It’s a busy week for faculty governance!
Faculty Senate: Monday 4/3 — Agenda
Senate Extended Education Committee: Tuesday 4/4 — Agenda
Senate Library Committee: Wednesday 4/5 — Agenda
University Planning and Resources Council: Wednesday 4/5 — Agenda
Academic Technology Committee: Thursday 4/6 — Agenda
Faculty Senate Executive Council is engaging in the important work of connecting with the committees that are the extensions of faculty governance throughout the University. One of our current exciting projects seeks to enable and strengthen shared governance at the college level. To this end, the Faculty Senate Executive Council created an opportunity for the chairs of the college-level faculty governance committees to meet with each other to share insights and experience.
Initiated by one of the faculty governance chairs, the first meeting saw a lively conversation about how the different colleges work, exploring diversity in our practices and finding common ground in our shared purpose.
At the conclusion of the meeting, faculty governance chairs expressed a renewed commitment to develop, maintain, and communicate the policy and procedures that genuinely protect academic quality and integrity.
The college-level faculty governance committees go by various names: FAC, PPBC, FGC… You can find the name of your college committee on this annotated Faculty Governance Organization Chart from the Faculty Senate web page. Stay tuned for more opportunities to learn about faculty governance, and to engage with your college-level committees.
Western is at the end of its seven-year accreditation cycle and is ready for accreditors to visit during the first week of spring quarter.
All faculty are invited to attend the open faculty forum with the accreditation team just before classes start on Monday, March 27, from 1:15 until 2:00 in the Old Main solarium.
Faculty can also read the year seven self-evaluation report and other key documents that have been prepared for the visit. Many thanks to all who have worked to help us again reach this important milestone.
Dear Fellow Faculty,
Many thanks to all of you who have already completed the faculty survey being administered by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI).
Participating in this survey is an important opportunity to provide feedback to Western about our experiences and practices as teachers and scholars. The survey covers topics including diversity climate, sources of stress and satisfaction, pedagogical practices, research and service activities, and connection between classroom learning and practices in the local and global community.
I encourage you to complete the survey, and to answer the questions openly and honestly. Your perspectives are crucial to understanding Western’s climate, and to informing future paths for the University.
The survey will close on March 22nd. If you have questions that you need answered before feeling comfortable taking the survey, please share them in the form below. I will update this post with answers. Many thanks for your participation in this important process.
Sincerely,
Kristen Larson
Faculty Senate President
