Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Council
December 18, 2002
Excerpts
The meeting came to order at 4:20 in the Nollen House Conference Room.
The minutes and excerpts of 12/11/02 were approved.
The President made no remarks.
D. Kaiser asked about the completion schedule for the new residence halls. The President responded that the plan is to have three completed and ready for students next fall. The fourth will hopefully be ready for students the following semester. D. Kaiser asked about the status of the Shepley Bulfinch planning report detailing alternatives for the forum and library. The President said that the report will be available on Friday and will be distributed to interested members of Council.
Dean's Remarks
The Dean announced that Faculty Activity Reports and department recommendation letters for salary increases have been copied and are available to division chairs and the Chair of the Faculty.
The Dean reviewed the status of faculty searches. Tenure-track appointments have been made in the Mathematics (2) and Psychology (1) Departments.
He briefly reviewed planning progress with the second phase of the science building and stated that the next step was to estimate cost.
Council Remarks
D. Kaiser noted the excellent coordination of and progress made with the Mears renovation and stated his appreciation for the hard work by Marci Sortor in this process.
Approval of Term Positions
J. Mohan moved, D. Kaiser seconded, approval of a position description from the English Department for a one-year leave replacement for Steve Andrews during his Harris Leave. The motion was approved.
M. Schneider moved, S. Barber seconded, approval of a position description from the Psychology Department for a one-year leave replacement for Laura Sinnett during her sabbatical leave. The motion was approved.
M. Schneider moved, M. Montgomery seconded, approval of a position description from the Chemistry Department for a one-year leave replacement for Andy Mobley during his Harris Leave. The motion was approved. Council took no action on a second staffing request from the Department.
J. Mohan moved, D. Kaiser seconded, approval of a request from the Political Science Department to offer a one-year leave replacement appointment to a Visiting Professor. The motion was approved.
There was brief discussion of the high cost (time and money) associated with replacing faculty leaves.
Promotions to Full Professor
There was discussion of the process of consideration of promotion to professor and the nature of what Council is being asked to do in the process.
Faculty Salary Process
The Dean asked Council what needed to be done to move forward toward conclusion of this issue. M. Montgomery volunteered to take the lead in drafting a new process document, working from the November 24th memorandum from the Dean. M. Schneider offered to work with him on this. The Dean urged that the process take a more holistic and less formulaic approach to assessing teaching, scholarship, and service and one which embraces career development.
The meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m.
Secretary
Karen Wiese