Faculty Senate passed a regulation guiding the approval of new academic programs to be offered at UW during a short session.
The upcoming 2018 Great Colleges to Work For Survey, highlighted by Faculty Senate Chair Michael Barker, was addressed at this session. The survey, facilitated by the Chronicle of Higher Education and open to all full-time employees, is intended to be a comprehensive gauge of employee engagement, satisfaction and morale, which is an area of focus in the university’s five-year strategic plan, “Breaking Through.”
“Given the recent history of security here at UW, given the new administration and budget cuts and those types of things, we thought it was very important that every full-time employee have the opportunity to fill out the survey,” Barker said.
Senators were encouraged to push for a 100 percent completion rate in their departments.
“To make the results of this survey meaningful, we need to have a very high participation rate,” Barker said.
The survey will open Monday, March 12, and remain accessible until Friday, April 6. According to a release from UW Human Resources, the results of the survey will be shared with the campus community and subject to further open discussion.
The session’s legislation, Senate Resolution 341: “Resolution in Support of General Counsel Proposed UW Regulation 8-2, Degrees and Diplomas,” saw a quick passing of the Executive Committee’s revisions of the board of trustees version of the regulation. The returned bill most significantly struck the requirement that new programs be proposed by faculty to the board with a three-page “preliminary, conceptual proposal requesting authorization to plan a new academic program,” which would then be subject to approval or denial. In the revised bill, a more comprehensive and detailed request of no more than ten pages detailing the program would first be sent to the provost and the president, who in turn would present it to the board.
Additionally, the bill strikes a prohibition of further action on proposed programs until the approval of the board of trustees and adds increased restrictions on the circumstances under which programs can be eliminated.
