Faculty Meeting Minutes

March 1, 2019
Gannett Auditorium

MINUTES

Michael Orr, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order at 3:33 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

DOF/VPAA Orr asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held February 1, 2019.  Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

There was no new business.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

Before launching into the Committee of the Whole discussion, Associate Professor Katie Hauser acknowledged President Philip Glotzbach’s recent announcement of his retirement at the end of the 2019-20 academic year.  In recognition of his many accomplishments, the faculty gave President Glotzbach a standing ovation.

Thereafter, a Committee of the Whole was held to discuss the Division of Disciplines as outlined in the Faculty Handbook. Professor Hauser was appointed as chair of the Committee of the Whole.  A 20-minute time limit was set.  At the conclusion of the Committee of the Whole, Professor Hauser rose and reported that a discussion on the Division of Disciplines was held.  

OTHER

Presidential Search

On behalf of FEC, Professor Hauser briefly reported on planning for the upcoming presidential search and reviewed the composition of the presidential search committee. Following discussion of the number of faculty representatives on previous presidential search committees, a motion was made and seconded to add a fourth faculty member to the presidential search committee. After challenges to the likely effectiveness of taking this approach were identified, the motion was withdrawn.

Next, Dean Orr noted that a faculty resolution on this topic might be considered a matter of policy that could not be voted upon at the meeting at which it was introduced. Whereupon, Associate Professor Michael Arnush moved that the rule specifying a layover period be suspended.  The motion to suspend the layover period was voted on and passed with all in favor.

The floor was then opened for further discussion of the composition of the presidential search committee, including the number of staff members slated to serve on the search committee, and the nomination/selection process for staff. Strong concern was expressed regarding the reduction in faculty representation on the search committee in comparison to previous searches, and it was suggested that the faculty adopt a resolution requesting that the Board of Trustees add an additional faculty member to the search committee.

Thereafter, Professor Arnush moved a resolution to increase the number of faculty representatives on the presidential search committee from three to four, with the rationale being that the faculty remain satisfied with the level of faculty representation on the last presidential search.  After several suggestions for revisions to Professor Arnush’s resolution had been informally made and adopted, a point of order was called because the resolution had not been formally seconded.  Thereafter, the resolution was seconded.  

Discussion ensued regarding the proposed resolution, with many faculty members voicing strong support for the motion as well as offering friendly amendments to the language of the resolution.  At one point, wording for an entirely different resolution was proposed, but this motion was ruled out of order as it constituted a separate motion.  After further discussion of various friendly amendments, a Motion to move the previous question was made and seconded.  Below is the final resolution, as amended:

RESOLVED, that the faculty respectfully requests the Board of Trustees to increase the number of faculty representatives on the current presidential search committee from three to four.

RATIONALE: The faculty remains satisfied with the level of faculty representation on the last presidential search committee in 2002/3 and asks FEC to convey to the Board of Trustees to replicate that representation.

The Resolution was then voted on and approved unanimously.

Update on CIS

DOF/VPAA Orr and Donna Ng, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer, presented a PowerPoint update on planning for the Center for Integrated Sciences (CIS), including describing efforts to consolidate the phasing of the construction and accelerate completion of the project.  The presentation comprised an overview of the updated plan presented to the Board of Trustees at their meeting in February 2019, for which unanimous approval had been received. The presentation summarized ways to reduce project costs; described the need for swing space when Harder is demolished and new Dana is under renovation; discussed the location of the swing space site; presented a revised construction timeline with updated project costs; identified additional funding sources; and laid out the next steps (see attached for details).  

VPFA Ng opened the floor for comments.  Brief discussion was held concerning the location of the swing space and the potential impact of the proposed site on the North Woods.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

President Glotzbach thanked Professor Hauser for recognizing the announcement of his retirement and thanked all those who had written kind notes in response to his announcement.  He reminded everyone that there is still quite a bit of work to be done before his retirement next year but that he wanted to give the Board of Trustees as much notice as possible of his retirement to ensure a timely and smooth transition for the next President. 

Thereafter, VPFA Ng introduced Brett Last as the new Chief Human Resources Officer.  A welcoming round of applause was given.

President Glotzbach concluded his report by stating that the recent Board of Trustees meeting had been very successful, highlighted by the Board’s affirming the plan to move forward with the CIS – with a time-line that calls for this project to be completed in 2024.  He also called attention to the final event of the Skidmore Speaks series with a talk scheduled for March 5, 2019 by Nadine Strossen, a New York Law School professor and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

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

DOF/VPAA Orr began his report by urging everyone to complete the HEDS climate survey if they have not done so already.  He then provided an update on implementation of the new General Education curriculum. The criteria for approving Bridge Experience courses have been approved and a document summarizing the criteria has been added to CEPP’s General Education Curriculum dashboard website. He announced that Marta Brunner, College Librarian and co-chair of CEPP, will be working with Marketing and Communications to migrate the CEPP dashboard site onto the CEPP homepage so that it will be easier to find on the College website.  He reported that the Curriculum Committee and CEPP had recommended the appointment of a Bridge Experience Director to ensure that proposals for Bridge Experience courses will satisfy the requirements. He indicated that he hopes to be able to make that appointment shortly. 

DOF/VPAA Orr next reminded everyone that today was the due date for proposals to participate in pedagogy clusters to develop proposals for Bridge Experience or Applied Quantitative Reasoning courses. If anyone missed this deadline, there will be another opportunity to participate in the fall.  He also reported that today is also the deadline for chairs and program directors to submit the first portion of the annual assessment report, including identifying learning outcomes and mapping those outcomes to department courses that will fulfill the requirements for the four In-the-Major literacies for the new General Education curriculum. 

DOF/VPAA Orr  then stated that he had hoped to make an announcement regarding the appointment of the new associate dean by March 1st.   Unfortunately, due to various pressing matters, the appointment of a new associate dean had been delayed.  He reported that he expects to be able to make the appointment soon.

In concluding his report, he announced that Professor Kate Berheide will deliver the annual Edwin Moseley Lecture on April 4, 2019.  The title of her lecture will be “Still Gendered After All These Years: Pay, Promotion, and Faculty Well-being.”

Thereafter, Sean Campbell, Collyer Vice President for Advancement, invited everyone to a reception at Murray Aikins Dining Hall immediately following the faculty meeting.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:01 p.m.