PPBC Meeting on April 5, 2012, at 8:30 am.

Present:Chair Kristen Larson, Greg O’Neill, Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez, Tom Read, Doug Clark, David Leaf, Phil Nelson, Jeff Newcomer.

Minutes from March 29, 2012 were approved.

Items from the Council:

Doug Clark reported that Senate Library Committee is cutting journals based upon survey and degree of journal usage. The lowest priority for not cutting are low usage journals and databases, including citation only databases and single-title electronic subscriptions. A list of proposed cuts will be sent by Doug to PPBC for input. Book requests remain on a first-come first-serve basis. WWU is part of a collaborative ebook system. After the sixth request for an ebook, the book will be purchased for the campus, instead of loaned. Meanwhile, the library is planning to convert space used to house books into space for learning communities.

Jeff Newcomer reported that the anticipated movement of Fine Arts to a proposed Theatre building may not be occurring and that the CST would not have access to that space.

Items from the Chair:

CST will be planning for new facilities which may house collaborative enterprises such as AMSEC, CREW, or Clean Energy programs or other interdisciplinary endeavors or departments in need of new space, such as Geology. Because of the emphasis upon collaborative programs, Andy Bunn (Huxley) and Steve Sulkin (Shannon Point) should be considered for providing input into the ad hoc task force for planning a new CST facility. An additional consideration is whether new facilities could help consolidate CST departments into closer proximity. PPBC members will provide a list of nominees for the ad hoc building task force for next week’s meeting.

Faculty input about PTR process was that there was too much supporting materials in folders which made it difficult to assemble and read. Discussion ensued concerning the question of how much material the Personnel Committee required for PTR, given that the responsibility of the Personnel Committee is to determine if department standards were applied fairly.

The chair will be soliciting input from CST faculty regarding the process of tenure and promotion.

The committee discussed revising the CST UEP (COPEP) with respect to whether how AMSEC and SMATE should be represented or participate in the Personnel Committee.

Dean Wright visited PPBC to discuss its role in the budget and planning process. No clear role for PPBC was articulated by Dean Wright. Because budget planning has been largely focused upon cuts, Dean Wright does not recognize any normal type of budget planning for the university, and has not seen indications of a bottom-up planning procure in CST. In the meantime, Dean Wright considers that the emphasis in budget priorities should be to strengthen existing programs as opposed to generating more programs (stronger not bigger). At present, Dean Wright is trying to work out principles and relevant metrics (Student/faculty ratio instead of student credit hour/faculty). Given the important role of NTT faculty in CST, Dean Wright is concerned that long-term NTT faculty only have yearly contracts.

In response to PPBC input about the Criteria for Prioritization of Tenure-Track Faculty Position document, Dean Wright observed that the document had been requested and later vetted by Provost Riordan. He will be sending a revised version to department chairs. Dean Wright envisages a process in which chairs send requests for positions to the dean, based upon the Criteria for Prioritization document. PPBC would play an advisory role in evaluating requests, prior to the dean sending the requests to the Provost.

Adjourned 9:30 am