Department Operating Procedures & Policies

Changes to the DOPP document require a vote open to all faculty (T, TT, and NTT) and staff. The vote must be announced by email to all faculty and staff at least one week in advance of the closing date; the closing date must also fall in an academic quarter (between the first day of classes and the last day of finals week). Changes will be approved following a successful fist-to-five vote, the multi-round consensus-building voting procedure which is described in more detail in section A.6.a below.

Section 7.5.5 of the 2023-27 CBA specifies that changes in evaluation standards must be approved by a majority (50% + 1) of tenured and tenure-track faculty.

The WWU CBA (Sections 7.5-7.8), CSE COPEP (Sections 3 & 4) and Department COPEP addendum describe the process of Faculty Evaluations and any voting procedures that they entail.

Votes to recommend tenure track offers will be open to all tenured and tenure-track probationary faculty with an appointment of 0.5 FTE or greater.

The department uses a multi-stage procedure to identify a candidate to whom a tenure track offer will be made. This procedure may help mitigate unconscious biases by focusing the discussion on comparisons between each candidate and the relevant hiring criteria, rather than direct comparisons between candidates. The procedure also aims to build consensus through the voting procedure itself and preserve opportunities to express and recognize dissenting opinions. 

In this section, a “vote” means either a visible vote in a department meeting or on a private (but not anonymous) ballot.  In the case of private ballots, the department chair or their designate tallies the votes and shares the results with the department.  The department chair may choose to share relevant demographic information, but should make every effort not to identify individual votes. 

• Discussion: The department has a discussion about the candidates after the on-campus interviews are completed. The hiring committee moderates this discussion, focusing on individual candidates one at a time to examine their qualifications, strengths and weaknesses with respect to the criteria outlined in the position description. 

• First Vote: At the end of the review of candidates, a vote will be taken on the question: Is there a viable candidate among the finalists? If more than 25% of the T/TT faculty answer with NO, the search fails. 

• Second Vote: If the first vote identifies that at least 75% of the voting faculty believe there is at least one viable candidate, a second set of votes will be taken for each candidate on the question: Is this candidate viable? Options for each candidate are YES and NO.  Before the second vote, the results of the first vote will be summarized by the chair or their designate. If, in this second vote, more than 25% of the voting faculty vote NO on the viability of an individual candidate, that candidate is eliminated from further consideration.

• Third Vote: After votes in the second vote have been tallied, if more than one candidate is viable, then a third set of votes will be taken to identify the ranked order of the viable candidates. In each vote, the voting faculty will identify their preferred candidate among all the candidates remaining, or will indicate that they will ABSTAIN from this round (if they voted NO on the viability of all remaining candidates). When more than two candidates remain, if no single candidate receives a majority (more than 50%) of votes (ignoring ABSTAIN votes), the candidate with the smallest number of votes is eliminated. This procedure is repeated until only two candidates are left, at which point the candidate receiving a majority (more than 50%) of the votes is identified as the first choice for the position.

Some issues under the charge of department committees will require the committee to present summaries of the issues at a department meeting and administer a department vote. The committee chair, in consultation with the department chair, will decide which specific committee issues require a department vote. Opportunities must be given for all staff and faculty to contribute to department discussions relating to matters that are being voted on before the vote takes place.

Unless specified otherwise in the CBA, COPEP, or elsewhere in the DOPP, voting is assumed to be open to all faculty and staff. However, absent conflicting language in the CBA, COPEP, or elsewhere in the DOPP, voting rights may be limited on a case-by-case basis, subject to the agreement of the department chair and the individual overseeing the vote.

The procedures to be used for votes will be determined by the chair of the body holding the vote: either the chair of the relevant departmental committee, or by the department chair for department wide votes. 

Procedures that may be used include:

1. The fist-to-five procedure. This is best suited to decisions that allow for iteration and collaboration. The thresholds for approval in all rounds of the vote must be defined at the outset of the voting process. Typical thresholds are: all 4s and 5s in the first round; at least two-thirds of votes 4s and 5s in the second round; at least two-thirds of votes 3s, 4s and 5s in the third and final round. 
   
   If a third round vote fails, there will be a mandatory cool-off period where the issue is tabled for remainder of academic year. If more than half of the votes are 3 or higher, however, the expectation will be that the department will revisit the issue in the following year. 
   
   Approved documents or policies may pass a departmental vote, but then need to be revised in light of feedback from an extra-departmental body (e.g, a college or university committee or official) who is required to approve the change. In this case, the department will repeat the vote at the same decision threshold (i.e, another second round vote for a document previously approved on the second round), providing a summary of the earlier vote and highlighting the new changes with respect to the previously approved version. 
   
    
2. Up/down or ranked choice votes. These may be necessary or preferred for departmental decisions that do not offer the time required for multiple rounds of voting to build consensus.  Votes in the latter category are often time bound and represent choices between discrete options, such as:

• awarding scholarships or research awards,
• yes/no decisions on specific opportunities
• selecting candidates for a short list

3. the multi-stage, ranked-choice voting procedure outlined in section A.4 for identifying the candidate to receive a tenure-track offer.

Adoption thresholds: In most cases, votes are decided by a simple majority (50% + 1). Notable exceptions include fist-to-five votes (see the procedures and thresholds outlined above), changes to the DOPP itself (see section A.1 above), and faculty hiring decisions (see section A.4 above). 

In cases where there is no previously defined approval threshold in the DOPP, CBA or COPEP, and the department chair believes a higher adoption threshold than a simple majority is merited, the chair may set a super-majority (2/3rds) requirement for adoption after discussion with department members, and with clear notice of the approval threshold in the call for votes.  

A full record of procedures, thresholds, and vote results will be archived in documents such as department meeting minutes and/or documents specific to the issues being voted on. These documents will be stored on the department server and will be made accessible to all members of the department.

1. Department meetings will be held regularly during the academic year.
2. Faculty may request additional meetings by consultation with the chair
3. The chair will solicit agenda items from the faculty and provide an agenda at least 24 hours in advance of each meeting whenever possible.
4. Notes of department meetings will be taken by a person designated by the chair and will be stored in a location accessible to all faculty and staff within one week of the meeting.

1. Consult with department faculty and staff regarding matters affecting the department, especially regarding new appointments, curriculum, budget, space, faculty assignments and workloads, course scheduling, and faculty and staff evaluations.  It is important that faculty and staff have a sense of ownership of the decisions that are made internally that affect the department.
2. Schedule and preside over department meetings at which matters of importance to the department are discussed and acted upon.
3. Assist faculty in their efforts to continue to improve their teaching and achieve their goals of research/creative activity and service; assist faculty in reaching professional goals within the context of the goals of the department.  Confer annually with all members of the department to identify and discuss their academic accomplishments and goals.
4. Provide leadership in the selection of new permanent and temporary faculty.  Establish priorities for hiring consistent with the department’s goals and mission with the full involvement of the permanent faculty, negotiating with candidates and the Dean the conditions of employment including salary; teaching, research and service responsibilities and other sources of support.
5. Develop course schedules and teaching assignments and workloads to meet department goals and student needs within allocated resources and to provide equity among faculty.
6. Ensure that the department follows College and University procedures in all personnel matters.
7. Respond to the day-to-day business of the department in a timely manner.
8. Communicate on a regular basis with the Dean regarding departmental needs, accomplishments and planning.
9. Represent the department at the Dean’s Advisory Council, Provost’s Advisory Council and other appropriate College and University meetings; provide information from the department to contribute to discussions and decisions at those meetings and communicate back to the department faculty and staff information that results from those discussions.
10. Notify faculty, staff and the Dean’s office of absences from campus and appoint an acting chair when appropriate.
11. Additional responsibilities are listed in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the College Operating Procedure and Evaluation Plan.

a. Lab Instructor Supervisors implement general physics labs, including development of the lab schedule, maintenance of the lab’s Canvas site, communication with students, oversight of grading, and preparation of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (TAs). 

Specific responsibilities of an LIS include:

i. Coordinate Schedule with Lab Coordinator (LC): Sets the experimental schedule for the quarter and confirms TA meeting times before TA assignments are finalized.

ii. Maintain Canvas Site: Review and update course content to ensure materials are current and accessible.

iii. Prepare Lab Documents: Review, and revise if desired, materials for the quarter’s labs and weekly TA preparation meetings.

iv. Recommend Course Adjustments: Suggest any significant changes for future quarters to the lab committee.

v. Lead Weekly TA Meetings: Prepares TAs with content of lab exercises, pre-labs, and post-labs, identifying common areas of difficulty for lab students, and demonstrating effective TA techniques.

vi. Oversee Grading: Monitor TAs' grade entries in the gradebook and address any grading policy issues.

vii. Manage Attendance: Collaborate with the LC to address excused absences, update a shared spreadsheet, and notify students with the LC and TA in copy.

viii. Finalize Grades: Ensure lab grades are accurate and complete at the end of the term.

a. The standard teaching load for 1.0 FTE tenure track/tenured (TT/TN) faculty is five classes per academic year (each class being a 3-5 credit course, with a dedicated course catalog entry). Typically, these are scheduled as two quarters with two classes, and one quarter with one class, but other distributions are possible and will be scheduled on a best effort basis. 

b. TT/TN Faculty with joint appointments in the Physics & Astronomy Department and another unit have their teaching loads scaled proportionately with the fraction of their appointment to each department. TT/TN Faculty whose joint appointment includes a 0.5 FTE teaching load in the Physics & Astronomy Department typically alternate between ‘Heavy’ and ‘Light’ assignments, consisting of three and two Physics & Astronomy classes per academic year, respectively.

c. When included as a component of a TT/TN faculty’s teaching assignment, Lab Instruction Supervision (LIS) duties for classes with 10 or more lab sections count as half a class. To simplify recordkeeping, TT/TN faculty requesting two LIS assignments in a single year will be given priority over faculty requesting LIS assignments in consecutive years.

d. Course releases funded by external and internal grants can enable reductions in a faculty member's teaching load for a given academic year. The cost of these releases are determined in accordance with the WWU Standard on Faculty Instructional Releases, as maintained by the Research and Sponsored Programs office. Releases must be approved by the Department Chair and College Dean, based on their assessment of departmental needs and available resources. 

a. A 1.0 FTE NTT appointment consists of 12 credits of instructional duties per quarter. 

b. The credit weight of each instructional duty in an NTT contract is:

i. Instructor of record for a course: credits equal to the academic credits awarded for the course. 

ii. Lab Instructor Supervision duties: 1 credit for labs with 9 or fewer lab sections; 2 credits for labs with 10 or more lab sections. 

iii. Lab Supervision duties: 1 credit for each supervision shift, consisting of one or two concurrently scheduled two-hour labs.

c. A typical 1.0 FTE NTT appointment consists of two lecture courses (~8-10 credits) and 2-4 credits of lab duties per quarter.

To motivate and reward instructors who take on new preps, the department will offer such instructors the right-of-first-refusal to teach up to two more offerings in the next four years. Once a new instructor has taught a class three times, priority will be given to other faculty requesting the class, to encourage broader knowledge of the curriculum. 

The ‘three course rule’ will be maintained on a best-effort basis, with the chair entrusted to manage interruptions due to professional or other leaves of absence. In such cases, the goal will be to balance the aims of rewarding effort invested in a new prep with that of rotating instructors to sustain broader institutional knowledge of the curriculum.

1. During Fall quarter, the chair will provide a list of courses the department plans to offer in the next Summer. The chair will solicit requests from faculty currently employed by the Department who are interested in teaching these courses. (Note that sections of introductory courses typically include responsibility for teaching laboratory sections and supervising TA meetings.)

1. Faculty may propose additional courses to be taught. In this case, the faculty should provide a short justification to the chair, as well as a quantitative estimate of the number of students expected to enroll in the course, and an explanation of the reasoning for that estimate.  This justification will be useful for proposing the course to the College, which decides which courses to offer each summer, and has the right to cancel any class which has five or fewer students enrolled two weeks prior to the start of the course (per sections 16.8.2 and 16.11 of the 2023-2027 Collective Bargaining Agreement, respectively). 

Faculty who have expressed interest in teaching summer courses will meet with the chair and try to come to agreement regarding the assignment of instructors to summer courses. If no agreement can be reached and/or if there are more faculty requests than available summer courses, a priority order will be established as described below. The chair will assign the courses accordingly.

Priority for teaching assignments is established as follows:

1. Faculty proposing new courses will receive priority to teach those courses;
2. For all other courses, and in the absence of unusual circumstances (as assessed by the department chair), faculty may request summer courses in the following priority order (from highest to lowest priority):
   1. The department chair (as chair duties likely require their attention and availability for a significant fraction of the summer, but with substantially less compensation than during the academic year);
   2. Faculty who have never taught a summer course;
   3. Faculty who have taught a summer course before: these faculty will be prioritized based on the amount of time since they have taught a summer course, with faculty having taught more recently receiving lower priority than those who have taught less recently.  
   4. Faculty in phased retirement (regardless of recency of their summer teaching experience).
   5. Only if all faculty who have expressed interest in teaching a course have been assigned to a course may a faculty member request to teach a second summer course. 

A course that remains unassigned may be staffed with non-tenure track instructors not currently employed by the department.

• All committees will include at least three faculty members, in addition to other members as described below.
• Committee members will serve three-year terms except under special circumstances (e.g., professional leave.)
• Vacancies on committees will be filled by the department chair with input from faculty. Committee chairs will be selected by the committee members.
• Early in each academic quarter, the department chair will reserve time in a department meeting in which the committee chairs will describe the agenda items to be addressed by the committee during that quarter. 

Charge: The Curriculum and Instruction Committee (CIC) solicits input, suggests changes, and ensures administrative completion of items related to the curriculum, assessment and teaching provided by faculty in the department. 

Core Responsibilities:

1. Solicit input from faculty and students on curricular changes, such as revisions of course prerequisites and degree program requirements, and development of new courses and degree programs. 

2. Propose curricular changes and revisions, and brings these proposals forward to the whole faculty for a vote (Spring quarter)

3. Submit curricular changes, revisions, and proposals for new courses and degree programs, as previously voted on and approved by the faculty, for consideration by the college curriculum committee and Academic Coordinating Commission (Fall quarter)

4. Curate and disseminate to the department, in consultation with individual instructors and the entire faculty, course-level curricular resources (e.g., course topic lists & learning objectives, textbooks and learning systems).

5. In coordination with the lab operations committee, organize the ongoing administration of standardized assessments,

6. Research opportunities for expansion of curricular assessment, and suggest possible expansions of assessment for consideration by the entire faculty

7. Other duties related to the development and implementation of curriculum, as deemed appropriate by the committee and chair.

Membership:

• In addition to faculty, student ambassadors and/or department liaisons may be invited to serve as advisory committee members. 

• In years without student participation as advisory members, the committee is expected to invite input from, and provide written feedback to, the student ambassador(s) & department liaison(s).

Charge: The Student Success committee coordinates department activities that foster the academic, scholarly, and professional growth of students. The committee functions as a steward of department efforts in creating and sustaining a positive climate, and coordinates department discussion and articulation of department goals and vision surrounding climate. By soliciting faculty, students and staff for specific tasks, the committee facilitates and oversees new activities and follows through to make sure those tasks get done and documented.  The committee reports to the department and regularly engages the faculty and staff in discussing and thinking through issues related to climate and student success in the Physics & Astronomy Department. 

Core Responsibilities:

1. Coordinate with Chair and department liaison(s) to organize Quarterly All Hands meeting, and provide a follow-up report to department

2. Create guidelines for Advising Best Practices, distribute to faculty, and coordinate additional advisor training, mentoring workshops, etc. as needs are identified.

3. Facilitate the scholarships and research stipends process, including advertising available scholarships/stipends, evaluate applications and identify awardees. 

4. Draft the mission and vision statement regarding Student climate, periodically conduct climate surveys and summarize results, and facilitate discussion among the faculty for ways to foster an inclusive environment at least once annually. 

Membership:

• In addition to faculty, the department manager will serve on the committee in a targeted capacity, participating fully in all committee work and meetings related to Advising Best Practices and Student Climate and providing information related to Scholarships and Research Stipends.   
• The department lab coordinator will serve on the committee in a targeted capacity, participating fully in all committee work and meetings related to Student Climate.

Charge: The Program Operations Committee (POC) solicits input suggests changes, and ensures administrative completion of tasks related to program assessment, department documents, and department budget and staffing.

Core Responsibilities:

1. Ensure that department policy documents, such as the Department Operating Procedures and Policies (DOPP) document and COPEP addendum are up to date. Solicit feedback annually from the department on these documents and oversee the formation of ad hoc committees to make changes to the documents as required.
2. Oversee the Department of Physics and Astronomy Program assessment. The committee coordinates a yearly assessment of the department’s seniors using nationally recognized assessment tools. Topics assessed include mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and quantitative reasoning. The committee maintains an up-to-date record of year-by-year results of these assessments. The committee also prepares and submits, by the end of spring quarter, an assessment document to the WWU Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. Assessment documents follow a biennial schedule: The document from year 1 is an assessment of how successfully the program is meeting goals set down in the department’s mission statement. The document from year 2 is a “closing the loop” report and details what changes were made to address concerns in the previous year’s assessment document.
3. Conduct a review of the department website and make necessary updates. Ensure that links to department documents like the COPEP addendum, DOPP document and program requirement documents are current. Coordinate department discussions regarding website changes.
4. Perform an annual review of the department budget. Gather expenditure data from the office manager, technical staff, and Lab staff and create a year-end summary document of the department budget. Present this summary at a department meeting and gather feedback from faculty.
5. Maintain contact with alumni. Activities may include creating and distributing yearly newsletter, revising and conducting alumni surveys, and updating the alumni data base.
6. Assist the Chair in tasks related to staffing. For example, assigning Laboratory Instructor Supervisors, making TT faculty teaching assignments, hiring and evaluating NTT faculty, and hiring department staff.

Membership:

• Three faculty
• Department office manager OR department chair

Charge: The lab committee provides oversight of the existing lab curriculum, a structure for development and adoption of new lab curricula, and assessment of student learning in the lab environment.  The lab committee also monitors the classroom culture and teaching effectiveness of the lab program overall. The lab committee coordinates with the Department Lab Coordinator (DLC), Lab Instruction Supervisors (LISs), Department Chair and broader faculty to address concerns and develop solutions. The focus of the committee is on the introductory lab sequences 115/116 and 161/162/163, since these courses include multiple lecture sections.  Responsibilities listed below apply predominantly to these courses but extend to all introductory labs when considering the classroom culture.

Core Responsibilities:

1. Lab curriculum

1. The committee develops and maintains lab topics lists and learning outcomes.
2. The committee develops and maintains curricular materials to support faculty serving as LISs.
3. The committee provides oversight for lab curriculum changes and development.
4. The committee solicits department-wide input for lab curriculum changes, and coordinates with and provides timelines for department faculty, LIS, and DLC engaged in such changes.

2. Assessment of student learning    

1. The committee is responsible for the administration of established assessment instruments in the lab environment. This usually involves coordination with the DLC and LISs for specific courses.
2. The committee facilitates department-wide discussion of the adoption of new assessment tools, instruments, or approaches. The committee coordinates new adoptions with Physics Education Research (PER) faculty and/or other interested department faculty.
3. The committee coordinates with an LIS or other faculty member, or mentors a teaching or research assistant, for the analysis and presentation of assessment data.
4. The committee is responsible for curating and archiving assessment data. This may involve coordination with an LIS, another faculty member, or the DLC.

3. Lab Structure and TA Support

1. The committee is responsible for monitoring the overall teaching effectiveness of the lab structure.  Specific activities to monitor include:
2. Coordination of duties and communication between LISs and the DLC;
3. Duties, expectations, and implementation of Lab Supervision; and
4. TA preparation for their weekly lab teaching duties.
5. The committee supports and checks in periodically with the DLC on the TA evaluation process to monitor the classroom culture.
6. To address issues and areas of concern, the committee will coordinate with the Department Lab Coordinator (DLC), Lab Instruction Supervisors (LISs), Department Chair and broader faculty.

4. TA professional development

1. The committee is available to support department-wide TA professional development (PD) activities, workshops, and programs. (NOTE: Such PD activities are distinct from preparation for weekly teaching duties.)
2. The committee ensures that any such PD activities are documented, and that training materials and resources are archived.

Membership:

• One faculty member who has previously served as a Lab Instruction Supervisor
• At least one additional faculty member
• Department Lab Coordinator

1. The department will provide, wherever possible, travel support for faculty to attend professional conferences and meetings associated with professional development.

The department will allocate, to the extent possible, support for faculty assistants to aid with grading and instruction.  Allocations will be commensurate with course enrollments and structure, with a current departmental average of 30 TA hours per year per faculty member.

If a faculty member must cancel a week or more of regularly scheduled class periods due to a scheduled absence, that faculty should notify the chair ahead of time and make arrangements for a substitute or otherwise ensure that the class is productively engaged (i.e, by providing previously recorded lecture material or similar asynchronous instructional materials). For un-scheduled (emergency) absences, the instructor should try to notify staff of the department, so notices can be posted to inform students of the absence.

The department chair shall maintain a handbook documenting standard operating procedures and processes for allocation of departmental resources, such as: travel support for faculty, staff and students; workstation replacements for staff, faculty and student research labs; levels of support for summer research student awards.