Present: President Osgood, Special Assistant to the President J. Brand, Dean Swartz, Associate Deans H. Scott and P. Smith, E. Dobbs, B. Ferguson, T. Moore, M. Pillado-Miller, D. Smith, B. Voyles.
The meeting was called to order by the President at 4:20 p.m. in Windsor House.
Prior to the regular business of the Council, members listened to and discussed a report by C. Trosset and S. Baumler. L. Sinnett was present as well. Trosset presented a summary of the draft report "Overview of Findings: Student Course Evaluation Research from Spring 1999" produced by her office.
S. Baumler performed a quantitative analysis of the Spring '99 end-of-course evaluation form which did not identify serious issues. However, qualitative analysis did show problems with validity of questions 1-3. There is good evidence that all students were not answering the same questions. Trosset's analysis included creating a "catch-all" picture of what students were thinking about their classes. As a result of their research of the Spring '99 evaluations she concludes that a form which asks only a few general questions will not result in anyone knowing what the answers mean. She recommends taking another semester to continue the experiment-but using a different form which includes more and different questions synthesized from phase I research-in order to give them enough data to try to determine whether a particular question elicited a specific response. Trosset handed out the Spring '99 form, a list of 13 questions titled "Course Evaluation Form for Psychology 113, Fall 1999", and a proposed timetable for course evaluation form decisions. A lengthy discussion ensued.
The President suggested moving ahead with the Spring'99 end-of-course evaluation instrument, but with some modifications to clarify vague language. Dean Swartz suggested that Trosset make some minor wording changes to the document to strengthen it and make that revision available to Council at the next meeting.
Trosset will make the wording changes suggested by the Dean and make the revised instrument available to the Council at next meeting.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the 9/29/99 meeting were corrected and approved.
Remarks by the President
J. Brand stated that the memo regarding the next Fund For Excellence round of proposals will be issued shortly.
Remarks by the Dean
The Dean had no remarks.
Discussion of the Process of Considering Next Steps in Campus Facilities Planning
The President commented that he does have some ideas about the further campus planning process and will share those in an email to be discussed by Council members in three weeks.
Discussion of Postdoctoral Proposals Submitted by Departments
Four proposals were received by the Dean's Office. D. Smith noted that the proposals are widely varied in scope. There was a brief discussion of the need to solicit additional proposals and of the need to meet various important deadlines for publishing position announcements. The Dean suggested that he could make an additional call for proposals. Bruce Voyles moved, and D. Smith seconded, that the Dean will make an additional call for proposals for postdoctoral positions. The motion was approved.
Discussion of Principles Behind Faculty Staffing Decisions
The discussion will take place as the first agenda item at the meeting next week.
Council Members-Remarks
Dobbs moved and B. Voyles seconded approval of the Library position description for Access Services Librarian.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.