President Osgood opened the meeting at 9:30 a.m.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the May 13th meeting were approved.

Chamber of Commerce 2002 Outstanding Educator and Citizen Award

President Osgood introduced Esther Bethel who announced that the Chamber of Commerce 2002 Outstanding Educator and Citizen Award would be given to Bob Cadmus.

Remarks by President Osgood

President Osgood welcomed all faculty to the new school year. He thanked Facilities Management for the hard work they have done to get the campus looking better before classes started. The parking lot behind Nollen House should be fully operational in about two weeks. Sarah Purcell has voter registration forms.

The Board of Trustees voted at its May meeting to ask the College, with Trustee involvement, to engage in a strategic planning process and we will be launching that at some point during the fall semester. The Executive Council will be a key part of this committee.

In the next few days you should be receiving an update regarding where we are in the facilities projects. The Dean is working with several departments and faculty-directed programs about moving into Mears Cottage. It is President Osgood's hope that this will occur no later than the beginning of the second semester. This will be a significant augmentation of faculty office space.

On September 19, Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott [SBRA] will be having a general session from noon to 1:30 p.m. in South Lounge, which is open to the campus. The discussion will be centered on what the options are for re-using the Forum and for the future of Burling Library.

Dean Jim Swartz introduced Jim Sumner, Director of Admission

Jim Sumner gave a brief summary of the entering class for Fall 2002. For a complete report on the entering class and the committee's activities for the year, please go to http://web.grinnell.edu/dean/Reports/02-03/AFA.pdf

Remarks by Dean Jim Swartz

Dean Swartz introduced all new faculty, continuing faculty in new positions, and visiting faculty for fall semester.

Last year faculty initiatives accomplished the following:

• Launched new programs in London and Washington DC.
• Launched the first year of programs of the Center for Humanities, with a visiting professor, seminar for faculty, course for students, and gatherings for faculty to share their scholarly accomplishments.
• Recognition of MAPs as a regular curricular element and giving faculty members teaching credit for this kind of teaching.
• Received over $3 million in grants to support the academic program: Mellon Faculty Career Enhancement, Mellon Postdoc, Lilly, Freeman.
• Appointed 4 new TT faculty, all women and 3 persons of color. We have increased the number of TT faculty of color by 10 in the past 5 years, and 6 in the past 2 years.
• CIS faculty seminar in China.
• Following recommendations of the Curriculum Committee, deliberate planning on the part of students has led to a substantial reduction in the number of independent studies and a dramatic reduction in the number of faculty-supervised internships, while increasing the number of student internships.
• Following recommendations of the Instructional Support Committee, we have purchased a membership in JSTOR, and are anticipating a substantial expansion of academic space by converting Mears Cottage to an academic facility. This will be followed by some upgrades to Carnegie and reorganization of other spaces to gather teaching faculty closer to one another.

Academic Program

• Distinctive Features of a Grinnell College Education
  
  • Intensive mentoring of students by the faculty
    
  • Education rooted in active experience
    
  • Participation in the global community
    
  • Grinnell College entrusts students with an uncommon level of responsibility for their own college experience
  
  In the past few years we have done much to discuss and focus our view of a liberal arts education in what has been called an Open Curriculum (I would call it an individualized curriculum)-
  
  
  • Discussion of different models of a liberal arts education,
    
  • Developing an academic plan,
    
  • Integrating application for OCS into major declaration and developing an academic plan,
    
  • Focusing education so that it can lead to an integrated advanced experience like a MAP

Grant Proposals

2 substantial equipment grants received by Charles Cunningham and Brian Borovsky.
1 Research Corporation grant by Brian Borovsky.

Governance and Communication

Last year was a difficult year in terms of governance and communication. Some faculty members felt a substantial rift from some administrators. Others felt as though elected faculty bodies did not represent them. Others did not want to be much involved in governance. It is important that we pay attention to governance, as there are important issues to be considered and decided. We cannot be effective if members of the faculty feel excluded, nor can we be paralyzed by lack of an effective mechanism for consideration and decision-making. I feel a strong sense of commitment on the part of all of us to the fundamental mission of this institution. We should all take it as a challenge to engage in productive discussions. We should all take it as a challenge to engage in productive discussions. However, we will and should have disagreements, and we need effective means of consideration and then moving on.

President Osgood introduced Chair of the Faculty, Mark Montgomery, who gave a few brief remarks.

No new business or announcements.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Robyn L. Wingerter

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