Present: S. Barber, V. Brown, L. Gregg-Jolly, M. Montgomery, R. Osgood, M. Schneider, J. Swartz, R. Vetter

The meeting came to order a 4:20 p.m. in the Nollen House Conference Room.

The minutes and excerpts of 12/17/03, 1/7/04, and 1/21/04 were approved.

President's Remarks

The President thanked the chairs of the strategic planning subcommittees for having gotten the process underway since last week.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean updated members of Council on the status of faculty searches in mathematics, English, history, philosophy, education, economics, and chemistry.

The Dean reviewed the staffing situation in the Department of Chinese and Japanese.

The Dean noted that there is a desire on all parts to conduct a review of the co-curricular programs such as the Prairie Studies Center. There was discussion. L. Gregg-Jolly noted that there is some faculty discontent regarding the relationship of the Centers to concentrations.

The President left the meeting at 5:40 p.m.

The Dean asked Council to take on the responsibility of designing the structure of a review of the Prairie Studies Center since it is a potentially unwieldy process given the far reaching nature of the Center's programs and institutional constituencies. It was agreed to put this on Council's agenda for future discussion. The suggestion of a review of the Prairie Studies Center should extend to all other Centers. The Council agreed that self-studies of the Centers should proceed, the Council should develop a common set of questions to be addressed and that visiting committees should come during the 2004-05 academic year.

M. Schneider noted that he had been tasked with final editing of the 10/29/03 memorandum to the faculty on changes to the faculty salary process and that he would complete his charge soon.

L. Gregg-Jolly noted that the tenor of her small faculty discussion group meeting of December 15th was very upbeat with participants expressing gratitude for the opportunity to have their opinions heard and recorded in a small group setting. She thanked Marci Sortor for the idea.

L. Gregg-Jolly asked if the issue of establishing an earlier opportunity for faculty to move to Senior Faculty Status has been put on Council's agenda. The Dean stated that he is very near to providing a proposal for Council discussion. M. Schneider moved, V. Brown seconded, Council's in principal endorsement of the administration's investigation, if financially feasible, to establish an earlier age at which faculty can elect to move to Senior Faculty Status. S. Barber moved to offer a friendly amendment, V. Brown seconded, that the administration not simply investigate this issue but move to establish an earlier age option. The motion and friendly amendment were approved.

The Dean noted that Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence proposals would be reviewed by Council next week.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:12 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese