Faculty Assembly
Faculty Assembly Meeting Minutes
March 23, 2004
Members present: Christopher Abelt, Jonathan Arries, Deborah Bebout, James
Beers, Liz Canuel, Lan Cao, Clay Clemens, Nancy Gray, Luann Homza, Katherine
Kulick, Robert Orwoll, Ann Reed, Roger Ries, Ron Rosenberg, Laurie Sanderson,
William Stewart, Larry Ventis, Wanda Wallace, Parliamentarian: Alan Fuchs.
Members absent: Robert Archibald, Robert Diaz.
I. President Rosenberg called the meeting to order at 3:38 P.M. Minutes from the Faculty Assembly Meeting on February 24, 2004 were approved with one correction.
II. Administrative Reports. Provost Feiss had no specific news on the budget. The Senate and House had recessed and gone home without determining a budget. Katherine Kulick had gotten the Phased Retirement document to the Provost just prior to the break, and he had not yet had time to work on it. The Fair Use Policy for copyrighted materials is still being worked on. Courtney Carpenter and Gene Roche were asked to investigate the possibility of requiring first year students to purchase a laptop when they come to campus. The College of William and Mary will probably try a pilot program in Fall, 2005, which will allow participation but not require it. Possibly laptops may be required in Fall, 2006. The Faculty Assembly is asked to give some thought to how we should establish a study committee to consider this thoroughly.
III. Faculty Research. Dale Hoak attended to give a presentation on behalf of the Faculty Research Committee, a university-wide committee with 12 members appointed by the Provost. Programs administered include Faculty Research Assignments, Summer Grants, Small Grants (allotted about $10,000 per year), and the Book Subvention Program. The budget for these programs is provided by the Provost, and is derived from Indirect Cost funds from externally funded research grants. Therefore, the budgets vary annually. This year the budget was $600,000, with $480,000 allotted to FRA's. Summer Grants. In 2002-03, a total of 37 Summer Grants were awarded. In the past it has ranged in the high 40's. Dr. Hoak raised the question of what proportion of the faculty should be funded in the summer? Another question posed was the extent to which years of service since the last grant be a consideration? Currently, for the Summer Program, bonus points are given to faculty in their first five years. This practically guarantees summer grants to untenured faculty and precludes tenured. Should this practice be continued? Gary Kreps stated that we do not use IDC (indirect cost) money from VIMS and that they do not use our (main campus) IDC money. For the main campus, in 1997, we established the Research Investment Infrastructure Fund (RIIF). We still receive $80,000 from E&G fund for RIIF, but if the entire load for research support fell on RIIF, we could not cover it. Provost Feiss added that increasing support for faculty research and start-up has been built into the five year budget projection. Provost Feiss also noted that it would be helpful if the Faculty Assembly generated target amounts for support of the programs. Dr. Hoak reported that the committee is trying to gather national information on what proportion of the faculty should be funded for leaves or sabbaticals. Katherine Kulick noted, regarding years of service, that some faculty who were rejected said that in the past, years of service was considered prominently for all applicants judged "fundable". Further, bonus points for pre-tenure faculty and the absence of consideration for time since the most recent leave tends to squeeze older faculty out of the process. The Faculty Research Committee's intentions and plans for the resolution of some of these issues will be presented to the Faculty Assembly at the April meeting.
At 5:16, a motion to adjourn was offered by Robert Orwoll, and passed without dissent.
Respectfully submitted by Larry Ventis, Secretary to the Faculty Assembly.
