FACULTY MEETING

October 6, 2006
Gannett Auditorium

MINUTES

President Philip A. Glotzbach called the meeting to order at 3:40 pm. President Glotzbach asked if there were any amendments to the September 8, 2006 Faculty Meeting minutes and hearing none, the minutes were approved.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Glotzbach spoke about the array of programs, lectures and events on campus that make Skidmore a very rich environment. There are too many events to mention individually; however, one to note is Tim Wise, the author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, whose lecture will take place on Thursday, October 12. His visit is sponsored by the Office of Student Diversity Programs, Raices, SOAR and Ujima. This event fits in with the theme of diversity that we have been developing this year. Reporters from the ABC news program “20/20” will be here to film Tim Wise’s talk, so all are encouraged to attend.

The President’s report included the following:

• The Intercultural and Global Understanding Task Force will contact faculty members regarding programming suggestions connected with diversity and intercultural and global understanding for the second semester.
• Professor Mehmet Odekon, Co-Chair of the VPAA Search Committee, gave a brief update on the VPAA search. There are currently 97 candidates in the pool; this pool was reduced to less than 20 for reference checking. The committee hopes the reference checking will be completed by October 18; then finalists will be selected for an interview. The applicants constitute a strong group: the composition of the group is approximately two to one, male/female ratio. Everyone will be kept informed of the progress of the search committee’s work.
• Professor Mark Huibregtse, Vice-Chair of IPPC, reported briefly on the campus planning work. Last spring, the IPPC held two sessions with Fred DiMauro, Campus Facilities Planner and Lo-Yi Chan, noted campus planner, to comment on earlier drafts of the Campus Plan and the principles that should govern campus planning. This fall, IPPC has begun the process of sharing the current draft of the campus plan more broadly. This past week there were three information sessions chaired by Lo-Yi and Fred, at which time the campus community was invited to provide feedback. A website has been established http://cms.skidmore.edu/campusplan/ to present information about the plan, including maps showing 2010, 2015 and 2050 perspective views of the campus and offering two channels of communication: a comments section and an email contact through this link. IPPC is hoping for a timely response on this current draft of the plan, so any comments should be submitted by next Thursday, October 12.
• President Glotzbach announced that the College has just received a $500,000 gift from Judy and Walter Shipley (Judy is an alum from the Class of 1957) to support work and programming related to the reduction of the use of alcohol and drugs amongst students.
• Michael Casey, VP of Advancement gave a brief update on the campaign. He indicated that there were two events off-campus this week hosted by two trustees. There is about $114,250M right now in confirmed commitments and many other pending requests. On November 15, we will host the public kick off celebration in New York City.
• The Tang’s exhibit by Nina Katchadourian, All Forms of Attraction was nominated for best monographic exhibition by the International Art Critics Association/USA. This exhibit is one of ten finalists and the competition includes the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Menil Collection. It was curated by Ian Berry. The President offered congratulations on the Tang’s achievement.

DEAN OF THE FACULTY REPORT

Dean Muriel Poston offered everyone a belated welcome back for the fall semester, as she was not at the September Faculty meeting. She stressed that academic success of our students requires shared learning goals and clear expectations as we seek to empower students to become intentional learners. The resources necessary for students to achieve academic excellence involve collaboration between Academic Affairs and many units across campus. She noted that opportunities for the academic program to intersect with activities outside the classroom are numerous, e.g. the Greenberg Scholar in Residence, the McCormack residencies of Special Programs or student sponsored lectures such as Tim Wise. In considering the academic program, she suggested that it is important to remember how our work will enhance and foster academic excellence.

Dean Poston gave a brief report from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty:

• There are ten faculty searches going on this year within departments across the College and intersecting with some of our interdisciplinary programs. There are two additional searches: for the Director for Intercultural Studies, which is open to all academic disciplines and programs; and for a Sponsored Research Officer, who will serve not only the Sciences, but all of our academic interests. The hope is to have those candidates on campus if not this academic year, then next year.
• There are five programs scheduled for external reviews this year.
• A proposal for inter-disciplinary tenure track lines is working its way through CEPP and CAPT.
• The FDC has begun to think about ways in which collaborative research could be reconceptualized to broaden participation and opportunities for faculty and student work.
• The Offices of the VPAA and the Dean of the Faculty are trying to maximize the resources to support sabbaticals for the 2007-08 academic year. She encouraged those interested to fill out the application form sent to all those eligible for sabbatical next year and send it by October 15 to the VPAA’s Office.
• As Mark Huibregtse mentioned, the Campus Plan is being integrated with the Strategic Plan,and Dean Poston hopes everyone took the opportunity to attend one of the community meetings this past week. She also encouraged faculty to look at the ways the campus plan affects space for our academic programs in the short and long term. She suggested that everyone provide comments on the Campus Plan because it is only through comments that we can realize how best to leverage The Strategic Plan and Campus Plan and achieve our goals of engaged liberal learning for our students and for our own faculty work.
• Lastly, through institutional and grant funding, there is a faculty development opportunity for six to eight faculty members to travel to China in Spring 2007. The requirement for participating faculty is to consider how to integrate issues relating to China into their course curriculum. One trip is facilitated by IES: “China’s Encounter with Migration: Beijing and Shanghai,” scheduled for March 8–17. The second trip has the theme “China on the Edge: The People and Places of China’s Southwest Yunnan”on January 5–17. Anyone interested should contact Cori Filson, Director of OIP and indicate which of the two trips is of the greatest interest. Dean Poston encouraged everyone to take advantage of an expenses-paid trip to China.

REPORTS

Dan Moran, President of the Student Government Association (SGA) reported on the 2006-07 Executive Committee’s priority goals. Copies of this report were distributed to everyone at today’s meeting. He then introduced each executive committee representative, each of whom gave a brief report on goals for the year. He also mentioned that elections for the VP of Clubs and Organizations will take place soon and to send him any suggestions for candidates. (See Attachment A)

OLD BUSINESS

CEPP- Chair, Beau Breslin presented two motions to be voted on regarding the Skidmore in Beijing Program. There was no discussion. The motions were put to a vote and passed with all in favor. (See Attachment B)

NEW BUSINESS

RESOLUTIONS – Candidates for the Degree (See Attachment C)

President Glotzbach introduced Sheldon Solomon, Professor of Psychology, on behalf of the University Without Walls Committee to present the following resolution:

RESOLVED, that the faculty at Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to six students and the Bachelor of Science degree to one student.

President Glotzbach introduced Mary Correa, Associate Professor of Management and Business, on behalf of the External Master of Arts Committee to present the following resolution:

RESOLVED, that the faculty at Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Master of Arts degree to one student, Casey Putnam.

FEC – Chair, Dan Curley

1) Faculty Handbook Announcement– Professor Curley stated that the handbook is almost ready and that it will be presented at the November Faculty meeting and voted on at the December meeting.

2) He highlighted the change that the CAPT is making in its procedures this year to clarify the roles of the Dean of the Faculty, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the President during the tenure process, especially in the event of a disagreement with the CAPT. Lary Opitz, the Parliamentarian, informed Professor Curley that this should be read as a motion, and it was read as such. President Glotzbach said that normally a 30-day lay over is required when a new motion is brought to the faculty floor. John Berman, Chair of CAPT requested that the lay over be waived. After some discussion, all voted in favor of the motion to waive the 30-day lay over period for voting on this change. After lively discussion and some amendments to the original proposal, Professor Curley read the revised motion. The motion was voted on and passed with all in favor. (See Attachment D)

3) Round One of Committee Elections – Professor Curley indicated that everyone will receive an email from him regarding the schedule of elections for this academic year. Another email will be sent asking for “willingness to serve” in Round One of elections. A new procedure this year will inform the community of those willing to serve through daily updates during the election period. (See Attachment E)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Professor Jeffrey Segrave invited everyone to a grand party to celebrate Skidmore College. In the past few weeks, everyone has received post cards with hints about the kick off event for the campus campaign. Professor Segrave is one of the co-chairs of the Campus Campaign Committee and the other two chairs are Ralph Ciancio, Professor Emeritus of English and Monica Minor, Director of HEOP. A formal invitation will be sent shortly to all employees for this event that will be held on Friday, October 27 at 3:30pm at The Tang Museum. There will be food, drink, prizes, music, dances, fireworks and children’s activities. All family members are invited.

John Weber invited everyone to the reception at The Tang Museum immediately following this meeting. He also announced upcoming events at the Tang – further details may be found on the Tang’s website.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45pm. 

Respectfully submitted by,

 

Mary Ellen Kokoletsos
Executive Administrative Assistant
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs