Announcements:

• Dean Atkinson said that invitations have been extended for participation in this year's New Faculty Orientation. She is still waiting to hear from some faculty, invited to take part in workshops on Classroom Teaching, Teaching Effective Speaking, and Faculty Citizenship, Governance and Review. The orientation will take place on August 18, 19 and; 20th. It was decided that panel participants will receive gift certificates from the college bookstore.

   

• Dean Keedy said that he and President Mooney will meet with Maria Pelegrini at the Keck Foundation on September 3rd regarding the current LC proposal. Trinh Tran will edit the document before a meeting with Deans Keedy and Atkinson on Friday, Aug. 6th. The preliminary proposal is due by Sept. 15, the final by March 15, 2000. A faculty position in computer science will be included in the proposal.

• Evan Williams has submitted a final proposal to the Mellon Foundation for support of Environmental Studies.

• Another proposal to the Hughes Foundation is due October 15.

• Dean Jones said that she needs to be informed of any requests to add new course sections this year. Dean Keedy thinks there may be an extra lab section needed in general chemistry.

• Dean Keedy reported that the math department is investigating how students do in math courses in light of prior preparation, whether at the high school level or prior courses at LC. The department will complete their study and report back to the MNS division.

Agenda Items:

1. There was a brief discussion about the purpose for the one-time (not an increase to the base salary) salary bonuses, allocated this year. The Council reaffirmed that the intention in awarding bonuses was to recognize some faculty for extraordinary service to the college over the last year. This action was in accordance with the faculty salary policy.
2. Last year a part-time instructor in the Writing Center was dedicated to the support of Inventing America. The .5 FTE position is now vacant and the Council discussed whether the position should be re-filled.
3. The Council discussed what faculty could be recruited to teach sections of Inventing America this year. The exceptionally large first-year class and a large number of faculty leaves has necessitated the recruitment of extra staff for the common syllabus course.
4. The Council reviewed the course load for visiting faculty. In the past, 6 courses was considered the normal course load for a 1.0 FTE. The current policy assumes that a visiting faculty at the assistant professor level or above teach just 5 courses, with extra pay for a 6th course if needed. Dean Jones said she is working on clarification of the FTE calculations for faculty contracts and hopes to develop a more standard way to determine workload.