Minutes of the 3/20/07 Meeting of the College of Arts & Sciences

 

Proxies were held by:

Laura McSweeney for Matt Coleman

Call to order: Prof. DeWitt called the meeting to order at 4:09.

 

Prof. Crabtree, seconded by Dean Snyder, moved to invite Melissa Quan to attend the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

 

DeWitt announced the new discussion forum on the CAS website (faculty.fairfield.edu/cas).

 

Approval of the minutes of 11/28/06: Prof. Bowen moved to approve, seconded by Prof. McSweeney. The minutes were approved without objection.

 

Remarks by Dean Snyder

 

Snyder thanked the faculty for 6 years of being colleagues, and attributed his success in his position to the work, wisdom, and creativity of the faculty. Regarding the transition, he said there will be an interim dean for one year, with a search during that year. A.V.P. Grossman plans to recommend a candidate for interim dean to the President within the next few weeks. This summer's chairs' retreat will include a discussion of the kind of dean we would next like to have. He suggested that faculty think creatively about the ideal qualities we would like to see in a new dean. DeWitt then thanked Snyder in advance for the budget-blowing reception he must be planning for the final meeting of the year.

CAS Governance Document change

 

DeWitt explained the background to the proposed change. A year or so ago, the College Governance Document was converted to an electronic format. At that point we were looking at the issue, now on hold, of electing chairs. But in making the conversion, DeWitt also reread the document for inconsistencies. He noted that part of the description of the Dean's duties included serving on the Rank & Tenure committee when CAS faculty are being considered. Though that used to be true, it no longer is, so the document is now incompatible with the Handbook. He proposed deleting the anachronistic paragraph.

Prof. Lang, seconded by Crabtree, moved to delete section II.B.3. of Appendix A of the College Governance document. Prof. Weiss asked whether there should be a replacement paragraph about the Dean's responsibility to write a letter on candidates from the College. DeWitt said that responsibility is spelled out in the Handbook, so it doesn't seem necessary here. The motion passed 38-0.

 

Presentation on Service Learning

 

Crabtree began by explaining that she wasn't sure it was necessary to present to the College because she has made presentations to so many different groups, but the Steering Committee felt it was important. She asked Quan to attend the meeting because of the work Quan does coordinating the program.

Academic service learning, Crabtree explained, is "a pedagogical approach that links academic study and community-based service so that each is strengthened and both are transformed". It is characterized by learning that is intentionally linked to and enhanced by meaningful and appropriate service that meets real needs. This work happens in partnership and collaboration with community organizations, and is integrated with guided critical reflection on the disciplinary/professional, civic/social, and personal/spiritual dimensions of learning. Crabtree presented a chart distinguishing among different types of experiential learning and service. She explained that service learning (SL) has some overlap with things like internships and community service, but is not identical to these other forms.

There are a variety of models of SL including: direct service; non-profit internships and/or consulting; participatory/action research; and co-curricular immersion. Many SL experiences combine models.

Crabtree then outlined principles of good SL practice. The credit or grade must be for the learning, not the service. Academic rigor or expectations for learning must not be compromised. There have to be clear criteria for relevant service. Faculty have to develop learning objectives that link traditional academic learning activities to community learning activities. Students have to be prepared to work in the community. Courses should adopt a social responsibility orientation. The Office of Service Learning is prepared to facilitate all of the above

For students, the outcomes of good SL include: enhanced understanding of course material; enhanced ability to apply course concepts; diversity/global awareness and skills; personal and professional growth and development; and commitment to service and civic engagement. Furthermore, faculty are satisfied with student learning and have renewed enthusiasm for teaching. Finally, good SL can lead to improved town-gown relations.

Crabtree noted that institutional best practices include the alignment of SL with the university mission. At Fairfield, SL suits not just the mission, but also the strategic plan. It is also important to have an advisory team with broad representation; ours has representatives from all divisions, along with students and members of the community. The advisory team works with the half-time Faculty Director (Crabtree) and Coordinator of SL (Quan). Fairfield also benefits from an institutional membership in Campus Compact.

In 2006-2007, the Office of Service Learning (OSL) has focused on raising awareness across the university and the community, and building partnerships in collaboration with campus ministry and other service-related programs at Fairfield. The OSL has also offered summer course development stipends, and planning is underway for a community summit event for the Fall. The OSL is ready to help faculty with advice and support.

For the first time, SL courses are being designated as such in the course booklet. This notation will help familiarize students with the SL approach and help them find relevant courses. It will also allow for easy tracking of SL course enrollments.

Crabtree then laid out some ongoing issues and concerns. One question is whether SL should be a core or graduation requirement; the OSL doesn't think so. Another issue is getting faculty to use the OSL to help with developing courses and practicing sound SL pedagogy, especially regarding the balance among clarity, flexibility, and rigor. The OSL also needs to support, enhance, and provide quality control for courses using the term SL. At the same time, departments and programs need to make sure that SL sections continue to meet core, program, and/or department standards and learning expectations, while working with the OSL to ensure that the service components are relevant and meaningful. Finally, we all need to engage the "charity versus change" conversation.

At this point, the floor was opened to questions. Prof. Dennin asked for a brief description of some of the new SL courses. Crabtree described a tax accounting course with a service component of helping to prepare tax returns for low income clients. (There was some question of whether faculty would qualify for the assistance.) Some courses, for example, a section of PH 150, have SL as an optional course component. In that course, students work at a variety of placements around the questions raised in PH 150. She also mentioned a Communication course on persuasion that has students working with local non-profits to develop campaigns.

Prof. Bucki asked whether cases where SL is optional in lieu of another paper can really be considered SL. Crabtree explained that there is a dispute in the literature over whether SL should be optional, but sometimes flexibility is necessary because of working and/or commuting students. Prof. McFadden interjected with the comment that he is teaching a course in the Fall in which students will have the option of working with the Russian émigré population in Bridgeport. He felt that the SL component had to be optional at least for the first time through the course. Crabtree added that running an SL course is logistically difficult unless the relations and contacts are already well-established.

Prof. Mielants asked whether SL might become a requirement. He noted that he was disappointed in the poor Fairfield student turnout for the recent Face AIDS conference on campus. Crabtree explained that there are two ways of framing Mielants' question- should an SL course be required, or should SL be required somewhere in the curriculum. The answer to the former is no. As for the latter, there's somewhat of an SL component to the FYE program, but there are ethical concerns about requiring SL. She noted that Mielants' point about student attendance about events is a separate issue. Snyder suggested that we consider a year-long theme to build interest in events. Crabtree noted that AIDS was close to a theme this year, yet attendance was still low. One goal of the work on SL is to create a more engaged campus.

Prof. Bachelor asked where he could find examples of SL syllabi. Crabtree pointed him to the Campus Compact website (http://www.compact.org/).

Seeing no further questions, DeWitt took the floor again to remind faculty of the final meeting of the year on Wednesday, 4/25, which will include the announcement of the College Teaching Award and a celebration of faculty scholarly achievements.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5 pm.

 

 

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Susan Rakowitz