Faculty Senate Minutes

Monday, September 12, 2016

Clinton Hall 126, 3:30PM-5:00PM

Senators Present: Anderson, Babnich, Barut, Birzer, Bolin, Bryant, Castro, Chang, Chopra, Close, Cramer, Decker, Dehner, Deibel, Ewing, Hendry, Hull, Koehn, Kreinath, Johnson, Lancaster, Moore-Jansen, Myose, Price, Pulaski, RIfe, Rillema, Rokosz, Ross, Shaw, Solomey, Willis, Woods, Yildirim

Senators Absent: Ahmed, Asaduzzaman, English, Shukaev, Taher, Wehe

Senators Excused: Brooks, Mosack, Shukaev

Summary of Actions:
1. Accepted appointment of Education representative Jennifer Stone and LAS Math/Physics/Natural Sciences representative Mark Schneegurt to the Academic Affairs Committee
2. Accepted appointment of LAS Social Science representative Kyoung Lee to the Faculty Support Committee
3. Accepted appointment of University Libraries representative Rachel Crane to the General Education Committee
4. Accepted appointment of Engineering representative Kagdi Huzefa to the Library Committee
5. Accepted appointment of Business representative Michael Imhof to the Scholarship and Student Aid Committee
6. Accepted appointments of Mary Walker and Yumi Suzuki to the Traffic Appeals Committee
7. Accepted appointment of Business representative Senator Decker to the Planning and Budget Committee

I. Call to Order 鈥� Meeting called to order at 3:31PM by President Yildirim

Introduction of New Faculty - Business 鈥� Duane Nagel; Education 鈥� Ryan Amick, Heidi Bell, Heidi Cornell, Kimberly McDowell; Engineering 鈥� Debswapna Bhattacharya, Yumeng Li; Fine Arts 鈥� Kristen Castaldi, Carmen Lemoine, Timothy Shade, Betul Soykan, Michael Sylvester, Jeb Wallace; LAS 鈥� David Klamm, Samuel Brown, Mythili Menon; University Libraries 鈥� Faye Oreilly

II. Informal Statements and Proposals
a. Associated Malaysian Students of Wichita (AMSOW) 鈥� President: Nik Azri (azri5194@gmail.com) and Secretary: Fiona Kee (finoa0308@yahoo.com). The AMSOW has not been officially recognized and is looking for a faculty advisor. Any faculty member interested should contact President Azri or Secretary Kee.

III. Approval of the Minutes
a. Minutes of the May 9, 2016 meeting were accepted as presented
b. Minutes of the election meeting of the 2016-2017 Senate of May 9, 2016 were accepted as presented

IV. President鈥檚 Report
a. Reminder - Faculty Senators make sure you sign in, pick up your name tag and return it at the end of the meeting.
b. Faculty Senate Budget - President Yildirim is still in discussion with President Bardo and Provost Vizzini regarding a budget for the faculty senate
c. WATC merger 鈥� The discussion over the summer focused on how to bring the WATC faculty under the WSU umbrella. WATC is a two year college with tenure requirements which differ from WSU鈥檚. Most WATC faculty do not have a terminal degree. President Yildirim asked for a WATC update to be on the next faculty senate meeting agenda.
i. Question: Is Dr. Bardo interested in purchasing Mindfire Academy? Answer: Currently there are conversations regarding equipment and programs. Mindfire Academy works with Bethany College.
ii. Question: Are there faculty involved? Answer: Senator Pulaski stated that several fine arts faculty are involved in looking at classes that could be used, at building degrees through classes that already exist such as 3D animation, video game design, and using the Mindfire facilities.

d. Status of Instructors and promotion guidelines 鈥� Several instructors and clinical educators are not currently represented by either the Faculty Senator or the Unclassified Professional Senate, nor do they have any opportunity for advancement. President Yildirim has asked the Rules Committee of the Faculty Senate to examine whether teaching faculty should be included in the faculty senate and if so, what type of opportunities should be available for advancement. The Rules Committee will take up the issue this fall.

e. First year seminar 鈥� A report on the 10 first year seminar pilot courses will come to the senate for discussion.

f. President Yildirim 鈥� Will be attending the first KBOR meeting of the semester this week. Topics under discussion include:
i. Update from institutions on campus weapons
ii. Discuss ways to increase faculty input to TAAC (Transfer and Articulation Council) and KCOG (Kansas Core Outcomes Group)
iii. Reports of discussions with local TAAC representatives
iv. Discuss timetable for and means of surveying university departments regarding using a higher cut score.
v. If any senators have recommendations/ideas for President Yildirim to bring up at the KBOR breakfast please send him an e-mail. 鈥�
vi. Question: Is there an update on the HLC visit? Answer: Senior Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Muma stated that the final documents for HLC are due tonight and the visit will take place October 10th and 11th. HLC will only be on campus for a day and a half.

V. Presentation from the United Way 鈥� Ann Collins/ John O鈥橪eary (Vice President of Engineering of Airbus and Chairman of UWP).
a. The upcoming campaign continues to focus on the building blocks for a better community - education, income and health. The evolving strategy focuses on funding basic human needs and crisis services, prevention and development services, plus a specific community impact target(s). The specific community impact target is reducing chronic absenteeism for children in elementary schools. UWP is working in conjunction with USD 259 on this impact target. In addition, UWP is working with a variety of partners to support the Airbus Flying Challenge a mentoring program with Hadley Middle School which focuses on improving graduation rates.
b. Faculty can help by contributing and finding ways to engage in the community. Pledge cards will be in the mail next week, DeLinda Royce 461-6785 is the WSU/UWP liaison.

VI. Committee Reports

A. Rules Committee 鈥� The following nominees were confirmed: Academic Affairs Committee: Jennifer Stone, Education; Mark Schneegurt, LAS Math; Faculty Support Committee: Kyoung Lee, LAS Social Science; General Education Committee: Rachel Crane, University Libraries; Library Committee: Kagdi Huzefa, Engineering; Scholarship and Student Aid Committee: Michael Imhof, Business, Traffic Appeals Committee: Mary Walker and Yumi Suzuki

B. Concealed Weapons Policy 鈥� Senator Moore-Jansen stated that the Weapons Policy Committee met over the summer. Questions regarding including faculty offices as gun free areas were raised. The deadline to get the policy to the Board of Regents is October 1st. Question: What kind of educational opportunities/training will there be for faculty, students and staff to address the issue in general? General consensus that there should be something available.

C. Election of Planning and Budget Committee 鈥� Business, Engineering, LAS Math/Physics/Natural Sciences 鈥� Senator Decker was confirmed as the representative for Business. President Yildirim will be contacting Engineering and LAS Math/Physics/Natural Sciences regarding representatives.

VII. Old Business 鈥� None

VIII. New Business
A. Proposed Military Leave Policy 鈥� Susan Norton 鈥� Director Adult Learning Director Norton and committee members shared a draft of the Military Leave of Absence (MLOA) policy. Current practice is inconsistent and the proposed policy should provide the needed consistency. Members of the faculty senate provided the following suggestions:
a. A line for the faculty member鈥檚 signature
b. Rewording of the readmission statement to clarify that military students were not being held to a higher standard for readmission.
c. Provide an optional syllabus statement for faculty who would like to add the information on their syllabi
Question: Who decides what is realistic or not realistic with regard to how much of a course could be made up? Answer: The faculty member does.
Question: If a student comes to the faculty with a form how do I know it is active duty? Answer: WSU Office of Veteran鈥檚 Affairs will confirm that it is a legitimate request.

The policy has been reviewed by the University Exceptions Committee. The next step is to have the policy reviewed by legal counsel. Once it is approved by legal counsel it will be sent to President Bardo.

B. SEM Update 鈥� Senator Shaw provided the following Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) update:
a. Strategic Enrollment Plan Roll Out event was held August 29th, and approximately 200 faculty and staff attended.
b. There are two documents on the Senate webpage (click on documents tab in the left hand column.) The first document is the draft of the Strategic Enrollment Plan which identifies the 7 focus goals and the second document consists of the 4 handouts provided for faculty and staff at the roll out event.
c. President Bardo has made a distinction between students as clients and students as customers. Students are our clients and we should deliver quality services to them, but do not need to meet their every demand.

IX. As May Arise - None

X. Adjournment 鈥� at 5:00PM