The University of Wyoming Faculty Senate met Monday to discuss the use of data in decision making and approve rolling contracts for non-tenure track faculty, among other topics.
In recent months the UW administration has made efforts to utilize various databases and data sets to make the University more efficient, Provost Kate Miller told Senate.
“We want data to inform everything we do on this campus,” Miller said. “It’s important that we develop policies to properly use all the information we collect.”
As part of these efforts, the administration convened a Data Governance Committee with the goal of increasing communication among UW departments. Miller hopes that this committee will lead to more data-informed decision making between departments.
UW has also invested in two databases that aim to help with analyzing data. The first helps to analyze national trends to determine what sort of academic programs students want and if those programs will be nationally competitive. The database can critique current programs as well to help the administration determine which departments should be grown, which should be sustained and which should be discontinued.
The second database will assist with interdisciplinary work, using data collected on faculty to determine what areas of study could work well together.
“We don’t plan on letting these databases make any sort of decision for us,” said Miller. “The goal is to let these databases inform us so that we can make better choices in the future.”
The Faculty Senate also discussed a resolution concerning rolling contracts for non-tenure track faculty. Rolling contracts are contracts with no fixed end date, as opposed to normal contracts that end on a particular date.
Most of the discussion focused on the peer-review process for these faculty. In particular, many Senate members felt that the resolution needed to be reworded to provide more precise language.
“‘May’ and ‘shall’ are two different concepts,” said Senator Rudi Michalak. “We need to clarify what we mean when we use them.”
The amended resolution passed by verbal vote, so non-tenure track faculty can expect changes to the procedure surrounding rolling contracts in coming months.
Other matters discussed included a research efforts plan outlining the university’s goals to attract grant money to the school. Many in the Senate seemed skeptical of the plan, with some senators raising concerns about how the plan would affect departments that don’t bring in much grant money.
Many others in the Senate thought the plan was too ambitious, was out of touch with the needs of faculty and would lead to more misuse of university resources.
“There’s been no discussion about this with us,” said Senate Chair Donal O’Toole. “The plan has overstated goals, it’s unclear, and I fear that it will lead to further administrative bloat.”
Toole did clarify that his thoughts on the plan were his own, and not the position of the Senate as a whole.
The meeting ended with the introduction of a few new resolutions to the Senate, which will be discussed and voted on in the future. The topics of these resolutions include funding for sexual violence support services and protections for academic freedom.
The next Faculty Senate meeting will be held on Feb. 25 from 3 to 5 p.m. in Wyoming Union room 212.
