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Academic Council
Meeting Notes
September 26, 2000
Present: Curtis Johnson,
Dean of the College; Dinah Dodds; Dean of Arts and
Humanities; Gary Reiness, Dean of Mathematical and Natural
Sciences; Harold Schleef, Dean of Social Sciences; Terri
Banasek, Administrative Assistant and recorder; and Rosie
Felton, Administrative Assistant for Budgets and
Contracts.
Announcements:
- Committee Assignments: Dean Johnson distributed a
list of current faculty assignments by division. There
are three program reviews to staff this year, with
Environmental Studies completely staffed.
The Overseas Program review committee consists of Dean
Reiness, Bob Mandel, Richard Rohrbaugh, Klaus Engelhardt,
and Janis Lochner. Dean Johnson would like to
reconstitute the group with a charge to complete the
study by spring of 2001. There are two ways to approach
this: 1) Reconvene the five original members of the
committee and replace the two who are going to off campus
in the spring, or 2) Complete the overseas program review
through the vehicle of the Commission on Academic
Priorities. The charge of the CAP include assessment of
our overseas study program.
After discussion, it was decided that Dean Johnson will
announce to the Curriculum Committee on Wednesday that
the overseas study review will continue under the aegis
of the CAP, with essentially the same committee
makeup.
A vacancy exists on the International Studies
Coordinating Committee, and Dean Johnson suggested Lyell
Asher to fill that position. There was general assent to
this proposal. Dean Johnson will speak with Harvey
Schmidt about this.
- Summer Sessions: The Curriculum Committee suggested
that Dean Johnson find faculty who have taught on a
regular basis in the summer sessions to lead the review,
with a minimum of three people on the committee.
Suggestions: Tom Olsen, Stuart Buettner, Roger Nelsen,
and Nicole Aas-Rouxparis.
- Dean Johnson met with the president regarding his
goals for the year. One of those goals is to establish a
select number of focused, ad hoc faculty task forces,
with each task force charged to make specific
recommendations to the Dean of the College. The president
agreed to two, and possibly three, of these.
The first task force is on diversity - how do we improve
the diversity of our faculty and students? Possible
members: Nora Beck, Bruce Podobnik, Andrew Bernstein, and
Steve Seavey, all of whom have expressed interest in this
issue.
The second is on community building. Don Balmer, Harvey
Schmidt, Jack Hart, and Deborah Heath are possible
candidates.
The third task force that is a possibility is one on
childcare. There are serious obstacles that must be
acknowledged in advance: How much would it cost? Who
would pay for it? Are there enough parents to make it
feasible? The President is reluctant to establish another
task force at this time, but is possible that he will
approve this group after further review.
His last goal is to take a close look at the identity of
the College and to connect the identity with the
admissions policy and with the web site. This is a
cluster of very complicated issues. The College has a
serious problem with conveying a clear and consistent
message to its many publics. The president proposed that
the CAP take on this issue, bringing in those faculty who
have expressed concerns about this and interviewing them.
Dr. Mooney intends to start holding presidential forums
to which all faculty will be invited, with the purpose
being to determine what kind of college the faculty want
Lewis & Clark to be.
The Academic Council recommended that Dean Johnson create
the two task forces - on diversity and on community
building - and then announce them at the first faculty
meeting, giving the faculty an opportunity to volunteer
to serve in this capacity.
- Dean Johnson would like the first faculty meeting to
be an executive session. There are going to be some frank
discussions that might prove sensitive to non-faculty,
and Dean Johnson plans to talk with them separately.
According to the by-laws, the dean can declare an
executive session. He will alert the faculty ahead of
time that this will be an executive session.
Dean Johnson plans to work with the Faculty Council to
set the agenda for this meeting, and he believes the
first item of business should be to extend voting rights
to lecturers and senior lecturers. Action items of
significance cannot be approved at the same meeting in
which they are introduced. Therefore, the voting rights
can be introduced at the first meeting, but they cannot
be acted on until the next meeting. The president has
final say over emendation of the by-laws, and it is hoped
that he will be receptive to this change.
Because lecturers and senior lecturers make a
contribution to the central liberal arts mission of the
college, Dean Johnson believes that they are entitled to
viting rights in the faculty. Should this proposal be
approved, this that this will not mean an automatic
extension of voting rights but rather an invitation to
apply.
- Dean Johnson hopes to change how faculty meetings are
run, compressing administrative reports and distributing
them with the agenda prior to the meeting. He will give
the faculty the opportunity to shape the faculty meetings
and to set agendas. The meetings must be lively and real
and should start on time. Announcements can be made while
waiting for a quorum.
Dean Johnson will convene the faculty council before
faculty meetings to set agendas. He will also remind
faculty via email to submit agenda items.
- Dean Dodds reported that Jose Villalobos is
interested in applying for the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship
for Underrepresented Groups.
- Dean Reiness reported receiving materials from the
Ford Foundation regarding graduate fellowships for
minority students. He will distribute a copy of the cover
letter to the Divisional Deans and forward the materials
to the Dean's office.
Long-Term Topics
- The Academic Council received commendations from the
president, who noted that the Council is doing what he
hoped it would do. He intends to place the Academic
Council into the overall budget discussions. Jane
Atkinson will chair these meetings, and Mervyn Brockett
will be the chief financial officer. Dean Johnson talked
with Dr. Mooney about the desperate need for additional
resources, asking for additional resources to allocate to
CAS operations budgets. If the Council decides to add new
faculty, action will be delayed until the Commission on
Academic Priorities completes its work. The Commission's
charge is to identify where we need to grow this
faculty.
The plans for the new buildings must allow for additional
faculty, including office space, classrooms, and
laboratories. If eight to 10 new faculty are hired, the
soonest they would arrive is 2002, and Albany will be
finished.
Howard Hall is still in the very early planning stages,
and one of the components the planning committee is
addressing is flexibility. There will be about
50,000-55,000 square feet of space, with two floors of
offices and two floors of classrooms. It should be
designed so that it can be remodeled easily while meeting
the research needs of the faculty. They are planning
Howard for an increase of six to eight new faculty
members. There will be five departments from the Social
Sciences Division moving into Howard. ISALC would like to
relocate to Miller for proximity to the language lab, but
currently there is insufficient space for that to happen.
The new life sciences building has moved up in the
schedule of building priorities.
- Referring back to the earlier discussion of the U.S.
News rankings, there are two steps that can be taken by
the Academic Council that will help immediately: 1) Set
course caps for 300- and 400-level courses and for
Inventing America at 19 as opposed to 20, and 2) Assign
faculty so that lower-division courses are taught by
tenure-line faculty, and use adjuncts to teach
upper-division courses. Currently, 33 percent of all
courses are taught by visiting faculty, including 45
percent of 100-level courses. Tenure-line faculty have an
institutional history to bring to the courses and to
first-year students. If we can improve the financial
health of the institution, we can use this to add faculty
later. If we get our retention rate up, our revenues will
also rise There might be an increased cost for adjuncts
for upper-division courses, but it was felt that this is
worth doing, if it allows more tenure-track faculty to
teach in lower division courses. Also, Inventing America
might need an extra section added to decrease class
size.
The course cap change must be approved by the Curriculum
Committee. Some courses might need extra sections to meet
major requirements. If we implement a cap of 19, we have
to plan for a number of courses going over that and
create language that provides for exceptions. Currently,
21 courses at the 300 or 400 level have 20 or more
students. About 15 courses would need an additional
section.
The Divisional Deans will meet with the department chairs
about getting faculty to teach 100-level courses.
Advisers can also redirect students to other courses in
the same major to absorb enrollment.
- Dean Johnson would like to institute a new faculty
mentoring system in which every new faculty member would
be assigned a senior mentor. In addition, he would like
to provide a year-long subscription to the Oregonian, the
Portland Opera, and the Oregon Symphony, paid for by
those organizations. This will help provide the new
faculty with the support that makes them feel this is the
right place for them to be and will help them adjust to
the Lewis & Clark and Portland communities. Mentors
should be from the same division as the new faculty but
from a different department. Mentors would visit the
classrooms, watch the new faculty teach, offer advice,
and be an advocate. Suggestions for this year's new
faculty: Paulette Bierzychudek or Deborah Lycan for
Elizabeth Safran; David Savage for Forrest Pierce. The
Council would provide gift certificates for dinner at
Genoa to faculty mentors in appreciation for their
service.
Agenda Items:
- Computer Replacement: Jane Atkinson is preparing a
letter to faculty explaining what happened to last year's
computer requests. Dean Dodds will devise a preliminary
plan for future computer replacement and recycling. Dean
Johnson now has all urgent computer requests and will
forward the information to Jane Atkinson with the request
that action be taken immediately.
- Budget: Two things conspired to put the budget
process out of its ordinary way of developing: 1) the
departure of Wayne Pederson, and 2) the administrative
reorganization. Given ongoing uncertainties about the
current budget, Associate Provost June Jones has
allocated departments the same budgets as last year.
- Mervyn Brockett is now Acting Vice President for
Budget and Finance. President Mooney has talked with a
consultant regarding Mr. Pederson's replacement, but no
recommendations have been made yet.
Next meeting: October 3, 2000, 8 a.m., in Breakfast
Room.
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