Present: C. Hunter, E. Marzluff, J. Meehan, R. Osgood, 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 4-11-07 were approved.

 

President’s Remarks

 

The President briefly discussed the sad news of the discovery of Paul Shuman Moore. He also noted the very sad events which had taken place at Virginia Tech University this week at the hands of a gunman. He stated that he has a zero tolerance policy in place regarding guns and violence at Grinnell and that he will maintain an aggressive vigilance in this area.

 

Dean’s Remarks

 

The Dean congratulated S. Rebelsky, Janet Davis, and Mathew Kluber on being awarded a National Science Foundation grant this day.

 

R. Jonathan Moore has accepted a Mellon postdoctoral fellowship in the Religious Studies Department beginning next year.

 

The external review teams for the Economics and Physical Education Departments’ reviews will be on campus early next week.

 

The Dean discussed the possible conversion of the house at 1205 Park Street from student housing to one that would accommodate the needs of the Center for the Humanities, Center for International Studies, Prairie Studies, and the Rosenfield Program. A meeting is being scheduled with the Directors and the architect to conceptualize functions in relation to space. A key feature of any design would be handicap accessibility.

 

Council Remarks

 

E. Willis stated that she had, on behalf of the faculty, written a letter to the faculty of Virginia Tech University expressing sympathy in response to recent events. The President thanked her.

 

C. Hunter noted that several faculty have spoken with him regarding the need for public safety education and practice; in particular he mentioned the possible benefits of fire drills during periods of time when classroom buildings are in use and of more information on appropriate responses to fire alarms. Rebelsky asked about how the institution trains students, faculty, and staff about responses to the tornado warning system and whether we also needed tornado warning drills.

 

E. Willis asked the President about the status of the search for a Special Assistant. He said that he had interviewed two of four thus far and expects to complete interviewing by the end of the month.

 

Athletic Director Search Process

 

There was discussion of the Athletic Director Search.

 

Discussion of the Position of Associate Dean

 

At the request of Council, the Dean distributed a chart of the current duties of the Dean’s Office (currently distributed among the Dean and three Associate Deans) and a list of duties (comprising a subset) which might be taken by an Associate Dean who would be recruited from outside the faculty. The issue is whether or not it would be prudent to recruit an Associate Dean from outside of the faculty to avoid continuing to take teaching faculty out of the classroom to perform service to the College as Associate Dean for several years at a time. The Dean reminded Council that the position of Associate Dean has been filled from the faculty for at least the past 20 years and he argued for the strengths and benefits of the current system. Since he announced the resignation of Brad Bateman he has received several expressions of interest from faculty. E. Willis argued that because the faculty member who takes up the temporary position of Associate Dean is given a portfolio which consists of areas of responsibility with steep learning curves the productivity and effectiveness over the term of the appointment is necessarily somewhat diminished and that this problem could be overcome by a professional administrative appointment to at least one of the now three Associate Dean positions.

 

The President noted that there are times in a faculty member’s career when interests or lives change and opportunities such as this provide a good avenue to take a break from the classroom and/or rigors of their scholarship and test new waters. E. Marzluff argued that the number of “opportunities” (ACM OCS Country Directorships, GIL, GIW, etc) to take faculty out of the classroom is growing to the point of unsustainability and will lead to a certain increase in the number of term appointments which is antithetical to an important goal of our Strategic Plan. Willis noted that it is the department which pays the high price of these absences. C. Hunter suggested that the price could be lessened by doing something better for the effected department. Willis also noted that in her opinion there has been strong “mission creep” occurring in the duties of the Dean’s Office. Hunter noted that, in fact, much of the actual work associated with many of these duties is currently performed by highly capable administrative assistants who work with the Associate Deans and we might consider formalizing these additional duties/responsibilities.

 

Faculty Position Proposals

 

There was general discussion of departmental position proposals.

 

There was continuing discussion of EKI proposal review process and proposals received.

The Dean asked Council if they find value in asking those proposing EKI searches to provide information on what contributions would be made to the curriculum as a result of such an appointment. T. Roberts had prepared (and distributed) an example of how such information could be provided to Council. There was discussion. The President did not have confidence that such suggestions/promises would be considered as commitments in future. The issue was raised in an attempt to find a tool which would help the Dean project the number of courses needed in future years which would be made available as a result of EKI appointments and therefore the number of faculty who could be freed to pursue interdisciplinary teaching in that same period. In the end, Council agreed that this type of quantitative accounting is unrealistic. The President thought that is not unrealistic to ask proposers to consider how the appointment might help other faculty pursue new directions and carry out interdisciplinary teaching.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

 

Secretary

Karen Wiese