Faculty Meeting Minutes
April 7, 2017
Gannett Auditorium
MINUTES
President Philip A. Glotzbach called the meeting to order at 3:36 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
President Glotzbach asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held March 3, 2017. Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
President Glotzbach welcomed everyone to the meeting and indicated that his remarks
will be kept at a minimum due to the full agenda. He congratulated Associate Professor
Heather Hurst on her Guggenheim Fellowship award. A round of applause was given to
Associate Professor Hurst.
Thereafter, on behalf of the Faculty Development Committee, Associate Professor Rachel
Roe-Dale announced that Professor Mary Odekon was chosen as the Edwin M. Moseley Faculty
Lectureship for 2017-18. Associate Professor Roe-Dale thanked all those faculty members
who put forth a nomination and those faculty members that chose to stand for consideration.
A congratulatory round of applause was given to Professor Odekon.
President Glotzbach reported on the status of the three Cabinet searches. He reported
that the search consultants for the positions have been secured and that the search
committees are now complete. The search committees for the Collyer Vice President
for Advancement and the Vice President for Communications and Marketing have met and
those searches are now underway. The search committee for the Dean of the Faculty
and Vice President for Academic Affairs has also been constituted and the search will
begin shortly.
Thereupon, Joshua Woodfork, Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional
Diversity, directed everyone鈥檚 attention to a website with further information on
the search committees for the three positions (/president/secure/index.php) and reviewed the composition of the membership of the search committees for the
Collyer Vice President for Advancement; the Vice President for Communications and
Marketing; and the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs. VP
Woodfork thanked everyone who indicated a willingness to serve on one of the three
search committees.
VP Woodfork then thanked everyone for attending the screenings of Hidden Figures and hoped everyone had a positive experience. He also called everyone鈥檚 attention
to 鈥淚n It鈥�, a suite of diversity and inclusion programming designed to raise our cultural
fluency and strengthen our community (/diversity/init/), and highlighted upcoming events over the next few weeks. Finally, VP Woodfork
shared information concerning college demographics which can be found on the Institutional
Research webpage.
President Glotzbach reminded everyone that Accepted Candidates鈥� Days will be occurring
over the next few weeks (April 7, April 12, and April 17). Our Discovery Program
dinner was held last night with 142 students in attendance; they were a very strong
and lively group and about 40 percent are interested in the sciences. President Glotzbach
thanked Dean Mendes and his team for coordinating this program.
President Glotzbach reminded everyone of his concerns about international students
given our current political environment. 禁漫天堂 10 percent of our class is international,
so any drop in international students would be significant. This year, about 10 percent
of our Early Decision class is comprised of international students, compared to 6.2
percent last year, so that is one hopeful sign. President Glotzbach urged everyone
to give even more effort and attention to our Accepted Candidates program this year
than we have in the past.
DEAN OF THE FACULTY AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS鈥� REPORT
There was no report from the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
OLD BUSINESS
On behalf of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, DOF/VPAA Beau Breslin read the following Motion that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):
MOTION: The Dean of the Faculty鈥檚 office moves to alter the Faculty Handbook to allow departments and programs to hire faculty with tenure.
DOF/VPAA Breslin reminded everyone of the reason for bringing the Motion. A few faculty
members rose to express their support of the Motion. There being no further discussion,
the Motion was voted on and passed by majority vote.
On behalf of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic
Affairs, DOF/VPAA Beau Breslin read the following Motion that was introduced at the
last Faculty Meeting (see attached):
MOTION: The Dean of the Faculty鈥檚 office moves to alter the Faculty Handbook to eliminate the second year review.
DOF/VPAA Breslin reminded everyone of the reason for bringing the Motion. Following brief discussion related to the implementation of the new process, the Motion was voted on and passed by majority vote.
On behalf of the Committee on Educational Policies and Planning (CEPP), Associate
Professor Erica Bastress-Dukehart read the following Motion that was introduced at
the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):
MOTION: The Committee on Educational Policies and Planning moves that the faculty adopt the new General Education Curriculum for Skidmore College as detailed in the February 28, 2017 Proposal.
Associate Professor Erica Bastress-Dukehart thanked everyone for their input into
the proposed general education curriculum. She reminded everyone that this proposal
has been worked on for over four years; everyone has had an opportunity to see the
proposal and to shape it. This is a curriculum that is intentional and seeks to improve
the areas where students are not meeting our goals for student learning. While this
proposal is not perfect, it is more intentional in asking students to integrate their
learning experience and makes our current curriculum better.
Associate Professor Bastress-Dukehart further indicated, that since the last faculty
meeting, CEPP accepted a friendly amendment relating to the CODA to include the language
鈥渙ne course or one capstone experience.鈥� This amendment was requested in part because
studio art has a senior capstone experience which has not been a course, and because
it is not a course, the art department would need to change the structure of their
major to make that experience into a course.
Thereafter, Dorothy Parsons, Student Government Association (SGA) President, spoke
in support of the proposed curriculum. She indicated that Henry Jaffee, SGA Vice
President for Academic Affairs, brought the proposal to the SGA senate, and the students
voted to support the proposal. As the proposal is beneficial to the students, Ms.
Parsons strongly urged the faculty to support the proposal.
Thereupon, Associate Professor Bastress-Dukehart opened the floor for comments. Lengthy
discussion ensued regarding the language requirement that would allow some international
students to take EN 103 instead of a language other than English when EN 103 had not
been designed for English language learners.
Associate Professor Jeremy Day-O鈥機onnell then made a motion to amend the General Education
curriculum to stipulate a 3-credit minimum for the First-Year Experience, the Bridge
Experience, and the Foundations and Inquiries requirements (see attached). Associate
Professor Day-O鈥機onnell explained the rationale for his motion, indicating that having
a credit-based requirement will help to ensure the balance and integrity of the proposed
curriculum, especially as Skidmore begins to experiment with non-traditional course
paradigms that carry various sorts of credit. The Motion was seconded. Thereafter,
discussion of the amendment ensued. Associate Professor Bastress-Dukehart indicated
that CEPP chose to use the language 鈥渃ourses鈥� rather than 鈥渃redits鈥� to allow for flexibility.
Several faculty members spoke in support of the amendment while some spoke against
the amendment. Following discussion, the Motion to amend was voted on and defeated
by majority vote.
Thereupon, discussion returned to the EN 103 language requirement. Professor Sarah
Goodwin made a friendly amendment to revise the second requirement under language
study to read 鈥渟uccessful completion of EN 100, EN 103, or an appropriate ELL course
to be developed for the purpose with broad consultation.鈥� CEPP accepted the friendly
amendment. Several faculty members spoke in opposition to the friendly amendment
indicating that this requirement should be discussed at length and not tweaked on
the faculty floor and, further, that there are currently no ELL-specific courses.
Several other faculty members indicated they believed the issue could be resolved
in the implementation phase and encouraged everyone to support the proposal. Following
lengthy discussion about the language requirements, Professor John Brueggemann moved
to table the discussion until the next faculty meeting so this issue could be discussed
further. The motion to table the discussion was voted on and passed by majority vote.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
OTHER
Associate Professor Pat Oles provided an update on the trustee dialog on the investment
philosophy. Associate Professor Oles reminded everyone that the Board accepted the
Divestment Task Force鈥檚 recommendation against divestment but not other recommendations,
most notably the recommendation that the College align institutional values and investment
philosophy. At the April 2016 faculty meeting, Associate Professor Oles proposed a
motion asking the board 鈥渢o develop a meaningful process for aligning investment philosophy
with institutional mission and values.鈥� The motion was withdrawn when President Glotzbach
offered the opportunity for further discussion about this with the Trustees. Associate
Professor Oles reported the discussion took place but provided little reason to believe
the trustees are interested in aligning institutional values and investment policy
and that there were no plans for additional discussion. This means that absent faculty
action, the matter is settled. Associate Professor Oles indicated a willingness to
continue to press the issue if there was sufficient interest among the faculty. President
Glotzbach indicated this was an open conversation and was willing to think about how
one might do this in a way that is responsible to all the different demands placed
on our endowment and budget, and the Investment Committee and Trustees have agreed
to explore our investments.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- On behalf of the Athletic Council, Associate Professor Amon Emeka reported that the Athletic Council had discussions about the email exchange concerning the name of the Thoroughbred Society that occurred a few weeks ago. He indicated that this year鈥檚 annual report will include a summary of the initial exchange and letters of support. He asked anyone wishing to voice their opinion in support or opposition to respond directly to him via email with 鈥淢ascot鈥� in the comment section.
- On behalf of the Office of the Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer and Project VIS, Professor Jeff Segrave invited everyone to a reception in the Scribner Library immediately following the faculty meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:02 p.m.
Executive Administrative Assistant