Board of Trustees Recap Dec. 9-10, 2010

Editor’s Note: After each Board of Trustees meeting, Western Today provides a recap of decisions and discussion.

WWU Trustees Approve Mission, Vision Statements and Strategic Goals for University

The Western Washington University Board of Trustees on Friday, Dec. 10 approved Western’s Mission and Vision Statements and Strategic Goals, with trustees noting those will be invaluable throughout a wide range of university activities, such as setting budget priorities, more clearly branding the university’s identity and fund-raising.

The trustees discussed the new statements with Jeff Newcomer, chair of the University Planning and Resources Council. The trustees praised the work of the UPRC and the wording and brevity of the statements.

In other action, the trustees:

  • Welcomed new Trustee and Western alumnus Dick Thompson.
  • Heard a presentation from Port of Bellingham and City of Bellingham representatives, on the draft master plan that has been developed for the Bellingham waterfront and provided comments on the plan, which is currently going through public review.
  • Heard a presentation by Chris Cox, dean of Western Libraries, on how the library at Western is planning for the future, which includes meeting the changing needs of students and faculty. He said that Zoe’s Bookside Bagelsat Wilson Library has been an outstanding success.
  • Heard an update about the Compass 2 Campus program from Cyndie Shepard, volunteer director, and Shar Sarte Prince, program manager, as well as several WWU students participating as mentors. Cyndie Shepard noted that about 900 fifth graders had a very successful visit to Western’s campus Oct. 26, with many faculty members opening their classroom and laboratory doors to the students and a great number of volunteers helping to ensure the students had a meaningful time on campus. She said that the program now serves 16 schools in 10 school districts in Whatcom and Skagit counties. During the 2009-2010 school year, WWU mentors contributed 28,500 hours mentoring and tutoring in those schools. Tim Yoemans, superintendent of the Meridian School District, said the Compass 2 Campus program was extremely successful in his school district and “is the number one best volunteer effort” he has seen during his 25-year career in education. He said the involvement of Western student mentors has markedly improved the academic performance of many of his students, including some with behavior issues who had not been very responsive to instruction before. For more information please see https://trustees.wwu.edu/Site%20Content%20and%20Pages/Meeting%20Materials.aspx
    Approved summer session tuition and fees.
  • Authorized investment of some WWU funds into a Local Government Investment Pool,which is a trust fund created by the Legislature for deposits from an authorized government entity for purposes of investment.
  • Were provided with an update on Western’s Focused Interim Accreditation Evaluation that was conducted Oct. 21 and 22.  Trustees were informed that the positive feedback was provided by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities evaluator on the four recommendations that were being followed up on from the 2008 accreditation self-study.  Western expects to receive the official findings and conclusion regarding progress from the Commission shortly after the first of the year.
  • Heard a presentation by Francis Halle, director of Space Administration and Management, on how the university is able to consolidate its off-campus operations, presently in leased space, onto campus.  He and Chris Cox, dean of Libraries also described recent initiatives concerning possible uses of the Wilson Library Reading Room. That review is continuing.
  • Were provided with updates on Western’s branding initiative which is tentatively expected to be rolled out on Jan. 20; on planning for the upcoming capital campaign; and on planning and issues related to the upcoming legislative session in Olympia.

The trustees also recognized:

  • The contributions and service of outgoing Woodring College of Education Dean Stephanie Salzman.
  • Rick Benner, executive director, Capital Planning, and University architect; Ed Simpson, assistant director, Facilities Management, and Gil Aiken, project manager, Facilities Management, for their contributions to construction of the Academic Instructional Center, which has garnered several prestigious awards for design and its many innovative green features.
  • George Kriz, Chemistry professor, who was the 2010 recipient of the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Education’s Outstanding Service Award.
  • David Meyer, associate professor of Voice in Western’s Department of Music and director of the WWU Opera Studio, who was the recipient of the 19thAnnual Van Lawrence Fellowship Award, presented by the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Voice Foundation.
  • Sherry Mallory, associate dean of students, who was named the NASPA (Students Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) Region V recipient of the Fred Turner Award for Outstanding Service.
  • Jim Schuster, director of Viking Union Facilities, who was awarded the 2010 Association of College Unions International Region 14 Vern Solbach Award.

Board materialsare available online at: https://trustees.wwu.edu/Site%20Content%20and%20Pages/Meeting%20Materials.aspx  Click on the subject heading to read about that topic.