Faculty Meeting Minutes

 

President Philip A. Glotzbach called the meeting to order at 3:34 p.m.

 

President Glotzbach asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held May 14, 2014. Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.

President Glotzbach welcomed everyone back to the new academic year remarking that the start of a new academic year is always a moment of great energy and anticipation. We also have welcomed our new students and welcomed back our returning ones. We are pleased to welcome so many new members of the faculty and several new administrators and staff members as well. He thanked Professor Janet Casey and her staff in the First-Year Experience as well as everyone who is teaching a First-Year Seminar. He also thanked Rochelle Calhoun and everyone involved in our New Student Orientation. Once again, we have succeeded in helping our new students and their parents have a smooth entry into our community.

 

Thereafter, President Glotzbach introduced Mary Lou Bates, Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, who gave a report on this year's incoming class. VP Bates reported that the Class of 2018, along with 24 transfer students, is here. They arrived in three waves: 39 students in our London program arrived the third week in August followed by 360 first year students who participated in our pre-orientation program with the final 330 arriving last week. The total class is 728, with 689 on campus and 39 in London. These students have lived in 35 different states and 27 foreign countries and were selected from a record 8,700 applications. Statistics on the Class of 2018 include:

• 60 percent attended public or charter schools; 40 percent attended private or parochial schools
• 60 percent are women; 40 percent are men
• 39 percent were accepted and enrolled early decision
• 22 percent self-identified as students of color
• 10 percent are international, which is a new record
• 5 percent hold dual passports, many of whom have never lived in the United States
• 10 percent come with former family ties to the college
• 46 percent are receiving Skidmore institutional aid
• the median SAT of the enrolled students is 1,250 compared with 1,240 for the last two years
• increased percentage of the students falling in the top two academic bands

Dean Bates indicated that these new students are involved in lots of community service and volunteerism, both domestically and internationally. They come from culturally rich and diverse backgrounds, with 22 percent speaking a language other than English at home. They have worked all over the globe in all kinds of professions, have interned and done research, have an amazing amount of involvement in all areas of the arts, have all kinds of hobbies, have been politically active at the local, state and national levels, and have won numerous awards and recognitions in science. They are an amazing group and she wished the faculty the best of luck with the class. A round of applause was given to VP Bates on bringing in such an extraordinary class.

 

Following Dean Bates' report, President Glotzbach invited Kim Verstandig, Associate Vice President for Advancement and Campaign Director, to provide an update on the Campaign. Ms. Verstandig reported that we officially kicked off the "silent" phase of our Campaign last year. The focus for this campaign is the new Center for Integrated Sciences, Financial Aid, Transitions and Transformations, endowment for the Tang, the Annual Fund and a new Admissions building. The Campaign will last six years, concluding May 31, 2019. We had a very successful first year, receiving $65 million in cash and pledges, of which $31 million was raised for the Center for Integrated Sciences. Our goal for this coming year is to reach $100 million. The Campaign is now fully operational, and we are finalizing our communications. Ms. Verstandig concluded by thanking everyone for all their support.

 

Thereafter, President Glotzbach acknowledged Board Chair Linda Toohey, who is in attendance at today's meeting.

 

In addition, President Glotzbach thanked Associate Professor Tillman Nechtman for serving as Parliamentarian for the past few years. He announced that Associate Professor Chris Kopec, Department of Management and Business, has agreed to take over the role of Parliamentarian with the assistance of Professor Barbara Black, Department of English, and Associate Professor Natalie Taylor, Department of Government.

 

President Glotzbach announced that he and SGA President Addison Bennett have collaborated in a State of the College event to be held on September 19 in Zankel. At this event, President Glotzbach will provide a detailed update of where we are and of this year's agenda, and he invited everyone to attend. The three major areas of focus this year are Strategic Planning—creating our next strategic plan—led by the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee, Middle States reaccreditation led by Beau Breslin, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor Sarah Goodwin, and curricular review led by the Committee on Educational Policy and Planning.

 

Thereafter, President Glotzbach reminded everyone of the email sent by Rick Chrisman describing the College's efforts to recognize the upcoming 13th anniversary of 9/11. On September 11, a video screening of a dialog on 9/11 will be held as well as a memorial observance in Wilson Chapel.

 

President Glotzbach next referenced the letter on gender-based and sexual misconduct that he issued a few weeks ago. This is an extremely important issue for us as a community and for all of us as individuals within our community. There are things that all of us need to know about our role in responding to students or co-workers who come to us with concerns, and we will be working on ways to disseminate that information effectively. In his Opening Convocation address to our new students, President Glotzbach stated clearly that sexual misconduct and sexual assault should have no place at Skidmore. He challenged the students to be a class that treats one another with respect and to accept nothing less than no acts of sexual misconduct. The students and parents responded very positively to that challenge. Thereafter, Rochelle Calhoun, Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs, described two new education and prevention programs that have been initiated focusing on sexual and gender-based misconduct and the transition into college for first year students.

 

President Glotzbach reminded everyone of the "I Too Am Skidmore" project that was started by students last spring. He noted that a meeting was held with those students in which their concerns were shared and discussions were held about initiatives that were currently underway. The recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, remind our nation of the distance we still have to travel in the area of race relations. He applauded the efforts of so many people on campus in creating a welcoming and safe environment for students of color, international students, gay, lesbian, and transgender students, and others. However, we still have work to do on this issue, and President Glotzbach indicated that he will be issuing a letter that will talk in more detail about things we will be doing in this area.

 

In concluding his report, he stated that that over the past several years, we have surveyed students and faculty members in various ways to try to learn about how they experience life at Skidmore. Student Affairs and CIGU have been working with the student results, and Academic Affairs has been processing the faculty surveys; we will hear more from them in due course. This past spring, a survey of our staff members, administrators, and Union workers was conducted asking about their perceptions of the work environment at Skidmore.   A series of Town Hall Meetings with members of those groups are being held to discuss the results of those surveys. It is clear, however, that while there are many positive aspects to life at Skidmore, we also still have work to do to live up to our ideas of community. Based upon the results of the staff survey, we will be following up these Town Hall Meetings with a number of initiatives aimed at addressing the concerns that were articulated.   He reminded the faculty that they are regarded as highly honored members of the community, as the work they do with our students is central to our educational mission, and the ways in which they treat members of the staff is very much noticed. In that regard, he encouraged the faculty to pay attention to their relationships with others who work on campus. A little kindness and respect will go a long way toward helping us be the kind of community we all want to be. We are all in this together!

DOF/VPAA Breslin welcomed everyone back to the new academic year and wished everyone the best of luck this year. He provided an update on the work that has continued over the summer with regard to the Middle States reaccreditation, faculty/student summer research, the Mellon-funded Center for Leadership, Project Vis, the Library's institutional repository project, and approval by the Board of Trustees of the Intellectual Property policy. DOF/VPAA Breslin provided an overview of the items that we will work on this coming year: continue to work on the Middle States reaccreditation, planning for the next strategic plan, conduct 12 tenure-track searches, including the new Tang endowed chair, finish work on promotion for non-tenure-track colleagues, review of the results of the COACHE survey that came out over the summer, curricular review and reconstruction, shared governance reform, collaborations with the New York Six, conduct the search for a new director of the Library, and search for a new Associate Dean to replace Dean Rubio. Additionally, in our effort to try to build community, we will hold monthly community breakfasts, our coffee hours will continue, and we will hold another Academic Summit in January.

 

Echoing President's Glotzbach's comments regarding new student orientation, he thanked all those involved with the new student orientation as well as those involved with new faculty orientation, the members of his senior staff, the members of his staff, and all the faculty.

 

DOF/VPAA Breslin stated that this year, one of the things we will be focused on is our community. He quoted an article by William Cronon, the Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, which appeared in a 1988 volume of American Scholar Only Connect .. the Goals of Liberal Education: "liberally educated people understand that they belong to a community whose prosperity and well-being are crucial to their own, and they help that community flourish by making the success of others possible. If we speak of education for freedom, then one of the crucial insights of a liberal education must be that the freedom of the individual is possible only in a free community, and vice versa. It is the community that empowers the free individual, just as it is free individuals who lead and empower the community." In that spirit, at every faculty meeting this year, DOF/VPAA Breslin will re-introduce five members of the staff who make Skidmore work. He thereafter re-introduced Kelly Ward, Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery; Tina Breakell, Off-Campus Study and Exchanges; Kevin Giampa, Scribner Library; Tom Harfmann, Information Technology; and Beth McPhee, Academic Advising.

 

Concluding his report, DOF/VPAA Breslin happily announced those personnel matters that were approved by the Board of Trustees as their last meeting in May:

• Jennifer Bonner, Department of Biology, granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor;
• April Bernard, Department of English, promoted to full Professor;
• Jordana Dym, Department of History, promoted to full Professor;
• Shirley Smith, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, promoted to full Professor;
• Joel Brown, Department of Music, promoted to Distinguished Artist-in-Residence;
• Barbara Norelli, Scribner Library, promoted to Librarian;
• Kathryn Frederick, Scribner Library, promoted to Associate Librarian; and
• Andy Krzystyniak, Scribner Library, promoted to Associate Librarian.

 

A congratulatory round of applause was given for each faculty member.

 

Dean of Special Programs Report. Paul Calhoun, Dean of Special Programs, reported on the summer's special programs.   In addition to the summer sessions, MALS seminars, collaborative research, sports camps, and Camp Northwoods, there were many institutes, conferences, and programs on campus, including:

• NY Young Writer's Institute, who moved their institute to Skidmore four years ago and has now expanded their institute to ten days attracting a larger number of students every summer;
• NYS Summer Writer's Institute, one of our greatest treasures led by Professor Bob Boyers;
• Decoda Skidmore Chamber Music Institute, a new arts institute in which 22 students attended a 2-week ambitious and innovative program called Leadership Through Music that focused on developing artistic, technical, collaborative, and analytical skills and enhancing leadership ability through community service and public speaking;
• Skidmore Jazz Institute, which underwent a significant overhaul of its faculty and program this year, engineered by our team working with director Todd Coolman, resulting in a stronger music recording class making use of Zankel's recording studio for the first time thanks to support form the Music Department;
• NY EXCELL, an innovative program to teach experienced business professionals about new business opportunities in New York State in the areas of clean energy and energy efficiency undertaken by Harder Chair Cathy Hill, thanks to a grant received from New York State;
• Martha Graham Dance Company, led by master teacher and choreographer Peter Sparling; who also performed at SPAC as part of Saratoga ArtsFest;
• SITI Theater Workshop, led by Anne Bogart who carried her McCormack residency's theme last year focusing on storytelling into this summer's workshop;
• The Saratoga Shakespeare program, led by Lary and Barbara Opitz, in which four plays by William Shakespeare were performed—two on campus and two in Congress Park;
• John Hopkins CTY program;
• NYSSA schools in orchestral studies, ballet and modern dance;
• CampAbilities, a one-week developmental sport scamp for children and teens who are blind, visually impaired, and deaf/blind;
• Soldier's Heart, a 3-day retreat for women military veterans;
• BMCA, a 40-year-old international membership organization based on the health practices of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen which are based on connections between the body and mind; and
• Entreprep, a one-week experience for high school students to teach essentials of entrepreneurship.

 

In addition, there were many concerts and events held in Zankel, including a live recording of a Linda Eder concert, and special events including the Decoda student concert, the inaugural Frances Day at the Tang, second Solomon Northup Day at Filene, Hubbard Hall performance of Romeo and Juliet, and International rugby 7's tournament.

 

In concluding his report, Dean Calhoun provided a preview of Summer Program's fall events--McCormack Resident David Lang, Greenburg Scholar Avi Rubin, Jacob Perlow event featuring Pola Baytelman, ACJW residency, and the Mature Learners series—and thanked the members of his team and the staff in facilities and housekeeping for all their work throughout the summer.

 

There was no old business.

On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Professor Mehmet Odekon introduced the following Motion (see attached):

 

MOTION: The Faculty Executive Committee moves that the 2014-2015 Faculty Handbook be adopted. The following link takes you to the 2014-2015 Faculty Handbook (showing tracked changes) as well as handbooks from previous years: https://www.skidmore.edu/dof-vpaa/faculty-handbooks.php

 

There was no discussion; the Motion will lie over until the next meeting.

 

DOF/VPAA Breslin introduced the new faculty members for this academic year (see attached for complete list). A welcoming round of applause was given for the new faculty.

• As the inaugural director of the new Center for Leadership in Teaching and Learning, Associate Professor Erica Bastress-Dukehart announced the members of the CLTL's board of advisors: Amon Emeka, Carolyn Anderson, Kyle Nichols, Greg Pfitzer, Sonia Silva, and Sandy Welter. She indicated that she looks forward to partnering with everyone as they build new programs and continuing with our successful programs. She concluded by announcing upcoming events sponsored by the CLTL.
• Cori Filson, Director of the Off-Campus Study and Exchanges, announced a new online application system for faculty recommendations for study abroad students. Details of the new online system can be found on the OCSE website.      
• Professor John Anzalone, as project manager of Project Vis, reminded the faculty that there is a great deal of funding for faculty development available through the Project Vis initiative and, thereafter, announced upcoming workshops and events sponsored by the Project Vis initiative.
• Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, introduced four new members of the Tang staff: Megan Hyde, Museum Educator for Public and College Programs; Talia Steinman '14, Interim Curatorial Assistant; Jessica Lubniewski, Assistant Registrar for Collections; and Cynthia Zellner, Senior Prepator and Assistant Building Manager.     Thereafter, he announced the upcoming events and programs at the Tang.
• Professor Pushi Prasad invited everyone to the fall Skidmore Research Colloquium which is scheduled to take place on October 7 in Murray Aikins. This fall's speaker will be Professor John Anzalone who will present "Looking Up, Looking Down: Images of Aviation in the Great War".

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Debra L. Peterson
Executive Administrative Assistant