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.

The minutes and excerpts of the 12/1/04 meeting were approved.

President's Remarks

The President noted that David White and Ann Spence, two members of the Board of Trustees Diversity Committee, are on campus today to meet with the faculty subcommittee on diversity and then with the members of Executive Council at dinner. L. Gregg-Jolly suggested that Council members convey the idea that the current diversity initiative is taking place as a result of the good will of many departments and that they have been assured that successful recruitment will not jeopardize future hires. The President said that it would also be good to convey the intersection, tension, opportunity and political explosiveness brought about by the issue of spousal employment.

Dean's Remarks

He noted the change of meeting time during finals week and that Karen Wiese will be away at a professional conference and unable to take minutes. He said that he had asked Marci Sortor if she would be willing to do this and she said she would serve if asked. Council asked him to arrange this.

He noted that the Economics Department is arranging to continue to cover a medical leave spring semester.

He provided an overview of the current status of pre-registration for next semester. Approximately 460 students were cut out of classes and another 350 were switched. Average class size at this point is 15.3. Out of 350 courses to be offered between 60-80 are closed. This is being worked out.

He announced that the ACM has cancelled the spring program in Tanzania due to threat of physical violence to the program which was regarded as serious by the U.S. Consulate.

He distributed a list of leaves and absences for 2005-06. He noted that six study leaves were awarded by the Committee for Support of Faculty Scholarship. Jackie Brown had previously been awarded a Mellon semester leave so the five remaining Study Leaves were awarded to Gene Gaub, Clark Lindgren, Bill Patch, Mark Schneider, and Kathleen Skerrett. L. Gregg-Jolly asked how many faculty apply when it is not their sabbatical year. The Dean replied that most people are pairing the semester leave with the sabbatical semester.

The Dean distributed a table showing the status of faculty searches and provided a brief summary.

He distributed a list of faculty members up for promotion to full professor. V. Brown asked what the "campus standard" is for scholarly productivity beyond tenure. The Dean responded that generally if a person is in rank for ten years they are expected to have at least one peer reviewed article. The President expressed concern for the relative slow rate of promotions to the rank of full professor, noting bloating in the associate rank. L. Gregg-Jolly expressed frustration with what appears to be a perverse situation when looking at the significant number of highly talented women on the list for consideration of promotion to full professor and knowing that only one woman applied and was awarded a senior faculty study leave this year. The Council voted to allow four faculty to move forward for consideration of promotion to the rank of full professor this year.

Council Remarks

E. Willis noted that she has been receiving responses to the draft diversity statement distributed to Council last week and she will return to the Sub-Committee for some refashioning after receiving input from the members of the Board's Diversity Committee at our dinner meeting tonight. L. Gregg-Jolly asked what the role of the Faculty Diversity Sub-Committee is in relation to the Executive Council in this regard. E. Willis said that she believes that the Sub-Committee can issue its recommendations independently. W. Moyer asked what process lies ahead with this document. The President responded that one purpose of the document is a legal one, as per Gruder. He would like to see the document go forward, retaining the approval authority at each step. He urged E. Willis to take the document to the full Diversity Committee to see if there is anything sufficiently controversial to require additional action. There was further discussion.

Anthropology Department Proposal

There was discussion of a proposal from the Anthropology Department to make an offer for a one-year temporary position without a national search.

Wilson Program Proposal

The Dean provided an overview of a revised proposal from Doug Caulkins and noted that there is no Executive Council action required at this time.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese