Present: V. Brown, L. Gregg-Jolly, D. Lopatto, W. Moyer, R. Osgood, J. Swartz, R. Vetter, E. Willis (by telephone)

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

The minutes and excerpts of the 4/27/05 were approved.

President's Remarks

The President reviewed the business undertaken by the Board of Trustees last week, noting in particular their approval of naming residence hall "B" after Hannibal Kershaw (1879), the first African-American graduate of the College.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean updated Council on the status of faculty searches.

He distributed proposed changes in curricular development funding practices drafted by the Instructional Support Committee. He noted that the ISC is seeking Council approval. It recommends that the College no longer fund faculty stipends for curricular development, but to fund other direct costs associated with curricular development at a higher level. They believe this will serve to stimulate such work. V. Brown noted that there should not be curricular areas which are priviledged over others. In their memorandum, the Committee had originally identified areas of "strategic priority to the College" as eligible areas for curricular development support but had substituted "worthy" in its place. E. Willis noted that the curricular development stipends were originally created to entice faculty to develop curriculum outside their areas, but which could contribute to Concentrations. L. Gregg-Jolly noted that the originally proposed redefinition of the rationale for a support fits nicely with the Expanding Knowledge Initiative. The President noted that it was always envisioned that some of the existing funds such as this would be available to the EKI. L. Gregg-Jolly asked for delayed consideration of this issue by Council.

Council Remarks

W. Moyer remarked that the Executive Council and the Faculty Organization Committee will jointly present the new election cycle to the faculty at its next meeting.

L. Gregg-Jolly noted that she, Jonathan Brand, and Wayne Moyer joined the Social Studies Division meeting to make a presentation on the budget process. She believes that this was very productive and should be repeated in the future in order to strive for greater understanding.

W. Moyer noted that Council needs to put in place an American Studies Planning Committee.

Faculty Position Requests

There was continuing discussion of the various departmental faculty position requests. As part of that discussion L. Gregg-Jolly argued that the Council should always consider departmental proposals for both replacements and additions with a high level of scrutiny. E. Willis also suggested that Council take the lead in changing our faculty culture by requiring that each department request to Council meet the same standards and that there should be no necessary expectation of continuing to fill positions as they become vacant.

The meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese