Faculty Meeting Minutes

 

President Glotzbach was unable to attend this faculty meeting; therefore, Beau Breslin, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, chaired the meeting.  DOF/VPAA Breslin called the meeting to order at 3:34 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

DOF/VPAA Breslin asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held October 7, 2016.  Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.

DEAN OF THE FACULTY AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS' REPORT

DOF/VPAA Breslin provided an update on the Board of Trustees meeting held in late October.  The Board received presentations on the changes to the website and financial results from FY ’16.  Three of our faculty colleagues, Assistant Professor Cecilia Aldarondo, Professor David Vella, and Assistant Professor Chris Mann, participated in a lunchtime plenary session focused on the election and cultural landscape.  Overall, the board meetings went very well.

DOF/VPAA Breslin concluded his report by noting that he just returned from the Northeast Deans conference held at Wellesley College this week.  He reminded everyone that the Northeast Deans conference brings together the deans from 25-35 of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the northeast.  After talking with the deans and learning the about the struggles other liberal arts colleges are experiencing, he is proud of what we do at Skidmore.

OLD BUSINESS

On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Professor Denise Smith read the following Motion that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):

MOTION:  The Faculty Executive Committee moves that the 2016-2017 Faculty Handbook be adopted.  The following link takes you to the 2016-2017 Faculty Handbook (showing tracked changes) as well as handbooks from previous years: https://www.skidmore.edu/dof-vpaa/faculty-handbooks.php

There being no discussion, the Motion was voted on and passed by majority vote.

NEW BUSINESS

There was no new business.

OTHER

April Bernard, Chair of the Committee on Educational Policies and Planning, led a discussion on the proposed new general education curriculum.  She introduced members of the committee: Associate Professor Kelly Sheppard, College Librarian Marta Brunner, Associate Professor Janet Sorensen, Associate Professor Erica Bastress-Dukehart, Henry Jaffe ’18, and Nicole Werner ‘18.  Professor Bernard started the discussion by reviewing the timeline of the work that has been done to date on the proposed general education curriculum.  Professor Bernard indicated that CEPP hopes to bring a motion to approve the new general education curriculum for faculty consideration in either December or in early spring.  

Thereafter, DOF/VPAA Breslin opened the floor for discussion.

• A discussion ensued concerning the process of approving the new general education curriculum.  The faculty will be voting on the “framework”; once the framework of the general education curriculum is passed, working groups will be created to develop individual requirements more clearly.
• A discussion ensued regarding the concept of “wicked” labeling of the first year experience courses.  Concern was voiced that clustering FYE courses with the “wicked problems” label when other FYE courses may not be clustered may prejudice students toward or against them.  Suggestion was made to retain the “notion” of clustering courses around a wicked problem but not label it as such.
• A discussion ensued regarding the use of the wording “wicked problems,” specifically that integrative learning seems to be modeled on a problem solving issue—a problem in principal admits to a solution; a problem without a solution is not a problem.  Further, it was suggested that all experiences are “integrative” and that integration happens unpredictably, randomly, and generally in the last two years of college when students have some foundational experiences and they start to see experiences that are uncharacterizable.   Further, it appears that the humanities requirements seems to have been diminished in the new curriculum.  CEPP believes, however, that there are several places in the general education curriculum where the humanities can find its place.
• One faculty member indicated they fully support the proposed general education which is impressive in several ways, most compelling of which is the integrative pedagogical vision.  Further, the curriculum is framing for the most part what faculty already do and the formulation of the global cultural inquiry has been formulated very nicely.
• One faculty member commented that the proposed general education curriculum is certainly better than what we have now.  For years, CEPP has been trying to get cultural diversity into the curriculum and it is a huge hole in our current curriculum.  The bridge experience is a step in the right direction to get cultural diversity in the curriculum.
• A discussion was held concerning the “lab” requirement in the bridge experience, specifically power and justice.  One faculty member indicated that the language is problematic and he is having difficulty connecting a lab to some of the courses he teaches.  CEPP indicated that this component responds to specific assessment data that suggests significant gaps in Skidmore students’ ability to meet learning goals in the areas of knowledge about social and cultural diversity.  Further, CEPP indicated that it imagines the “labs” being in the Tang, the library, or any number of things supporting a classroom environment that allows students to look at things differently or advance ideas.
• One faculty member suggested that it would be helpful if there was greater clarity on the changes that are being proposed in the new curriculum.  While some requirements are clear, others are not, such as the AQR requirements.
• One faculty member suggested that we need to think more concretely about how to frame the global cultural inquiry as one of the problems in our community is that faculty do not know how to engage in race and identity issues and, thus, how can they be expected to teach our students.
• One faculty member requested further specificity on the “lab” component of the bridge experience and inquired whether there will be assessment that the “lab” practicum is meeting the four requirements.  CEPP suggested that the working group would come up with the definition of what is acceptable for a “lab” requirement. The important part, however, is what seems most natural to the person teaching the course to expand into another credit activity for the students to expand on what they are studying in terms of power and justice.
• One faculty member suggested that the use of the word “experiment” is used inappropriately in the bridge experience component and that, perhaps, the language should be revised to experiential risk-taking, a new way of looking at something.

One faculty member rose to move that the conversation be adjourned, as many faculty members are feeling marginalized based upon an racial comment made by one of the members of CEPP. She suggested that the comment made makes the idea of a “lab” in this kind of situation look arguably necessary in terms of global cultural inquiry.   That member of CEPP then explained that her comment was meant to be ironical and was misunderstood.

After further discussion surrounding the “lab” component of the bridge experience, the question was called.  Thereafter, it was determined that a vote was not necessary to adjourn the conversation and the conversation concluded.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Assistant Professor Eric Morser announced that Skidmore Cares will team up in November and December to collect supplies to be donated to various community organizations.  This year’s Skidmore Cares event will be held on December 2.  He encouraged anyone able to make donations to drop them off in the sled outside of Scribner House on December 2.
• On behalf of Advancement and the Tang, Paul Calhoun, Dean of Special Programs, invited everyone to a reception at the Tang immediately following the faculty meeting.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:47 p.m.

 

Debra L. Peterson
Executive Administrative Assistant