FACULTY MEETING
May 17, 2000
GANNETT AUDITORIUM
MINUTES
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the April 28, 2000 meeting were approved as written.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Studley commented that her first year as President has been lively and interesting. She thanked the faculty for making her first year rich in opportunities for learning about the complexities of Skidmore. She also thanked President’s Staff, an extraordinary group of people to work with and a wonderful source of learning support, guidance, and hard work; the administration for attending so successfully to the needs of the students; and the students, who made the year exciting and the work matter.
President Studley gave a brief report on the final Board meeting of the year, which was held May 3-5. The trustees attended educational sessions on financial aid and technology, as well as the formal committee meetings. At the retirement and recognition dinner, the Kemball-Cook Award for Service was presented to John Morris, President Emeritus of Union College and a Skidmore Trustee since 1986. Kent Jones, Ralph Ciancio, and Phyllis Roth were also recognized for their years of service at the College.
The trustees approved a number of resolutions including one to extend employees’ benefits to same and opposite sex domestic partners. The Board also amended the board bylaws to change the title of Dean of the Faculty to Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty.
The Board approved the proposed operating budget for the fiscal year beginning June 1, 2000. The key points include an opening enrollment of 2,140; an increase in the comprehensive fee of 4.8% (down from an original target of 4.9%) for a total fee of $32,450; a financial aid budget of $12,610,000; and a compensation pool of $47,838,000. The overall operating budget for FY 2001 is approximately $75 million.
The Board approved the proposed capital budget of $5,825,000 for the fiscal year beginning June 1, 2000. The major categories of the capital budget are facilities renewal projects, $3,700,000; major equipment, $600,000; and information technology, $1,525,000.
Sarah Lee Schupf, Charles Wait, and Lee Tidball were re-elected to four-year terms. New trustees elected to serve four-year terms on the Board are John Howley ’80 and Florence Andresen ’57 (who is Alumni Association Trustee). Tanya Fandiño ’95 was named to a two-year term as a Young Alumni Trustee. Also approved was a resolution granting Trustee Emeritus status to former Board Chair, Myles Cane.
This year the faculty observers to the Board were Sandy Baum and Penny Jolly. Faculty observers reported that they are pleased that they are now observing a great deal more of the Board meetings than in the past. Besides attending the two full board sessions, Sandy and Penny split up the committee meetings and covered as many as their schedules allowed. They will be writing a brief report about these meeting and will send it to the faculty.
President Studley reported that the petition on gender fairness and salaries was shared with the Board and discussed at the Academic Affairs Committee.
DEAN OF THE FACULTY’S REPORT
Dean Roth stated that Professor David Peterson reported for CEPP at the Board Academic Affairs Committee Meeting, and there was a discussion on gender equity and salaries. The Board will hear follow-up with regard to our work on those issues as we move forward. The discussion was then brought to the full Board meeting.
The Academic Affairs Committee and the full Board approved the following promotions to full professor: Doretta Miller, Department of Art and Art History; and Patricia Rubio, Foreign Languages and Literatures. Jennifer Taxman’s promotion to Associate Librarian was recognized by the Board.
CONFERRAL OF DEGREES
Ann Henderson made the following motions as a single motion:
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 352 students of the Class of 2000 to be awarded on May 20, 2000.
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 166 students of the Class of 2000 to be awarded on May 20, 2000.
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 38 students of the Class of 2000 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by August 31, 2000.
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 17 students of the Class of 2000 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by August 31, 2000.
The motion was seconded, voted on and carried.
Jon Ramsey made the following two motions:
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College approve Departmental Honors for one student from the Class of 1999 and 139 students from the Class of 2000—as presented at the May 17, 2000 faculty meeting.
The motion was seconded, voted on and carried.
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College approve two students from the Class of 1999 and 122 students from the Class of 2000 for cum laude distinction; for magna cum laude distinction 29 students from the class of 2000; and for summa cum laude distinction one student from the Class of 1999 and 24 students from the Class of 2000.
The motion was seconded, voted on and carried.
Professor Mary Correa offered the following resolution on behalf of External Masters of Arts Committee:
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Master of Arts Degree to four students; of these, one student receiving the Master of Arts degree will do so contingent upon completion of all degree requirements by August 31, 2000.
The motion was seconded, voted on and carried.
Frank Gonzales offered the following resolution on behalf of the University Without Walls Committee:
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to sixteen students and the Bachelor of Science degree to seventeen students for a total of thirty-three students. Of these, ten students receiving the degree will do so contingent upon completion of all degree requirements by August 31, 2000.
The motion was seconded, voted on and carried.
REPORTS
Professor Gerry Erchak, speaking for Curriculum Committee, informed the faculty that the Geology Department is now called the Department of Geosciences.
Professor Tad Kuroda reported for the Committee of Committees. The CFG convened the Committee of Committees in accordance with the provisions of the Faculty Handbook and met on May 11, 2000. Relations with the administration during the 1999-00 academic year were cordial and candid.
Faculty on some committees felt that their efforts were not as effective as they might have been because of the differences in structure and responsibility. In some situations faculty committees have an advisory role and the administration has decision-making authority, some committees are dependent on information flow from the administration, and in others the committee is the decision maker.
Faculty committees are deeply interested in the big issues that loom ahead on strategic planning, allocation of resources between capital and operating budgets, a new core curriculum, and phase two of reconfiguration, and the committees expect to play an important part in addressing these issues.
The Committee of Committees encourages even closer coordination between the chairs of faculty committees and the administration, and is concerned with the trend toward having committees work throughout the year. CFG already had recurrent difficulties enlisting enough faculty members to run for committees.
Professor Kuroda thanked the faculty, administrators, support staff and students who served on committees this year and gave a special thanks to Kent Jones and Phyllis Roth for their years of supporting the work of faculty committees.
OTHER
Dean Roth thanked those faculty members leaving at the end of the semester for their service to the College:
Judith Fitzner-Atchinson, Accompanist, Exercise Science, Dance and Athletics
Richard P. Barberio, Visiting Assistant Professor, Government
Ralph Ciancio, Professor, English
Molly Delaunay, Housing Coordinator, Skidmore in Paris
Mary Anne Gerzanick, Teaching Associate, Exercise Science, Dance and Athletics
Barbara Henriques, Assistant Professor, Education
Kevin M. Hickey, Visiting Assistant Professor, English
John Huckel, Teaching Associate, Exercise Science, Dance & Athletics
Michelle Napierski-Prancl, Visiting Assistant Professor, Sociology, Anthropology &
Social Work
Leslie Shiell, Visiting Assistant Professor, Economics
Carla Sofka, Visiting Assistant Professor, Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work
Tatyana Tolstaya, Associate Professor, English
Steven Tysoe, Assistant Professor, Chemistry & Physics
Harry van der Hulst, Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Arts and Sciences
On leave for the next two years are Masako Inamoto, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and Sheldon Solomon, Professor, Department of Psychology. She also informed the faculty that next spring David Porter would be teaching in the Classics Department.
She thanked those departmental chairs who are stepping down this year:
Gordon Thompson will be replaced by Richard Hihn in the Music Department.
Dan Hurwitz will be replaced by Mark Hofmann in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Joel Smith/Eric Weller will be replaced by Reginald Lilly in the Department of Philosophy and Religion and Religious Studies.
Bill Standish will be replaced by Ray Giguere in the Department of Chemistry and Physics.
She also thanked Susan Lehr who will step down as Acting Chair in the Department of Education; Ruth Andrea Levinson will return as Chair of the Department. Denise Smith will step down as Acting Chair; Jeff Segrave will be returning as Chair of the Department of Exercise Science, Dance and Athletics. During the year, John Thomas stepped down as Chair of the Department of Geology and Dick Lindemann has taken over as Chair of the Department of Geosciences. Next year Rob Linrothe will be stepping down as Director of Asian Studies and Mao Chen will be replacing him during the spring semester while he is on sabbatical. Michael Arnush is stepping down to take a leave in the spring, and Phil Boshoff will replace him as Director of the Honors Forum.
Dean Roth thanked Ruth Copans for her service as Acting/ Interim College Librarian. Barbara Doyle-Wilch will be joining Skidmore College August 1, 2000 as the College Librarian.
Dean Roth has worked with 65 chairs and 21 program directors during her term as Dean of the Faculty as well as the same wonderful athletic director during all of the ten years. She thanked all those people for the many years of service; it was terrific for her to be able to work with them. Dean Roth also gave special thanks to Leo Geoffrion for ten years of special partnership.
She thanked the members of President’s Staff, especially Kent Jones who will be leaving the College shortly to take a position at Emma Willard. It was a joy and an education working with him and the other members of President’s Staff. She thanked Jamie for her leadership, support and vision this year. She thanked the Dean’s Staff: Bob DeSieno, Sue Bender, Ann Henderson and Jon Ramsey and presented all of them with flowers. She also thanked her office staff as well as the fabulous faculty for giving her a blessed ten years and looks forward to getting back to the classroom and being among them once again.
President Studley read the following remarks, with which she concluded her tribute to Phyllis at her going-away party on May 2:
Phyllis Roth: Teacher. Scholar. Dean.
Advocate. Leader. President.
Interrogator. Truthteller. Counselor. Conscience.
She is the "sage on the stage AND the guide on the side."
Friend. Above all, friend.
President Studley thanked Kent Jones for his extraordinary service to Skidmore for the past seventeen years and invited the audience to a party to be given in his honor later in the day.
The meeting adjourned at 11:10 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Claire Demarest
Executive Secretary
Dean of the Faculty’s Office
ATTACHMENTS TO THE FACULTY MEETING MINUTES: