MEETING OF THE
President Russell K. Osgood called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. in ARH 302.
Remarks – Russell Osgood, President
President Osgood explained that he would not stay long for the meeting because of guests on campus. The College is currently hosting the Iowa College Presidents Association, the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Iowa College Foundation. Osgood thanked the faculty for welcoming guests on campus and for their participation in Family Weekend.
Announcement – Sarah Purcell, Chair of the Faculty Organization Committee
There will need to be an appointment to the Dining Services Committee in the coming weeks and anyone that is interested should contact Purcell.
Nominations for Personnel Appeals Board Election – Sarah Purcell
Three two-year positions are up for election this year. The nominees were Todd Armstrong, Sig Barber, Elizabeth Dobbs, Jan Gross, Kathy Jacobson, David Lopatto, Jenny Michaels, Mark Schneider, Laura Sinnett, and Kathleen Skerrett.
Approval of Minutes – Russell Osgood
Minutes from the meeting on August 23, 2006, were approved.
Provisional Degree Candidates for December – Jim Swartz, Dean of the College
The mid-year degree candidates for the Bachelor of Arts degree were approved for recommendation to the Board of Trustees.
Russell Osgood excused himself from the meeting.
Diversity Report – Frank Thomas, Senior Counselor
Counselor Thomas fielded questions regarding the Diversity Report. There was discussion regarding efforts to diversify the administration. Brad Bateman reported on the status of the forthcoming Diversity Policy. It is expected that a final draft will be presented to the Council this week. Eliza Willis invited faculty to share their ideas about the College’s recruitment practices with herself and members of the Diversity Steering Committee - Johanna Meehan, Raquel Green and Ralph Savarese.
Copyright and E-Reserves Discussion - Jon Chenette, Associate Dean of the College
Associate Dean Chenette provided some history about the College’s current Copyright Policy which dates from 1995. The policy is no longer adequate so a task force was created summer 2005. Current membership of the task force includes Gail Bonath (Library), Chenette, Mike Connor (CTS), Bill Francis (ITS), Richard Fyffe (Library), Ralph Helt (AV Services), John Kalkbrenner (College Services), Cecilia Knight (Library), Sam Rebelsky (Computer Science), Catherine Rod (Library), and Mark Schneider (Physics). The next meeting will be on October 10.
Chenette summarized the memo sent on June 30. The memo essentially stated that copyrighted materials posted in the College’s Pioneer Web course management system are subject to federal copyright laws; the College does not condone posting of any material that violates copyright laws; and faculty members seeking to make copyrighted materials available electronically to students should employ the e-reserve system at the library. http://www.grinnell.edu/its/faculty/ereserves/
Chenette enumerated the considerations being made by the task force on copyright policy. These considerations include copyright law, including the Fair Use provisions in that law, various accepted practices in libraries governing the purpose and procedures of ILL and library reserve, the pedagogical needs of faculty, the College’s general interest in promoting the ethical use of expressions and ideas of others, and the desire to stimulate campus awareness and debate.
There are 1,292 e-reserve requests to date, which is at least three times the comparable semester last year. 89 requests have been denied by the rights holders which is 6.8 % of the total. The cost of paying for these rights has been nearly $17,000 which is substantially more than the library’s budgeted amount.
Chenette invited questions and discussion by the faculty. A transcript of this discussion can be found at http://web.grinnell.edu/dean/Copyright/09-18-06_Fac_Mtg_Transcript.pdf .
Following the discussion, Dean Swartz thanked everyone for their efforts.
Approval of Winter Sports Schedules - Emily Moore, Athletic Representative
The winter sports schedules were approved.
Office of Interdisciplinary Studies Update - Marci Sorter, Vice President of Institutional Planning
The Office of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Expanding Knowledge Initiative now has a website and it can be accessed via the Dean’s Office website.
Sorter thanked the members of the Advisory Board that served last year. Sam Rebelsky and Todd Armstrong have stepped down from the committee. The new members are Elaine Marzluff, who will serve as an intermediary between the board and Executive Council, and Kathleen Skerrett. The Executive Council appoints members to this Advisory Board and the 2006-07 members are Lesley Delmenico, Vince Eckhart, Marzluff, Wayne Moyer, Monte Roper, Skerrett, Susan Strauber, and Michael Billups (SGA Vice-President).
Sorter described the process which led to the proposal for the two EKI searches in Geography and Earth Systems Science. There is a single cross-division search committee for these searches and it has been divided into two sub-committees. The Geography search sub-committee members are Jack Mutti, Kathy Jacobson, and Helen Scott. The Earth Systems Science search sub-committee members are Jackie Brown, Jon Andelson, and Elaine Marzluff.
The Common Grounds Lunch Series continues this year. A list of Common Grounds lunches will circulate on Wednesday. Sorter thanked the Instructional Support Committee for funding the lunches.
The Advisory Board is currently exploring models of team-teaching and other forms of cooperative teaching. They are also looking at the re-envisioning of the current structures of concentrations.
Second Year Retreat Update - Bob Grey, Interdisciplinary Fellow
Grey reported that the number of second year students who participate in the retreat is likely to be just under 100. This number is much less than initially anticipated. Grey thanked the many volunteers, there were more than needed.
On Friday, October 27, there will be a Majors Fair for second year students at 4:15 p.m. A similar gathering for prospective students will be conducted by Admissions at 2:15 p.m. that same day.
Remarks - Jim Swartz
Executive Council has approved 13 tenure track searches for this year. These positions can be found on the Dean’s Office website. Swartz encouraged faculty to make recommendations for these positions.
Recognition of Faculty - Jim Swartz
Pilar Asensio recently completed her Ph.D. at UCLA. Her title has been updated to Assistant Professor of Spanish.
Brad Bateman (with Roger E. Backhouse), Editors, The Cambridge Companion to Keynes, Cambridge University Press.
Remarks - Eliza Willis, Chair of the Faculty
On September 26 and 28, members of the Budget Committee will meet with department chairs and others who will be writing salary review letters. Contact Willis for more information and with feedback.
Executive Council expects to bring the rewritten version of promotion to full professor language for the handbook to the next faculty meeting. A sub-committee will need to be formed to rewrite the faculty voting rights section of the faculty handbook.
Willis invited faculty to suggest nominees for honorary degrees. She assured faculty that doing so does not require a lot of work in this process. Suggestions should be given to Rachel Bly along with a short statement for your reason.
Announcements and New Business
Sarah Purcell raised the issue of scheduling at dining services and concern for students who are skipping meals. Willis reported that Executive Council has been assured the slow start-up is normal and that it will get better. She encouraged faculty to join the dining committee. Swartz reported on the difficulties that dining services has encountered with the dining hall. A new take-out option has been added to the dining plan to help students with scheduling problems.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Angela Winburn
Secretary to the Faculty