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

The meeting came to order at 11:30 in the Nollen House Conference Room.

Council members voted to invite Karen Wiese to their meetings to serve as Secretary. She joined the meeting at 11:45.

President's Remarks

The President welcomed members of Council to the new year.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean reviewed the faculty staffing situation noting several vacancies created since the end of last academic year. He also noted that there are two faculty members who have had to take medical leave and will not be teaching their planned tutorials. He has been able to add one tutorial, however the loss of the other put additional pressure on tutorial class size with some at 12 and others at 13.

He reminded Council that there will be a meeting of Council with those department chairs who will be conducting tenure-track searches this year to discuss strategies that could be used to better meet the goals of the College relating to faculty diversity. M. Schneider suggested that the meeting be opened to any chair who feels that s/he has valuable experience to contribute. There was discussion of the Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence program.

He noted that he will start a search for an Associate Dean soon and asked Council to consider their own interests or other faculty members.

He mentioned that the new college catalog will cover a two year period 2003-2005 resulting in considerable financial savings. The catalog will be updated to reflect all changes by supplement and on-line.

Council Members' Remarks

M. Schneider asked whether the Instructional Support Committee will be involved in making permanent policy regarding PLANS (an electronic chat room on College server). The President stated that they would. V. Brown urged that some serious effort be made to smooth over the dissatisfaction of a large number of our valuable alumni as a result of disabling PLANS earlier in the summer.

R. Vetter noted several faculty members have expressed dismay with the disappearance of the paper version of the Campus Memo. He stated that while this is the low-level concern, the larger issue is the faculty perception that increasingly decisions affecting the entire campus are being made on a top-down basis. V. Brown insisted that all faculty should receive paper copies in their boxes. L. Gregg-Jolly raised the issue of problems in our advising system caused by electronic vs. paper communication. There was also discussion of larger issues of an apparent movement toward electronic media as the favored method of campus communication. The President suggested bringing the Vice-President for Communications and Events and the Registrar to a Council member to discuss these issues.

Election of Council Representative to the Budget and Diversity Steering Committees

There was discussion of the time commitment and duties of the representative on the Budget Steering Committee. Because of time constraints in relation to other pressing business, it was decided to continue this discussion at the next meeting.

Approval of Position Descriptions for Tenure-track and Renewable Term Positions

L. Gregg-Jolly noted that the Library position description was silent with regard to the Library's expectations for research in relation to promotion. M. Schneider moved, R. Vetter seconded, approval of the position description for Reader Services Librarian subject to the Dean going back to Christopher McKee to insert language that reflects the expectations of the Library regarding scholarship and service. The motion was approved.

The Dean noted that position descriptions for Art (Printmaking), Education, History (Modern British), Mathematics, Philosophy (Analytic), and Philosophy (Modern) had been approved electronically by Council during the summer.

The Dean stated that he would circulate a copy of the display ad for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Consideration of Proposals for Searches to Fill Faculty Positions

There was discussion of staffing proposals from the departments of sociology, physical education, and the writing lab.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese