Faculty Assembly
THE FACULTY ASSEMBLY
THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY IN VIRGINIA:
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF TUESDAY MAY 8, 2001
The first order of business was to approve the minutes from the April meeting.
Reports from administrative officers:
The next order of business was a report from Provost Gillian Cell.
The Provost began her report by thanking Bill O'Connell and Katherine Kulick for their diligent work this past year.
She then noted that, regarding the budget, there was nothing new to report. Contracts would be issued soon after commencement.
The Provost then presented her annual report on fixed term appointments. She reported that 8.6% of the faculty were on non-tenure track, fixed term appointments. This percentage has not changed significantly within the past ten years indicating that there appears to be remarkable stability in fixed-term appointments and that the College is not moving toward a reliance in fixed term contracts. The Provost did not anticipate that this would change. The departments that made the greatest usage of fixed term appointments are English, Foreign Languages, and Kinesiology. They generally teach basic writing courses, introductory language courses or activities classes.
As part of the discussion on fixed term appointments, Bill O'Connell asked for a precise definition of a "five year appointment," given that fixed term appointment could not exceed five years. He asked for clarification as to whether the five years is cumulative or consecutive. The Provost agreed that this issue required a consistent interpretation, but warned that some flexibility was also necessary. The Provost assured the Assembly that she would ask the Assembly to approve any appointments that were over five years.
The Provost then provided a brief update on Project Aria. She reported that approximately five million dollars has been spent on the project. (To provide context for this expenditure, she noted that UVa budgeted fifty million dollars on a similar system). Although the College is in the process of reconsideration of the package, it has been considerably more than a "learning experience." For example, we have documented our financial processes and re-engineered our business processes. Although it is an immensely powerful and flexible package, there are, however. serious financial considerations regarding the project, No firm decisions regarding future plans have as yet been made.
The next item on the agenda was a report from Clay Clemens, Chair of the Faculty Research Committee.
After a brief review of the work of the Faculty Research Committee, he focused on some of the more controversial issues. The first such issue was a decision made by the FRC to give FRAs a higher priority by totally eliminating the distinction between the 6 and 7 year FRAs. The amount and number of summer grants will be determined by number of FRA grants.
Members of the Faculty Assembly questioned whether this policy would make it difficult for pretenure faculty to obtain summer grants. However, it was agreed that the "Youth points" awarded to junior faculty members made it virtually possible that the new funding priorities would affect junior faculty summer grants.
The next issue regarding faculty research was whether summer grants should be awarded to non-tenure eligible visiting faculty. After some discussion, a motion was made that it was the sense of Faculty Assembly that for funding summer grants, priority should give given to tenured and tenure-eligible faculty, specifically that awards to tenured or tenure-eligible faculty be to all fundable proposals from tenure and tenure eligible faculty before any awards are made to non- tenure eligible faculty. The motion passed with 11 votes in favor, 5 opposed, and 3 abstaining.
Members of the Faculty Assembly agreed that continued increases in funding for faculty research should be a priority.
The next order of business was the series of reports from the standing committees:
Academic Affairs Committee
There was no report from the Academic Affairs Committee
Several issues before the Faculty Affairs Committee were discussed:
1. Consensual Amorous Relationship Policy
Katherine Kulick noted that PPC approved the policy with one slight revision
from the earlier version.
The Faculty Assembly then voted on the new version (available on the Faculty Assembly website); the motion passed unanimously.
2. Intellectual Property Policy
Katherine Kulick noted that discussion of the policy took place at the last
meeting and that a draft was forwarded to the PPC which they approved. Discussion
then turned to where the policy would be located. Assembly members felt that
there should be a statement at the end of the policy that any changes to the
policy must be approved by the Faculty Assembly. The policy (along with this
final statement) would then be placed in the latter portion of the Faculty Handbook.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to add the statement that any changes to the Intellectual Property Policy must be approved by the Faculty Assembly.
There was then a vote on the full Intellectual Property Policy; it was unanimously approved.
3. Post Tenure Review
Katherine Kulick informed the Faculty Assembly that discussion of the Post Tenure
Review policy would be a priority for next year.
Committee on Planning and Resources
There was no report from COPAR.
Executive Committee
There was nothing to report from the Executive Committee.
Old Business
Dave Lutzer provided a brief report on the Faculty Assembly assessment survey. He began by stating that the goal of the restructuring of the Faculty Assembly was to increase the participation of all members. Most members agreed that this indeed did happen and that the Assembly was more effective. However there was a strong feeling that the work load among the committees was very uneven and that the Executive Committee should intervene as necessary to "even out" the work load.
New Business
The Provost gave small "tokens of recognition" to Bill O'Connell and Katherine Kulick for their hard work this year.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:25 pm.
Margaret Saha
Secretary
