Present: J. Swartz, B. Grey, D. Kaiser, K. Kamp, J. Mohan, J. Mutti, B. Voyles, H. Scott, P. Smith.

The following business was taken care of electronically in advance of the meeting.

J. Mutti reported on the Social Studies Division discussion of convocation on February 21, 2002 noting they had arrived at the following points of consensus:

(1) the college should try to schedule one or two high profile speakers (eg. the caliber of Lani Guanier or George Mitchell) each year;
(2) because not all 12 convocation slots are currently being used each semester (8 or 9 seems to be the current average), further efforts to reduce the number of convocations does not seem necessary;
(3) our own faculty have given some of the best received convocations and scheduling them in the future is desirable;
(4) convocations generally have been most successful when they have a tie to the curriculum and can be publicized far enough ahead that faculty can relate them to class work;
(5) the executive council should create a task force of interested individuals to draft a proposal that clearly presents the goals and rationale for campus-wide convocation and indicates how the convocation program should be administered.

The Psychology Department has concluded that it cannot fill its two-year position in clinical/counseling because the clinical pool is smaller and more competitive.

The Dean reported that he has spoken with Mark Godar regarding lights in the new athletic field parking lots. He would be happy to take any calls directly re: parking lot lighting. He also stated that we are already using down lighting in the lots. We have a mandate from both the observatory and energy efficiency to not spill light either up into the sky or beyond the lots (i.e., into neighbors yards), where it is not needed.

The President noted that he spoke briefly with the President of Williams yesterday, Morty Schapiro, to see if they have a document the pulls together the changes being made to reduce the teaching load (formally) to four courses a year. He said they have no document and do not intend to produce one. He said this change, announced in January, was part of Williams' long term move to emphasize scholarship in the tenure and promotion process. He said that the load does involve teaching one winter term course every other year in addition to the regular load. He said that the issue is more complicated in the sciences due to labs, etc. He mentioned that they do not believe that average class size will increase much as they are increasing faculty size and hiring more lab supervisors in the sciences. President Osgood stated that he would ask the Dean to follow up with a call to their Provost or Dean to see if we can't get more detail. Obviously, we would have to consider simultaneously with this discussion the role of scholarship and trade-offs with teaching and it may well be that we come out in a different place than Williams on this.

The following minutes were taken in real time by Paula Smith.

The meeting came to order at 4:22 in the Nollen House Conference Room.

The Dean reported that the President is out of town.

Minutes of the March 6, 2002 meeting were approved.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean reported that he has offered positions to two Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence candidates.

Psychology Staffing Request

Dean Swartz had distributed earlier in the day a staffing request from the Psychology Department. It was incidentally noted that the Department may re-submit its request for a tenure-track position by the April 1st deadline. There was considerable discussion of the Department's request in view of its curriculum, staffing, and curricular plans.

Council Remarks

B. Voyles reported interviewing two candidates for the organic chemistry position. The Dean said that he expects a recommendation from the department in the next few days.

B. Voyles recalled his earlier query about whether the Forum Grill will stay open during special hours in the summer. The President had said he would look into it. The Dean said he did not know where this stands, but that there is a concern about low traffic in the Grill during those summer hours. B. Voyles said that there are more important issues than financial viability involved. The Dean and J. Mutti noted that the Budget Steering Committee spent a lot of time this year talking about committing resources to various areas of dining services in the context of building the overall budget of the College.

K. Kamp relayed a faculty comment on sensitivity to the shape of outdoor lighting at the edge of campus, and why the fixtures in the interior of campus ought to diffuse light broadly and upward, while lights in areas contiguous with neighbors' property ought to be shaped to as to direct light more specifically in the direction of the campus. The Dean said that this suggestion should go to the Director of Facilities Management, who works with campus committees and consultants to design specifications to be met by landscaping and lighting contractors.

D. Kaiser thanked P. Smith for taking the minutes for this meeting.

R. Grey raised a point about recent dinners between Board members and faculty members, including a group of untenured faculty. Board members found these dinners stimulating and expressed a wish for continued informal interaction with the faculty. D. Kaiser agreed that it is good for Board members to hear faculty views and learn about what the faculty is doing, but he added a note of caution that a brief social encounter may give rise to misunderstandings and inaccurate information, so these social meetings should not be relied upon by the Board as sources of information on which to base decisions. K. Kamp suggested that it might work to announce a topic for focused discussion and ask for interested faculty to volunteer. The Dean and R. Grey agreed to follow up on the issue of arranging informal interactions between faculty and trustees.

Scholar's Convocation

H. Scott distributed a revised version of her memorandum on forming a "Taskforce on Convocations and Academic Speakers." J. Mutti and D. Kaiser thanked Helen for assembling all the relevant materials for this discussion. J. Mutti and K. Kamp commented that it is useful to know the amounts of money involved, as most faculty members are not aware of these amounts. There was a brief discussion of funds from other programs.

D. Kaiser asked H. Scott for her thoughts on how this issue should be worked out. H. Scott emphasized the importance of formulating the principles and priorities to guide the process. If these principles are formulated clearly and are widely agreed upon and understood, then faculty members will not need to spend large amounts of time deliberating on individual speaker proposals, but rather the specific proposals can be handled by administrators who apply the guidelines set by the faculty. Council members discussed the difference between more specialized lectures for a limited audience (perhaps more appropriate for the "neo-Roberts" funds allocated to departments) and lectures for a more general audience, which are appropriate for the Scholar's Convocation.

J. Mohan expressed the wish that a mechanism can be set up right away so that responses can be made to colleagues who have already made repeated inquiries about speakers for next year. K. Kamp asked how many of the currently dedicated Convocation "slots" are funded from the Convocation budget, and how many have their own program budgets. The Dean responded that even when programs use their own money, they often seek additional funds to cover what they want to do. R. Grey commented that in a way, the slots are more scarce than the funding. K. Kamp questioned, if the goal is to draw a broad audience, whether the slots dedicated to specific constituencies might not be ideal to accomplish that goal. J. Mohan reiterated the importance of deciding on a clear mechanism to be used this year. D. Kaiser suggested continuing the present system of dedicated slots for one more year, while a Task Force is established to define principles and guidelines to govern next year and beyond. In this way, people who are counting on having a "slot" can be told that they have it for one more year, but that after that, the Task Force may come up with alternative recommendations to bring to the full faculty, and depending on that outcome, people should not automatically count on having their same Convocation slot in the future.

J. Mohan characterized the Humanities Division as having a strong ethos of equity and of transparency in decision-making. B. Voyles remarked that the Convocation discussion is part of a broader discussion about academic speakers. The Dean clarified that under the present system, each department has $630 to fund academic speakers. The department may co-sponsor speakers with other departments or with a program like Rosenfield, but there is no other college budget (say, in the Dean's Office) where a department can go to supplement its funds. Of course, the Task Force on Academic Speakers would be free to recommend a change in this structure.

R. Grey/K. Kamp moved that for this year, Helen Scott is to allocate 2002-03 Convocation slots following the standard practice of recent years and in keeping with the list of dedicated slots to which people are accustomed. Meanwhile, the Deans will put together a slate of nominees for the Task Force on Academic Speakers, for approval by the Council at its next meeting. J. Mutti suggested that such a Task Force ought to include a balance of people who have a lot of experience with bringing speakers to campus and colleagues who have less investment in the current system. K. Kamp suggested that some important stakeholders might be invited by the Task Force to contribute their views. The Task Force will be charged with examining broad questions of principle (purpose of Convocation, ideal number of Convocations in a semester, criteria and procedure for selecting speakers, role of alumni and current faculty as guest lecturers, the ideal number-if any-and distribution of "dedicated" slots, etc.) and bringing a set of options first to the Council and then, if approved by Council, to the faculty. This process should be concluded by the middle of next year so that a new process can be in place in time to select speakers for 2003-04. This motion passed.

J. Mohan announced that in April he will go ahead and invite members in the Humanities Division to nominate Convocation speakers for next year. H. Scott mentioned that in filling the traditional "dedicated" slots, she will encourage programs like Rosenfield to use their slots to collaborate with other entities such as the Humanities Center and Prairie Studies. J. Mohan and K. Kamp raised the issue of multi-day symposia which can tie-in with the curriculum if announced sufficiently ahead of time, but which also can drain campus energy, block out other events, and draw small audiences. The issue of multi-day symposia seemed appropriate for the Task Force to consider.

Discussion of the Faculty Salary Process

There was no time to continue this discussion.

Upcoming Agenda Items

The Dean mentioned that he expects proposals to come from departments for new or replacement positions. The deadline for departments is April 1. Also, the Curriculum Committee is preparing a recommendation about the academic value of MAPs.

The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

Secretary
Paula Smith