Minutes of the Wichita State University Faculty Senate
Monday, March 3, 2014
CH 107 3:30 pm
Members Present: Barut, Brooks, Bryant, Celestin, Decker, Hanawalt, Horn, Hull, Johnson, Klunder, Lewis, Matveyeva, Moore-Jansen, Mosack, Perry, Pile, Rillema, Rokosz, Ross, Taher, Thiessen, Yildirim, Yu
Members Absent: Anderson, Bergman, Castro, Driessen, Hamdeh, Kagdi, Kreinath, Lilu, Lu, Miller, Oare, Trechak, Yeager
Members Excused: Baker, Close, Houseman
Summary of Action
1. Proposed Honors College Baccalaureate – approved proposal for the creation of
an Honors Baccalaureate to be conferred by the Honors College
2. Proposed revisions to WSU Policy & Procedures 5.06 – Approved amendment to the
revisions.
3. Include service as a member of the SGA Election Commission an additional duty
of the President-elect of the Faculty Senate
I. Call to Order
President Victoria Mosack called the meeting to order at 3:30pm.
II. Informal Statements and Proposals
WSU Foundation's Faculty and Staff Giving Campaign “I Heart WSU” -- President Mosack introduced Krista Voth, Annual Fund Director for the WSU Foundation,
and asked her to provide some details about the “I Heart WSU” campaign. Ms. Voth encouraged
all senators to be supportive of the faculty and staff giving campaign with their
personal contributions as well as promoting the campaign to their colleagues. She
reminded the Senate that this was an opportunity to “give back” to the University
by contributing to an aspect of the University that “you love”. The contribution can
be directed to a specific area on a list provided by the Foundation, or to an area
that was not a part of the list. No fees are deducted from the donation. Last year
20% of the faculty and staff contributed, with the College of Heath Professions leading
in terms of percentage of participation. Contributions will be accepted anytime before
June 30, and one time donations or payroll deductions are allowed. Contributions to
the unrestricted Annual Fund last year was $650 thousand. Ms. Voth praised the work
of the 20 student volunteer who called on the alumni for contributions.
III. Approval of the Minutes
The minutes of the January 27, 2014, and February 10, 2014, meetings of the Faculty
Senate were approved as written.
IV. President's Report
President Mosack reported on the following three items of interest to the Senate:
A. KBOR Social Media Policy
The Kansas Board of Regents established a work group to make recommendations for
a revision of the existing policy regarding “improper use of social media”. WSU representatives
to the work group are President Mosack, and Richard Muma, associate vice president
for academic affairs. The work group has written a draft of a recommended revision
of the current policy, adopted by the KBOR in December 2013, and is now seeking feedback
from the entire university community. The draft is available for review and comment
at: https://www.wichita.edu/j/?2783. Feedback will be received from March 3 through
Friday, March 28.
The following is a condensed summary of the key points of the draft:
The Kansas Board of Regents supports the responsible use of existing and emerging
communications technologies, including social media, to serve the missions of Kansas
universities. Each university shall adopt guidelines to advise all university employees
on the responsible use of social media.
Social media is defined to be any “facility for online publication and commentary”.
The guidelines shall make clear that “the improper use of social media” does NOT
include the following content: academic research and other scholarly activities; academic
instruction; statements, debate, or expressions made as part of shared governance;
or, communication that is consistent with First Amendment protections which is otherwise
permissible under the law.
The guidelines shall remind employees that content on social media may violate existing
law or policy and may be addressed through university disciplinary processes IF it:
intentionally directs or incites violence; violates existing employee policies addressing
professional misconduct; discloses without lawful authority any confidential student
information, protected health care information, personnel records, personal financial
information, or confidential research data.
The guidelines shall assure employees that they have the right as well as the responsibility
to speak on matters of public concern as private citizens, free of any institutional
censorship. However, if they choose to do so they should be accurate, exercise appropriate
restraint, show respect for the opinions of others, and indicate that they are not
speaking for the institution.
B. President Bardo's University Update
President Mosack provided the following summary of President Bardo's address of February
24, 2014:
The University is in the process of creating an "Innovation Campus" (IC) of four
new buildings at the mid-southeast part of the campus. The first phase will be the
construction of the TECH 2 Building on the site now occupied by the Wheatshocker Apartments
(to be removed in August 2014). This new IC will allow the University to join into
public and private partnerships which will create new funded research opportunities
and new technology, jobs and internships. Outside companies will have the opportunity
to build infrastructure on the WSU campus
The University has seen a significant increase in high school senior applications
for admission during the fiscal year to the point that President is comfortable in
predicting an increase of more than 600 in enrollment this fall, relevant to last
fall.
The Virtual One-Stop for advising and enrollment will be operational by the second
semester of 2015.
C. RFP from the Tilford Commission
An invitation was emailed to the faculty inviting faculty members to apply for a
stipend of $4,000 to develop a new diversity-related course, or to modify an existing
course to enhance its diversity content. In addition to the stipend, successful applicants
will serve as Fellows of the Tilford Commission for the 2014-15 academic year. Full-time
faculty at the rank of instructor or higher and full‚Äêtime unclassified professionals
who have a 50% or greater teaching appointment are eligible to apply. The deadline
for submission of the proposal is March 14, 2014.
V. Committee Reports.
Senator Mehmet Barut, Chair of the Rules Committee, announced that an email was being
sent to the faculty for nominations for Senate committee positions. He urged all senators
to volunteer for committee assignments and to encourage their colleagues to serve
as well.
VI. Old Business
A. Proposed Honors Baccalaureate – 2nd reading
Mary Walker, Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, and Kim Engber, Dean of the
Honors College, fielded questions from the Senate during the second reading of the
proposal from the Honors College seeking Faculty Senate approval of an Honors Baccalaureate
degree to be conferred by the Honors College. Eventually several different tracts
will be available for honors students to pursue, but at this time only the “Leadership”
tract has been developed to the point of being offered in the Fall semester of 2014.
The Leadership tract will serve as an example of the remaining tracts to be available
at a later time.
At the first reading of the proposal a number of issues were raised and addressed
by the supporters of the proposal.
Several additional questions were raised during the time of this second reading and
those were answered to the satisfaction of the majority of the members of the Senate.
The vote to accept the proposal, as written, was passed with only one dissenting vote.
B. Proposed revisiouns to WSU Policy & Procedure 5.06: Resolution of Internal Disputes
--2nd reading
The University attorney, Ted Ayers, agreed to accept the removal of the only obstacle
to passage that was raised during the initial first reading of the proposed change
of the policy. The offending sentence could have explicitly prevented a colleague
of the faculty member from taking notes during the grievance hearing. The policy was
amended by removal of the sentence, and the Senate voted unanimously to approve the
policy.
VII. New Business
SGA Request – The SGA requested that the Senate appoint a senator to serve on the SGA Election
Commission as a non-voting, ex officio Election Observer. Senator Ross moved to expand
the duties of the president-elect to include this membership. The Senate voted unanimously
to accept the motion
.
VIII. As May Arise - none
IX. Adjournment
President Mosack adjourned the meeting at 4:06pm.
Submitted by Walter Horn
Secretary of the Faculty Senate