Faculty Meeting Minutes

President Philip A. Glotzbach called the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

President Glotzbach asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held April 25, 2014. Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Glotzbach congratulated everyone for reaching the end of another academic year. It has been a great year–the accomplishments of our students as indicated at Honors Convocation provide one indicator of a terrific year–and he hoped everyone had a great year as well. President Glotzbach thanked everyone who has participated in a governance committee, a task force, a working group, or some other such body this year, with special thanks to those who have filled leadership roles. We are all committed to a strong system of shared governance, and it does take effort and commitment to make that system work. President Glotzbach also acknowledged Board Chair, Linda Toohey, who has been able to attend many of the faculty meetings this year. Chair Toohey is also committed to shared governance, and her attendance at these meetings has given her some insight into these processes, which she has been able to share with the Board. President Glotzbach also acknowledged this year’s faculty speaker at Commencement, Peter McCarthy.

President Glotzbach referenced the annual Opportunity Program commencement dinner that many attended. This year’s Opportunity Program graduating class consists of 41 students, which represents a 98 percent 4-year graduation rate and an anticipated 100 percent 6-year graduation rate. There are many really great students in this class, and several of them received departmental honors as well as awards at the annual student leadership banquet. President Glotzbach went on to comment on the email he sent last week regarding the changes in the administrative reporting structure of the Opportunity Program, the most significant being the move of the program from Student Affairs to Academic Affairs. As indicated in his email, this restructure was occasioned by significant changes in the requirements from New York State for securing HEOP funding.  President Glotzbach expressed his appreciation to Rochelle Calhoun, Beau Breslin, Corey Freeman-Gallant, Paty Rubio, and the many others who were very actively involved in making this change happen. He thanked Sue Layden and Barry Pritzker for their hard work in preparing our HEOP grant application which had a very short lead time this year; he also acknowledged Sue Layden’s long history of service to and leadership of our Opportunity Program, which has been widely acknowledged as the very best in our nation. As further indicated in his email, Sue Layden is also moving into a new position in Admissions wherein she will provide an important new capacity for institutional research relating to enrollment, opportunity, retention, and achievement, all of which will help us do more things we want to do in the future.  

Concluding his report, President Glotzbach commented on the images scrolling on the screen as everyone entered the auditorium; these images were created by the “I Too Am Skidmore” students. This is a movement that started at Harvard in which students, primarily but not exclusively students of color, are reminding us that we still have a distance to travel before we become the community we aspire to be. These students are very interested in helping to make Skidmore a better place and helping us to live up to the values that we have espoused, particularly, this year as we have talked a lot about community. President Glotzbach advised that he has met with the leadership group of these students along with Joshua Woodfork, Paty Rubio, Rochelle Calhoun, Mariel Martin, Herb Crossman, and Jackie Murray (as co-chair of CIGU), and he talked with Kristie Ford as well. It was a very good conversation in which the students discussed their concerns and provided a list of things they would like to see accomplished, some of which we were already working on and others we will continue to think about and see what we can do.

Admission Update

Mary Lou Bates, Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, provided an update on the Class of 2018. The Class of 2018 is fully enrolled from the offers made in late March to regular decision candidates. Last year, we went to the wait list to meet our target.  This year, we experienced a jump in yield on the students who received need-based financial aid--7 percent more of those students accepted our offer this year than last year and 8 percent more than the year before. If our summer melt projection of 60 is on target, we anticipate opening with 698 on campus and 38 in London. Our target range was 640-675. It is hard to know with summer melt what will happen. Last year, we lost 65, and right now we are running 7 ahead of last year. Of the 18 we have lost already, 12 of them have deferred to next year. We experienced a decrease in applications from transfer students this year, as did a lot of other schools. We ended up down about 14 percent in transfers and believe we will come in somewhat under our projection of 35. If the summer melt projection is accurate, we project an additional $2.8 million in regular tuition revenue, with $1.7 million more in regular financial aid spending resulting in an increased net tuition revenue of $1.1 million.

Currently, the class is 40 percent male and 60 percent female. Twenty-one percent of the students are domestic students of color, which is the same as last year. Our yield on Discovery jumped from 55 percent last year to 61 percent this year; we had 157 accepted students here for Discovery (those are accepted students of color, some first generation students, and some students who hadn’t had a chance to visit and whose financial aid packages indicated they wouldn’t necessarily have the resources to be able to come).  We have a record number of international students enrolled–80 from 28 different countries, which is 10 percent of the class (last year we opened at 8 percent). In addition, we enrolled 12 United World College students, which puts us at 41 on campus. As indicated in the past, the Davis Foundation will give any college that has 40 or more UWC students on its campus $20k per year per student for the cohort that comes in bringing them to 40. Of the 12 enrollees, 8 of them are on need-based aid. Thus, as long as we open with 40, those 8 will have $20k in need-based aid for each of their 4 years.

This year, 37 students have been enrolled in the Opportunity Program. Last year, we over-enrolled our target. We had two students who weren’t able to get Visas; we filled their spots and then later in the summer they were able to get their Visa so we brought them into the program also. We are a little under this year with 37. Four of them are Kettering AOP scholars, which is on target. Our yield on Porter scholars jumped; we have 11 incoming Porter winners, compared to 7 last year. We met our targets for Filene with 4 and S3M with 6. Right now, the median SAT is 1,250, which is up 10 points from last year.

As we look ahead to next year, the Class of 2019, Dean Bates reported that early indicators look solid. The number of juniors who have visited campus for a group information session or tour is up right now by 8 percent, and the number of juniors and sophomores who came to one of our Introduction to Skidmore programs is up as well. In closing, on behalf of Admissions and Financial Aid, Dean Bates offered tremendous thanks to all who have provided support with on-campus programs throughout the year, being willing to meet with students when they requested a meeting, and answering emails.

President Glotzbach commented that this year’s results are phenomenal and we all should feel very good about them. You don’t hear this very often; even some of the Ivy League schools are going to their wait list for 30 to 40 students to make their class. Skidmore’s results show that everyone’s participation in the admissions process really does make a difference. A round of applause was given to Dean Bates and her staff.

Thereafter, brief discussion was held on the relation of this year’s incoming class of 698 to the incoming class in prior years. Dean Bates indicated that last year, we opened with 665 total, including 31 in London. This year, we are anticipating 38 in London and 698 on campus. Dean Bates reminded everyone that we are graduating the largest class in our history and, thus, our plan was to be somewhat larger with this year’s entering class. The overall student population is still declining a little bit from year to year because of our huge graduating class, but we didn’t want the overall population to decrease too quickly.

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

Beau Breslin, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, thanked everyone for a great year and provided a highlight of this year’s accomplishments: the launching of the Middle States reaccreditation process, participating in the strategic planning process for the next Strategic Plan, hiring great new faculty, changes to the tenure and promotion standards led by the Faculty Workload Working Group, a very successful faculty development program, the development of the Helios project, increased travel to read and represent funds and sabbatical enhancement funds, continued work on the science project, the review and reform of the general education curriculum led by the Committee on Educational Policies and Planning (CEPP), receipt of millions of dollars in grant funds, faculty government reform discussions led by the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC), implementation of Project Vis, and the implementation of new student rating forms. DOF/VPAA Breslin further noted that the last of the tenure track searches has been completed; this year, we had 14 new tenure track hires, of which three are new tenure lines. In concluding his comments, he wished everyone a great summer and thanked all the department chairs and program directors, the department and program office assistants, the administrative support in his office, and his direct reports.

CONFERRAL OF DEGREES AND HONORS

A.        Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Degrees. Dave DeConno, Registrar, read the following resolutions into the record (see attached):

RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 430 students of the Class of 2014 to be awarded on May 17, 2014.

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 206 students of the Class of 2014 to be awarded on May 17, 2014.

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 34 students of the Class of 2014 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by August 31, 2014.

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 18 students of the Class of 2014 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by August 31, 2014.

The total number of graduates of the Class of 2014 is 712 as follows: 24 for January completion, 636 for May completion and 52 for August completion. 

There was no discussion, and the motions were voted on and passed with all in favor. 

 

B.         All-College and Departmental Honors. Corey Freeman-Gallant, Associate Dean of the Faculty for Academic Policy and Advising, read the following resolutions into the record (see attached):

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve College Honors for members of the Class of 2015, as presented at the May 14, 2014, Faculty Meeting: 24 students for summa cum laude distinction; 105 students for magna cum laude distinction; and 80 students for cum laude distinction. (Note: including January 2014 graduates, 212 of 712 students [29.8%] in the class of 2014 will receive College Honors).

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve Departmental and Program Honors for 268 students from the Class of 2014, as presented at the May 14, 2014, Faculty Meeting.

(Note: including January 2014 graduates, 273 of 712 students [38.3%] in the class of 2014 will receive Departmental or Program Honors; 15 students will receive honors in two majors).[1]

There was no discussion, and the motions were voted on and passed with all in favor.

 

C.         Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Degrees. Visiting Associate Professor David Howson read the following resolution into the record (see attached):

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Master of Arts degree to three students.

There was no discussion, and the motion was voted on and passed with all in favor. 

 

OLD BUSINESS

On behalf of IP Policy Working Group, DOF/VPAA Breslin read the following Motion that was introduced at the last faculty meeting (see attached): 

MOTION: The IP Policy Working Group moves that the Faculty endorse the Intellectual Property Policy.

DOF/VPAA Breslin reminded the faculty that the purpose of this policy was to remain in compliance with Federal and State laws. After brief discussion concerning the generosity of the policy as it relates to faculty members, specifically ownership of intellectual property, the Motion was voted on and passed by majority vote.

NEW BUSINESS

On behalf of FEC, Professor Joerg Bibow introduced the following motion (see attached):

MOTION: The Faculty Executive Committee moves that a new section entitled “Section V. Academic Freedom and Intellectual Property” be inserted into Part One of the Faculty Handbook as indicated below and, further, that all subsequent sections be renumbered accordingly. 

Professor Bibow moved to waive the layover period for this Motion; there being no objection, the motion to waive the layover period was passed. There being no discussion, the Motion to add a new section to the Faculty Handbook was passed by majority vote.

REPORTS

On behalf of FEC, Professor Bibow provided a report on the Committee of Committees meetings. This year, a Committee of the Committees meeting was held in December and April, at which time all chairs of faculty governance committees are invited with the purpose of assessing and reflecting on committees’ relations with administration and among committees. Professor Bibow happily reported that relations are cordial and productive. The reports for each of the Committee of Committees meetings can be accessed via the following link: http://cms.skidmore.edu/governance/committees/fec/coc.cfm.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

• Paul Calhoun, Dean of Special Programs, announced the lineup of events for this year’s summer session. Details for the events can be found on the website.
• President Glotzbach invited everyone to attend the annual Commencement reception to be held at Scribner House on May 16,      2014.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:43 a.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,