College of Fine and Performing Arts Faculty Governance Council

a table crowded with mugs, notebooks, laptops while a committee works busily solving all the important problems.

The Basics

The Faculty Governance Council ("FGC") is one of the main avenues of shared governance within our University, representing the faculty of the College of Fine and Performing Arts ("CFPA"). The Council is meant to ensure that faculty views are heard and considered in all significant actions related to College governance.  

The FGC reviews and makes recommendations on the policies and procedures that govern the college, including budgeting and strategic planning. The FGC is meant to facilitate an open exchange of information with the College Administration, and it strongly represents the voice of the faculty as programs and policies are formulated, implemented, and evaluated. The College Dean can be an important conduit of information for the FGC, and is a non-voting member of the Council.  Although the Dean may be a frequent part of meetings, the FGC also meets without the Dean in attendance when appropriate.

To assist in this open exchange of information, the FGC members collect feedback from the CFPA faculty and represent this feedback to the College Dean. Any faculty member can bring concerns to the FGC so that these concerns can be openly discussed. Sometimes the FGC works cooperatively with the College Dean to reach shared goals; and sometimes the FGC advocates for faculty concerns and goals which are in opposition to those of the administration.  

The FGC routinely invites guests from various constituencies in the university to keep us informed on the ever-evolving issues related to shared governance at Western.

Responsibilities

  • To oversee, revise, and approve the documents that help govern the College, and ensure that these documents are in compliance with university policies found in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the Faculty Handbook, and state and federal guidelines. (Examples of these documents include the CFPA Unit Evaluation Plan, CFPA Bylaws, CFPA Professional Development Policy, Departmental UEP’s, among others.)
  • To serve as a communication hub for our faculty by collecting and disseminating information on issues of shared governance that impact the faculty of the CFPA. This includes collecting feedback from the faculty on critical governance issues as well as disseminating information to ensure our faculty is fully informed about important issues that impact our College.
  • To provide feedback and advice to the College Dean on important college issues such as budgeting and strategic planning.
  • To hold regular meetings, approximately every other week during the academic year, and make the meeting minutes available to our university community.  
  • To provide a structure to explore and take action on any important issues which concern the faculty of the College of Fine and Performing Arts.

Council Members

The Council is comprised of one or two faculty members from each department in the CFPA: Art & Art History, Design, Music, and Theatre & Dance.

These members are selected by the faculty of their departments for a two-year term. Department Chairs help facilitate this selection to provide membership which reflects the diversity of our entire College. FGC membership can include tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure-track faculty, and also includes the College Dean as a non-voting ex-officio member. The Council selects a Chair from its membership at the beginning of each academic year.

The FGC includes CFPA representatives of major university committees who can provide updates on the actions of these committees. This includes the University Planning and Resources Committee and the Faculty Senate.

The FGC also frequently welcomes guests to its meetings, such as representatives from university organizations like the Associated Student Senate, the United Faculty of Western Washington, and others.  

Anyone on the CFPA faculty can ask to be heard by the FGC, and meeting minutes are available to the entire university community (see below).

Contact Us

It is essential to the mission of the Faculty Governance Council that faculty let us know when there is an issue that needs to be addressed by FGC.  If you have something to bring to our attention, please submit the contact form below.

Webform

Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*).

Faculty Governance Council

Heather Dudenbostel, MM

Assistant Professor of Voice and Dramatic Arts | Opera Theater Director

PA 63

Eva Gil, MFA

Assistant Professor, Acting

she/her

360-650-2317

PA 389

Ryan Kelly, MFA

Associate Professor

he/him

360-650-2041

AA 062

Evan Mueller, MFA

Professor

he/him/his

PA383

Patrick Roulet, DMA

Professor of Percussion, Percussion Area Coordinator

He/Him

360-650-3404

PA 023

Brittany Schade

Assistant Professor

360-650-7705

FI 106D

Governance Information