General Faculty Organization

Executive Council Meeting: 11/13/2007

Executive Council Meeting

November 13, 2007, 3:30 pm, UW2 327

Present: Constantin Behler, Steve Collins, Bill Erdly, Dan Jaffe, Nancy Place, Gowri Shankar, Suzanne Sikma and Mike Stiber

Guest: Hung Dang, Cinnamon Hillyard, Chuck Jackels, Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, Peter Littig, Jill Orcutt, Kelvin Sung and Carol Zander

Adoption of Agenda

The agenda was amended to move "EC STEM resolution to "New business". Agenda was adopted as amended.

Approval of EC minutes of February 7, 2007

Approval of the EC minutes of October 11, 2007 and October 23, 2007 were approved as amended.

Announcements

Dan updated the EC on the UW SIS report to the State Legislature, due on November 15. Lessons learned from UWB and UWT give insight for recommendations to support a comprehensive university and not a slow, incremental development of a new campus. A statewide approach to STEM may offer an effective way to meet the demand for more degrees in those areas.

Reports of Officers

A. Chair - Mike Stiber - no report

B. Vice-Chair - Dan Jaffe

Dan reported on STEM planning by sharing information from the Academic Council meeting and his meetings with faculty on this issue. VCAA Jeffords put STEM planning on the AC agenda and there is support from the UWB administration on moving forward with STEM planning, this is an affirmation of our administrative and shared faculty governance process working well.

The promotion and tenure process at UWB for faculty under consideration for promotion from associate to full professor is currently under discussion regarding the role of the Committee of the Fulls. The new GFO Bylaws structured the Campus Council on Promotion, Tenure and Faculty Affairs, the campus-level advisement body, but the role of the Committee of the Fulls has not been defined at a programmatic level.

Enrollment issues are on the EC agenda, Hung Dang and Jill Orcutt will join the EC to discuss this matter. The EC will need to give this careful consideration to ensure that we maintain academic rigor and process.

Reports of Committees

A. Campus Council on Academic Standards & Curriculum

Cinnamon reported that the CCASC met in November, the council discussed the charge of the council and approved curriculum proposals. The Curriculum Coordinator from the UW Registrar's Office will meet with the council in December to discuss the curriculum and the tri-campus review process. A reference manual for the CCASC is being put together by Barbara Van Sant and will be ready for the November meeting.

B. Campus Council on Promotion, Tenure & Faculty Affairs

Constantin reported that the CCPTFA met once and is in the process of scheduling meetings this quarter.

C. Instructional and Research Support

Nancy reported that the IRSC will meet on Monday, November 19.

Old business

A. Clarification of approval process for UWB Biotechnology and Biomedical Technology Institute (BBTI) - Dan

The BBTI proposal is moving forward through established procedures; the proposal was posted for the formal 30-day comment period by Carolyn Brennan, Director of Research Support on October 22, 2007. The official comment period will end on November 26, 2007. Carolyn will then compile the comments and distribute to the EC, the AC and the BBTI group. The EC will make a formal recommendation on the Institute at the November 27^th or December 11 EC meeting. If comments have been received by the November 27 EC meeting, the motion for a vote on the Institute could be put on the EC agenda for November.

B. Decision on faculty survey as discussed by Dan Jacoby on 10/11/07 - EC decision needed EC - Dan

Dan asked that the EC consider the issues presented on the possibility of a faculty survey. We need to send a recommendation to Dan Jacoby on whether and/or how to proceed with the survey. The Campus Council on Promotion, Tenure and Faculty Affairs also reviewed the survey at their first meeting.

EC discussion

The survey covered many issues - the SIS campus, faculty job satisfaction and student demographics.
The survey could be a good tool to gather information for strategic planning.
It will be helpful to see the faculty retreat summary and find out what people's responses are to issues that were addressed at the retreat.
STEM planning is an important issue and one way to ground our discussion would be to get faculty feedback through the survey.
The survey could effectively gather faculty feedback across the campus.
A survey can look at core dimensions that are important - the UWB mission, strategic planning, STEM.

EC recommendation:

The EC recommends that Dan go forward with the survey in consultation with the EC and utilize data from the UWB and UW surveys that assessed faculty job satisfaction. It is further recommended that the survey include STEM/non-STEM strategic planning, SIS implications, UWB mission and faculty job satisfaction.

New Business

A. Proposal on STEM - Dan, Mike, Suzanne.

The STEM resolution on Appointment of a Joint Faculty/Administration Task Force on STEM degree implementation was moved by Mike and seconded by Suzanne. Since the resolution was moved to "New business", a discussion can take place today and an EC vote on the resolution will be held at the EC meeting, November 27, 2007. Dan outlined the various possibilities: the resolution can come to vote as it is currently written, it can come to vote with amendments and/or an alternate resolution can be drafted for vote.

EC discussion

The 2 week delay is needed; EC reps will consult with their programs for input, feedback and comment.
The process must be transparent.
The resolution must be inclusive, craft a resolution that addresses the faculty's concerns.
The EC should maintain a strong faculty voice in the strategic planning process.
The EC represents campus leadership and must move STEM planning forward in consultation with program faculty.
Should we call a GFO forum for feedback on this resolution, an open discussion in an assembly environment? No consensus reached on this point.
As the taskforce moves forwards, campus-wide forums would be beneficial.
The resolution should lay out the framework for STEM, the March deadline aligns the taskforce work with the budgeting process.
The ASTP report brought this forward, the EC strongly supported the report of that group, now is the time to act on this.
We should bring our interdisciplinary focus to STEM planning, this resolution shows how STEM can link to all programs.
UWB has a problem with under enrollment, STEM could help meet external expectations by offering math and science.
UWB has 4 undergraduate degrees, which is a limited range of choices, STEM could expand the range - engineering, develop sustainable technology programs.

EC program representative's discussion

Nursing - Suzanne

The ASTP report recommended STEM planning. Nursing supports STEM planning.

Business - Gowri

Business is in support of STEM planning.

Education - Nancy

Education is supportive of STEM planning and wants to see a broader range of interdisciplinary math and science in the proposal.
Concerns - composition of the taskforce. Under-represented populations (minorities/women) should be represented in the task-force.

IAS - Constantin

Concerns - How will the new entity relate to STEM planning already underway in IAS? How will the work of IAS faculty in math and science be recognized in this process? How will the development of a STEM program affect the IAS core of arts and sciences program, will it push it back, delay it?

CSS - Bill

CSS supports STEM planning, many faculty are interested in participating in an interdisciplinary approach to STEM. It will offer a broader education to UWB students.

Specific recommendations:

The EC will vote on the STEM resolution at the November 27 meeting. Several EC members suggested the following amendments to the wording of the resolution:

Integrate science and math into the mission of the campus.
The EC is committed to shared governance in the strategic planning process and to ensuring that STEM fits into that overall strategic planning process.
The phrasing "new program or similar entity" should be replaced with "academic unit", this is an important concept - we may not want to reproduce another administrative program. With this wording, the taskforce can think through different administrative models.
EC supports a STEM planning structure to build an inclusive and supportive learning community though a targeted outreach to under represented groups. Build educational opportunities for under represented groups (women, minorities).
EC supports a STEM planning structure to build a strong K-12 pipeline that will prepare students for educational opportunities at UWB.
The list of specific majors should omit majors that have already been approved (CSS and B.S. in Environmental Science).

Action item: Mike and Suzanne will make revisions and distribute to the EC for vote at November 27 meeting.

B. Enrollment issues - Hung Dang

Hung Dang, UWB Registrar and Jill Orcutt, Director of Admissions presented a brief overview of enrollment issues facing UWB. The EC was asked to consider a number of adjustments to our admission requirements to help close the enrollment gap at UWB. Adjustments proposed:

1. Improve timelines of admissions response, empower director of admissions to have greater autonomy to admit students in "gray" area. We support Gray's recommendation to remove faculty involvement in the freshman admission process except in the gray area review.Gray area applicants are those within the threshold where a Director of CUSP should be consulted.

Motion:

The EC approves the adjustment to empower the director of admissions to have greater autonomy to admit students not in "gray" area. Dan called the motion, Nancy seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

EC recommendation:

More consultation is required. The rationale for this decision was based on UWB's status as an upper division campus, impact to CUSP must be taken into account.

2. Implement year-long freshman admissions. Our current transfer policy restricts admitting transfer students with less than 45 credits. We propose that UWB terminate this policy and allow transfer student to apply with credit restriction.

3. Allow up to 15% if students not meeting core requirements to be admitted, as allowed by HECB to increase recruitment of students from diverse backgrounds. HECB allows schools to admit freshman with core deficient. We should consider this option to help increase our enrollment as well as boost our underserved population.

4. Improve access for returning students by allowing flexibility in meeting core requirements. Some older returning students are deficient in core. For example, some older student was not required to complete foreign language in high school in the 70's. We should consider either completely waiving the requirement or admit on condition of completing FL prior to graduation.

5. Allow students to complete foreign language requirement while at UWB. We currently required a completion of foreign language requirement before enrolling. We propose that student be admitted on condition of completing the requirement prior to graduation.

6. Allow foreign language 102 to count towards VLPA as in community college

7. Align TOEFL score with UW Seattle Admissions requirement

Motion:

The EC approves the adjustment to allow students to complete foreign language requirement while at UWB within the first 90 credits. Mike called the motion, Nancy seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

EC discussion

Jill stated that the goal for these adjustments is to admit freshman and transfer students in a timely manner.
The strict 45 credit requirement is resulting in the loss of transfer students.
Curriculum requirements need to be examined - freshmen are required to take the Discovery Core I and II sequentially.
Students with less than 45 credits are not admitted as transfer students.
What impact will lowering the admission criteria below 45 credits have on the requirements for completing the Discovery Core?
Financial aid requires 36 credits, that may be a reasonable place to start.
Enrollment issues need broader discussion with CUSP and FOCUS.

EC recommendation:

The EC will consult with Gray Kochhar-Lindgren and FOCUS on enrollment issues.

The meeting adjourned at 5:45 pm

Minutes submitted by Barbara Van Sant