Present: J. Cummins, B. Ferguson, K. Jacobson, J. Meehan, R. Osgood, S. Rebelsky, J. Swartz, E. Willis.

Mark Schneider was invited to attend, as an observer, Council meetings as newly elected Chair of the Faculty.

The meeting came to order at 4:15 p.m. in room 226 of the Rosenfield Student Center.

Henry Reitz was invited to the meeting to present his proposed schedule for obtaining Council input and participation in the next few months of information gathering in preparation for finalizing the reaccreditation Self Study. He also reviewed the current status of survey activity and information collection. He left the meeting at 4:35 p.m.

The minutes and excerpts from February 6, 2008 were approved, conditional on approval of a revision of remarks made by the President.

President’s Remarks

The President reviewed events of the recent Trustees meeting in Grinnell. He also looked forward to the April meeting which will include a report from the task force on internationalization and globalization and a discussion on endowment payout. He does not think there will be any physical facilities issues on their agenda.

He also noted that the Trustees had voted to adopt the name Jesse Macy House for the newly renovated house at 1205 Park Street.

Dean’s Remarks

The Dean reported that he will be out of town on February 27th and March 5th and will not be able to attend those scheduled Council meetings. The President suggested that he might take the opportunity to present and discuss his vision for the Library expansion during one of those meetings. E. Willis reminded him that the discussions regarding the Library are linked to discussions and plans for ARH and Carnegie.

The Dean distributed a chart and updated Council on the status of faculty searches.

The Curriculum Committee met and discussed a proposal to allow a one-credit course to be offered during fall break. They voted to deny the proposal because they felt the need for students to decompress as intended.

He also noted that there has been a fair amount of discussion on summer internships and whether they should or can be credit-bearing. B. Ferguson asked if this has become an issue because of the INS requirements involving international students. The Dean reported that he has asked Kathleen Powell to do some research on this issue.

He reminded Council that faculty contracts are being brought forward to August 1 start dates rather than the previous start date of the first day of classes. He distributed suggested language changes to the Faculty Handbook governing faculty contracts and asked Council to review. E. Willis thanked the Dean and the President for bringing this change forward to completion. She also noted that there will be withholding and tax implications resulting from this change and asked that the administration make the relevant information available to all faculty.

Council Remarks

S. Rebelsky noted there are questions about how the Arabic courses will be listed in the catalog since the choice of designation may imply a long-term commitment. The Dean responded that the Curriculum Committee has approved a special ARB (Arabic) designation. He reminded Council that specific courses to be offered will be determined by the successful candidate and the Dean’s Office as soon as an appointment is made.

J. Meehan noted that she had gone to look at the classroom at Jesse Macy House but had been told that it is not available at this time during the time-period she would want to use it. She made special comment on how nice the space was.

Interdisciplinary Review—Amendments to the Faculty Handbook

B. Ferguson moved, E. Willis seconded, that Council recommend approval of the proposed amendments to the Faculty Handbook regarding reviews for faculty appointed in interdisciplinary areas. The motion was approved. The President noted that, if this is approved by the faculty, it will next go to the Trustees at their next Executive Committee meeting for consideration of approval.

Draft Instructions for Position Proposals

E. Willis noted that there is an issue for Council to resolve regarding whether or not to combine instructions for the preparation of regular expansion proposals and EKI proposals in the same document to be sent to departments. The President thought that while the document could appropriately reference the EKI and diversity as strategic priorities of the College at this time, he would not want departments to think that these considerations would prevail over a straightforward (non-EKI or non-diversity) expansion request. S. Rebelsky distributed several documents which provide “advice” to departments as they prepare position proposals for consideration by Council in April. The Dean suggested that since the purpose of this document is not to provide advice, but specific procedures and instructions for submitting position proposals the title of the document should convey this. K. Jacobson suggested that, since new curricular areas may emerge over time and guidelines may need to be changed, a date be added to the document as a reference point.

The President left the meeting at 5:30 p.m.

Executive Council members proceeded to undertake a line-by-line edit and discussion of content. During the discussion it became clear that Council felt the document should reflect needs and additions beyond the EKI. They noted what they believe to be a widely held perception that the EKI is a budgetary priority with regard to staffing requests and that there are other, heavily weighted, academic staffing needs at present…especially related to enrollment pressures at the introductory-level of the curriculum. The discussion encompassed the relative importance of pedagogy as an explanation of ideal class size at each level of the departmental curriculum, contributions to the general education in the curriculum, contribution to diversity among the faculty, contribution to new areas of knowledge, and contribution to the objective of freeing up existing faculty to teach in interdisciplinary areas or in collaborative teaching modes. J. Meehan suggested that if Council wants to see departments thinking broadly they need to be instructed to explain how their staffing request will help the department both reach out across the curriculum and build up the curriculum of the department.

The Dean suggested that as the College comes up on the midpoint of EKI implementation, it is appropriate that Council look carefully at the pattern of investment in these new interdisciplinary positions in relation to issues of building critical mass is select areas and in relation to other curricular needs of the College. E. Willis pointed out that the purpose of this document is to provide the instructions for preparation of proposals, and that the process includes members of Council sitting with department chairs (or other authors) to elaborate on the various strategic priorities and current needs and be able to discuss with them appropriate means of presentation in a position proposal to Council. It was decided that Willis would try to take the sense of Council’s discussion and re-draft the Rebelsky draft and distribute this to members of Council within a few days with the intention of distributing it to departments next week.

Council was adjourned at 6:20 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese