December 2, 2014 Academic Council Meeting Minutes

The dean called the meeting to order at 10:32.

1. Approval of Minutes of November 18, 2014

Dr. Michelle Hamm moved approval of the minutes of November 18, 2014. Dr. Jon Dattelbaum seconded. With no further discussion the minutes were approved by voice vote.

2.  FERPA/Recommendation reminder—Dr. Sam Abrash

Dr. Sam Abrash reminded the Council that in order for a faculty member or academic advisor to act as a reference for a job application, this release needs to be provided by the applicant and filled out.

Susan Breeden, Registrar, reiterated the fact that this form allows for educational record sharing in the case of job applications. It does not apply to school-related applications.

3. Update on DAC Process—Dr. Jon Dattelbaum

Dr. Jon Dattelbaum, first Chair of DAC, spoke of the DAC process in general, the changes that have been made, and outlined a few of the Chair of DAC’s responsibilities. He noted that the Dean used to lead DAC meetings, whereas now the Chair does.  

Dr. Dattelbaum then asked the faculty for their thoughts on the DAC timeline: are the spring and fall deadlines working, or does the timeline need to be revised?

Dr. Sydney Watts asked when the faculty could expect to hear from DAC concerning position approvals.

Dr. Linda Boland suggested a diagram (or flowchart) to help visualize the DAC timeline.

It is the chair’s responsibility to arrange and lead private meetings without the Dean.

DAC can convene without the Dean if there is a majority.

4. Proposed Revision of Department Travel Budget Guidelines

The next order of business was the Proposed Revision of Department Travel Budget Guidelines. The Dean summarized the proposed changes, presently in draft form, and then asked the Council for their thoughts.

Dr. Bill Ross expressed the sentiment, shared by many in the Council, that an explicitly stated cap was perhaps misleading in regards to the Dean’s intentions. The Dean agreed and suggested eliminating from the Guidelines the clause that sets forth the cap. Instead, the Dean suggested allocating a travel budget to the departments based on per capita continuing faculty members. The department chair would then manage the budget to fully reimburse each faculty member’s first professional development trip.

Dr. Doug Winiarski argued that the clause setting forth the cap should be kept. Dr. Yvonne Howell, among others, supported this sentiment. 

Dr. Linda Boland asked about continuing faculty: will this revision to the Department Travel Budget Guidelines provide for faculty directors? The Dean confirmed that it will, as she does not want to promote a “second-class system,” whereby continuing faculty are excluded from departmental allocation.

The Dean concluded by reminding the Council that the intention of this revision to the Department Travel Budget Guidelines is to offer discretion to the department chairs when it comes to fully reimbursing each faculty member’s first professional development trip.

The meeting adjourned at 11:45.

Respectfully submitted,

Matt Oglesby