an external customer?
• How do UWB's programs handle evaluations?
• Educational Assessment does the evaluations for UWS, who does ours?
• The connection to UWS could be a double-edged sword, we do not have a Dean of Undergraduate Education for our bachelor degrees (and it could be implied that we fall under the Seattle dean if we wish to push equivalency with UWS).
• Peer evaluation of teaching at UWB is required for P&T.
• The EC would like more information on the adjusted median in the evaluation.

Action item: Mike will find out more information from the Office of Educational Assessment on the evaluation and the adjusted median and forward to the EC.

New Business
A.   Discussion of campus-level academic strategic planning

       Mike opened discussion on campus-level academic strategic planning with the program planning process that the GFO developed from faculty feedback from the faculty forums and the proposed majors, minors and initiatives that came forward during the academic planning process. The suggestion from the GFO meeting was that themes be organized under umbrella groups for analysis.  The EC recommended that the criteria for analyzing programs be based on the criteria that the ASTP group used - academic merit, employer demand and student demand.  The EC drafted the STEM resolution to support the implementation of the ASTP recommendation to move forward with science, technology, engineering and math at UWB. 

EC discussion:

• We should look at models of strategic plans and decide on a vision for UWB.
• Academic planning at UWB happens at the program level, but is not coordinated at the campus level.
• The EC supported the ASTP report because it was not getting strong support at the program level.
• Interdisciplinary teaching has always been our vision, how do we make it real?
• Several of our goals for this process lead in different directions.
• The legislation for a university in Everett will impact our decisions.
• What is UWB's strategic position on the Everett campus?
• This is a critical area for faculty to have a voice in deciding.
• We have to identify signature themes for UWB.
• How do we stimulate the development of new proposals, which ones can we afford to do?
• What is the best way to invest our resources on a limited budget?
• How do we shape our future in a coherent way?
• What will be our relationship to other campuses?
• How should we assume our role with the North Sound campus?
• Some themes that UWB could consider:

     *     Public Health

     *     Educational Sustainability

• Degree programs will come out of themes and development of pathways for students into the programs could also result from development of themes.

Tom had some options for UWB to consider in relation to the North Sound campus:

1. UWB could become a liberal arts college on a different site, build dorms and build from the freshman up. 
2. Do not complete with UWE, do not develop programs in the same areas.  UWB would not develop technology, but this may hurt us.
3. Develop a network campus with UWS with extended studies office.  Students could shuttle between campuses.
4. Work as a single campus - UWB and UWE - North Sound campus - Bothell, Everett, Friday Harbor, Bellevue and beyond.

We cannot keep all our options open, we need to decide on our future and this planning is happening now.  Chancellor Chan will be meeting with faculty over the summer to make decisions and develop a strategic plan. The faculty voice must be strong at this critical time in the institution's future.  The GFO will hold a forum to discuss these issues.

Tom had one more announcement for the EC, Chancellor Chan would like to establish a new administrative reporting structure.  He wants to have vice chancellors of academic affairs, business and finance and student relations report directly to him. 

The meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

Minutes submitted by Barbara Van Sant