Present: C. Hunter, D. Lopatto, E. Marzluff, W. Moyer, R. Osgood, T. Roberts, J. Swartz, E. Willis

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

Marci Sortor joined the meeting to discuss the Expanding Knowledge Initiative and the Second Year Retreat.

The minutes and excerpts of 2/8/05 were approved.

Marci Sortor joined the meeting to discuss progress with the Expanding Knowledge Initiative. She began by reviewing planning for the Second-Year Retreat which is scheduled to take place during the last weekend of Fall Break. The retreat would run from Friday afternoon through Sunday noon. A recreational area near Boone is currently planned to hold the retreaters. The keynote speaker will be Ira Strauber. She then briefly discussed issues facing the Interim Advisory Board such as 1)how interdisciplinary appointments are to be made 2)concentrations and different kinds of structures 3)interdisciplinary teaching in relation to team teaching 4)introducing new interdisciplinary areas of study into the curriculum and prioritizing those areas. She mentioned that a first round of “Common Ground” lunches for faculty groups with shared interdisciplinary interests had been held during the first semester and that a second round is now being held. She distributed a list of areas under serious discussion by the Interim Advisory Board and those which require more discussion. Sortor left the meeting at 5:10 p.m.

President’s Remarks

The President reminded Council that Strategy #6 of the current Strategic Plan emphasizes enhancing the public perception of the College. One area of concern is how to publicly approach the College endowment. Another area he is working on is how to put what we are doing out to the public in a more dramatic fashion.

Dean’s Remarks

The Dean noted that on February 27 Clint Korver will share his thoughts on risk analysis as a means to think about stewardship and endowment spending in a presentation to the faculty at 4:15 and followed by a discussion with the Council over dinner.

He updated Council on the status of faculty searches and the CSMP process. E. Willis again asked about the possibility of appointing two CSMP candidates this year. The President responded that he has asked the Dean to look at the issue from the extremely tight budget perspective. In this context, the Dean mentioned that there are many more departmental requests for temporary appointments this late in the year than is typical.

The Dean noted that the Curriculum Committee met this week and are making good progress on the issue of developing a vernacular for Independent Study in relation to MAPs. They sent out a draft email with a proposal to give a common course number to all MAPs. T. Roberts noted that he had already received on complaint about the proposed change and asked whether a more deliberate discussion of the issue was warranted. D. Lopatto noted that since the Committee is suggesting a uniform application procedure for all such independent work this fact in and of itself may circumvent what could appear to be inequality. E. Marzluff asked if the Committee had discussed the possibility of limiting the number of 499s in any department. The Dean responded affirmatively. E. Willis asked if W. Moyer could report on the current issues, especially regarding MAPs, under discussion in the Curriculum Committee. Moyer agreed to provide a summary of Curriculum Committee activities at a future council meeting.

Council Member Remarks

T. Roberts reported on the only regularly scheduled meeting of the Humanities Division in February. He noted that after the meeting he was taken by the fact that Divisions are required by the Faculty Organization Committee to have elections and required by the Fall semester course approval process. Because this was the only business they were able to do during this meeting, he has had to schedule another meeting for next week in order to take care of other pressing business such as the Theatre Department proposal. D. Lopatto noted that Sam Rebelsky has been elected Science Division Chair for the next two years.

Chemistry Contract Extension

Council voted to approve a contract extension in the Chemistry Department.

Strategies for Diversifying Candidate Pools in Faculty Recruiting

Brad Bateman entered the meeting at 5:40 p.m. to discuss strategies for faculty recruiting. The Dean noted that last year the Executive Council changed the process by which faculty searches are conducted in an attempt to diversify applicant pools. Bateman has been asked to talk to faculty regarding what steps he suggests for doing this. He distributed a document which he refers to as “best practices” which outline the steps he will be requiring departments to follow next year. He noted that there is good collaboration among peer institutions in sharing such practices. He also noted that only one department met the letter of Council intent this year without his help.

He will be asking departments to specifically and fully address these requirements in writing staffing proposals, and he asked Council not to consider any proposal which does not. He will be requiring all departments who intend to submit a proposal to Council for April consideration to meet with him so that he can review exactly what needs to be done. He will also be asking departments to pursue avenues which are peculiar to their discipline, such as the Association of Black Physicists. The Dean added that success depends heavily on personal contact. T. Roberts asked Bateman what he expects Council to look for when they get proposals in April. Bateman responded that he will be expecting departments to do at least the first five things on his best practices list. It was noted that Council needs to be in a position to “pull the plug” before approval is given to bring a candidate to campus for an interview. E. Marzluff asked Bateman to be willing to read each plan before proposals go to Council and to provide Council input prior to their consideration. Bateman left the meeting at 6:00 p.m.

Promotion to Professor

T. Roberts continued a discussion begun in the fall semester and detailed in his January 16 memorandum to Council which includes a list of recommendations for changing the language and procedures regarding promotion to professor. The least difficult of these changes would be to work this type of review into the process of the Budget Committee. W. Moyer noted that would mean the Budget Committee, Dean, and President could recommend promotion to Council. While the President stated his reluctance to make changes to the Faculty Handbook, Roberts made such recommendations. There was continued discussion of the word “excellence” in relation to a record of faculty scholarly accomplishments prior to consideration of promotion to professor. The Dean stated that he did not want individual interpretation of what excellence means to prevent them from agreeing to be brought forward for review. There was discussion of the relative importance of the very fact of peer-reviewed publication and external reviewer letters. The President stated his preference to give more weight to external review letters. There was discussion of other phrases that would more clearly convey the intention of Council in this policy such as “continuing high quality” or “professionally reviewed”. Roberts was asked to try again to frame the governing language.

The meeting adjourned at 6:20 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese