Present: President Osgood, Dean Swartz, Associate Deans H. Scott and P. Smith, Special Assistant to the President, Jonathan Brand, E. Dobbs, R. Grey, M. Pillado-Miller, L. Sinnett, D. Smith, B. Voyles

The President called the meeting to order at 4:20 p.m. in Nollen House.

The Minutes of February 10 were corrected and approved.

Remarks by the President

The President reported that the search for the fine arts gallery director is going well. We are continuing to get very highly qualified applicants in the pool.

Voyles remarked that faculty members were disappointed that they did not hear anything from the President at Monday's faculty meeting about the Board of Trustees meeting. The President responded that he had already sent out a summary about the meeting to the faculty and that an announcement about salaries and the budget would be going out today. Council members suggested that in the future it would be helpful if the President would still talk about the Board Meeting and the contents of the written memos at the faculty meeting. This year, especially, faculty would have liked to have heard more about the tone of the meeting to get a better sense of our relationship with the Trustees. D. Smith cautioned against setting up inappropriate expectations about trustee-faculty relations since the faculty's relations with the Trustees are best shaped and managed by the President.

The President expressed his appreciation for the suggestion that he share information about board meetings at faculty meetings and stated that he would also follow a suggestion made by D. Smith that he routinely close faculty meetings by asking the Chair of the Faculty if she has any further remarks. The Chair would respond and then move adjournment.

Dobbs stated that she would also like the Faculty Meeting Agenda to routinely include Remarks by the Chair of the Faculty (so that she would always have a slot on the agenda for issues that might arise after the agenda has gone out) and New Business.

Remarks by the Dean

Offers are out for tenure-track positions in Chemistry, English, and French and will soon go out for two term positions in Russian.

D. Smith stated that it would be appropriate for Council routinely to hear a discussion about the interviewing process and departmental decisions as these are being made since we are bringing faculty members not only to a department but to the college. The Dean responded that in the future a report from division chairs and Council members who have interviewed candidates will be put on the Council agenda.

CSMP applications will come to Council from departments next week.

Discussion of Staffing Proposal from Biology

Voyles moved and Pillado-Miller seconded a motion to approve the extension of a one-year contract to a two-year contract to maintain the current level of staffing in the Biology department. The motion carried unanimously.

Approval of Faculty Position Descriptions

Pillado-Miller moved and Grey seconded a motion to approve a one-year temporary position in English to fill loss of five courses due to a variety of staffing losses. The motion carried unanimously.

Pillado-Miller moved and Grey seconded a motion to approve a position description for leave replacements (one fall and one spring) in Chinese. The motion carried unanimously.

Discussion of Staffing Proposal from the Theatre Department

Council discussed a second description of staffing needs from the Theatre department and recommended that the Theatre department be asked again for a rationale for the fourth position (to become vacant when a faculty member moves to Senior Faculty Status) that goes beyond a description of courses. This type of rationale will be required of all departments when they submit staffing proposals to Council each April. The Theatre department will be asked again to refer to the guidelines in the November 18 Council Minutes (http://www.grinnell.edu/dean/council/November18.html/) and to refer also to the rationale they submitted in September of 1993 for the addition of a fourth position that explains how the expansion to four position has been used.

Continuation of Discussion of End-of-Course Evaluations

Council continued its discussion of Sinnett's analysis of end-of-course evaluation data. A subcommittee of Council members (Voyles, Pillado-Miller, Sinnett) has been appointed to bring a recommendation back to Council in the next few weeks. Someone from the Office of Institutional Research will join the subcommittee when appropriate. Council will bring a proposal to the full faculty this semester.

Remarks by Council Faculty Members

Dobbs reported that a number of faculty were involved in dinners with the Board of Trustees and with the new Academic Affairs Committee. As Chair of the Faculty, she attended one full Board session all Thursday afternoon. The tone of these meetings was very positive and amiable.

Dobbs distributed documents from a faculty member raising personnell issues. These will be discussed at a future meeting.

Council set its agenda for the next two meetings.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m.

Helen Scott
Secretary