We invite and welcome your engagement with the Faculty Senate for the coming term.  As a Senate, the work we do moves us towards becoming an institution that leads the field in responding to the challenges faced by higher education in the 21^st century.  Western’s faculty has a long history of shaping the present and future direction of the University through shared governance, a process that is essential to the strength and health of the University.  As such, we seek a Senate that represents a wide range of perspectives and disciplines while ensuring faculty representation from every college.

Faculty members who are elected to the Senate have the opportunity to develop strong interdisciplinary networks with colleagues from across campus, to more fully understand and influence responses to important issues facing the University, to shape communication processes essential to effective shared governance, and to provide leadership in moving our university towards its goal of being a leading, publically-purposed 21^st century institution.

Please join us on the Senate next year, either by running for the Senate yourself or recommending Senate candidacy to your colleagues. We especially encourage you to consider running for the Faculty Senate if you have not participated previously or if your department is not currently represented.  Current Senators who wish to serve a second or third term do need to complete a new nominating petition.  The Elections and Appointments Officer, Rich Brown (x7320), or Shared Governance Operations Manager, Lizzy Ramhorst (x6808), will be glad to answer any questions you have about eligibility, the election process, or the nature of serving on the Senate.

The Faculty Senate election documents for 2017-19 are attached.  In addition, the Call for Nominations and Nominating Petition forms are available on the Senate website at http://www.wwu.edu/facultysenate.

Requirements for Nominating Petitions (Faculty Handbook, Constitution, Bylaw 12.2):

• A Statement of Agreement on the Nominating Petition must be signed by the Nominee;
• Five faculty colleagues must sign the Nominee’s petition;
• Voting faculty members (0.5FTE or greater) may be nominated or may sign another’s petition regardless of academic area affiliation;
• Nominating Petitions must be received in the Senate Office by 6 pm on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 via email (original documents can be scanned and submitted to Senate@wwu.edu), campus mail (MS 9020), or drop-off at the Senate Office (Old Main 350);
• For an effective election, more faculty nominees than the required number to fill seats are encouraged.

Election Ballots will be distributed to all voting-eligible faculty members via email link on Monday, April 24 and will remain open until 5 pm on Friday, May 5.  The election will be run through electionbuddy.com.  Users do not need to register with the site in order to vote, and all ballots are SSL encrypted.  Each ballot will be tied to a unique voting key that can be submitted only once rather than a voter’s name, and no information about the voter is stored with the ballot. Each online voter will receive an email that includes a personal voting link, and email links can be resent upon request.  Print ballots can be requested by individuals who do not wish to vote online; they are also tied to voting keys rather than names in order to ensure anonymity and prevent repeat voting across platforms.  If runoff ballots are required, they will be sent on Monday, May 8 and must be completed by 5 pm on Friday, May 12.  Results will be announced in the Senate on Monday, May 15, via email, and posted online on the Senate website.

• Senate terms are renewable every two-years for up to six years.
• Seating of the 2017-18 Senate will take place at 4 pm at the May 30^th Senate meeting, at which election of 2017-18 Senate officers will also take place.
• The Senate Executive Council is comprised of the officers elected on May 30^th, as well as the Chairs of the Academic Coordinating Commission (ACC) and University Planning and Resource Council (UPRC), the President of the UFWW, Past President of the Faculty Senate, and the Faculty Legislative Representative.  Officers are elected for one-year terms from the membership of the Senate.

2017-19 Faculty Senate Nominating Petition

2017 Spring Election Schedule

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.