Archives for May 2017

Do you know… Green Book, Fact Book, and more

Do you know faculty members who always seem to have the right figures about Western at hand?  This post reveals some of their secrets!  For your enjoyment and edification, I present the following:

 

“The Green Book” from the WWU Budget Office

https://budgetoffice.wwu.edu/operating-budgets/

“Annual, on-campus publication of the University’s operating budget which highlights the fiscal year budget plan and departmental allocations.”

What it includes:   Lots and lots of pages, nearly 400 of ’em.  Salary data, although not always accurate.

What it does not include:   Most of the NTT faculty

 

“Fact Book” from WWU Office of Institutional Research (OIR)

https://wp.wwu.edu/ir/fact-book

What it includes:   Information about instruction.  Courses, enrollments, retention, degrees, and so much more.

What it does not include:   Some sensitive data about students and employees.  See the handy two-page tutorial for info.

 

Are you more of a visual person? Do you understand that a picture is worth a thousand spreadsheets?  OIR puts some of our most interesting data on Tableau, which allows users to engage with the numbers in creative ways.  I highly recommend a visit.

 

Other interesting links:

http://www.collegeportraits.org/aag/WA/WWU/templates

http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/student-diversity-2016

 

 

 

 

 

Strategic Planning

This year’s development of the University strategic plan has arrived at an important milestone, with an invitation for the campus community to engage again in the process.

Excerpt from email sent to campus:

[The strategic plan’s draft] goals and objectives can be found here.  We are looking forward to receiving your feedback at WWUStrategicPlanning@wwu.edu; the web site has a link to this e-mail address as well.  If you prefer to give your feedback anonymously, please click the link on the website here. Please provide your feedback by the end of the day, Wednesday, May 31.

After we receive your feedback we will revise our goals and objectives as necessary, add a framing narrative for the entire document and for each goal, and identify metrics by which to judge the University’s progress in accomplishing them. We will submit our final draft to President Randhawa by June 16, as he asked in his charge. That draft will be circulated in the summer and fall before final revision and presentation to the Board of Trustees for adoption.

As Senate President, I would like to add my personal thanks to the faculty who served on the strategic planning committee:  Vicki Hsueh, Nabil Kamel, David Leaf, Kristin Mahoney, and co-chair Paqui Paredes Méndez.

New Academic Honesty

Many of us know the policies and procedures for academic dishonesty as Appendix D in the catalog.  But have you looked at Appendix D recently?  Big changes are here!

New policies and procedures were approved by Faculty Senate in Spring 2016, and we’ve taken this year to prepare for implementation.

One website to visit before writing your next syllabus is the Western Coalition for Integrity.  The front page discusses the concept of integrity and how it relates to academic honesty.  The next website to visit is the site on Academic Honesty maintained by the Provost’s office.  There, you will find a description of the new policy, a link to the e-form, and a flow chart for faculty.  Please take a moment to review and bookmark these sites, and stay tuned in the coming months for more opportunities to learn about the new procedures.