Colleagues,
Welcome to spring and (hopefully) nicer weather! As we approach the end of the academic year, I wanted to update you on several things that happened at Faculty Senate during the winter quarter and where we are heading this spring.
Late in the winter quarter, we sponsored a forum on Academic Freedom & Free Expression with two excellent speakers who are experts in this area. We were joined via Zoom by Dr. Jennifer Ruth (Portland State University) and Dr. Thomas Merrill (American University) to discuss the differences between academic freedom and free speech, and the role that faculty can play in helping cultivate a culture that values these concepts.
If you were unable to join us and would like to watch the webinar, here is a link to the recording. We also have several useful resources related to academic freedom and free expression available on the Faculty Senate webpage.
We have also been busy working on updating the Faculty Handbook. These revisions are being reviewed and voted on by the full Senate as the ad hoc committee completes work on different sections. We hope to have most of this work completed by the end of the academic year.
On April 2, we emailed faculty about the Faculty Senate elections for two-year terms to run from 2024-26. There are a total of nine seats representing several colleges that are open this year. Elections are administered by college governance bodies, with results certified by the Faculty Senate. If you’d like more information about the nature of our work, time commitments, or anything else, please feel free to contact me at dupontb@wwu.edu or 360-650-2058.
In Winter Quarter the Academic Coordinating Commission (ACC) approved 598 curriculum proposals (including 124 program of study proposals and 463 course proposals) via Curriculog. Year to date, the ACC has approved a total of 826 proposals, including 661 course proposals and 115 Alternate Modality approvals. For more details on ACC’s recent work, please refer to their Winter 2024 quarterly report to the Senate.
Finally, I’m grateful that earlier this year we were able to revive the Senate Outreach and Continuing Education (OCE) Committee and the Senate Library Committee. Neither committee had met for several years, but I see this work as key to shared governance on campus. Thank you to everyone who serves on these and other Senate committees!
All the best,
Brandon Dupont
Faculty Senate President