Present: R. Osgood, J. Brand, B. Grey, D. Kaiser, K. Kamp, J. Mohan, J. Mutti, B.Voyles.
The meeting came to order at 4:15 in the Nollen House Conference Room.
The following remarks from the Dean were transmitted electronically prior to the meeting.
Since I will not attend Council this week I offer these announcements:
Real time minutes begin here.
Approval of the minutes of the December 19, 2001 meeting was deferred to the next meeting.
President's Remarks
The President noted receiving a list of Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence applicants from the Dean.
The President asked J. Mutti to speak about the budget planning process and progress. J. Mutti reported that the Budget Steering Committee has been working to develop and recommend a budget of approximately $61m for 2002-03. Factors which have been influencing the process are 1)a 5.5 percent increase in comprehensive fee and 2)a commitment to a faculty salary pool of 5.25 percent and a staff salary pool of 4.25 percent. The student-faculty research budget which includes Mentored Advanced Projects (MAPs) is one of the largest non-salary increases which implicitly indicates that this is a major priority of the institution. From the process of asking departments to rethink their budget requests we were able to gain approximately $100,000 which is being allocated among JSTOR, Pew Midstates Science and Mathematics Consortium and Alumni Scholars. He believes that the participation of faculty members in the process has been productive. B. Voyles asked about the size of the MAP budget. J. Mutti responded that it is budgeted at $426,000. J. Brand noted that this figure includes more than just MAPs and focuses on all student-faculty research. The President noted Fund for Excellence support for MAPs will end this year. The entire cost will be rolled into the base budget. B. Grey asked how we would handle new diversity hires in the budget. The President said that they would be paid from the bonded fund until we can get them into the base budget. They are projected to move into the base budget in FY 2004. J. Mutti continued by saying that what the committee has done so far covers only the coming year, but that they have two additional years to make projections for. The President noted that projecting budget numbers is an imperfect exercise.
The President remarked that the college has received some very significant gifts recently that are targeted toward academic facilities. These gifts will mean that we will be able to move forward on some projects earlier than others. He also reported that the college did better on annual fund giving this year, but still needs to improve.
He reported that the college has just received a grant from the Freeman Foundation in support of Asian studies at Grinnell. He proposed that we not move forward with this grant until the current tenure review process in Chinese is complete. He noted the excellent work of the grants office in this effort.
Discussion of Draft Mission Statement
Grey reported that it appears that the process of approving the new draft mission statement seems to be proceeding smoothly. The President noted that he has been approached by student government representatives and some staff members about having been left out of the process. B. Grey suggested that the current draft be placed on the website and an email be sent out to the community soliciting comment.
Discussion of Academic Planning
Division chairs are holding division meetings soon to solicit input and reaction from the faculty regarding the first faculty survey. This will take place before a draft of the second survey can be compiled.
Discussion of the Faculty Salary Process
B. Grey reported that the Faculty Budget Committee spent considerable time during the break reviewing materials and assigning numerical values to faculty members for salary increases. He reported that the committee emerged from this process with the conviction that it is not a good one. K. Kamp asked in what ways, other than from the point of view of time consumption, the process was considered inadequate. B. Grey responded that while we hold teaching as a key element of our jobs, the faculty salary review process is prohibited from using end of course data by faculty vote. Since these are the key evaluative data for teaching this very important aspect of faculty performance is not considered. B. Voyles stated that he believes the process forces a short-term view of professional development and that taking a longer time frame with a different focus would be more useful and less personally damaging. The President noted that in his view there are some people that should not be handled by this system such as coaches, librarians, and assistant professors. He also suggested that associate and full professors should not be evaluated each year. B. Grey and K. Kamp agreed that this professional development focus would be useful and more productive. J. Mutti suggested that this view defines a model which placed the Dean at the center. B. Voyles stated that the problem with the current system does not take account of people who are at different stages in their careers and are therefore doing different things for the college. J. Mohan noted that he has argued that the end of course data should be used-not on an annual basis-but over time and in this way one can see patterns of performance. He mentioned that the President had provided him with a flyer announcing a conference this spring on how faculty can evaluate faculty and suggested that perhaps someone should go. The President suggested that B. Grey give thought to how to move this forward.
Council Remarks
B. Voyles raised the issue of no support staff on the first day of the semester which is a holiday. The President stated that he would look into this and respond.
B. Grey noted an issue with regard to the Committee on Academic Standing decision to change the date that the grades are due. Despite this change, a fair number of faculty still missed the deadline. He proposed to handle this at the next faculty meeting and explain the consequences of missing the deadlines.
The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
Secretary
Karen Wiese