FACULTY MEETING 

Friday, October 2, 1998
Gannett Auditorium

MINUTES 

President Porter called the meeting to order at 3:40 p.m. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES 

The minutes of the September 11, 1998 were approved as written. 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT 

President Porter told the audience how moved and appreciative he is to have a Chair (the David H. Porter Chair) named after him. He also mentioned that two persons had played crucial roles in funding this chair — Saratogian Harry Quadracci, a former member of the Board, and Susan Kettering Williamson ’59, a member of the Board for many years. 

The President announced that the Board of Trustees will have their October meeting in Vermont. This meeting will be more of a retreat than a regular board meeting. There will be three new members joining the Board at this meeting—Rosemary Bourne ’60, Jean Bernhard Buttner, and Scott Martin ’79. 

The College is making progress in raising money for the construction budget for the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. The College now has $8.5 million committed towards the $9.1 million cost, with about another $600,000 needed to close the gap. Bridge financing through a short-term bond will be needed when we begin construction since not all of this money will be in hand at that point.

The President talked about the money raised during the Campaign, how it is used, and its impact upon the College. About $13 million of the $86.5 million raised was dedicated to the Annual Fund (Alumni Giving and the Parents Fund), which is used for current expenses and supports the annual budget. The great bulk of the money, over $60 million, raised during this Campaign is devoted to endowment which, when it is all in, will yield about $3 million a year in income to the budget. Of the $60 million, $45 million is designated for scholarships, endowed chairs, and academic programs. The President explained that the College uses this money as it comes in and even before it comes in knowing that it is going to happen. The other $15 million of the $60 million is in special endowment, a fund that supports a portion of the bond issue that enabled us to build the Library and the science wing, to improve the athletic facilities, and to add to the computer infrastructure. Special endowment generates income to fund payments on this bond issue; when this debt has been retired, the $15 million of special endowment will be available to support other needs. 

REPORTS 

Mary Ellen Fischer reported on the Presidential Search Committee. She stated that the search was coming to a close, and the campus will know the name of the final candidate with specific details about that person the following week. This candidate will be on campus October 12 to meet with members of the Skidmore community. It will include open meetings with faculty, staff, and students. All members of the Search Committee will be open to comments from the community after the candidate’s visit. If all goes well, the Search Committee will make its recommendation to the Board of Trustees at their fall meeting on October 22. She stated that at this stage the outcome of the search is not a fait accompli —that there are other important steps that need to be taken. The reason that the Search Committee is bringing in one candidate is the unanimity of the Committee and its enthusiasm for this person, who they feel is a clear choice. The Committee had originally planned to bring in more than one candidate to campus, but issues of confidentiality coupled with their unanimous enthusiasm for the current candidate have led them to bring just the one. The Committee is moving as quickly as possible to get information about the candidate to the community and hopes we all will feel the same way as the Committee does after meeting the candidate on October 12. (See Attachment A.) 

Eric Weller gave a CEPP progress report. CEPP (Committee on Educational Policies and Planning) will meet once each week this semester. The major issues coming before CEPP this year are: forming the framework for an assessment plan to satisfy the Middle States Accreditation body and to set educational goals and objectives, the reconfiguration of those major programs not yet reconfigured, the reconfiguration of all college requirements, and the reconfiguration of faculty teaching and student course loads. Last year’s discussions on standards and expectations, program assessment, and initial designs for reconfiguration of majors indicates to us that progress towards the resolution of some of these issues is well under way. To help make reconfiguration possible, CEPP in collaboration with the Dean of the Faculty, hopes to have established a set of parameters within which individual departments and programs will be operating and within which reconfiguration can be achieved. These will be distributed to department chairs and program chairs by mid-October. Department chairs will also receive a request from CEPP to ask faculty members what sorts of skills and knowledge outside their own departments and majors, as well as within them, they will think will be minimally requisite for an educated person to possess in the 21st Century. We hope to learn what you think is important in a Skidmore education for today’s and tomorrow’s world. Faculty members will be receiving that memo from him with guidelines. 

OLD BUSINESS 

Betty Balevic, who spoke for CFG, presented the following motion that has lain over since the last faculty meeting: 

MOTION:

That the faculty adopts the changes to the 1998-99 Faculty Handbook as proposed by CFG. 

The motion was voted on and carried unanimously. 

Betty announced that the schedule of elections for this year have been revised a bit. She will be announcing the results of special elections probably Wednesday. The revised CAPT ballot is due Monday, October 5 to vote for two individuals. The official Round I is going to be circulated next week, and there will be a willingness-to-serve ballot on the following committees: CEPP, CAPT, CAPT Review, and Curriculum Committee. You will be able to indicate your willingness to serve by e-mail and/or through campus mail. Information about committees will be available on the Web this year, as will be the entire Faculty Handbook. CFG will be introducing to the faculty a proposal for streamlining the College’s committee structure during the December meeting. 

NEW BUSINESS 

Peg Tacardon presented the following motion: 

RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommends to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to five (5) students and the Bachelor of Science degree to five (5) students for a total of ten (10) students. (See Attachment B.) 

The motion was seconded, voted on, and carried. 

Adrienne Zuerner presented the following motion: 

RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommends to the Trustees the granting of the External Master of Arts Program in Liberal Studies to eight (8) students. (See Attachment C.) 

The motion was seconded, voted on, and carried. 

OTHER BUSINESS 

Barbara Beck introduced Alena Llorens-Myers, Project Coordinator, and new employee in Human Resources. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

• Jon Ramsey, Dean of Studies, spoke to the faculty and explained the new Unsatisfactory Work Notice system and the reconfiguration of the time they give to students in academic trouble. He also spoke about expanded funds available for the Student Opportunity Funds. (See Attachment D.) 
• Peter Stake invited all faculty and staff to a special preview of the Annual Art Faculty Exhibition immediately after the Faculty meeting in the Schick Art Gallery, sponsored by Schick Art Gallery and the Dean of the Faculty’s Office. 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Claire C. Demarest
Executive Secretary
Office of the Dean of the Faculty