FACULTY MEETING
September 5, 2008
Gannett Auditorium
Minutes
President Philip A. Glotzbach called the meeting to order at 3:40 p.m. President Glotzbach
asked if there were any amendments to the May 14, 2008 Faculty Meeting minutes. Hearing
none, he announced that the minutes were approved.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
[The full text of the president’s remarks may be accessed at https://www.skidmore.edu/president/speeches/]
The President welcomed everyone back to Skidmore and thanked all those who worked
so hard to launch the academic year. He noted that, aside from one minor incident,
we have had a tremendous opening and he recognized the hard work of the faculty and
staff. President Glotzbach acknowledged that there is much work that happens behind
the scenes and wanted to highlight an example of that by reading a letter he received
from the parents of a student. The parents praised the work of the Office of Student
Academic Services and the Dean of Studies Office for their child’s academic turnaround
after their collaboration assisted in identifying a learning disability that had gone
undiagnosed for years. The President indicated that this was just one example of the
positive effect of collaboration among different offices.
President Glotzbach introduced Rochelle Calhoun, the new Dean of Student Affairs.
Dean Calhoun thanked everyone for their warm welcome to Skidmore and expressed appreciation
for all those who assisted in helping to open school so well. She noted her commitment
to a continued creative collaboration between academic and student affairs and indicated
that the best way we can serve our students is to be student-centered and student-focused
in the way that we do our work. Lastly, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the
Student Government Association (SGA), Dean Calhoun offered their regrets for being
unable to introduce themselves at this meeting but noted that they are excited to
work with everyone and will introduce themselves at the next faculty meeting.
President Glotzbach noted the work done over the summer, which included a major renovation
at Wilmarth Hall, the relocation of the credit union and the creation of three new
classrooms in its place, and the reconfiguration in the same area of five other classrooms
and offices. The President showed a PowerPoint presentation concerning the construction
progress of the new Zankel Music Building and commented that this is the biggest project
we have ever managed. The President also noted that the Zankel Music Building should
be ready for use in January 2010 and will be dedicated in the Fall of 2010. The President
concluded that the Zankel Music Building will be a signature building on campus and
the new home of the Music Department. The building will also be an important College
resource, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs has convened a working group
to look at how the new building can be used as a resource for the College as a whole.
President Glotzbach then introduced Mary Lou Bates, Dean of Admissions and Financial
Aid, who gave a report on this year’s incoming class. Dean Bates advised that the
new class on campus and in London totals 652 students, which is 6 higher than our
target of 646. As she reported last spring, this was the most competitive year in
our history; we admitted only 24 percent of the regular-decision students in March.
In trying not to exceed our target, Admissions was aggressive in predicting an increase
in yield of 1 ½ percent; however, we actually experienced a drop in yield of 3 percent,
which left us, initially, about 70 students short of our on-campus target and 10 shy
of our London goal. Dean Bates noted, however, that in having only accepted 24 percent
of the Spring applicant pool, we were left with the strongest wait-list ever, comprising
students that would have been top admits not that many years ago. After May 1, Admissions
filled the remaining spots from the waiting list bringing a final acceptance rate
of 29 percent. Dean Bates reported that our summer melt was lower than in recent years,
which resulted in the class being slightly over target.
Dean Bates advised that the new class is 61 percent female and 39 percent male; that
62 percent attended public high school and 38 percent attended private or parochial
schools; and that 39 percent were accepted and enrolled through early-decision. She
further noted that this is the second most diverse class in our history, with 21 percent
of students self-identifying during the admission process as students of color (which
compares to 23 percent last year). The wait-list activity affected the diversity numbers
since there were not many students of color on the waiting list. Dean Bates showed
a PowerPoint presentation comparing the academic strength of applicants over the last
5 years (see attached). Dean Bates concluded by introducing new colleagues, Lisa Rinaolo, Associate Director
of Admission Operations, and Jakob Navarrette, Associate Director of Admissions.
President Glotzbach went on to note that this will be the fourth year of the implementation
of our Strategic Plan and commended the faculty’s contributions to the positive changes
we are seeing overall. He discussed the concept of strategic literacy. Skidmore’s
commitment to shared governance means that certain key strategic choices must be made
collaboratively, in the context of our Strategic Plan. Accordingly, those who participate
in decision-making must understand that the choices they make have consequences and,
above all, that making wise strategic choices requires us to embrace an institutional
perspective that transcends individual or group interests (narrowly defined).
President Glotzbach concluded by commenting on what inspires him most in his work
at Skidmore: our students and their achievements. By way of example, He spoke of four
recent graduates: Jonathan Brestoff, our first Goldwater science scholar, who is now
enrolled in a joint MD/Ph.D. program; Vaughn Greene, a HEOP student who is now attending
pharmacy school; Kabuchi Banfield, who learned of Skidmore through the Harlem Boys
Choir and who had his choice of jobs in the financial services industry; and Claire
Davenport, a single mother who once lived in a battered women’s shelter and is now
going to attend Albany Medical School. There are many similar stories at Skidmore,
and the President acknowledged that members of the faculty know many more such stories
than he. But how we foster the growth of our students makes the President proud to
be at Skidmore. He looks forward to working with the faculty and staff of the College
to have another productive year, one that will move us closer to the future we envision
together.
VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
Vice President for Academic Affairs Susan Kress welcomed everyone back to a new academic
year, especially those who have been away on sabbatical leaves and those joining this
community as new colleagues.
Interim Dean of Special Programs, Jeff Segrave, welcomed everyone back for the new
academic year and reported on the programs of Summer, 2008. Although he doesn’t have
a final tally on numbers, Dean Segrave noted that we had a very successful summer
and maintained our busy, vibrant summer campus. Among the highlights of the summer
were the Martha Graham Dance Company, which showcased many of our students on the
stage at SPAC; the Jazz Institute, which featured Terence Blanchard, incoming McCormack
Resident, and American Spanish Jazz great, Arturo O’Farrill; the Writer’s Institute;
the Young Writer’s Institute; several conferences, including the Society of Dance
History Scholars; and a studio summer art program featuring many highly-acclaimed
visiting artists, including the internationally-recognized, Polly Apfelbaum.
Dean Segrave noted that the number of undergraduates enrolled for the summer term
was 224, which is higher than in recent years, and that there were approximately 50
collaborative research students on campus; their work culminated in a summer symposium
organized by Mark Hofmann. Dean Segrave also noted that we had an extraordinary successful
MALS seminar delivered by Karen Kellogg (Environmental Studies) and Mark Youndt (Management
and Business).
Dean Segrave announced two upcoming residencies in Special Programs: Yoram Meital,
the Greenberg Middle East Scholar-in-Residence this Fall, who is a senior lecturer
in Middle East studies from Ben-Gurion University and will be teaching classes in
history and government; and Terence Blanchard, the McCormack Artist-Scholar in Residence,
who will be here on September 15 and 16 to work with students through the Office of
the First Year Experience and will return in the Spring to offer a concert featuring
several pieces from his CD (the summer text for first-year students).
Dean Segrave concluded by noting that the UWW working groups have been working hard
all summer to determine if there is a workable and feasible model for UWW that is
academically sound, administratively efficient, and financially self-supporting. Dean
Segrave acknowledged Deborah Meyers, who is serving as Interim Director of UWW for
the coming year; he is grateful to her for assuming this position.
Dean of the Faculty, Muriel Poston, welcomed new and returning faculty. Dean Poston
announced the following promotions granted by the Board of Trustees: John Brueggemann
to Professor; Pat Fehling to Professor; Michael Mudrovic to Professor, David Vella
to Professor; Janet Casey to Visiting Professor; and Maria Lander to Associate Professor.
Dean Poston also announced the new department chairs and program directors (see attached) and welcomed eight new tenure track faculty: Lei Bryant, Mary Campa, Tonya Dodge,
Reubén Graciani, Masako Inamoto, Jackie Murray, Michelle Rhee, and Kenji Tierney—as
well as all new visiting faculty (see attached).
Dean Poston thanked the Dean of the Faculty staff, particularly Beau Breslin and Michael
Ennis-McMillan, for their work on new faculty orientation. She announced that this
year’s new faculty orientation will be different in that there will be a seminar program
involving a faculty learning community. This program will include new faculty, those
in their second year, as well as more senior colleagues holding tenure track, tenured,
and contingent faculty appointments. The program will focus on pedagogy with respect
to Skidmore’s aspirations for student learning; research and scholarly development;
the importance of citizenship and opportunities for contributions to the Skidmore
community; work/family balance; and institutional support.
Dean Poston also announced the following: 1) a project to be undertaken by Phyllis
Roth, which will examine the ways that our retirees might contribute to Skidmore and
that Skidmore might be responsive to the needs of our retirees; 2) an audit of our
curricular and co-curricular offerings being undertaken by Winston Grady-Willis, Director
of Intercultural Studies, in conjunction with Student Affairs, with respect to Goal
Two of our strategic plan—intercultural and global understanding; 3) the implementation
of the writing-in-the-major initiatives being undertaken by Beau Breslin and colleagues;
4) the Responsible Citizenship Task Force to be co-chaired by Paty Rubio and David
Karp; 5) the development of the science plan which is entering its next stage and
will begin community discussions around the three pillars of scientific literacy,
the science major, and the connection of the sciences to the humanities, arts, and
professions; 6) Cori Filson, Director of Off -Campus and Student Exchange, has sent
out an announcement regarding the short-term study abroad program proposals; and 7)
Michael Ennis-McMillan, Dean of Studies, along with his collaborators, is continuing
work on our sophomore retention initiative, which is funded through Teagle.
Dean Poston concluded by thanking Michael Ennis-McMillan for his good work in coordinating
the advising of our first year students and also acknowledged the efforts of Ann Henderson
and the Registrar’s Office for assuring that first year students were successfully
registered for classes. Lastly, Dean Poston passed on the request of Claire Solomon
’10, this year’s SGA Vice President for Academic Affairs, for departmental representatives
for SGA’s Academic Council.
Ruth Copans, College Librarian, introduced Andrew Krzystyniak, Science Librarian,
who comes to us from Sage, and Kathryn Frederick, the Systems Librarian, who comes
to us from Elmira.
Director of the First Year Experience, Beau Breslin, reported on the FYE orientation
this Fall and thanked Allie Taylor and Chris McGill for all their good work. Orientation
was conducted differently this year, and Beau’s office will conduct a survey of the
first-year students, peer mentors, and Scribner Seminar instructors to determine whether
the new orientation program worked. Beau noted that this year there were far fewer
issues related to homesickness and academic/advising problems.
VPAA Kress announced that Matt Hockenos, Shirley Smith, and Mason Stokes were teaching
at Union College this Fall under the Mellon Faculty Exchange Program; and Chris Duncan
(Studio Art), Bradley Lewis (Economics), and Mark Walker (History) from Union—and
Meika Loe (Sociology and Women’s Studies) from Colgate were teaching at Skidmore.
VPAA Kress also introduced Annika Jakobsson (Social Work) as this year’s STINT Fellow
and postdoctoral fellows, Krista Bywater (Sociology) and Alicia Saylor (Neuroscience).
VPAA Kress urged all faculty members to take the opportunity to meet the newly appointed
members of the faculty.
VPAA Kress also announced that the new Faculty Assessment Coordinator is Sarah Goodwin
and indicated that she would be sending a letter to the community about the appointment
and the new assessment structure for Skidmore.
VPAA Kress also introduced Debbie Peterson, the new Executive Administrative Assistant
in the VPAA office.
VPAA Kress took up the topic of strategic literacy introduced by the President, noting
that we are an institution defined by our commitment to “both and.” This commitment
fuels our creative energy but it also poses challenges. We are very good at addition,
averse to subtraction, though sometimes capable of division. But our propensity to
add confers a special responsibility on those of us in Academic Affairs to be judicious
and mindful of the time of all of us, the workload of all of us—and to focus even
more carefully on academic planning. She said that academic planning would be a priority
this year—even as Academic Affairs took up many other important projects and initiatives
(Assessment, the Science Plan, Arts Administration, projects in Special Programs and
the Tang, Zankel, and the Center for Faculty Excellence).
OLD BUSINESS
On behalf of the Committee on Academic Standing, Michael Ennis-McMillan, Dean of Studies,
read the following resolution into the record regarding College Honors and Departmental
and Program Honors for the August 2008 Graduates (see attached):
Resolution
A) Resolved, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve 9 students from the Class of 2008 who completed requirements in August: 6 students for cum laude distinction; 2 students for magna cum laude; and 1 student for summa cum laude—as presented at the September 5, 2008, Faculty Meeting. (Note: the 9 additional students
brings the total to 299 students or 49.8% based on a total 2008 class size of 600
students)
B) Resolved, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve Departmental and Program
Honors for 5 students from the Class of 2008 who completed requirements in August—as presented
at the September 5, 2008, Faculty Meeting. (Note: the 5 additional students brings
the total to 195 students or 32.5% based on a total 2008 class size of 600 students;
10 students received honors in two majors.)
The motion was voted on and passed with all in favor.
NEW BUSINESS
John Brueggemann, on behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee (“FEC”), introduced
the following three (3) motions (see attached):
1. The Faculty Executive Committee moves that Part Six, Article VII, Section C, Number
2, a and b and c be revised as follows.
Add new second bullet to all three sections (complainant and respondent and witness
will not have the right to . . .)
· record the proceedings
2. The Faculty Executive Committee moves that Part Six, Article VIII, Section B be
revised as follows:
Omit “processing.”
Old language: If circumstances warrant, the College reserves the right to extend any processing
time periods identified in this policy.
Proposed language: If circumstances warrant, the College reserves the right to extend any time periods
identified in this policy.
3. The Faculty Executive Committee moves the adoption of the 2008-2009 Faculty Handbook.
Note: Parts One-Five were previously adopted 11/2/07. Part Six was previously adopted
2/29/08. The complete list of Faculty Handbook changes is available at the Governance
website in pdf format.
With regard to the first motion, a question was raised by a faculty member concerning
the type of recording permissible. VPAA Kress called on Barbara Beck, Director of
Human Resources, who indicated that note-taking was permissible but that mechanical
recording was not acceptable. Another faculty member questioned whether those with
disabilities would be permitted to use recording devices if they were unable to take
notes by hand. John noted the comments and advised that a friendly amendment will
be made to the motion. All three motions will lie over until the next meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
John Weber, Dayton Director of the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum & Art Gallery,
announced continuing and upcoming events, including the Amy Sillman show, co-organized
with the Hirshhorn Museum; the Dario Robleto show, co-organized with the Frye Museum;
a Dunkerley dialogue with Amy Sillman and Ian Berry; and a Dunkerley Dialogue focused
on the Maya Murals show, featuring Skidmore graduate, Heather Hurst ’97, Stephen Houston,
and Susan Bender. John also introduced Megan Hyde as the new Curatorial Assistant,
who has joined us from the Art Institute of Chicago. John concluded by announcing
a faculty seminar starting this spring and made possible by a grant from the Mellon
foundation.
President Glotzbach encouraged those teaching first-year seminars as well as their
students to attend the receptions at the Scribner House next week and invited the
community to the reception being held today at Scribner House from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00
p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:07 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Debra L. Peterson
Executive Administrative Assistant
Executive Administrative Assistant