Faculty Meeting Minutes

President Glotzbach was unable to attend this faculty meeting; therefore, Crystal Moore, Interim Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, chaired the meeting.  DOF/VPAA Moore called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Interim DOF/VPAA Moore asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held April 6, 2018.  Hearing none, she announced the minutes were approved.

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

 

Crystal Moore, Interim Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologized for the confusion on the meeting start time.  She then read a statement from President Glotzbach extending his regrets for being unable to attend the meeting and expressed his heartfelt congratulations to the retirees.

Retirements

On behalf of the Committee on Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure (CAPT), Professor Pushi Prasad read the following resolution into the record (see attached):

BE IT RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College expresses its profound appreciation and admiration for the following members of the Skidmore Faculty who have this year expressed their determination to retire:

•    Philip Boshoff, Department of English
•    Regina Janes, Department of English
•    Robert Jones, Department of Economics
•    Denise Limoli, Department of Dance
•    Steven Stern, Department of English
•    Joel Smith, Department of Philosophy
•    Gordon Thompson, Department of Music

The faculty further resolves that the biographical highlights of these members contained in the Retirement Citation booklet distributed (see attached) at this meeting be included in the Faculty Meeting Minutes of April 27, 2018 in recognition and celebration of their distinguished service and achievement.

The assembly signaled their acclimation by applause.

Thereafter, Professor Susannah Mintz delivered tributes to Associate Professor Philip Boshoff, Professor Regina Janes, and Professor Steve Stern; Associate Professor Mary DiSanto-Rose delivered a tribute to Associate Professor Denise Limoli; Associate Professor Larry Jorgensen delivered a tribute to Associate Professor Joel Smith; and Associate Professor Jeremy Day-O’Connell delivered a tribute to Professor Gordon Thompson.  Interim DOF/VPAA Moore presented each of the retirees with a gift, and a congratulatory round of applause and standing ovation was given to each retiree.

Thereafter, Professor Flip Phillips, as Chair of the Faculty Development Committee, announced that Professor Jeff Segrave has been selected as the recipient of the Ralph A. Ciancio Award for Excellence in Teaching for 2018-19.    A standing ovation was given to Professor Segrave.

OLD BUSINESS

Amy Frappier, Associate Professor

Associate Professor Amy Frappier, read the Resolution, as amended, that was introduced at the December faculty meeting (see attached).    At the request of Associate Professor Frappier, Parliamentarian Chris Kopec advised that Roberts Rules of Order does not specifically offer a clear delineation between a resolution and a motion and are often interchangeable.   Thereafter, Associate Professor Frappier acknowledged that Skidmore is already a member of the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium; however, having a specific policy on hiring of spouses and partners has the potential to improve morale, job satisfaction, and retention.  She then opened the floor for discussion.  

Brief discussion was held as to whether the creation of a spousal hiring policy would reduce diversity; whether the Resolution has been or will be brought to the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee; how the creation of a spousal hiring policy might strengthen or inhibit the efforts in the Dean of the Faculty’s Office to provide accommodation for faculty spouses;  why staff spouses were not included in the language; and concern that there were not only process statements but policy statements included in the resolution.  Thereafter, the Parliamentarian clarified that resolutions are generally used to express the general sentiment of a group.  

The question was called and seconded to stop discussion and to immediately vote on the Resolution.  Thereafter, the Resolution was voted on and passed by majority vote.

Faculty Executive Committee

On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Associate Professor Greg Gerbi read the following Motion, as amended, that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):

MOTION: The Faculty Executive Committee moves to approve changes to the Faculty Handbook related to faculty governance as follows:

•    Remove Part Two, section II, F1 (page 209-210).
•    Remove the subsubsection heading: Part Two, section II, F2 "Faculty Governance Committees"
•    Relabel Part Two, section F as "Faculty Governance Committees"
•    Relabel section headings in Part Two, section F so that committees are labeled "1" to "15" rather than "a" to "o".
•    Add a new subsection D to Part One, section VII (Rights, obligations, and responsibilities of all faculty; page 112).  The text of this subsection is below and is an edited version of what was previously in Part Two, section II, F1.

The floor was opened for comments.  

• One comment was raised concerning the relocation of the Faculty Governance Committees from Part Two of the Faculty Handbook to Part One of the Faculty Handbook seems inconsistent in that by including the language, which very specifically refers to tenure-track faculty, in Part One, which is a section that applies to all faculty might create some contractual ambiguity for non-tenure-track faculty.   
• A concern was raised regarding the inclusion of serving as department chairs or program directors in the Faculty Handbook.  
• A question was raised as to whether the chair of the Athletic Council or the chair of the Periclean Honors Forum were consulted regarding the changes.  FEC’s response is that they were not consulted.
• A question was raised concerning the language that tenure-track faculty are expected to perform college-level service in other ways when not in their mandated service period and that perhaps this might undermine the service cycle.
• A question was raised as to whether any reduction of faculty membership was considered when the list of committees for which service satisfies the service mandate was created.

Due to the time, discussion was tabled until the next Faculty Meeting.


Office of the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Interim DOF/VPAA Moore read the following Motion, as amended, that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):

MOTION: The Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs moves to change the language in the Faculty Handbook regarding promotion.

Associate Dean of the Faculty Ron Seyb monitored the discussion.  Interim DOF/VPAA Moore shared a PowerPoint presentation outlining the changes that were made to the original Motion based upon feedback that she received since the Motion was introduced.  

Thereafter, Professor Kate Berheide shared a PowerPoint presentation concerning the data analysis she undertook in connection with her research in 2012 on issues associated with promotion to full professor at Skidmore, as compared to Union College.   A question was raised as to whether there has been any change in the statistics since her research in 2012 and the recent change in the standard practice of promotion after six years as associate professor.  Professor Berheide indicated that there has not been a change.  Professor Berheide also indicated that it is her belief that service as department chair is a direct cause of delay in promotion to full professor as it is difficult to keep scholarship on track.  A comment was also made that the Faculty Handbook does not address how to weight a faculty  member’s professional accomplishments before coming to Skidmore and  that it might be a good time to think about some language to address this given there are more and more experienced colleagues coming to Skidmore.

Interim DOF/VPAA Moore concluded the discussion by announcing that another conversation concerning the promotion language will be held on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 in the Weller Room.

There was no new business.

 

• Professor Jim Kennelly, Director of Sustainability, announced that volunteers are once again needed for this year’s Give and Go, a sustainability initiative which donates items left by students to local and regional non-profits, scheduled for Saturday, May 12 and Sunday, May 20.  Further details will be sent via email.
• Interim DOF/VPAA Moore invited everyone to the special retirement reception in the Tang immediately following the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:32 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Debra L. Peterson

Executive Administrative Assistant