Faculty Meeting

Faculty meeting
Body

The regular meeting for the faculty of the Department of Statistics was held in a hybrid format via Zoom and in Padelford Hall, room C-301 at 12:45 p.m., November 17, 2025. Abel Rodriguez, Department Chair, presided at the meeting. Kristine Chan was recording secretary. 

Chair’s Remarks 

  • FYI on new programs: There is a proposal for UW Tacoma to establish a Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Data Science, along with a proposal from the Department of Sociology to launch a Master of Science in Social Data Analytics. 

Committee Reports 

  • Update on course and program proposals:
  • Certificate in Statistics: There is a two-step process involving an initial PNOI with a 14-day comment period, followed by a full proposal. Draft and revised PNOI available from the agenda. The Chair is asking for feedback on PNOI by Friday, November 21.
  • PhD Curricular changes: The GPC has put together the draft form for faculty to review.  GPC asking for feedback by Friday, November 21.
  • MS Curricular changes: The changes have not started yet, but will follow after the PhD curricular form.
  • STAT 511 Kuali submission: The proposal form has been submitted.
  • STAT 507: The proposal form will be submitted soon. Discussion of this class with BIOST will be extended to Winter and possibly Spring 2026. It is unclear if there will be interactions with 570 and 571. Our current plan for 507 assumes that 570 and 571 stay the same.
  • STAT 491/492/516/517: The Chair hopes to have an update before the end of the quarter on this matter. No course change proposal will be submitted any time soon since we need to wait for MATH.
  • STAT Introductory Service Courses: Nothing to report at this time. Discussion is ongoing and will most likely be finished next quarter. 

New Business 

  • Report from Sasha Aravkin, Academic Senator for Applied Mathematics and Statistics: Sasha reported that the Faculty Senate is discussing a motion to the University administration and Board of Regents to reject any agreement with the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” or similar arrangements.
  • DEI checklists and Title VI compliance efforts: UW is launching a campus-wide Title VI compliance effort led by the Office of Compliance and Risk Services, centered on new DEI-related checklists.
  • Status of STAT 559 and STAT 534 as PhD electives: There was an open discussion on whether or not STAT 559 and STAT 534 should be allowable electives for the PhD program (i.e. count towards the 4 electives required in addition to the course courses.) A vote may come later.
  • Provost’s curricular refresh: The Provost's Curricular Refresh requires academic units to review course enrollments, retire underused courses, and consider retiring low-enrollment degree programs by Winter Quarter 2026. Units must also streamline degree pathways, assess course pre-requisites, and map learning outcomes for new courses by Autumn Quarter 2026. Additionally, they need to evaluate capacity constraints and present expansion plans to the dean’s office by early Winter Quarter 2027. 

Adjournment 

There being no other items to discuss, the meeting was later adjourned at 2:00 p.m.