General Faculty Organization

Executive Council Meeting: 05/27/2008

Executive Council Meeting

May 27, 2008, 10:00 am, UW1 211B

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

Guests: Bruce Balick, Linda Bale, Burgett Burgett and Ann Cox

Adoption of Agenda
The agenda was adopted.

Reports of Officers

A. Chair - Mike

Mike reported on a conversation he had with Rosa Lundborg of Student Affairs. She talked with him about a speaker series that Student Affairs sponsors for deaf students and asked if the GFO would like to become involved in sponsoring this series. Mike asked the EC if this was a faculty governance function and if the GFO should contribute toward funding these types of events. It was determined that there would be more appropriate organizations on campus to fund this type of event. The IRSC has made a recommendation for a faculty speaker series that will showcase faculty research at UWB. It was suggested that the TLC could contribute support for funding of these events.

GFO elections are underway for the Chair and Vice Chair of GFO, members of the Campus Council on Promotion, Tenure and Faculty Affairs and FOCUS; paper ballots were disseminated for vote on the GFO Bylaws amendments.

B. Vice-Chair - Dan

Dan discussed information that he received from the UW Office of Public Records. He conferred with Eliza Saunders, Director of OPR and reported on some of the regulations that apply to EC meetings. Special meetings (open public meetings) need to be reported to the OPR 72 hours in advance. EC meetings are considered special meetings since they are not pre-scheduled by December 31 of the previous academic year.

Discussion with Bruce Balick, Incoming Vice-Chair of UW Faculty Senate.

Dan introduced Bruce Balick and thanked him for his interest in meeting with the EC and visiting the campus. Bruce was enthusiastic about meeting with the EC and developing a relationship with the UW Bothell academic community. He is Chair of UW Astronomy and will be the Vice-Chair of the Faculty Senate next year. The Senate is the legislative body of the UW. The Senate is in communication with the President, the Provosts and the administration of the institution on legislative matters. The Senate monitors academic programs, sets guidelines on curriculum and makes recommendations on campus budgetary matters. Bruce shared some of the priorities that he has set as Vice-Chair of the Senate:

1. Establish the College of the Environment at the UW.
2. Improve relationships between UWB, UWT and UWS. Identify areas between the three campuses that will produce the maximum benefit for students and find out what faculty feel is in their best interest across the campuses.

Other issues that Bruce sees as important are faculty governance issues. He asked why UWB adopted the UW Faculty Handbook? How is STEM planning moving forward at UWB and where does this academic planning make contact with UWS, what can the Senate do to support faculty efforts at UWB? Bruce opened a dialog with the EC to discuss any issues that the EC would like him to know about.

EC discussion

UWB has been dealing with a 10% growth model for enrollment for years, we will grow by 600 student FTEs and a 40% growth in faculty over the next 3 years. This puts a huge strain on faculty service.
Many issues around research and scholarship have surfaced with the increase of majors and programs. There is not enough time for faculty to conduct research with the increased work load. The growth of lower division at UWB has also impacted the ability of faculty to devote time to research and scholarship.
There are so many priorities that have come up with the scaling up of the campus, institution building and growth has been an issue throughout our history.
Other issues are the lack of labs and new facilities at UWB. The Legislature looks at capacity issues in designating capital for buildings and design proposals; since we are under-enrolled, we cannot successfully make our case for more resources. This is one of the biggest political problems we face.
UWB is different from UWT in a faculty governance respect, we are closely tied to UWS through location and involvement with councils, committees, etc. UWS programs can leverage other programs for support. How can we strengthen our position?
It would be helpful if President Emmert and Provost Wise visited UWB a few times during the year.
UWB works with the UW Government Relations Office on legislative issues, but it doesn't always seem like a strong lobby.
Chancellor Chan does have a sense of what this campus needs. He has created a road map to guide planning for the next 20 years.
Faculty relations with the Chancellor are good, Town Hall Meetings and other meetings open discussion on important issues.
There are some transitions happening, authority and control over curriculum may be delegated to the UWB programs directly, instead of going through UWS. Our curriculum now goes to the UW Curriculum Committee after the UWB Campus Council on Academic Standards and Curriculum approves it.
The economic footprint of the region suggests that UWB could serve the community with engineering and science programs, but we are slow in getting these programs funded and supported.
One of the signature benefits of UWB is that we are a small campus with the resources of the UW - academic services support, but there are other resources we still need - labs, a new building and policies, such as transfer agreements that will increase the flow of students between UWB and UWS.

Bruce thanked Dan for the invitation to visit UWB and affirmed his commitment to working closely with the faculty here to improve tri-campus relations.

Approval of EC minutes of April 22 and May 13, 2008

EC minutes of April 22, 2008 were unanimously approved as amended.

EC minutes of May 13, 2008 were unanimously approved as amended.

Reports from programs

A. Business - no report.

B. CSS
Bill - The CSS 10-year review is complete. The report was favorable to the program's growth plans and linkages with STEM planning and the new BA in Applied Computing. The CSS program has requested a presentation from the UW EE faculty for the new online degree program to be managed by UWB. Bill has submitted Class B legislation to the Faculty Senate that will differentiate distance learning courses on transcripts from regular classes.

C. Education - no report.

D. IAS - no report.

E. Nursing - no report.

Reports of Committees

A. Campus Council on Academic Standards and Curriculum - no report.

B. Campus Council on Promotion, Tenure and Faculty Affairs
Constantin - CCPTFA is reviewing the promotion and tenure process and will make recommendations to the EC.

C. Instructional and Research Support Committee - will meet tomorrow.

Old business

A. Consideration of MOU with UW Educational Outreach regarding conditional admissions for international students.

Dan updated the EC on status of the MOU between UW Bothell and the UW Educational Outreach English Language Programs (UWEO ELP). The EC will be asked to make a recommendation on this at the next EC meeting. VCAA Jeffords and Chris Gilman will be at the June 3 EC meeting for a discussion and to answer any questions about the agreement. In collaboration with UWEO ELP UW Bothell would enter into an agreement to cooperate on a Conditional Admissions Program for the purpose of recruiting academically qualified international students for UWB. Under this program, UWB agrees to accept completion of ELP as equivalent to TOFEL in terms of satisfactory evidence of English proficiency for the purposes of admission to UWB.

B. NOI from IAS for conversion of all concentrations to majors.

The EC deliberated on the NOI for conversion of all concentrations to majors.

EC discussion

This must not become a back-door way to get degrees approved. The same rigor for options must be proven as for majors, otherwise this process could circumvent the approval process.
Degree proposals go to the HECB for approval, conversion from options to majors will go through the same process.
NOI is not a proposal, full proposals for each new major need to be developed..
These degrees must be supported by the campus and fit into the academic strategic plan (STEM).
If these proposals are bundled and sent to the EC and eventually to the HECB, how will programs respond and act upon the recommendations? What if some, but not all of the proposed options are approved, does that shut down the whole process? This is a structural issue.
Bruce Burgett stated that the IAS faculty voted unanimously in favor of the NOI and he has received provisional feedback from both the HECB and David Canfield Budde from the UW Graduate School on this proposal to bundle options.
Student support is another issue - is there adequate support in all of these areas?
Do we currently have the organizational structure to support students in each of these individualized majors?
This planning document moves forward in the direction that the academic plan calls for.

EC motion
The EC approves the NOI from IAS for conversion of all concentrations to majors. Gowri called the question, Nancy seconded and the motion carried 7-1.

C. Discussion/approval of the UWB Strategic Plan (The 21st Century Campus Inititative)

Ann Cox updated the EC on the UWB Strategic Plan, the 30-day comment period has concluded and input from individuals as well as groups, including the ASUWB, the Alumni Association and the Advisory Board has been incorporated into Draft #5 of the initiative presented to the EC for review and recommendation. The EC offered some feedback which will be included in the final proposal.

EC feedback in specific areas:

OUR Priorities (not ranked)

Growth: Serve the citizens of the State of Washington by providing increased access to a premier university education.

Develop new majors and graduate programs in high-demand fields and foundational studies to serve student, employer and regional needs. Broad fields identified for new or continued development include:
- Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM); and Health Sciences

EC recommendation: change Health Sciences to Health (UWB direction is more applied science).

Diversity: Enhance campus commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.

Create a multicultural center to support students of diverse backgrounds, foster understanding and appreciation of differences, and enrich campus life.

EC recommendation: change center to program.

Sustainability: Develop environmental and human sustainability as a signature initiative.

Support evidence-based approaches to thinking ethically and systematically about the health of humanity through the study of regional and global real- world challenges.

EC recommendation: remove the above bullet point, add a bullet point:

Develop into a low impact campus through careful materials and energy stewardship.

EC motion
The EC approves the UWB Strategic Plan (The 21st Century Campus Inititative) as amended. Gowri called question, Bill seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

New Business - no new business for discussion.

EC meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm
The next meeting will be June 3, 2008
Minutes submitted by Barbara Van Sant