Minutes AY 2007/2008

The Arts & Sciences Council (ASC) meets regularly every academic year, including nine times during the 2007 to 2008 academic year. The notes from said meetings are found below:

September 13, 2007

Arts and Sciences Council Meeting

  • September 13, 2007
  • 3:30 – 5:00 PM
  • Benson 380

MEMBERS PRESENT: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Daniel Barth, PSYC; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Charles de Bartolome, ECON; Damian Doyle, PWR; Clark Farmer, FILM; David Ferris, CLHM; Bob Ferry, HIST; Chonin Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Daniel Jones, HONR; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Dale Mood, IPHY; Onye Ozuzu, THDN; Martha Palmer, LING; Scott Parker, PHYS; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Eric Stade, MATH; Chuck Stern, GEOL; Davide Stimili, GSLL; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Cindy White, COMM; Jennifer Wolak, PSCI; Emily Yeh, GEOG.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Mitch Begelman, APS; Michael Huemer, PHIL; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Keith Julien, APPM; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Rodney Taylor, RLST; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC.

The Chair opened the meeting at 3:34 PM welcoming the entire Council. The minutes from the April 12, 2007 meeting were distributed and approved unanimously.

David Ferris introduced new members of the ASC.

Dean’s Report

  • Hiring Report:
    • Todd Gleeson announced that there was a good gender balance with the new hires this year. The diversity balance was not as strong as the College would like. He passed around a list of the 36 hires, and has been in contact with departments about hiring more people.
  • College Overview:
    • The Dean stated that financially the College is in good shape. The College is in a tighter year but that it is not serious. Cynthia Husek, the Director of Budget & Finance, projects that the College will run about $1,000,000 beyond the budget for this year.
  • Building and Rennovating Update:
    • Marvin Caruthers contributed $20,000,000 as a gift to a building project on East Campus. This contribution is to believed to have opened the doors for future contributions.
    • Demolition is projected to begin in November of the old art building. The new Visual Arts Complex will cost $56,000,000, and add 30 to 40 percent more space. There will also be a State of the Art, Art Museum. The Dean passed around a visual of the new complex. The new complex will create new passage ways between buildings that will be more comfortable.
  • Dean of Graduate School visits:
    • Todd invited the new Dean of the Graduate School to attend the Dean’s meetings with A&S departments in the fall.
  • Flagship 2030:
    • The Dean encouraged everyone to review the Flagship 2030 materials, and to submit input. He reminded everyone that this is a strategic planning exercise and not an implementation plan.
    • On Oct. 1, 2007 an open forum will be held for the public, from 3:00-4:30 PM in the Old Main Chapel. On Oct. 4, 2007 the Chancellor will meet with the Boulder Faculty Assembly in Wolf Law 205 at 4:00 PM to also discuss this item.
    • The Dean discussed examples of the future strategic planning such as migrating to a 3 semester year, and the first degree for most students would be a master’s degree.

Chair’s Report & New Business

  • Flagship 2030 Discussion:
    • David Ferris opened the floor to discuss as a group how the ASC would like to respond about the examples that the Dean discussed.
    • Todd suggested that an advanced degree may become the standard for good jobs.
    • Payson Sheets expressed that it was too early for High School students to make decisions regarding a track for a master’s degree due to their maturity level. He suggested that the junior and senior year of college be combined for graduate coursework.
    • Cindy White agreed with Payson and stated that the Communications Department has a BA/MA program and there has been no interest from students.
    • Noel Lenski agreed with Cindy and Payson and shared that universities in Europe are focusing on a BA model.
    • David took a poll on how many departments have a BA/MA program, and of those, how many were active. Of the departments that were present, 15 have a BA/MA program and 4 of them are active.
    • Todd informed the group that 20 percent people who are from a National AAU have an MA.
    • Charles de Bartolome suggested that the BA be shortened and have two years to accomplish an MA.
    • It was expressed that more faculty and GPTs would be needed to fulfill the three semester year model.
    • David encouraged the ASC to attend the Oct. 1, 2007 open meeting. He suggested that the ASC send their comments to him and he will type up a letter outlining these concerns.
  • Congratulations to Payson Sheets:
    • David congratulated Payson Sheets for his discovery of evidence confirming how the Mayas were able to support large city populations. His discovery received significant news attention during the summer.
  • Standing Committee Assignments:
    • All six standing committees are set for the most part and will be finalized shortly.
    • The Chair asked the ASC if anyone would be interested in acting as the Academic Ethics representative.
  • MOSES Representative:
    • David informed the ASC that this is a group working on the new student information system.
    • He has asked that anyone interested in acting as the representative get in touch with him.
  • Ƶ 101 Task Force & Assessment Committee:
    • One more person is needed for the Ƶ 101 Task Force, and one or two more are needed for the Assessment Committee. At the moment Elizabeth Dunn GEOG has been acting as the representative on both committees.
    • David has asked the Council members to get in touch with him if they know others who are interested in fulfilling this duty.
  • ASC Website:
    • David informed the Council that the ASC website is in the process of being revamped. A prototype image will be sent out Friday, Sept. 14 to the Executive Committee for approval.
    • Suggestions should be sent to Cindy Kuznik (cindy.kuznik@colorado.edu).
    • David has asked that the Chairs of each standing committee should write up a brief description about the committee to be added to the website.
  • Committee on Committees:
    • The Chair informed the group that this committee in the past approved the committee assignments.
    • David proposed that this duty be transferred to the Executive Committee for 2007-08 as had been done in 2006-07.
    • The floor was opened for moving to a vote of the Executive Committee of 2007-2008 acting as the Committee on Committees.
    • It was suggested by Mel Cundiff, the Parliamentarian, that this movement would clean things up, and that the Committee on Committees was not needed.
    • The motion was voted on and unanimously passed.
  • Bylaws:
    • The Chair stated that to change the bylaws, it must go to the faculty of Arts & Sciences to be approved.
    • David opened the floor on moving the selection of the standing committee members to the end of the spring semester rather than the summer and beginning of the fall semester.
    • Article V.A and V.B of the bylaws regarding the Committee on Committees will need to be revised.
    • Article V.E.8 would be deleted.
    • A motion to amend Article V.E.7 was brought forward. The following would be added to the end on Article V.E.7.
      • Motion: The Executive Committee shall approve the appointments of members to the six standing committees of the Arts and Sciences Council. An individual may first appeal to the Executive Committee in the event they are not satisfied with their committee appointment. If the appeal cannot be resolved in this way, the Arts and Sciences Council Chair will establish an ad hoc committee to resolve the issue.

        A motion to accept this addition was brought forward by Mel Cundiff, and seconded by Eric Stade. The motion passed, 28 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention.

  • Ƶ 101 Update:
    • The Chair informed the ASC that the first phase pilot had been extended, and the extension involved new freshman who are housed in the Cheyenne/Arapahoe dormitory for Fall 2007.
    • There are 392 students enrolled in the course now known as ARSC 1001. There are 21 sections of the course with 17 faculty members teaching.
    • The primary item of discussion regarding this course is its academic content.
    • ARSC 1001 is a work in progress.
    • David opened the floor for discussion on this course now ASC has a working syllabus to review.
    • He encouraged the ASC reps to take the syllabus back to their departments for further review.
    • Cindy White posed the question of what department would the course be housed in.
    • David responded that it hasn’t been addressed yet.
    • Mel Cundiff expressed his concern about whether the School of Engineering and the School of Business would also be participating with this course.
    • Charles de Bartolome expressed that this course appears to be more about a behavioral course than an educational course.
  • Plans for Implementing Diversity
    • The Chair opened the floor for ideas and suggestions for implementing Diversity.
    • Eric Stade expressed that he would like more institutional involvement with disciplines.
    • Martha Palmer informed everyone that their department can only afford minimal advertising.

The meeting adjourned at 4:55 PM.

The next ASC meeting will be held on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007, 3:30 – 5:00 PM in Benson 380.

October 11, 2007

Arts and Sciences Council Meeting

  • October 11, 2007
  • 3:30 – 5:00 PM
  • Benson 380

MEMBERS PRESENT: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Daniel Barth, PSYC; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Charles de Bartolome, ECON; David Boonin, PHIL; Damian Doyle, PWR; Clark Farmer, FILM; David Ferris, CLHM; Bob Ferry, HIST; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Daniel Jones, HONR; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Dale Mood, IPHY; Onye Ozuzu, THDN; Martha Palmer, LING; Scott Parker, PHYS; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Eric Stade, MATH; Charles Stern, GEOL; Davide Stimilli, GSLL; Jennifer Wolak, PSCI; Emily Yeh, GEOG.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Mitch Begelman, APS; Chonin Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Keith Julien, APPM; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Rodney Taylor, RLST; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC; Cindy White, COMM.

The minutes from the September 13, 2007 meeting were distributed and approved unanimously.

  • David Ferris introduced Barbara Todd, Registrar, who discussed an overview of the new student information system.
    • A “Faculty issues to be resolved with the DARS/Campus Solutions implementations” handout was passed around.
    • Example of items discussed:
      • The degree audit reporting system will be implemented in a year and a half.
      • Faculty input is encouraged.
      • There will be changes with how transcripts are ordered. Recommendations were made for students to be able to obtain only their undergrad transcripts or only their graduate statistics. Students will also be able to order specific term transcripts.
      • The new system will have an online prerequisite check.
      • The waitlist processing will also be updated.
      • Web-grading will be offered.
      • Real-time class roster enhancement.
  • Ƶ 101 Responses
    • David Ferris informed the ASC that the November 29th ASC meeting will include a discussion with a couple members of the Ƶ 101 Task Force.
    • He encouraged each member to take a copy of the reader and share it will their departments.
    • The floor was opened for departmental responses:
      • Many expressed that this course should be a part of orientation.
      • Some people felt that this course may develop a sense of community among the students.
      • One member expressed that the course seems to be defined to the University community, why not have it apply to a broader community. It seems too microscopic.
      • A student of the course expressed to a faculty member that this course will not help form community.
      • There was a general concern of how Ƶ101 will fit into the graduation requirements.
      • One member expressed that this course could be built into a RAP program.
      • There was great concern about resources being used for this course and a general feeling that they could be used elsewhere.
      • One member expressed that their department would like extra resources to have courses that are only 20 students large.
      • Another member expressed that resources be reallocated to departments to allow them to have freshman seminars.
      • An instructor of a Ƶ 101 course expressed that the reading load is too much for a 2-credit course and that it could easily be 3 credits. This person also mentioned that the course is a lot about values. They also expressed that all first year students should take this course as a mandatory course, but not in its current state.
      • One member expressed concern about faculty not being able to determine the academic integrity of the course.
      • It was suggested that there be a proper evaluation to see if the course was effective.
  • Flagship 2030 Departmental Responses:
    • The Chair opened the floor for responses.
      • Some faculty expressed their interest in the idea of moving to a trimester system.
      • There was interest in the international experience.
      • A common concern is compressing the BA and MA degree into four years.
      • It was expressed that there was not a specific objective for enhancing research efforts.
      • There is a common concern of where the resources will come from for this plan.
      • It was expressed that there was not enough time and information for faculty to get involved and provide input for this implementation plan.
      • Many members would like more open dialogue across campus.
    • David will draft a letter by early next week including departmental responses.
  • Diversity & Academic Community Committee, Emily Yeh, Chair
    • Emily Yeh provided everyone with a synopsis of a preliminary Diversity Plan
    • She informed the Council that the College of Arts & Sciences was the only College without a Diversity Plan.
    • The floor was opened for comments.
      • It was recommended that there are diversity representatives that can assist with the construction of a plan.
      • It was also recommended that the ASC Diversity Committee obtain a copy of the plans from the other Colleges to use as guidelines.
      • It was brought up that focus should possibly move to retaining diverse faculty.
      • It was expressed to work with the Dean to explore other areas where Diversity can be intertwined.
      • An idea was expressed to have a funding program and have a call for proposals.
      • An idea of implementing an incentive program within departments was mentioned.
      • A member of the Budget Committee expressed that there may be surplus money and maybe a portion of that can go to projects to promote diversity.
      • A motion made by Martha Palmer for the Budget Committee to set aside funds for the Diversity Committee was seconded by Emily Yeh and unanimously passed, 25 in favor, 0 against, 0 abstentions.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.

The next ASC meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007, 3:30 – 5:00 PM in Benson 380.

November 8, 2007

Arts and Sciences Council Meeting

  • November 8, 2007
  • 3:30 – 5:00 PM
  • Benson 380

MEMBERS PRESENT: Daniel Barth, PSYC; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Charles de Bartolome, ECON; David Boonin, PHIL; Damian Doyle, PWR; Clark Farmer, FILM; David Ferris, CLHM; Bob Ferry, HIST; Daniel Jones, HONR; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Dale Mood, IPHY; Martha Palmer, LING; Scott Parker, PHYS; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Eric Stade, MATH; Davide Stimilli, GSLL; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Jennifer Wolak, PSCI; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC; Cindy White, COMM; Emily Yeh, GEOG.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Mitch Begelman, APS; Chonin Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Michael Huemer, PHIL; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Keith Julien, APPM; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Onye Ozuzu, THDN; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Charles Stern, GEOL; Rodney Taylor, RLST.

David Ferris reminded the faculty that the next meeting of ASC to be held on November 29, 2007 was very important. Ƶ 101 will be discussed and all faculty are strongly encouraged to attend. This meeting also includes all the Arts and Sciences Faculty. Members should encourage their colleagues to attend.

The minutes from the October 11, 2007 meeting were distributed and approved unanimously.

  • General Announcements
    • The new ASC web site is coming together, parts are scheduled to go live in the coming weeks.
    • $35,000 has been awarded to the Diversity Committee for fellowships and other worthy projects. Send ideas which include measurable items to Emily Yeh.
    • The Bylaws amendment will be voted on by E-ballot in early January.
    • A replacement for Cindy Kuznik will hopefully be starting in early December.
  • EALC Department Name Change, Janice Brown, Chair
    • The proposal to change the name of the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC) to Asian Languages and Civilizations (ALC) was made available to those present. Chair Brown stated that the proposal was self explanatory but gave a brief presentation for why the name was to be changed, including the fact that other than East Asian languages and civilizations were now being taught.
    • It was moved, seconded and approved unanimously to support this name change.
  • Core Curriculum, Richard Nishikawa, Assistant Dean
    • Dean Nishikawa addressed issues raised about the core curriculum review currently underway.
      • Why the review was taking place:
        • to address faculty concerns regarding the core curriculum,
        • to avoid having a core curriculum imposed on the College from outside,
        • because the College is up for reaccreditation in 2010.
      • Expectation of the core review:
        • courses taught are congruent with the aims and goals of the core,
        • courses are doing what they were purported to do when they were instituted,
        • it’s been a long time since the original nomination of core courses – initial faculty involved are gone,
        • Colorado Challenge – are we challenging our students enough (issue of rigor.)
      • Generally:
        • reviews are being done on a case-by-case basis,
        • the Curriculum Committee is purposing to ask for everything at the onset of the course review (exams, writing assignments, etc,)
        • the Committee is looking at how the content relates to the content of that area of the core,
        • there is confusion regarding the core review process and the nomination of lower division courses for inclusion in the guaranteed transfer (GT) pathways. Dean Nishikawa explained the difference between these two processes.
    • Concerns raised by ASC members included:
      • evolving course assignments,
      • individuals outside the areas assessing the rigor of the exams,
      • the reason for the amount of detail requested in light of the diversity of syllabi due to different individuals teaching the courses,
      • the course as reviewed is a snapshot in time,
      • how is consistency assured,
      • upper division courses vs lower division courses and the prerequisites,
      • comparison of core courses across departments.
  • Flagship 2030 Implementation and Task Force Committees
    • A summary of the Flagship 2030 Strategic Plan was provided. David Ferris notified those present that implementation of the initiatives of this strategic plan were moving quickly. He suggested that ASC should have input to the formation of committees which will address the issues in this document. General discussion took place regarding Council’s concerns about the issues. After some discussion, Council recommended that at least 50% of the committee’s membership be A&S faculty. Ferris asked the Council what their recommendation would be for requesting this action. It was decided that Ferris should write a letter formulating the Council’s request to the Provost.
  • Planning Committee
    • At present the ASC Planning Committee could take on more. Members attend ITS and BCPC meetings, but do not have any input. Discussion took place as to what would be the most useful service of this committee. AD Maskus intimated that there would be space concerns that would be brought to this Committee in the future. Committee Chair Cindy White suggested the Committee might carefully look over documents generated by the 2030 strategic plan. The Council expressed agreement that this would be a useful service.

Ferris again reminded the ASC of the November 29, 2007 meeting, 3:30-5:00 pm in the Old Main Chapel, and the importance of attendance by ASC representatives as well as A&S faculty at large.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.

November 29, 2007

Arts and Sciences Council Meeting

  • November 29, 2007
  • 3:30 – 5:00 PM
  • Old Main Chapel

MEMBERS PRESENT: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Daniel Barth, PSYC; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Damian Doyle, PWR; David Ferris, CLHM/ASC Chair; Chonin Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Daniel Jones, HONR; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Martha Palmer, LING; Scott Parker, PHYS; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Eric Stade, MATH; Davide Stimilli, GSLL; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Jennifer Wolak, PSCI; Cindy White, COMM.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Mitch Begelman, APS; David Boonin, PHIL; Charles de Bartolome, ECON; Clark Farmer, FILM; Bob Ferry, HIST; Michael Huemer, PHIL; Keith Julien, APPM; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Dale Mood, IPHY; Onye Ozuzu, THDN; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Charles Stern, GEOL; Rodney Taylor, RLST; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC; Emily Yeh, GEOG.

The minutes of the November 8, 2007 meeting were distributed and approved with one abstention.

  • General Announcements
    • Janice Jeffryes, new Program Asst for the A&S Council, was introduced.
    • The ASC web site is still in process and individuals interested in helping to shape it are encouraged to contact the chair.
    • Details on the Diversity Committee funding will be announced in the next weeks. Matching funds for graduate student recruiting will be available from this committee. The Committee will also be looking to fund activities that increase the value of diversity on campus.
  • College Announcements, Dean Todd Gleeson
    • The College is recruiting approximately 40 replacement FTE on tenure tracks
    • The budgetary outlook for the College is generally solid. Although the budget is a little in the red, according to Dean Gleeson this is nothing to worry about.
    • Gifts to the College are good. In a good year approximately $300,000 is given. This fell off for a couple of years, however, there is currently $500,000-600,000 discretionary, one time money available. The ASC Budget Committee has recommended that some of these funds be used for faculty fellowship programs. Money will also be made available for graduate student support programs
    • The College made a budget proposal early this semester to Provost for:
      • 26 additional faculty lines
      • more classified staff lines
      • to increase the graduate stipend by 5% which would be $660,000 continuing dollars
      • $300,000 for diverse faculty recruitment
      • dollars for a visiting scholar program
      • $160,000 to address structural problems with Carlson Gym and create space for IPHY faculty and to provide a continuing fund for Keith Maskus, Assoc. Dean for Space, to handle space issues in the College.
    • Building Projects
      • Sibell Wolle Fine Arts building will be demolished in January. This will probably be a three semester construction project
      • IBS has approval for a building to consolidate that program.
      • Campus has had a formal invitation to fast-track some buildings. There are four projects the Regents have endorsed:
        • Aerospace/Space Science Building on east campus
        • Energy/Environmental Science/Geoscience Building on east campus
        • Expansion on H wing of Duane Physics
        • College of A&S office building to house 300 new faculty
  • Ƶ 101
    • David Ferris reminded those present of the joint ASC/FAS resolution that was passed on April 12, 2007 which states “ASC will establish a formal review period for College-wide response to the Ƶ 101 Task Force Phase 1 pilot report and solicitation of criticisms, comments and recommendations from all interested parties. The review period shall begin at a regularly scheduled ASC meeting with distribution of the independent external evaluation report and course materials including a syllabus, assignments and exams for the course, and a proposal for subsequent phases including a financial plan. The length of the review period will permit these materials to be discussed among ASC representatives and A&S faculty.” In light of this the hope for this meeting today was open and frank discussion of the course in relationship to the mandate to review the course.
    • Michael Grant, Chair of the Task Force, provided an overview of the context in which the Task Force has been working and the steps that have been taken. He stated that Ƶ 101 was not meant to be a substitute for any course and that it was developed to engage students in issues of diversity, race, gender and individual and social responsibility, and to explore how the campus could meet the needs of the students.
    • Task force members, Richard Jessor, Alphonse Keasley, Jane Menken and Darin Toohey were present to provide information and answer questions.
    • Richard Jessor, who was in charge of assessment of this course, stated his most critical charge was to develop an empirical evaluation of the proposed new course. He provided an overview of how this was done. The ASC Chair requested that the assessment materials developed in the fall for this evaluation be made available to the Council.
    • The floor was then opened for questions. Some of the concerns raised were:
      • Perception of no student voice on the task force and no current student involvement
      • Credit for the course
      • Teaching faculty expertise and who would teach the course
      • Resources to teach the course
      • Requiring all students to take the course
      • Timely provision of materials for ASC review in the spring
      • Academic rigor of the course
    • Task Force members stated that the goals of the course were to teach:
      • What is the University for?
      • Personal and social responsibility
      • Engagement of others and being respectful of their rights and opinions
  • Student representatives present reiterated the importance of the issues to be addressed in the course since they had initially requested that the university engage with these problems on campus. Students expressed concern that these problems still needed to be addressed.
  • A plea was made to remember the reason the course was initiated and the need and responsibility to educate students on the choices available to them and the consequences of the choices they make.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 pm

January 31, 2008

Minutes: Arts and Sciences Council

  • January 31, 2008
  • 3:30-5:00PM, UMC 382

Members Present: Daniel Barth, PSYC; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Charles DeBartolome, ECON; Damian Doyle, PWR; Clark Farmer, FILM; David Ferris, CLHM; Robert Ferry, HIST; Asuncion Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Michael Huemer, PHIL; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Daniel Jones, HONR; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Dale Mood, IPHY; Martha Palmer, LING; Scott Parker, PHYS; Rima Salys,GSLL; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Cindy White, COMM; Jennifer Wolak, PSCI; Emily Yeh, GEOG.

Members Absent: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Mitch Begelman, APS; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Keith Julien, APPM; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Onye Ozuzu, THDN; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Eric Stade, MATH; Chuck Stern, GEOL; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC.

David Ferris called the meeting to order at 3:38. Payson Sheets moved the minutes of the November 29, 2007 meeting be approved; Robert Ferry seconded the motion; the minutes were approved unanimously with one abstention.

Chair’s Report and New Business

  • The Diversity Fellowship notices have gone out to the departments. An NSF funded fellowship from AGEP, similar to the A&S fellowship, is also calling for applicants. It has been agreed that the departments that fall under the AGEP umbrella (Applied Math, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geology, Integrative Physiology, Sociology, Physics, Math, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Biological Sciences) will apply for that fellowship only. The AGEP fellowship does not support master’s students so those should apply for the A&S Diversity Fellowship. The deadline for decisions is March 3, 2008.
  • David Ferris met with Phil Distefano after the November 29th ASC meeting. A decision will be made on the continuance of Ƶ 101 and the ASC will be notified. In Mid-February review materials will be made available for discussion by the departments and the matter will be discussed at the March 20th ASC meeting.
  • Mel Cundiff is on leave as parliamentarian; David asked for a volunteer to fill that role on the Council.
  • Upcoming meeting topics: In February a space usage document will come out from the Planning Committee. Please discuss it with your departments prior to the February meeting. A vote on the Diversity Plan will also take place. In March there will be a vote on Ƶ 101 and Sallye Mckee will speak on ways in which her office can support diversity issues in the college. Phil Distefano will attend the April meeting and Flagship 2030 will be discussed.

Dean’s Report

  • Todd Gleeson will be writing a report to the Provost on the Recommendations from the Task Force on Instructors and requested a copy of the ASC remarks.
  • The summer school profit sharing arrangement will change this year. Arts and Sciences did not reach its credit hour goal last summer. This summer each department will have a credit hour target; if they exceed the target the department will profit share with the college. It is hoped that the departments will see beyond scheduling only popular classes rather than those that meet the needs of the department.
  • The Provost’s budget is solid; even with the recession it is expected this year will be flat with no cutbacks.
  • There is a single finalist for Ƶ president. Bruce Benson has been a trustee for Metro State College of Denver and been involved with Ƶ for a number of years.
  • The art building demolition is almost complete; clean up will take a few more weeks and building will start on this beautiful new project, in March. The art faculty will be in the East Campus and Fleming until at least December 09. In a recent development, the University plans to move forward with renovating Ketchum and space for faculty will be difficult to find. Options are being discussed.
  • A search to replace Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Ron Stump has begun. This is a significant appointment for A&S as that position interfaces, sometimes in a conflicting manner, with our academic mission.

Diversity Plan

Emily Yeh, chair of the Diversity Committee, discussed the impetus for the A&S Diversity Plan; former ASC chair Babs Buttonfield found A&S was the only college at Ƶ that had no Diversity Plan. The Diversity Committee has been working on a plan for two years with a rewrite last year dividing subject matter into five categories: faculty, staff, undergraduate students, graduate students and climate. The Committee is still struggling with what it means for the college to have a plan and what is the importance of the plan to the college as opposed to the university directives on diversity.

The first part of the plan is a broad overview divided into the five sections with information based on statistics which lead to broad goals. The second part of the plan draws from the broad goals and recommends more specific actions. The major goals:

  • Make race and ethnicity a core area by taking it out of the current undergraduate core requirement for gender and diversity to assure students spend time specifically on that subject.
  • Meet with targeted diversity people in departments for a dialog and address what diversity means in the context of that discipline. Are they satisfied with diversity efforts and if not, what can be done to improve their programs.
  • Develop a reward program; doing the work of encouraging diversity is difficult and time consuming, a program of rewards would encourage involvement.

Emily covered specifically the Diversity Action Plan in the areas of curriculum, undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, staff, climate and budget. The Council discussed the plan; Emily will take the concerns and recommendations to the Committee. Some points expressed:

  • If issues of race and ethnicity are to be incorporated into a wide variety of classes, what will happen to classes when a unit of race doesn’t fit in or to teachers who are not fit to teach the subject matter?
  • Should there be different plans for race/ethnicity and gender issues?
  • Changing the core curriculum is seen to be difficult and reluctance was shown to leave the problem to the Curriculum Committee without a clear indication of the will of the Council about changing the core curriculum.
  • Some members of the Council felt U.S. race and ethnicity shouldn’t be stressed more than gender and cultural diversity. Others feel that looking at ones own culture is crucial to understanding others. If race and ethnicity in the U.S.is put in the forefront, the rationale for doing so should be made clear.
  • Focusing on or foregrounding racial and ethnic issues could accomplish the goals of Ƶ101.
  • Funding at the university level is necessary.
  • Faculty who work on diversity issues should consider requesting a change of work load. Do all faculty know they can request a higher service percentage? Will all chairs agree to a changed percentage?
  • Money will probably be available for bringing in 6 visiting diverse faculty members next fall; this can be used as a recruiting tool.
  • The Diversity Committee’s role with departments was raised and the Committee decided they would encourage collective brainstorming rather than taking a leadership role.
  • A specific “box” for work on diversity issues should be incorporated into the FRPA.

Direct further comments on the Diversity Plan to Emily; a new draft will be sent out for review and will come to a vote at the next meeting.

Recommendations from the Task Force on Instructors

Two main recommendations from the task force were discussed, changing titles and extending contracts to six years. David believes an extension is not possible according to regents’ rules. He will be writing a recommendation on this document to Phil Distefano.

  • The Council felt the change of titles to Associate Teaching Professor and Teaching Professor would be confusing as they differ from the titles used by all other universities.
  • No feedback appeared to be taken from faculty, chairs of departments or programs as to how instructors fit into the overall picture of teaching.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:02

February 21, 2008

Minutes: Arts and Sciences Council

  • February 21, 2008
  • 3:30 UMC 382/4/6

Members Present: Dan Barth, PHYC; Charles de Bartolome, ECON; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Damian Doyle, PWR; Clark Farmer, FILM; David Ferris, CMLT; Michael Huemer, PHIL; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Daniel Jones, HONRS; Dale Mood, IPHY; Martha Palmer, LING; Cecilia Pang, THDN; Scott Parker, PHYS; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Rima Salys, GSLL; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Charles Stern, GEOL; Cynthia White, COMM; Jenny Wolak, PSCI; Emily Yeh, GEOG

Members Absent: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Mitchell Begelman, APS; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Robert Ferry, HIST; Chonin Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Keith Julien, APPM; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Eric Stade, MATH; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC;

The Chair opened the meeting at 3:35.

The minutes of the January 31, 2008 meeting were approved unanimously with one abstention.

Chair’s Remarks

David Ferris announced that the graduate school is offering up to $2,000.00 in diversity fellowships. To avoid additional paperwork, they have asked that the same applications sent to the ASC Diversity Fellowship be forwarded to Gretchen O’Connell at the Graduate School. You may also nominate a different candidate to the Graduate School. The deadline for applications will be February 26.

The BFA Executive Committee has requested a meeting with Regent Bosley concerning the search process for chancellor. If anyone has suggestions about this process they would like forwarded; please send to Professor Ferris.

Dean’s remarks

The College is beginning to hear back from the Provost and Campus Budget Committee about allocations for next year. It appears the college will be awarded 7 new lines for faculty hired this coming year. Todd Gleeson is meeting Friday February 22 with the Provost concerning issues related to requests for additional staff hiring and graduate stipends. There was a request to raise the graduate stipend an additional 5 percent over the normal raise but Dean Gleeson is not confident this will be awarded. The Dean added that TA lines funded last summer on temporary dollars will be continued with help from the Provost.

Dean Gleeson requested ASC response to the Instructor Task Force. The instructors don’t have a good appeal process for reappointment so with input from Professor Ferris and Martha Palmer he has written a grievance process that will allow college level review using the ASC Grievance Committee to provide instructors an avenue for appeals. The ASC will look at this grievance process in the future and make any necessary revisions.

The Provost has approved the hire of a 4th Associate Dean in the area of faculty affairs, diversity and some administrative affairs. The deans aren’t interfacing with departments as effectively as they should due to administrative overload; an additional dean should help provide needed support. A call for nominations has been issued.

Physics has elected Paul Beal as the new Department Chair which leaves an opening for the Director of the Honors Program. A call for nominations has also been issued.

Planning Committee Report, Cindy White

The Planning Committee has met with Dean Maskus in his capacity as the Associate Dean in charge of Planning Issues. The lack of office space on campus was addressed in this meeting. In August there will be at least 20 faculty members without an office. An additional office space issue is that some departments have faculty offices scattered across the campus which makes integrating people into departments difficult. In its meeting with Dean Maskus, the committee identified guidelines and priorities for space planning. The Guidelines for Space Use and Allocation are a slightly modified version of the Arts & Sciences guidelines circulated by Associate Dean Joyce Nielsen in 2001 which have been used by some departments. This planning document attempts to insure that the College of Arts and Sciences has a shared set of understanding of space use and guidelines. Cindy asked that special attention be given to the section on non-academic use of space. The plan prioritizes continuous academic space on the main campus.

The following observations were made during the discussion:

  • The designation “non academic” is ultimately decided by the departments but generally includes Financial Services and ITS; research and institute space is generally academic space.
  • Faculty in phased retirement remain active faculty and require office space.
  • Charles de Bartolome noted there can be good reasons for two offices; often faculty have an office in IBS but, for the benefit of the department, also have a space in the department. It is feared that if the space in the department is shared, the faculty member will live in whatever office is private with the result that they will be effectively removed from department life.
  • Martha Palmer remarked on her experience sharing office space; common goals and coordinating schedules made this a beneficial arrangement.
  • Dean Gleeson informed the Council that there will be a point in time when departments will no longer have control of their space; the Associate Dean overseeing the use of space in the College will be forced to appropriate offices.
  • The reconfiguration of Norlin will yield no space for A&S.
  • Private space for Instructors, TAs, and GPTIs to meet with students should be made available when necessary.
  • Professor White stressed that the Planning Report guidelines are not a mandate. The implementation of the plan rests with Keith Maskus and Todd Gleeson.

Amendments made to the Planning document:

  • Accepted as a friendly amendment by the Chair: A new bullet point was added under The College should Commit to the Following: The college should provide adequate laboratory or studio space for faculty and their graduate and undergraduate students.
  • Accepted as a friendly amendment by the Chair: Added to 1) under Guidelines for Space Use and Allocations: Instructors should have access to a private space or shared office space to facilitate their work. Instructors should also have access to a private space for meeting with students when necessary.
  • Accepted as a friendly amendment by the Chair: adding the word private in the following sentence under Guidelines for Space Use and Allocations: Because space is at a premium, faculty members should not have more than one private office. If a faculty member is appointed in two areas, one office should be designated as a primary private office and the other office space should have multiple users.

Martha Palmer moved the Planning Committee Report Guidelines be approved with the friendly amendments; Brenda Schick seconded; the Planning Guidelines were passed with 19 in favor and 1 opposed.

Diversity Plan, Emily Yeh and David Ferris

Professor Ferris received e-mails suggesting the following friendly amendments on the Diversity Plan.

  • Earlier commitment for Special Opportunity Hires was requested. The department can spend time attracting a SOP hire and then find out the money isn’t available. Todd feels earlier announcement can be counter-productive; possibly removing motivation for the departments who aren’t awarded money to seek diverse candidates. No amendment on this matter was accepted.
  • Accepted as a friendly amendment by the Chair: The first bullet point of the Climate section was changed from Make diversity and meeting the goals set out in each department’s diversity plan a performance criteria by which department chairs and departments are evaluated to “Make diversity and efforts to meet the goals set out in each department’s diversity plan a performance criteria by which departments chairs and departments are evaluated.” The amendment recognizes that, in spite of efforts by the department, often diverse candidates don’t accept a place in the college because of the highly competitive nature of the graduate field.
  • Concern was expressed about a department’s lack of control over an applicant pool in certain disciplines. It was observed that a department chair, despite effort, doesn’t want to be evaluated on the success of recruiting underrepresented students when the applicant pool has not yielded a diverse group of students. In line with this discussion, the Chair accepted the following as a friendly amendment to be added to the end of the section on faculty recruitment: It is understood that departments do not always have control over their application pools however; efforts should be made to increase diversity in those pools.
  • The Plan refers to underrepresented students but doesn’t specify what this means. Are all underrepresented groups listed in the campus’ description of diversity to be included in departments’ efforts at diversity? Different viewpoints were expressed concerning the prioritizing of racial and gender diversity. An amendment was suggested to the Diversity Action plan, inserting a sentence that reads Underrepresented in the following pages specifically addresses representation of racial, ethnic and gender diversity in the University. Many in the Council agreed that priority should be given to historically underrepresented groups and mention was made of Ƶ Boulder’s reputation of being unwelcoming to minorities. However, no amendment was agreed to on this subject.
  • Dean Gleeson reminded the group that they are creating a university document and that legal counsel will not allow prioritizing groups or to address anything which has an overt affirmative action orientation. A friendly amendment was accepted by the Chair removing “Thus we prioritize them here” from the section on College Demographics and Diversity Goals.
  • A friendly amendment was accepted by the Chair adding student groups to mechanisms which foster a broader climate of tolerance and appreciation of diversity under Climate.
  • The document will be finalized by the ASC and then Dean Gleeson will send sensitive parts to legal counsel.

Dale Mood moved to vote on the Diversity Plan at the next meeting once it had been vetted by university legal counsel; Daniel Jones seconded; the motion was approved unanimously.

Brenda Schick then moved that the meeting be adjourned; Charles de Bartolome seconded; the meeting was adjourned at 4:58.

March 20, 2008

Minutes: Arts and Sciences Council Meeting

  • March 20, 2008
  • UMC 382-6 3:30 – 5:00 PM
  • Meeting Minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT: Daniel Barth, PSYC; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Loriliai Biernacki, RLST; Charles de Bartolome, ECON; Clark Farmer, FILM; David Ferris, CLHM; Bob Ferry, HIST; Chonin Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Daniel Jones, HONR; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Martha Palmer, LING; Cecilia Pang, THDN; Scott Parker, PHYS; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Rima Salys, GSLL; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Eric Stade, MATH; Cindy White, COMM; Jennifer Wolak, PSCI; Emily Yeh, GEOG.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Mitch Begelman, APS; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Damian Doyle, PWR; Michael Huemer, PHIL; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Keith Julien, APPM; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Dale Mood, IPHY; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Chuck Stern, GEOL; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC.

David Ferris opened the meeting at 3:34 PM welcoming the entire Council. The minutes from the February 21, 2008 were approved unanimously.

Ƶ 101-Richard Jessor, Ƶ 101 Task Force

  • Background:
    • Ƶ 101 Task Force was initiated out of concern over issues that were compromising the sense of community on campus, sexual harassment, ethnic disparagement, alcohol abuse, and violence. There was a sense that the transition from high school to university life was stressful and many students were unprepared.
    • The Provost set up a Task Force to explore the possibility of a new required course for all incoming freshmen to deal with these issues in an educational fashion.
    • A pilot study to explore a design for a course and evaluate its impact was proposed; the Provost approved the plan, and a small trial was designed and implemented in fall 2006.
    • An external evaluation firm (OMNI) was hired to carry out a quantitative evaluation.
    • A larger pilot study took place in fall 2007. All students in Cheyenne Arapahoe residence hall (392 students) were required to participate, avoiding a volunteerism bias.
    • 2 control groups were studied: a RAP group (131 students) and a non-RAP group (174 students).
    • OMNI administered measures on scales related to intellectual development, social development, understanding of diversity and alcohol use. Survey administered before course began and again after class was over in December.
    • OMNI carried out intensive qualitative interviews with about 30 participants. Data was collected from instructors who were required to keep notes, meet regularly and write up their classes. FCQ’s were collected from all classes and compared with FCQ’s from another social science class.
  • Challenges:
    • Report showed student resentment of the mandatory nature of participation.
    • Students complained of heavy workload, extensive writing for 2 credit course.
    • Out of 392 students, only 164 completed the pre and post assessments.
  • Findings:
    • Instructors found the experience positive.
    • Final papers were encouraging concerning student accomplishment.
    • Frequent negative student comments.
    • Instructors rated higher than average on FCQ’s; course rated lower than average.
    • OMNI found a decline in measures of social development, intellectual development and understanding of diversity; characterized by all three groups.
    • Reports showed high volume drinking; behavior thought to be transferred from high school.
  • Recommendations:
    • Continue to explore ways to assist incoming students to make a successful and sustained transition to university life.
    • Continue to support modest efforts to refine Ƶ 101.
    • Offering class on a volunteer basis.
    • Continuing small classes.
    • Request opportunity to follow up with students next year.
  • Discussion:
    • Payson Sheets was struck by the student’s overt hostility and deep seated anger. Professor Jessor felt it was difficult to separate the hostility about the class from the resentment over the mandatory nature of the class.
    • Cindy White said her department would be very concerned about FCQ’s like those Ƶ 101 received and although they wouldn’t abandon the class they would ask the instructors to go back and review how they are handling student learning.
    • The classroom was questioned as the best place to achieve the kind of development change that is desired. Efforts outside the classroom were felt to be unsatisfactory because they would be voluntary and won’t reach the students that need to be reached.
    • Loriliai Biernacki suggested workshops where students could get credit for taking a certain number of sessions on the issues Ƶ 101 addresses.

Implementing Diversity Plans, Sallye McKee, Vice Chancellor of ODECE (Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement)

  • Dr. McKee reported an exciting seven months at her new office at Ƶ learning about the many challenges of encouraging diversity. The nation is moving towards inclusion as the model for the work she does for student success, faculty success, campus climate and community engagement.
    • McKee described the diversity plans she read as saying “This is what you will do. We don’t care if you like the idea. We don’t care about the value of the philosophical orientation or your understanding of the importance of why you will do this you will do this because we say you will do this.” She noted that kind of mandate produces resistance.
    • Flagship 2030 is being used to tell McKee where this university wants to go. She particularly notes that Ƶ wants to be a place where people come from all over the world to learn about our best practices.
    • Best practices that relate to diversity identified by the ASC members present are: active recruitment of women in the sciences, a core curriculum rich with gender diversity, programs to encourage underrepresented students in the sciences, special opportunity hires, and the LEAD alliance
    • Diversity plans have to be lead by people who are excited and willing, the plan must allow you to think out of the box, allow people to feel safe and free to say what they feel; the plans must allow departments to think about the culture of evidence that emerges from your discipline but is also benchmarked by national parameters.
    • Diversity efforts have been moving on in Ƶ without traditional resources.
    • McKee has been looking at retention patterns. Diverse faculty come but don’t stay. She has been talking to faculty who stay and asking why they stay. Departmental culture, if you are supported and accepted, has a lot to do with whether people stay. ODECE can work with departments on their culture and help them improve. McKee didn’t see much in Diversity Plans to make young people feel accepted and comfortable in the departments. Diverse faculty members that stay at Ƶ make a social space for themselves in the greater Boulder area, usually aided by a person or office at the University. The faculty members that stay also found someplace that helped them with research. ODECE can personalize mentoring efforts.
    • IMPART grants-open to faculty who are interested in diversity and inclusion efforts-need to do a better job of publicizing
    • It was suggested Dr. McKee contact previous diverse employees who have left. HR will be interviewing employees asking why they are staying, what’s going well or not so well.
    • McKee asked the ASC to send her their greatest needs.
    • Information on ODECE passed was around.
    • McKee asked to be invited back to discuss Ƶ101 as there is a lot of data available on this kind of course from other universities.

Dean’s Remarks

  • Annual merit exercise underway; the budget is reasonably good and a 4.5 to 5 percent merit increase is possible.
  • The College of Arts and Sciences can meet expenses but not any additional expenditures.
  • The Deans have been urged to take an active role in communicating with the task forces that are involved with Flagship 2030. Dean Gleeson held a town meeting to discuss budget modeling, year-round university, and facilities.
  • Two searches are underway, for a new Associate Dean and an Honors Program Director; a number of good nominations have been received for the latter position.

Procedures for Review of Ƶ 101

  • The role of the ASC in regards to Ƶ 101 is not clear until the Provost makes a recommendation. April 24th is the date set aside for a possible meeting to discuss and vote on any recommendation for credit. Professor Ferris will let the Council know as soon as the Provost makes his recommendation. In the meantime, the Ƶ101 assessment materials should be discussed within departments so that representatives can represent their department’s views at the subsequent ASC meeting when Ƶ101 will be assessed by the Council.

Election of New ASC Chair

  • Because of other commitments in 2008-09, Professor Ferris has decided not to run for re-election. Noel Lenski was selected at the Executive Committee meeting to run the election. This meeting opens the election period. The election will be held at the FAS meeting on April 17. Please send nominations to Professor Lenski at Lenski@colorado.edu.

The meeting adjourned at 4:54 PM.

The next ASC meeting will be held on Thursday, April 17, 2008, 3:30 – 5:00PM in the Old Main Chapel.

April 17, 2008

Minutes: Arts and Sciences Council Meeting

  • April 17, 2008
  • Old Main Chapel-6 3:30 – 5:00 PM

MEMBERS PRESENT: Daniel Barth, PSYC; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Charles de Bartolome, ECON; Damian Doyle, PWR; David Ferris, CLHM; Bob Ferry, HIST; Chonin Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Dale Mood, IPHY; Martha Palmer, LING; Scott Parker, PHYS; Rima Salys, GSLL; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Eric Stade, MATH; Chuck Stern, GEOL; Cindy White, COMM; Jennifer Wolak, PSCI

MEMBERS ABSENT: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Mitch Begelman, APS; Loriliai Biernacki, RLST; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Clark Farmer, FILM; Michael Huemer, PHIL; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Daniel Jones, HONR; Keith Julien, APPM; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Cecilia Pang, THDN; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC; Emily Yeh, GEOG

David Ferris opened the meeting at 3:32 PM welcoming the Council and faculty. There was not a quorum of ASC members present; approval of the March 20, 2008 minutes was postponed until the next meeting.

Philip Distefano, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

  • Flagship 2030:
    • Nine task forces are working on 2030, their areas are: Faculty, Facilities, Research, Budget, Graduate Education, Staffing/Operations, Undergraduate Education, Enrollment and Outreach.
    • Each task force has 2 co-chairs and 10-12 members who have met throughout the semester. Faculty members serving on the task forces were nominated by the associate deans.
    • 2030 has 18 initiatives; 8 “core” initiatives that are needed to be competitive with the University’s AU peers and 10 “transformational” initiatives that look to future goals. Each task force looks at a number of initiatives.
    • Year-round school has sparked the most interest and several task forces are looking into this initiative. Faculty in attendance gave positive feedback to year-round school citing better use of facilities and flexibility for faculty. Year -round school can benefit students on a fast track or those who want to add experiences such as study abroad or service learning experience without slowing their degree.
    • Vice Chancellor Distefano said it is premature to talk about recommendations. On May 20, 2008 the task force chairs will meet with the deans; they will work through the summer and will be asked for an action plan in the fall.
    • Approximately 300 faculty will be added within the next 3 to 6 year period to bring the student to tenure track faculty ratio (now 1 to 29) back to where it was 8 to 10 years ago (1 to 21-22).
    • Space is a major issue in adding new faculty. A new faculty office building is in the planning stage.
    • Applications for enrollment are up; 23,000 this year compared to 20,000 AY 2006-2007. Ƶ is now accepting 75 percent rather than 85 percent of its applicants. Vice Chancellor Distefano reported the goal of the University to take fewer first year students and more graduate students to increase selectivity. Additional funds are needed to be more competitive with graduate students
  • Ƶ 101
    • Dr. DiStefano and Mike Grant are meeting with the ASC Executive Committee on April 18, 2008 to discuss the Ƶ 101 task force recommendations and how to proceed.
    • Ƶ 101 will not be mandated in a residence hall as it was in fall 2007; if offered it will be on a voluntary basis, possibly in a residence hall that doesn’t have a RAP program.

Chair’s Remarks

  • David Ferris asked the departments to keep sending comments on Ƶ 101; an Executive Session of the ASC will be called on April 24 to vote on Ƶ 101.

Dean’s Remarks

  • Hiring is going well for 2008-2009 AY; hiring the first choice is the norm. Dean Gleeson is aware of only 19 flight retention cases this year as compared to last year’s 47. This decrease appears to be because of the improved salary structure.
  • The financial state of the college is good, more or less breaking even. Next year is not looking as bright as the college has been aggressively filling its vacant tenured faculty lines; the money it uses for extra expenses has been from those lines. It will be tough to break even next year.
  • The Budget Committee has made adjustments to the operating algorithm, giving departments operating budgets that are readjusted to student credit hours.
  • The college has a small accumulation of gift funds which the Budget Committee used for diversity, graduate recruitment and faculty research.
  • A new summer school incentive program has been instituted using a more direct cost and profit sharing model. Early signs are positive.
  • The new art building is currently on budget and on schedule. It will house studios, a museum and offices. The College is entering architect selection for a new bio-tech building; fundraising is going well. This building will reflect the upcoming trend to move more facilities to the East Campus.
  • The College of Arts and Sciences has been given the upstairs of the University Club for office space. It is expected that enrollment will be up by approximately 350 students next year due to a combination of a larger freshmen class and smaller graduating class.
  • The college deans are paying close attention to Flagship 2030 task force conversations.
  • The Life Science faculty are making good progress on moving towards an integrated introductory life science sequence. Two more residential academic programs have been awarded and funded.

Committee chair reports

Daniel Barth – Personnel
  • The Personnel Committee reviewed 65 cases; approved 60 and 2 are in process.
  • Out of the 65 cases, 47 male, 18 female
  • 21 reappointments (20 approved); 21 promotion and tenure (19 approved); 14 promotion to full (14 approved); 9 hire with tenure (7 approved, 2 in process)
  • Charles de Bartolome – Curriculum
    • Professor de Bartolome thanked Michael Huemer for the work he did as chair in the fall as well as members of the committee.
    • The committee meets every 2 weeks for 2 hours with background reading to do in preparation.
    • The committee focused on the factors that make a good core course and what is appropriate as a core course. Professor de Bartolome realizes that going back to the departments for information became a source of frustration for the departments but he feels the process challenged the departments and the committee to upgrade and sometimes rethink courses.
    • The committee reviewed 88 courses, 70 reapproved and 18 were either not approved or requested removal from the core by the department.
  • Martha Palmer-Grievance
    • The Grievance Committee reviewed 3 grievances.
  • Noel Lenski – Budget
    • The Budget Committee serves in a consultative capacity to the dean.
    • Additional resources were made available through some surplus fundraising money and put into ASC diversity fellowships, graduate recruiting and faculty research.
    • The Budget Committee kept appraised of new hiring and fine tuned the new budget algorithm.
    • The merit allocation process is delayed until April 22 which is when the college will learn what the state will distribute.
    • Anyone requesting more money from the dean needs to notify the Budget Committee by May 15.
  • Damian Doyle – Diversity Committee (for Emily Yeh)
    • The Diversity Committee distributed money for graduate student fellowships; currently looking at a second round of applications
    • The Diversity Committee looked at a seminar to increase the diversity dialogue on campus but didn’t receive enough interest.
    • The Diversity Plan is back from a review by legal counsel, Emily Yeh and Dean Gleeson are meeting again to discuss the plan before it goes to the ASC for a vote. The committee spent a majority of its time this year developing the Diversity Plan
    • A meeting was held recently with diversity reps from the Arts and Humanities to begin a dialogue between departments on diversity.
  • Cindy White – Planning
    • The Planning Committee articulated and the ASC passed, a set of guidelines related to office space use and priorities for space usage and a recommendation to start a fund for space needs.
    • Professor White and Keith Mascus serve on the Boulder Campus Planning Committee and they bring the needs of the college to that group’s attention.

Uniform grading policy, R.L. Widmann

  • The change requested: remove “IW” and “IF” and replace with “I” which will revert to and “F” at the end of a 1 year period. A request is out to the 23 deans and schools to conduct a vote; 60 percent of these colleges must approve for the charge to pass; Faculty Council has voted and passed this motion.
  • Some students and faculty have been getting around the drop policy by taking an “IW” and not completing the class.
  • The motion specifies a one year maximum at “I” but the instructor of record sets the conditions of completion.
  • The “I” is not intended for medical withdrawal; there is another process in place for that circumstance.
  • Babs Buttonfield and Jerry Hauser were thanked for their work.
  • The vote will go to the college by e-mail. A list of eligible voting faculty has been compiled.

Committee on Committees

  • The Executive Committee will work on the committees and select chairs in the spring rather than the fall this year.
  • A vote on a bylaw change authorizing the Executive Committee to act as the Committee on Committees will be sent out this semester.

Election of the New ASC Chair – Noel Lenski

  • Eight nominations have been received, 2 accepted, Bob Ferry and Scott Parker. The ASC by-laws specify the election must be held at the last meeting of the year which will be on April 24.
  • Both of the candidates spoke briefly. Professor Ferry is in his first year on the Council and has been impressed by the Council and the intensity of the discussions of the Curriculum Committee. He has been a member of Ƶ’s faculty since 1982. Professor Ferry was previously the director of the Latin American Studies Program. His area of interest is Latin America specifically, Colonial Mexico; organizationally Professor Ferry is interested in student affairs, residential colleges and the Global Crossroads initiative. Has served on the BFA and is chair of the student affairs sub-committee. He will make sure that more faculty are aware of ASC committee work.
  • Scott Parker is a physics professor and director of the Center of Integrated Plasma Studies. He would like to continue with the positive momentum of Professor Ferris and the ASC. Professor Parker feels strongly about diversity; feels the University needs to make more progress in this area. Professor Parker expressed his opinion that Ƶ 101 is dealing with serious issues but the mandatory class was an inappropriate attempt at a solution. Using the core and faculty incentives to address diversity should be revisited. Professor Parker wants the University to stay focused on its core mission and for the Arts and Sciences faculty to be actively involved in Flagship 2030.

The meeting adjourned at 4:50 PM.

The next ASC meeting will be held on Thursday, April 24, 2008, 3:30 – 5:00PM in the Duane Physics, G131.

April 24, 2008

Minutes: Arts and Sciences Council Meeting

MEMBERS PRESENT: Daniel Barth, PSYC; Lorraine Bayard DeVolo, WMST; Charles de Bartolome, ECON; Loriliai Biernacki, RLST; Damian Doyle, PWR; Clark Farmer, FILM; David Ferris, CLHM; Bob Ferry, HIST; Chonin Horno-Delgado, SPAN; Christian Kopff, (for Daniel Jones) HONR; Noel Lenski, CLAS; Dale Mood, IPHY; Martha Palmer, LING; Cecilia Pang, THDN; Scott Parker, PHYS; Rima Salys, GSLL; Brenda Schick, SLHS; Payson Sheets, ANTH; Eric Stade, MATH; Charles Stern, GEOL; Vittorio Trionfi, FRIT; Cindy White, COMM; Jennifer Wolak, PSCI; Emily Yeh, GEOG

MEMBERS ABSENT: Albert Alhadeff, AAH; Mitch Begelman, APS; Mel Cundiff, EBIO; Michael Huemer, PHIL; Kelly Hurley, ENGL; Keith Julien, APPM; Faye Kleeman, EALC; Kevin Peters, CHEM; Hillary Potter, SOCY; Robert Poyton, MCDB; Jeffrey Weiss, ATOC;

David Ferris opened the meeting at 3:34 PM welcoming the Council. The minutes of the March 20, 2008 and the April 17, 2008 meetings were approved unanimously.

The meeting went into executive session at 3:39pm.

The meeting resumed open session at 4:20pm.

Motion presented by the ASC Executive Committee to the ASC meeting on April 24, 2008

WHEREAS ARSC 1001 has not proved itself as a mandatory course that aims to address the full range of issues (including diversity, alcohol and socially responsible behavior, and community engagement) that led to the formation of the Ƶ101 Task Force,

WHEREAS other means in addition to ARSC 1001 must be developed to address these issues,

WHEREAS the Ƶ101 Task Force needs to be reconfigured to include broad representation from the ASC and its constituent faculty beyond those with research or administrative commitment to these issues while maintaining some continuity between the preceding Task Force and the newly configured one,

WHEREAS new strategies for addressing diversity, community engagement, and socially responsible behavior need to be developed by the reconfigured Task Force during the coming academic year while ARSC1001 is offered for Fall 2008 in a limited number of sections (not more than 12 sections) as an elective, 2 credit hour course in sections that meet the college’s minimum enrollment for a course section capped at 20 students,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Arts and Sciences Council votes with the expectation that Task Force will be reconfigured for Fall 2008 and that by Fall 2009 the Task Force will present a set of alternative programs and means to foster diversity, community engagement, and socially responsible behavior amongst our student population,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Arts and Sciences Council recommends to the ASC Curriculum Committee that ARSC 1001 should be renewed for credit for the fall semester 2009 only.

The motion was approved at the April 24, 2008 meeting of the Arts and Sciences Council, 18 voting in favor, 4 voting against, and 1 abstention.

Diversity Plan

Committee on Committees

ASC chair election

Grievance Committee

The meeting ended with a round of applause for David Ferris and thanks for his leadership.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45.

  • April 24, 2008
  • Duane Physic G131 3:30 – 5:00 PM
    • Professor Ferris and Emily Yeh, chair of the Diversity Committee, will be meeting April 25 with Todd Gleeson and the University’s legal counsel to discuss changes in the Diversity Plan.
    • Professor Ferris proposed voting on the Diversity Plan by e-mail; the Council had no objections
    • In September 2007 the Council approved transferring the duties of the Committee on Committees to the Executive Committee for the 2007-2008 academic year. The Council had no objections to an e-mail vote of the Arts and Science faculty to change the bylaws.
    • Robert Ferry was elected chair of the ASC for the 2008-2009 academic year by secret ballot.
    • Professor Ferris asked for an ASC representative to chair the Grievance Committee; Loriliai Biernacki volunteered to fill that position.