Western's Priorities

I transfered to WWU from a community college where interdisciplinary studies were a major focus. The recipe there seamed to be relatively simple. Get two departments together, weather they feel like they fit or not, and create a course of study that overlaps in a way that engages the students. Typically, an instructor from both departments would teach the course over a period of two hours a day.

One course that I took was called "sound ideas". It was a fusion of contemporary mathematics and elementary music theory. We learned the basics of the diatomic scale, and related some of the concepts of harmony, computer programming, and composing to mathematics. For instance we used matrix theory, specifically markov chains, to compose a musical piece that was statistically identical to greensleaves. 

Ideas like these may be limited, and formulaic, but they are thought provoking and might open a students mind to new ideas and new methods.

At Western, I am just finishing up a course in analytical chemistry. Our instructor was Dr. Cancilla. the course verged on interdisciplinary in the sense, because Dr. Cancilla brought his experience in environmental chemistry to the discussion. For me this brought the class to new heights.

One of the things that brought me to Western, over places like WSU and UW, is their reputation for under graduate research opportunities. I think that professors should be encouraged, not only to bring more to the classroom then what can be found in the textbooks, but to bring more then what is traditionally found in their field. A great way to do that is to encourage inter-departmental collaboration. Create an analytical chemistry course that centers around environmental science. Create a painting class that details the chemistry of pigments (get those fine arts majors into the lab developing new chromophores!), an english course that centers around the history of mathematics, a nuero-science course that focuses on the effects of music on the brain. Encourage collaborative research efforts among differing majors.

I hope that helps. thanks for listening. I am interested in seeing more interdisciplinary opportunities.

I love the ideas behind Fairhaven. The more I learn about it's history and curriculum the more I am intrigued.  However, to me, Fairhaven feels closed off. When I go to register, only a few courses satisfy my GUR's, and those are closed to general students for the majority of the registration period, by the time they open I have already settled into my schedule, and in some cases bought books and started working. Also, there are no interdisciplinary courses at Fairhaven that satisfy the requirements for my major (I am a chem major). Plus, I am on financial aid. So, no matter how interested I am in a Fairhaven course, it is hard to justify spending the money on credits that are not part of my graduation requirements, because it could jeopardize my graduation. 

I would be more interested in Fairhaven if it was more accessible to me (maybe it is and I just don't see it?). I think it would be exciting if there were more hybrid style courses available to all students that satisfied GUR's and major requirements (especially in math and sciences). 

As a freshman last year, Karen led my Freshman Interest Group (FIG) seminar. The FIG program helped me to adjust to the world of college academia. Not only did Karen provide a great learning opportunity, but she also had a ton of advice for us as new college students. Thanks Karen! 

The FIG is a great interdisciplinary opportunity but i'd really like to see more classes like the monsters course. My friend just took the class this quarter and said it was amazing, which is what i've heard from a multitude of students and staff. It can be pretty difficult, however, to fit in a block schedule while fulfilling GURs and major required classes. I'm looking for more interdisciplinary aspects to be incorporated into pre-existing classes. This could be achieved with visits from teachers in other departments, outside experts (difficult with budget cuts), and class material with interdisciplinary topics. I think it would be valuable to have someone in charge of interdisciplinary study for each department. A well-rounded education is what i'm looking for at Western and it's hard to get that when 90% of the classes i take are required for my degree. 

I would like staff and faculty health and wellness to be one of Western's priorities. Wellness is such an important part of doing our best work here at WWU...everyone benefits; ourselves, our co-workers, the students....it's a win, win, win! Research has proven that employee wellness programs increase attendance and performance and decrease health care costs. They have been proven to increase employee's abilities to manage stress...something we can all use in these uncertain times.

Western's Center for Healthy Living launched a Wellness Program for Staff and Faculty in January 2008. That program has been extremely successful. Over the past year and a half more employees have attended aerobics, yoga, lap swim, walking groups, pick-up basketball, and presentations by guest speakers organized by the program.

The Wellness Program is now up for renewal and part of that is funding. I hope we will make employee health and wellness a priority at Western and support our Staff and Faculty Wellness Program. Keep it going!

Monica

I'm a participant of the programs and member of the new Wellness Program Committee.  As a participant of the aerobics, yoga and swim programs I have benefited greatly.  I'm a single mom and my health means a great deal to me.  My priority  is teaching my son the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.  I work full time and it very difficult to join a gym, much less take out additional time after work to go.  This cuts down the time that I have to spend with my son.  The programs offered here at Western allow me to use my lunch time to exercise.  This frees up my time after work to spend with my son.

What I love most about the program is that it proves that Western has a vested interest in the employees that are part of the Western community.  The loss of these programs would have a huge impact on the healthy lifestyle that Western has worked so hard over the last year to create on campus.

I also feel that these programs provide an opportunity for faculty and staff to get to know each other on a personal level.  I personally have met some amazing people.  I talk to a lot of departments over the phone and it's great to meet them in person.  It would be a shame for this program to end just when the hard work of so many is starting to pay off.

Mary

I do realize the separations, Morgan.  I was the Senate Chair years ago, and I worked pretty directly with the LAC, HEC Board, etc.  I also realize that the loan issues are not one over which the WSL has ever had control.  I was bringing up two issues:
(1) How little our own offices help students [e.g. Financial Aid]
(2) Who is going to put their foot down on tuition hikes?

WSL has no control over the first issue, and little say in the second, but my fear is that, if other student groups begin looking to our student leaders for cues, our silence will not be of benefit to anyone.  I know too well the power plays student leaders have to make to remain in the forefront of the conversation...especially with legistlators!

The problem is this: I went to Higher Ed Day.  Each school pitched in a considerable amount of money to purchase food and showcase what they had to offer to whoever would listen.  The problem is that those who ought to listen, namely the legistlators themselves, were too busy playing mucky-muck with the high administrators of the schools.  There was this strange Mason-Dixon line down the center of the Capital Campus that day -- on the one side were the folks making decisions [Presidents, Trustees, Legistlators] and on the other, the folks who are going to have to deal with the aftermath [chiefly the students].

To go down there waving money for food and ammenities and complain in the same breath that we are all too short of funds is to send a very poor message.  Of course there is the obvious objections of budget structure [it's not like they're using tuition money directly], but I don't think that holds water.  If we intend to show that we're cutting off the fat, we have to do so on absolutely ALL fronts.

My concern isn't whether the WSL has jurisdiction over the more important matters we face -- student groups oughtn't to flatter themselves by conflating their importance in such ways.  What I am saying is that someone ought to be pitching a rather vehement shit fit, and that someone might just be the WSL, LAC, BOD, Senate, and whoever else decides that this is a paramount student issue.  Whether they're supposed to have a say doesn't enter the equation.  When students are faced with a governor who is absolutely in favor of a 14/14 raise over two years, and doesn't show signs of cutting fat off of the budget herself, what should the average student do?  Be pleased with the responsible nature of the state's leadership?  Demand for higher education is almost perfectly inelastic.  They can afford to raise 14/14 when they know that demand is hardly going to fall off.  But this seems unjust.

The average, plain Jane student is absolutely hurting, and nobody seems to want to be their advocate, for a variety of excuses.  If not the WSL, then whom?

We're hurting.  Please help us.

I have brought this up once before in a roundtable discussion, but I believe that making Western completely accessible to students of all abilities should be a top priority.  I understand that this is an extremely large task, but I think that we have been moving in the right direction the past couple of years and need to continue to build on that momentum.  Between the bricks, curb cuts, lack of automatic doors (especially on restrooms), and large amount of stairs (among other problems), the buildings and resources here are not accessible to everyone.  Discussions between administrators and students could be very useful to bring up these issues and work towards ideas to fix them, but I am not sure on how to get students or administrators to come to these events with the busy schedules everyone has.  But I believe that Western should make this a top priority, as many students with disabilities face major struggles in getting to classes and finding the resources to do well in their classes.

Thank you so much for taking the time to ask us about our priorities and our thoughts.  I truly appreciate that we have administrators that will listen to us and work with us to make this a better campus.

Danielle

I am writing as I struggle with the frustration of a Blackboard system that does not reach all my students when I "email all", does not inform students when they have uploaded something which, when I try to open it, gets an Apache error or gives me a bunch of rectangles instead of typeface, causes files to disappear, and has apparently given both me and my students the impression that I had set up an Assigment space for their end of term work only to refuse to let students submit using that tool.  I am gathering student work from the digital drop box, my e-mail (which overloaded), and paper copies in a variety of locations.

This is maddening.

I have worked with the Sakai free open source system at Pacific Lutheran University.  They do not have a huge tech staff at PLU, and the system does not seem to require any more hand holding than Blackboard does.  Moreover, the Sakai system tends to function.

http://sakaiproject.org/portal

We need to save money, and we can by using technology, but frankly I cannot use Blackboard with confidence.  It seems to break down for me at the most crucial times, my students and I are enormously frustrated, and there is no way to do anything about it.  With Sakai, one can interact with the community who work on it.  It fosters collaborative, helpful, meaningful changes, since no one involved in the thing has any concern at all with profits and maintaining a monopoly.

Could we perhaps look into switching over to Sakai?

President Shepard. Thank you for acknowledging that staff and faculty wellness is one of our priorities here at Western. I was very pleased to hear funding for Western's Center for Healthy Living (employee health & wellness programs) would continue next year. The Center has offered health and wellness programs for all of us from noon walking groups, swimming, and aerobics, to last year’s very popular yoga for staff and faculty. It also offered health screenings and talks by experts in the wellness field. Health and wellness has always been important, but in these challenging times the benefits can be even more valuable....working at our optimal level, managing stress better and enjoying life more. Thank you. Monica Aebly, Copyright Office.