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

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

President's Remarks

The President noted that he had recently led a reaccreditation assessment team at Washington University and reflected on that experience.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean noted that a three-semester term position request from the German Department had been electronically approved by Council during the week.

He noted that all of the diversity position announcements had been placed in a display advertisement in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Dean stated that Bill Francis had received a letter of resignation from Ivan Perry to take effect in two weeks. Information Technology Services is trying to handle the situation with the Audio Visual Center as an interim measure. The President suggested that this situation presents the College with an opportunity to review the role of the Center in meeting our audio-visual teaching support needs. W. Moyer asked that the faculty be involved in such a review.

The Dean noted that he had met with L. Gregg-Jolly and W. Moyer (the faculty members of the academic sub-committee of the Budget Steering Committee) to review the requests for term positions and there will be position descriptions coming to the Council soon for approval.

He said that department proposals for Mellon Postdoctoral Fellows would be received for review by Council next week and urged that Council take up this agenda item as a priority for the next meeting.

Council Member Remarks

W. Moyer distributed a draft faculty survey intended to elicit faculty interest in and experience with interdisciplinary teaching. He asked for approval in order to distribute the survey immediately. It was approved and decided that all surveys would be returned to Mary Wells.

D. Lopatto noted that he met with E. Willis and Jon Chenette to draft procedures for Center reviews and would report back to Council with recommendations next week. E. Willis suggested that the review subcommittee of Council continue to play a logistical and coordinative role throughout the review process to provide consistency and efficiency. The President reserved the right to reject any recommended reviewer.

Theatre Department Dance Proposal

E. Willis asked for a review of the history of this position. The Dean reviewed the transition from Babe Voertman's long years of dance instruction through the various subsequent term appointments. There was discussion of a term position request from the Theatre Department.

Anthropology Department Term Position Proposal

There was discussion of a term position request from the Department of Anthropology.

Promotion to Full Professor

The Dean reviewed the responsibilities of the Executive Council to approve faculty members who would be considered for promotion to full professor. He reviewed the process. The President noted that the College is tenuring faculty in much greater numbers than promoting to full professor. L. Gregg-Jolly asked for some discussion of the issues facing faculty who decline to be brought up for promotion. There was discussion.

Prioritization of Future Council Agenda Items

Council decided that issues of conducting Center reviews and institutional assessment should take high priority in future Council discussion. Interdisciplinary teaching and part-time faculty would be discussed within the framework of strategic planning.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese