Present: C. Hunter, E. Marzluff, J. Meehan, S. Rebelsky, T. Roberts, J. Swartz, E. Willis

The meeting came to order at 4:15 p.m. in room 226 of the Joe Rosenfield Center. The minutes and excerpts of 2-7-07 were approved.

President’s Remarks

The President was traveling.

Dean’s Remarks

The Dean reported on the Board of Trustees meeting held in Grinnell last week.

He updated Council on the status of faculty searches.

He noted that the outside reviewers for the Physical Education Department review will be here soon and he asked several Council members to meet with them. C. Hunter and T. Roberts agreed to do so.

The Dean reported that the group responsible for discussion of Strategic Plan metrics met today and has agreed to split into subcommittees for more efficient handling of separate matters.

He noted that a copy of the video tape made of the presentation on “No Limits” by consultant Mark Edwards last week in the South Lounge will be placed in the AV Center and Library Listening Room.

The Dean noted that he will be meeting with Ann Gansemer-Topf , Karen Wiese, and Richard Cleaver to review their work on the Harris Leave program conducted via interviews with faculty last summer and analysis of the interview data this week and hopes to have some information to Council and the Committee for Support of Faculty Scholarship soon.

Council Remarks

Willis reported on her presentation to the Board of Trustees. She mentioned her presentation on the scholarly excellence of our faculty and her explanation of the faculty reaction to the “No Limits” campaign slogan. She was very happy to report that the President has signed off on the establishment of several faculty review and interaction points in the development of public relations material.

There was discussion of the curricular direction of the Education Department.

J. Meehan reminded Council that the issue of recommending a third course reduction for the Chair of the Faculty should be taken up soon in order to affect a change for next year.

Meehan shared her belief that the process by which Council is involved in interviewing candidates for faculty positions is inefficient and asked for a discussion. It was agreed that this would be added to Council’s agenda.

C. Hunter noted that there are many complaints about the temperature (cold) at which classroom buildings are being kept and while he applauds the College’s attempts to save energy he does not believe that discomfort should be the result.

Update on Faculty Voting

The Committee on Faculty Voting met to review and discuss the survey on voting that was recently conducted and have concluded that there is no consensus. The Committee feels that there are some things that departments can do differently and some that should be carried out in a uniform manner. They will continue their work and be ready to present their suggestions at the March 5th faculty meeting.

Spanish Department Proposal

There was action taken on a proposal from the Spanish Department.

Faculty Meeting Agenda

There was continued discussion of pending items for discussion at the remaining faculty meetings this semester.

Public Relations and Campaign Planning

This discussion was reported previously under E. Willis’ remarks (above).

EKI Advisory Board Proposal

Council agreed that it was appropriate to discuss the overall framework of the Advisory Board proposal. There was some discussion of the relationship between the Council and the Advisory Board. J. Meehan suggested that Council not take a position on the ideas of the Board proposal and simply acknowledge that they find some ideas credible and ask for a full faculty discussion. It was agreed that Council should discuss these ideas. T. Roberts urged Council and the full faculty to have a major discussion of the practices and habits which will need to be changed in order to make it possible for our existing faculty to be able to teach interdisciplinary courses and in collaborative modes on a timely basis. He also urged a better definition of the concepts of “integrative” teaching and teaching “clusters”. Meehan strongly suggested that faculty be urged to think constructively about problem solving rather than simply enumerating the problems facing the transition to interdisciplinary teaching and learning within the context of a full faculty meeting on the subject.

Faculty Mentoring

E. Willis asked about our process for mentoring early career faculty. Willis suggested that Council has not thought systematically about these issues and that the time has come to do so. There was also discussion of the possibility of pulling together an early career faculty focus group for the purposes of developing best practices. T. Roberts raised the often voiced question of how to inculcate a change in faculty culture in this regard. There will be further discussion of these issues.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese