Announcements:
Dean Keedy said that the MNS chairs approved the change of the sabbatical request deadline to October 1. Likewise, Dean Savage reported that the A&H chairs approved as well (agreed to previously by the SS chairs). Dean Atkinson will e-mail the CAS faculty regarding the proposed change from November 1.
Bill Randall has submitted and NSF grant which if funded would upgrade the general chemistry labs with computer interfaces.
Dean Johnson said there will be candidates for the Pamplin Chair of Government on campus over the next few weeks.
There are major curricular changes being planned by the departments of Economics, Psychology, Communication and Gender Studies.
Dean Atkinson reported that she and June Jones were asked by President Mooney to serve on a Residence Life Task Force. The group will do long-term planning for improvements in residence halls and programs. Other membership includes: Michael Ford, Jon Eldridge, Michael Sestric, Rich Bettega and Pia Gilgen. Dean Atkinson will report on the groups progress at the May Board of Trustees meeting.
Dean Atkinson said that the November Board of Trustees meeting will cover the following topics: Academic Affairs Committee will review policies for the Faculty Handbook; the Student Affairs Committee will respond to the Trustee Task Force on Community Values and Conduct; and Mervyn Brockett will give a report on tuition discounting at the general session.
Agenda Items:
1. Thirteen half-year and nine full-year sabbaticals have been approved for 1998-99; the funds needed for sabbatical replacement will total approximately $180k. Mervyn Brockett joined the Council to discuss replacements needs. He said there have been quite a few courses added over the last year, making it unnecessary to hire a full-time replacements in some instances. June Jones said that the overall institutional budget for next year is still undergoing revisions, and CAS flexible staffing funds have not been established. In light of the large number of sabbaticals, a concern was expressed about staffing Inventing America. No decisions were made on replacements; the Council will discuss them again after the I.A. staffing has been established.
The Council noted that due to multiple tenure-track hires in 1995-96, there is an inflated number of junior sabbaticals next year and in 5 years hence there will be the same circumstances for full-year requests. Staffing issues are compounded by a number of those junior requests which may be taken in conjunction with an additional semester on leave-without-pay.
2. Dean Johnson expressed his disappointment that after soliciting requests for equipment <$5000, there was insufficient funds to accommodate most of the need. June Jones asked that the divisional deans let her know of their division's most critical needs.
3. The Council discussed the ongoing developments on the faculty voting rights issue.
4. Membership of the Philosophy search committee was discussed.