Faculty Senate FAQ

Faculty with an interest in matters relating to university academics, budget, the education of students and scholarly activities, and planning and policy at all levels of internal university governance are encouraged to join the Faculty Senate. Elections for open seats are held annually during the Spring Quarter by college governing councils. Candidates should inform their college governing councils of their interest in serving on the Senate. For more information about how to join, contact the Faculty Senate Office.

Each Senator at Western represents a specific constituent group, usually in their discipline, and works to apprise constituents of current Senate action and discussions. There are a total of 30 voting members of the Faculty Senate, with leadership including the following voting and non-voting positions:

• Faculty Senate President (voting member)
• Faculty Senate Vice President/President-Elect (voting member)
• University President (non-voting member)
• Provost (non-voting member)
• Faculty Senate University Budget Representative and Deputy Budget Representative (non-voting members of Senate executive council)
• Executive Council at Large (voting member)
• Faculty Legislative Representative (voting member)
• UFWW President (non-voting member)
• Appointments and Elections  Officer (voting member)
• Secretary (voting member)
• AS Senate President (non-voting member)

There are typically five meetings per quarter on Mondays at 4 p.m. in Old Main 340 (Board of Trustees Room). Faculty Senate meetings are held every other week during the academic year. The Faculty Senate executive council meets on alternate Mondays.

It is the policy of Western Washington University that there shall be meaningful participation by the faculty, through the Faculty Senate or other recognized faculty bodies, in matters relating to university academics, budget, planning and policy at all levels of internal university governance. This is consistent with the University's policy of open participation in governance. 

The Academic Coordinating Commission (ACC), the Senate Library Committee, the Senate Outreach and Continuing Education Committee, and the Academic Technology Committee extend the Senate's capacity and help it to fulfill its mission. Sub-committees of major standing committees include the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) and the Committee on Undergraduate Programs, which report to the ACC. The Faculty Legislative Representative (FLR) appointed by the Senate is a member of the Council of Faculty, an organization of faculty from every public baccalaureate college and university in Washington State to helps coordinate and formulate recommendations to guide legislative efforts on behalf of higher education.

Yes, meeting agendas and minutes are available to the public. Links to agendas and minutes, as well as motion logs, are posted on the Faculty Senate website. Older agendas are available upon request.

The Faculty Handbook contains statements of policy and procedure established by the Board of Trustees and provides a guide by which the Board, Faculty, and Administration conduct their relations with each other in matters of university academics, planning, and policy. The Handbook is one of the guiding documents for the faculty of Western Washington University. The Senate also has a Constitution, known as Appendix One, that defines the work of and provides guidelines for decision-making for this important committee. 

Faculty with an interest in the curriculum process can join their departmental or college curriculum committees appointed through the department or through their college's faculty governing council. ACC candidates make it known to their college governing councils that they would like to serve and following confirmation by the college, the appointments are confirmed by the Faculty Senate. Contact current ACC Chair Kristi Tyran for more information about how to join ACC.

Faculty from every college volunteer for the ACC and are elected to its membership. Faculty serve two-year terms and may be re-elected to serve for up to a total of six years. Membership includes a chair and vice president/president-elect of the committee who are voting members along with other faculty. The associate vice president of academic affairs and current AS senate president are also voting members. A designee from the Registrar's Office and the Catalog Coordinator are non-voting members.

There are typically five meetings per quarter on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. in Old Main 340 (Board of Trustees Room.) ACC meetings are held every other week during the academic year. The executive committee of ACC, which includes the chair, vice chair, associate vice president of academic affairs, and recorder, meet on alternate Tuesdays to prepare agendas for the regular meeting.

When a faculty member decides to create a course the new entity must be approved through administrative and curricular processes within their department and then forwarded to the college. Each college has a curriculum committee which reviews all course proposals, revisions, and eliminations from the departments within the college. The minutes from these college curriculum committee meetings reflect the actions taken and are forwarded to the ACC. ACC reviews and accepts these minutes and ensures correlation between colleges, eliminates overlap or redundancy and upon approval forwards the new information to the catalog coordinator. The heaviest review work occurs during winter quarter prior to curriculum deadlines to the following academic year University Catalog. Acceptance of the curricular minutes by ACC indicates approval of the actions taken with regard to courses, and information is entered into the online catalog as appropriate for the quarterly timeline of classes and for early admission. All ACC minutes are reviewed by the Faculty Senate.

ACC reviews all permanent curriculum that appears in the University Catalog which includes the following:

• Permanent courses: new courses, revised courses, course cancellations
• GUR courses
• Temporary courses
• New programs of study: undergraduate majors, minors and certificates; graduate programs and certificates
• Revisions to programs of study
• Programs of study moratoriums
• Programs of study cancellations
• Course modalities

ACC also reviews policies related to curriculum, university requirements, as well as outreach and continuing education, and actions and topics considered by its standing committees. ACC standing committees include:

• Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE)
• Council on University Programs (CUP)
• Graduate Faculty Governance Council (GFGC)

Yes, meeting agendas and minutes are available to the public. Links to agendas and minutes are posted on the Faculty Senate website. Older agendas are available upon request.

The ACC Handbook provides a guide to faculty and to academic units on the details of creating curriculum and programs of study at Western through Curriculog (curriculum management software). The ACC Handbook also includes definitions and processes related to credit hours, prerequisites, guidelines to general university requirements, etc. Charges to ACC standing committees and how to develop curriculum minutes also are included.

Standing committees under Faculty Senate are:

• Academic Coordinating Commission (ACC)
• Academic Technology Committee (ATC)
• Senate Library Committee (SLC)
• Senate Outreach and Continuing Education Committee (SOCEC)

A list of past Faculty Senate presidents can be found in the University Personnel section of the WWU University Catalog.