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Faculty Senate
The faculty senate is a crucial part of the shared governance structure of higher education in the United States. Through this structure faculty, staff, students, and administrators employ power, expertise, and passion to the functioning and future of the institution. The senate is the chief policy-recommending body of the general faculty providing for faculty participation in the governance and decision-making process of Western Carolina University. The senate shall represent the general faculty as their principal voice to advise the chancellor and provost on the conduct of the university's affairs. The faculty senate shall represent the sense of the general faculty in the long-term development of the university's identity and mission.
It shall serve as a collegial forum for the airing of faculty concerns and suggestions about the quality of academic aspects of the university, including matters of instruction, curriculum, composition of the faculty and student body, research and creative activities, community outreach, university evaluation and planning, and other faculty and student affairs.
Faculty Senate Planning Team Sharepoint
Academic Policy and Review Council (APRC)
General Faculty Meeting:
Wednesday, August 14, 10:30-11:30 am - Bardo
Open Faculty Conversations: Tuesdays, 3:30 - 4:30 pm
September 10, 2024 - Killian 102
February 11, 2025 - Killian 102
Planning Team Meetings: Wednesdays, 12:15 - 2 pm, via Zoom
Fall 2024: August 21, September 18, October 9, November 13
Spring 2025: January 22, February 19, March 19, April 9
Regular Business Meetings (and Overflow Meetings): Wednesdays, 3 - 5 pm
All meetings take place in UC Multipurpose Room 232, unless otherwise noted.
Fall 2024: August 28 (Sep 4); September 25 (Oct 2); October 23 (30) - Killian 102; November 20 (Dec 4)
Spring 2025: January 29 (Feb 5); February 26 (Mar 5); March 26 (Apr 2); April 23 (30)
Meeting materials, including agendas, reports, minutes, and archived documents, are accessible from our Faculty Senate SharePoint site. For help, please contact facultysenate@wcu.edu.
While official meetings from each Faculty Senate meeting will be available after they are approved at the following meeting, a meeting summary is available shortly after each meeting.
They can be found listed here.
Find out what actions the Faculty Senate has taken recently by reading our resolutions. For archived actions, please visit the Faculty Senate SharePoint site.
The Faculty Handbook provides ready access to information about the operation of the University and answers to the most frequently asked questions about operating procedures and policies.
The handbook may be reviewed and revised at any time to reflect changes in institutional policy, state and federal law or operational procedures.
Our Academic Procedures and Regulations (APR) are available via SharePoint, and can be accessed using your WCU network credentials.
Contact the Faculty Senate
Western Carolina University Faculty Senate
Academic Affairs
560 HFR Administration
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC 28723
Mariana Da Costa, Chair
Enrique Gómez, Secretary
Hugh Jack, APRC Chair
Heather Coan, CRC Chair
Aarti Bellara, FAC Chair