Wichita State University Faculty Senate
March 25, 2013
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY
Faculty Senate: Minutes, March 25, 2013
Members Present: Baker, Barut, Bergman, Brooks, Bryant, Close, Decker, DeSilva,
Driessen, Hamdeh, Horn, Hull, Jacobs, Johnson, Kagdi, Klunder, Kreinath, Lewis, Matveyeva,
Miller, Moore-Jansen, Mosack, Oare, Rillema, Ross, Smith, Yildirim
Members Absent: Anderson, Liu, Lu, Mukeerjee, Pulaski, Toops
Members Excused: Besthorn, Celestin, Rokosz, Yeager
Summary of Action
a. Accepted the proposed Post Tenure Review Policy and Procedures
I. Call to Order
President Bob Ross called the meeting to order at 3:31 pm
II. Informal Statements and Proposals: President Ross spoke on behalf of the Senate in
support of the WSU basketball team in its very successful run in the NCAA “March Madness”
Tournament.
III. Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the March 11, 2013, meeting of the Faculty
Senate were approved with no dissent. http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=facultysenate&p=/m31113/
IV. President’s Report: President Ross reported on the following recent activities:
A. VPAA Search: Dr. Anthony Vizzini has agreed to accept the position of Vice
President of Academic Affairs beginning July 1.
B. The Council of Faculty Senate Presidents met at this month’s KBOR meeting
and continued to discuss the following on-going issues:
a. Post Tenure Review – all KBOR institutions are to present their individual
policies and procedures by the end of the academic year.
b. KBOR Faculty of the Year Award – Similar to the WSU Faculty Senate, the
COFSP chose to support no further action on the award.
c. Faculty involvement in Administrative Reviews – supported the
implementation of five-year reviews of Academic Deans with faculty input into
the process. The Senate Executive Committee will investigate this
recommendation and report back.
SOAR: Shocker Open Access Repository
Archival copy
Wichita State University Faculty Senate
March 25, 2013
C. The Strategic Planning Committee will meet during a two-day retreat next week
and President Ross will brief the Senate on the outcome of that retreat.
V. Committee Reports:
A. General Education –(1st reading) Paul Rillema, chair, distributed the current informational
pamphlet about the general education program and presented several slides of background
information to provide a basis for the action of the committee. A persistent problem in the
administration of the program is that students take further studies courses in an area rather than
an introductory course. This is not a premeditated action but rather the natural consequence of
the fact that approximately half of our entering students are transfer students and 85% of all
students transfer credits from another institution. Thus, many request for exceptions arise, often
when students are about to graduate. Senator Rillema reported that the Senate’s General
Education Committee approved the following changes to the general education program.
Tier 1 Basic Skills (4 courses total)
Proposed Change: Change the name of courses in Tier 1 from Basic Skills to Foundation
Courses
Rationale: Use of the term foundation is consistent with the language used by KBOR in
the Foresight 2020 document (foundational skills).
Tier 2 - Introductory curses (7 courses total)
Proposed change: Allow approved advanced general education courses (Currently
Further Studies and I&P Courses) to count as introductory courses
Rationale: Currently, exceptions to use advanced general education courses as
introductory courses are common place. The proposed change better reflects current
practice and will allow transfer students and students who begin general education
classes on campus more flexibility (approximately 85% of WSU students transfer credits
from other institutions).
Tier 3 – Advanced Courses (Further Study and I&P) (3 courses total)
Proposed change: Uncouple the connection between introductory courses and further
studies courses – in the same discipline.
Rationale: The current policy “a further study course is taken in a disciple once a student
has completed an introductory course in the same discipline “(WSU Undergraduate
Catalog, 2012-2013, p. 19) has not been adhered to and exceptions to the policy are
common. The proposed change not only reflects current practice but maintains the
integrity of the program. Students must always meet the distribution criteria.
Additionally, if a department so desires, it has the ability to place prerequisites on
advanced courses and prerequisites can be enforced in Banner. A student who is
capable of taking an advanced course would have the flexibility to do so and a student
who has already taken an advanced course would no longer be required to take an
introductory course after the fact.
B. Faculty Affairs – Post Tenure Review proposed policy, 2nd reading, Walter Horn, chair,
presented the second reading of the Post Tenure Review Policy and Procedure developed by the
Faculty Affairs Committee. The Senate approved of the changes made to the original document
and voted to accept the document as amended with no dissenting votes.
SOAR: Shocker Open Access Repository
Archival copy
Wichita State University Faculty Senate
March 25, 2013
VI. Old Business: None
VII. New Business: Honors College Concept -Trisha Self, chair of the Senate’s Honors Committee, presented a report on her committee’s
concept of an Honors College at WSU. The Honors Committee is seeking the Senate’s
affirmation and support of the concept of an Honors College at WSU. The proposal was
developed by a special “working group” composed of a sub-group of members of the Senate
Honors Committee and other members selected from the WSU community.
The following people served on the “Future of Honors at WSU Working Group”:
Moriah Beck,
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Elaine Bernstorf,
College of Fine Arts
Kimberly Engber,
Emory Lindquist Honors Program, Chair
Melissa Mallon,
Libraries
Scott Miller,
College of Engineering
Jeremy Patterson,
College of Education
Trisha Self,
College of Health Professions
Larry Spurgeon,
School of Business
Melvin Kahn,
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Will Klunder,
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Andrew Longhofer, Honors Undergraduate Fellow
Gaby Valverde,
President, Emory Lindquist Scholars
Ms. Self’s presentation was a summary of the salient points of the plan that is available in its full
form at http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=facultysenate&p=/honorscollegeprop. The concept of the
proposal is to create a WSU Honors College that is dedicated to intellectual innovation. The
vision of the working group is to establish a Wichita State Honors College culture that stimulates
intellectual curiosity, welcomes diversity, promotes responsibility, and inspires transformative
leadership. The new Honors College will benefit the University by the recruitment of excellent
students and faculty, increasing enrollment, and enhancing the academic reputation of the
university. Student will benefit from the Honors College through an emphasis in academic rigor,
improved advising, undergraduate research opportunities, and enhanced opportunities for
advanced degrees and employment.
Admission to the college will be competitive, based on ACT or SAT scores, high school or
college GPA, and essay. Admission and scholarship decisions will be made by an Honors
Admissions Committee. A number of general university scholarships should be awarded through
the Honors College.
Honors College students will be encouraged to live in the Honors College residence hall for their
first year, with an option to live there in subsequent years. Classrooms and laboratory spaces
located in the residence hall will be available to all Honors College students.
SOAR: Shocker Open Access Repository
Archival copy
Wichita State University Faculty Senate
March 25, 2013
Similar to the current Honors Program, the Honors College core curriculum will be comprised of
Honors-only courses that fulfill some General Education requirements. The Honors College will
support development of more interdisciplinary, inquiry-based 100-level seminars and 300-level
colloquia. Faculty will be encouraged to experiment with alternative teaching methods and
scheduling schemes.
All students who successfully complete the Honors College curriculum requirements will receive
an Honors College diploma. The Honors College degree will require 9 to 12 credits in Honorsdesignated General Education courses and either a 12- to 15-credit interdisciplinary Honors
minor or Honors major track that includes a capstone project or research experience.
Academic departments will continue to offer departmental honors tracks that culminate in a
thesis, creative project, or experiential learning project. Colleges might develop interdisciplinary
or inter-professional honors tracks. Honors Minors may include: Leadership, Sustainability,
Global Transformations, and Integrated Arts. Students who complete either an Honors minor or
an Honors major track will receive a transcript designation. Minor curricula will be developed by
Honors Faculty Fellows in consultation with an Honors Student Advisory Council.
The Honors College will be established in four phases. The first phase, conducted during the
Spring Semester of 2013, includes the development of the working document defining the
Honors College at Wichita State, presenting the document to constituency groups and university
administrators, selecting Honors Faculty Fellows to develop the initial Honors Minor, organize
task forces for admissions, recruitment, and scholarships for students, and residential life and cocurricular activities.
Activities scheduled for phase two during academic year 2013-2014 include: recruit an initial
class of 100 honors students, recruit and hire a Dean, submit Honors minor proposal, and
determine faculty and staff requirements. During the third phase (Summer/Fall 2014) the Honors
living-learning community will be opened and program development will continue. Phase four
(Spring/Summer 2015) planning includes increasing the number of Honors students to 400 and
the hiring of an associate/assistant dean and academic advisor(s).
The National Collegiate Honors Council has identified these best practices that are common to
successful and fully developed honors colleges:
• contains a fully developed honors program
• equal collegiate unit within a multi-collegiate university structure
• honors college is headed by a fulltime dean reporting directly to the chief academic officer of
the institution
• operational and staff budgets comparable to other collegiate units of equivalent size
• exercises increased coordination and control of departmental honors
• exercises control over honors recruitment and admissions
• exercises control over its policies, curriculum, and selection of faculty
• curriculum offers significant course opportunities across all four years of study
• honors college curriculum constitutes at least 20% of a student’s degree program
• honors thesis or honors capstone project is required
SOAR: Shocker Open Access Repository
Archival copy
Wichita State University Faculty Senate
March 25, 2013
• offers substantial honors residential opportunities
• honors distinction is publically announced and recorded ( such as by announcement at
commencement ceremonies, notations on the diploma and/or the student’s final transcript)
• may be involved in alumni affairs and development and may have an external advisory board.
The Senate voted to support the Honors College concept with 1 vote against.
VIII. As May Arise: A representative of the Student Government Association asked for the
Senate’s endorsement of the SGA request for WSU to be designated as a “smoke free” campus.
The Classified Senate has endorsed the designation previously and the SGA will appeal to the
Unclassified Senate as well. President Ross responded that the Faculty Senate would take the
request under consideration and bring the matter to a vote at a later time.
IX. Adjournment:
The meeting of the Faculty Senate was adjourned at 4:45 pm.
Submitted by Walter Horn,
Secretary of the Faculty Senate
SOAR: Shocker Open Access Repository
Archival copy