Faculty Senate Report, 2007-2008

James Guffey, President

Diane Johnson, President Pro-tempore

Governance

• Board of Governors• President and Administrative

Officers• Faculty Senate

– Graduate Council– Undergraduate Council

• Staff Council• Student Senate

Shared Governance

• Reliance on collective intelligence

• Mutual access to information

• Active construction of shared understandings

• Amazing amounts of individual and group effort to develop and sustain the enterprise

Fluid Interdependence

• Initiation of ideas and actions and types of participation in decision making may vary across and between levels of governance depending on the issue and areas of primary responsibility (AAUP)

Fluid Interdependence

• A common vision maximizes our energies and impact as well as presents a common front to those outside our boundaries

Communication is Critical

• Any level of governance can initiate ideas and actions

• Any level of governance can participate in decision making

• Attention must be given to the most appropriate ways of involving different levels concerning different issues depending on particular areas of responsibility

Key Terms in Shared Governance

• Constituents vs “Them”

• Accountability vs Unilateral Action

• Participation vs Isolation

• Transparency vs Confusion

Key Terms in Shared Governance

• Consensus-Building vs Majority/Minority

• Commitment vs Apathy/Entitlement

• Vision vs “Business as Usual”

What We Work On - Together

• Higher Learning Commission Criteria– Mission and integrity

– Evaluation and planning

– Student learning and effective teaching

– Acquisition, discovery, and application of knowledge

– Engagement and service

Faculty Governance

Specific responsibilities:• Curriculum and instruction• Academic freedom• Research• Faculty status (performance

review, appointments, promotions, tenure, dismissal)

Faculty Governance

Specific responsibilities:• Requirements for degrees

offered• Approval of graduates• Aspects of student life that

relate to instruction (e.g., various co-curricular activities such as internships, service learning, and study abroad)

Faculty Senate Charge

• Legislative authority for academic issues.– New majors and minors– Approve LSP and other courses– Study abroad, interdisciplinary

majors, etc. for graduate and undergraduate programs

• Advisory authority over budgetary issues

Standing Committees

• Undergraduate Council

• Graduate Council

• Budget Committee

• Faculty Personnel and Policies Committee

Undergraduate Council

• Commission on Undergraduate Curriculum– Study of the current LSP and

role of the major

– Phase One complete: create design principles

– Phase Two in progress: develop alternative proposals

Undergraduate Council

• Working to improve existing curriculum– Pilot program for linked courses

– Encourage faculty to create interdisciplinary offerings

– Approval of new JINS courses, five new intercultural courses, and two new interdisciplinary minors: Cognitive Science and Actuarial Science

Undergraduate Council

• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)– Systematic reflection and

inquiry about course- or program-level student learning conceived and undertaken by faculty in such a way that the findings may be reviewed, critiqued, replicated and extended by peers.

Undergraduate Council

• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).– Created guidelines for and

administered grants with funding and support from the Office of the Provost and the Center for Teaching and Learning

Graduate Council

• New business primarily focused on the MAE– Year-round and transparent

application process– New study abroad opportunity

in China– New certification add-on in

teaching English as a Second Language

Graduate Council

• Graduate program assessment– Five year reviews of two

programs: Biology and Accountancy

Graduate Council

• Recruitment– Expanded efforts, including

highlighting opportunities for minority students

– Overall enrollment generally stable, with increases noted in Accountancy, Communication Disorders, and the MAE

Faculty Senate

• Approved 31 course proposals, including new courses and revisions

• Charged ad-hoc committees: Instructor Rating Process, Sabbatical Review, Governance Restructuring, Intellectual Diversity

Faculty Senate

• Five-Year Program Reviews– Accounting

– Biology

– Economics

– History

– Sociology/Anthropology

Faculty Senate

• Tenure & Promotion Review Guidelines– Established process for

establishing discipline-specific criteria

– Most departments have put forward documents

Mission Manifested

• Our mission is to create student learning.

• Our curriculum is the life blood of that mission.

• Our faculty are the link between the mission and its realization.