Faculty Meeting Minutes
May 15, 2019
Gannett Auditorium
MINUTES
Michael Orr, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
DOF/VPAA Orr stated that he received a request to revise the Faculty Meeting minutes from April 26, 2019 that were previously distributed to add the names of the faculty members who read the statement at the last Faculty Meeting, and those names have been added to the minutes. He asked if there were any other corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held April 26, 2019. Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved, as revised.
CONFERRAL OF DEGREES AND HONORS
A. Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Degrees. Dave DeConno, Registrar, read the following resolutions into the record (see attached):
RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 348 students of the Class of 2019 to be awarded on May 18, 2019.
RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 188 students of the Class of 2019 to be awarded on May 18, 2019.
RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 48 students of the Class of 2019 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by August 31, 2019.
RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 18 students of the Class of 2019 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by August 31, 2019.
RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of Baccalaureate degrees in memoriam to Williem Golden and Michael Hedges of the Class of 2019, to be awarded May 18, 2019.
The total number of graduates of the Class of 2019 is 622 as follows: 20 for January completion, 536 for May completion, and 66 for August completion.
There was no discussion, and the resolutions were voted on and passed with all in favor.
B. All-College and Departmental Honors.
Ron Seyb, Associate Dean of the Faculty, read the following resolutions into the record (see attached):
RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve College Honors for members of the Class of 2019, as presented at the May 15, 2019, Faculty Meeting: 41 students for summa cum laude distinction; 91 students for magna cum laude distinction; and 56 students for cum laude distinction. (Note: including January 2019 graduates, 192 of 622 students [30.9%] in the class of 2019 will receive College Honors).
RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve Departmental and Program Honors for 195 students from the Class of 2019, as presented at the May 15, 2019 Faculty Meeting. (Note: including January 2019 graduates, 198 of 622 students [31.8%] in the class of 2019 will receive Departmental or Program Honors; 32 students will receive honors in two majors).
There was no discussion, and the resolutions were voted on and passed with all in favor
C. Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Degrees.
Associate Professor Andrew Lindner read the following resolution into the record (see attached):
RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Master of Arts degree to two students.
There was no discussion, and the motion was voted on and passed with all in favor.
OLD BUSINESS
Marta Brunner, College Librarian, read the following Motion that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):
MOTION: With the approval of the Faculty Executive Committee and the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Marta Brunner, College Librarian, moves that Part One, Section VIII(D)(2) of the Faculty Handbook be revised as follows (changes in bold):
2. Reappointment of Librarians
During the third year of service, Library faculty will be evaluated according to the same principles and procedures described herein for tenure-track faculty. In the sixth year, the evaluation process will include at least one faculty member from another department who indicates a willingness to serve, chosen by the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs in consultation with ATC. For contracts beyond the sixth year, the reappointment procedure is that of the third year, with the department making a recommendation to the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs. In the case of a disagreement between the department and the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs, ATC will provide an additional recommendation for the President's consideration. If the candidate is denied reappointment, the candidate may appeal if there is the support of two- thirds of the faculty who participated in the initial review (including the candidate) or of the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs. Appeals in the sixth year will be referred to ATC for an additional recommendation to the President.
After the initial six years, Library faculty who are reappointed will receive contracts of alternating lengths of four and three years with reviews in the penultimate year of each contract. Library faculty at the rank of (full) Librarian will receive a contract of seven years with a review in the penultimate year. In all cases, if the review is negative, the faculty member will be given a probationary contract, the minimal length of which will be one year. The length of the probationary contract can be extended by a recommendation of the Chair to the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for a period not to exceed three years. . . .
There was no discussion, and the motion was voted on and passed with all in favor.
NEW BUSINESS
On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Associate Professor Katie Hauser introduced the following Motion (see attached):
MOTION: The Faculty Executive Committee moves to amend the Faculty Handbook (Part Two, II, F, 2) by including the SDM Committee as one of the College’s governance committees.
There was brief discussion of the motion questioning whether this motion will cause other committees to ask for governance status. Professor Hauser responded that this was a concern of FEC but, at the same time, FEC is looking to remove some committees that shouldn’t have governance status. Thereafter, a question was raised about the number of self-determined majors each year and why the SDM Committee should be afforded full governance committee status when other interdisciplinary programs are not. Professor Kate Berheide then responded to explain that the difference between self-determined majors and other interdisciplinary programs is that there are no faculty specifically assigned to the SDM program from which the membership of the committee can be drawn. Further, the SDM Committee actually decides what constitutes a self-determined major, and in fact, many of the current interdisciplinary majors originated as self-determined majors. The SDM Committee needs to be a governance committee, not to handle the few majors each year, but to reflect the will of the faculty about what a major should be and, potentially, to decide what the next new majors at the college will look like. Lastly, a question was raised concerning why a director is appointed by the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs as opposed to a chair being appointed by the committee. Professor Berheide stated the Self-Determined Major program is a still an interdisciplinary program with an operating budget and requires leadership by a program director.
There being no further discussion, the Motion will lie over until the next Faculty Meeting.
REPORTS
Faculty Executive Committee
On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Professor Hauser reviewed the results of the survey that FEC had conducted earlier in the academic year regarding the changes made to the Faculty Meeting (see attached for details). Professor Hauser stated that faculty were overwhelmingly supportive of the changes that had been made, although there were a few comments suggesting greater flexibility in the arrangement of the agenda of the Faculty Meeting and announcements.
Faculty Development Committee
On behalf of the Faculty Development Committee, Professor Flip Phillips announced that Associate Professor Beck Krefting had been awarded the Ralph A. Ciancio Award for Excellence in Teaching for 2019-20. A congratulatory round of applause was given to Professor Krefting.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Glotzbach offered his congratulations to Professor Beck Krefting for the Ciancio award. He then congratulated everyone for making it to this point in the academic year and thanked everyone for approving the degrees; the Board will follow suit on Friday. President Glotzbach then thanked everyone for all they have done to make this year a success for our students. Honors Convocation and Academic Festival serve as annual reminders of the extraordinary achievements of so many of our students – and much credit goes to their professors for inspiring, challenging, and in some cases, cajoling them into completing their tasks. He then thanked everyone who has taken on a leadership role in their department or in some dimension of the shared governance work that is necessary to the College.
President Glotzbach stated that we have been already reminded of the loss of Michael Hedges and Will Golden, members of the Class of 2019. They will be acknowledged at graduation, and their absence will certainly color the event. Commencement is still a celebratory moment, and he looks forward to experiencing it with everyone. It is also fair to acknowledge that the context for our year-end celebrations may prompt a measure of other emotions for our students, including sorrow and anxiety. The world, at large, is far from a happy place these days – the recent climate report from the United Nations states that one million or more species are at risk of extinction from climate change; stock markets have reacted negatively – and dramatically – to the new tariffs our government has levied on Chinese imports; we have been watching a struggle play out between the executive and legislative branches of our government; we have been hearing talk of a possible conflict with Iran; and Alabama just became the latest state to pass a highly restrictive law regulating abortion, possibly setting up a Supreme Court challenge to Roe v. Wade.
The academic world is experiencing a sense of unease as well – the ongoing Admissions scandal; various schools closing or at risk of closing, including some in our own neighborhood: Green Mountain College and Hampshire College; takeovers of campus buildings on the campuses of Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore; and issues around campus speech once again affecting Middlebury and other schools as well. Skidmore should be very pleased and appreciative that the issues and causes that have disrupted other campuses have played out very differently here. For this we can thank Dean Cerri Banks and her Student Life staff; Joshua Woodfork, our Chief Diversity Officer; CIGU; and many members of our faculty who have worked with our students around issues of diversity, inclusion, free speech, and the like – affirming our core values of respect, openness, and protection of speech.
President Glotzbach noted that at this moment, around the country, various colleges are scrambling to make their entering classes. There is considerable wait-list activity going on – at least, 7 or 8 schools in our overlap group alone. One of our New York Six institutions is currently 100 below its worst-case class target. If Skidmore were facing that situation, it would be looking at a $2-3 million deficit, with potentially dire implications. Last year, in fact – as many will recall – we were forced to go to our wait-list, seeking an additional 42 students. Fortunately, we are in a very different situation this year. However, Skidmore itself is certainly not immune to these trends or a sense of unease.
Consistently, beginning last May and across this year, President Glotzbach has spoken and written about our need to address significant long-term budget issues. The IPPC has been engaged with these issues at various times across this year. Our recent more public conversations around health insurance are just the latest manifestation of our need to make significant changes in a number of areas in our budget. Health insurance, especially, is a very personal issue for everyone. President Glotzbach reaffirmed that everyone’s voices are being heard surrounding this issue; the administration will continue to listen and create opportunities in the coming weeks and months for input, to be as transparent as possible, and to protect those who are most vulnerable to changes in our plans and policies. Having acknowledged the concern around these issues, President Glotzbach asked that we not lose sight of where the College is today and the advances we have made just this year – the decision to move forward on the CIS being the largest and most visible of these signs. We live and die with our ability to attract, each year, a new entering class, and Skidmore remains a “hot” school in the Admissions arena.
Admissions Update
Mary Lou Bates, Dean and Vice President for Admissions and Financial Aid, provided a report on the Class of 2023. She reported that the class is fully enrolled, having adjusted this year's class target up by 25 from our original target of 686 to 711, both on campus and in London. Depending upon summer melt and wait- list activity, we are projecting, with the over-enrollment, that we will open with 737 students – 705 on campus and 32 in London. Because we previously increased our overall budgeted campus enrollment by 20 (resulting in overenrolled students becoming part of the budgeted enrollment) and our last two entering classes were smaller than the three previous classes, our original class target of 686 would have left us short of our total budgeted enrollment. As a result, we admitted more students this spring, and our yield increased slightly over last year. As President Glotzbach reported, there is considerable wait-list activity. Last year at this time, we had lost 8 students to other waiting lists; so far, we lost 15. At the same time, we have students who have decided to defer their enrollment to Skidmore to the fall 2020, and that number is running ahead of last year as well.
VP Bates went on to say that 49 percent of the incoming class is receiving grant assistance; that too will be impacted by melt. However, we tend to loose fewer students who are on grant assistance than students who are not, and this percentage is consistent with last year. It is projected that we will be about $300,000 over budget in financial aid in September, but the revenue from the over-enrollment will cover this and yield additional funds. Right now, we are about $1 million in revenue below the line.
With regard to class demographics, the incoming class is 43 percent male, compared to 37 percent last year. Domestic students of color comprise 28 percent of the class, compared to 24 percent last year. Additionally, 12 percent of the class are international students, which is consistent with last year, and another 7 percent are dual citizens. We will welcome 16 United World College (UWC) students in the class, which will bring our total UWC campus enrollment to 57 (these students come with funding in need-based aid from the Davis Foundation and any campus that has 40 or more students on campus, the students get $25,000 in need based aid). In addition, we met our targets in the Opportunity Program, with 25 HEOP students and 15 AOP students, and the class will include 4 Filene scholars, 12 Porter Wachenheim math-science scholars; and 5 S3M Skidmore Scholars.
VP Bates reminded everyone that this is our third cycle of being test-optional for most of our applicant pool. This year, 71 percent of the applicants chose to submit testing, which is down a little from last year, when 73 percent submitted. In addition, 64 percent of the enrolled class submitted test results, which is consistent with last year. The median scores for those who submitted are up, however. This year, the SAT median is 1330, while last year it was 1300; the ACT composite is 30, while last year it was 29.
In concluding her report, on behalf of the Admissions and Financial Aid staff, VP Bates offered a tremendous thank you to all those who participated in the recruitment enrollment of the class.
Healthcare
Associate Professor Tim Harper and Donna Ng, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer, shared a PowerPoint presentation in response to the recent discussions surrounding the proposed changes to health care (see attached for details). VP Ng reminded everyone of the website where information from the previous forums have been posted: /benefits/health-care-costs/index.php . She further indicated that she will incorporate the comments and questions received and will share those with the IPPC subcommittee in the fall. In the meantime, her office will gather as much information as possible so there is as much transparency as possible.
In response to questions raised following the presentation, VP Ng stated that no decisions on plan changes will be made over the summer, and there will be no plan design changes made for calendar year 2020. Over the summer, her office will be conducting analyses and will be estimating and calculating any potential premiums based upon current plan design. When IPPC and the subcommittee returns in the fall, they will review those premiums; if the premiums are likely to increase, the employee share of any increases will be capped at 10 percent. Further, in response to a suggestion for ways in which faculty could share their feedback, VP Ng stated that IPPC and the subcommittee will be looking at various options for community input, which may include surveys.
North Broadway Entrance
VP Ng announced that the North Broadway entrance will be reconstructed this summer, due to a gift received which will fund the project in full. VP Ng shared a PowerPoint presentation showing the proposed changes that will be made to the entrance and noted that the changes will also improve infrastructure related to storm water drains. Construction of the new entrance is expected to occur over the summer.
President Glotzbach concluded his report by inviting everyone to the annual reception for graduating seniors and their families at Scribner House on Friday. He then opened the floor for any questions or comments. Brief discussion was held concerning the proposed general salary adjustment for this fiscal year and plans for future increases.
DEAN OF THE FACULTY AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS’ REPORT- Following the announcement of Paul Calhoun’s retirement, Special Programs underwent an external review during the spring of 2018. During the current academic year, VP Ng and DOF/VPAA Orr have been reviewing the operational structure of Special Programs and the position of Dean of Special Programs. Dean Orr commented that he and VP Ng had developed a better understanding of the remarkable combination of academic programs, auxiliary programs and services, and additional support services provided to the campus and community by Special Programs and that Special Programs was a remarkable asset that we want to preserve and maintain. He noted that the scope of Special Programs has evolved over time and will shortly no longer be offering any degree-granting programs. ,The current organization of the Office consists principally of two teams—operations/conferences and academic programs, residencies, and institutes. Based upon this review, a decision was made to not replace the Dean of Special Programs position, to retain oversight of academic-related programs in Academic Affairs, and to seek greater alignment of the non-academic operations with Finance and Administration. Going forward, Auden Thomas will continue to lead the academic programs and Wendy LeBlanc will continue to manage operations and conferences. The goal will be to sustain the distinctive mission of Special Programs with its commitment to offering innovative educational and cultural experiences that enhance the reputation of the College, while continuing to host revenue-producing conferences and events. Except for the Project on Restorative Justice, which will be relocating to the University of San Diego this summer, no major changes in the programs being offered are anticipated.
- With regard to the general education curriculum, Eric Morser has been appointed as Director of the Bridge Experience. In addition, we received notification from the New York State Department of Education that our general education curriculum has been approved without the need to submit further documentation. However, we still have a lot of work ahead of us to implement the new curriculum.
- An appointment for the Director of the First-Year Experience should be announced shortly.
- Finally, Dean Orr expressed thanks to the Appointments and Promotions Committee and the Promotions Committee for all their work this year on a large cohort of tenure and promotion cases. He pointed out that this was the first year of the new committee structure, following the reconfiguration of the Committee on Appointments, Tenure, and Promotion last year. Under the new procedures, tenure and promotion cases are not presented for Board approval until the May trustee meeting. Therefore, successful tenure and promotion candidates will not be announced until the first faculty meeting of the next academic year.
DOF/VPAA Orr concluded his report by acknowledging that Crystal Moore, Associate Dean of the Faculty, will be stepping down in her role at the end of this academic year. He thanked her for her remarkable service, not only as Associate Dean of the Faculty but as Interim Dean of the Faculty and Vice president for Academic Affairs. A standing ovation was given to Professor Moore.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:41 a.m.Respectfully submitted,