Draft Minutes of the 4/26/11 Meeting of the College of Arts & Sciences

No votes using proxies were taken.

Call to order: Prof. O'Driscoll called the meeting to order at 4:09.

Approval of the minutes of March 11, 2011: Prof. Bowen, seconded by Prof. Patton, moved to approve the minutes. Prof. Weiss noted that there were 5 students who completed the individually designed major last year rather than three. As corrected, the minutes were approved without objection.

Announcements: Bowen announced an upcoming FDEC event.

Brief remarks from the Dean.

Dean Crabtree began with an update on faculty searches. All searches netted their top candidates. We will be joined in the Fall by Shannon Gerry (Biology), Tom Murray (Economics), Emily Orlando and Sonya Huber (English), Anna Lawrence (History), and Gwendoline Alphonso (Politics). She thanked the search committees and said that we hope to have searches next year in Economics, English, History, Math, Modern Languages and Literature (Spanish), Philosophy, Politics, Psychology and Religious Studies.

She then moved to a budget update. They're currently approving tenure track searches and visiting faculty positions. Operating budgets are mostly unchanged except for standardizing some regular but unbudgeted expenses. Large capital projects have not yet been finalized, but the dean is prepared to fight if necessary. Capital budgets for departments will be communicated soon. She also reminded faculty of the call for nominations for the rotating faculty Associate Dean position.

With regard to merit reviews, Crabtree said that the committee recommendations were nearly done. The chairs will communicate the recommendations to the faculty and the dean will then communicate her recommendations to the faculty. She offered thanks to CNS, and especially to Jay Rozgonyi and Chalise Grogan for designing and trouble-shooting the online merit application process. It seems to be going very smoothly and Crabtree has forwarded some questions to the Faculty Salary Committee for the future.

Assessment and program review are also moving along. Sociology, Philosophy, and Math have all had external reviewers and are revising action plans. New Media has completed a five-year program review, and Catholic Studies will do so next year. Women's Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies are completing self-studies this summer. Communication, Religious Studies, American Studies and Russian and Eastern European Studies will begin the process next year.

Shifting to fundraising, Crabtree reported $250,000 in new gifts to CAS endowments this year (the Science Institute and Endowment for Curricular Innovation and Global Engagement). There have also been small gifts for current use and/or budget relief. She acknowledged CAS Board of Advisors member, Bob Ollwerther, co-chair of this year's record setting Fairfield Awards Dinner.

$1,922,488 has been spent to support faculty research from 2008 to 2011 (versus $1.3 million from 2005 to 2009). This support takes the form of travel expenses, start-up funds, matching funds on grants, Humanities Institute and Science Institute grants for faculty research, and CAS Board funded projects. Department travel budgets are $1000 per person and there has been an 8.2 % increase in department budgets over three years, compared to a 354% in the Dean's support for travel beyond department budgets over the same period. The increases are due to new hires, the internationalization of faculty and of professional societies, and rising costs.

Fundraising plans include working with major donors, especially around the Science Institute and Endowment for Curricular Innovation and Global Engagement. Prof. Keenan asked about the goal for the Science Institute. Crabtree said that the goal was $3.5 million and it was currently $500,000 (some of this is in pledges). Bowen asked whether the success of the scholarship dinner insures the scholarships to Bridgeport students. The Dean turned to Pres. von Arx who said that the scholarship dinner supports minority scholarships for students from all over and assured Bowen that we are not moving away from the guarantee to Bridgeport students.

Prof. Mielants asked whether there were any attempts, e.g., exit interviews, to track losses of tenure track faculty. Crabtree said that people were not leaving because they were unhappy at Fairfield, but because of spousal or geographic issues, or dream offers. Since her deanship, there have been no losses that we could have retained. For example, this year, there were no counteroffer situations, just offers that better met personal needs. But we are in better shape than many other places because we have no hiring or salary freezes and no furloughs.

Prof. DeWitt noted that during the budget crisis, we had moved away from our long-term practice of funding faculty travel, and asked whether we were back. Crabtree said that she was able to fund all requests this year. She emphasized the fundamental importance of valuing faculty academic engagement.

Changing hats briefly, Crabtree reported that the Committee on University College, the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and the Educational Planning Committee have all voted to close University College. It's coming to the Academic Council and should go to the General Faculty in the Fall, with related issues going to the UCC and Arts & Sciences Curriculum Committee. She thanked all of the committees involved in this process, with special thanks to chairs: Profs. Yarrington, G. Campbell, Im, and Petrino.

Recognition of faculty accomplishments.

Crabtree congratulated Profs. Demers, Downie, Harkins, Mayzik, Pagano, Pearson and Rose for receiving tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, and Prof. Schwab for being promoted to Professor. She went on to congratulate Prof. Bowen for being the 2010 Carnegie Professor of the year for CT and receiving a 2011 CT Higher Education Community Service Award. Further congratulations went to Prof. de La Chapelle Skubly, a part-time faculty member in our French Program, who received L'Ordre des Palmes AcadŽmiques from the French government. Finally, Prof. Miecnikowski was congratulated for receiving the Alpha Sigma Nu Teacher of the Year award. The departmental award for integration and assessment of student learning will be given in the Fall.

The following faculty were acknowledged for having authored, edited, or translated books this year: Profs. Campos, Downie, DeWitt, Epstein, Fine, Jones, LeClair, Leatherman, Mielants, Pagano and Simon.

Presentation of CAS Distinguished Teaching Award.

The award was presented to Prof. Angela Kim Harkins with the following citation. She received a standing ovation.

Many dedicated professors work tirelessly to improve the classroom experience for their students and to instill the same passion for subject, discipline, and learning that they have found. Beyond the classroom, excellent faculty nurture students' independent scholarship and, in the process, cultivate new colleagues from among their students, whose voices join those in the discipline through presentations and publications mentored and supervised by caring teachers. Truly distinguished teaching is, in addition, characterized by an unwavering commitment, not only to one's own development as a teacher, but to the culture of teaching at the institution and in the discipline. Such a teacher is Professor Angela Kim Harkins. Whether in preparing courses, assessing student learning, leading departmental assessment efforts, or advocating for better measures of teaching effectiveness, Professor Harkins exemplifies dedication to her vocation. Beyond consistently strong evaluations from students and peers, Professor Harkins has been honored by the nationally recognized Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, where she was competitively selected as a seminar member and awarded a research fellowship. For this comprehensive and significant dedication to teaching excellence, for her numerous contributions to Fairfield's teaching and learning initiatives that have resulted in a more engaged and effective institutional culture for both students and faculty, the College of Arts & Sciences recognizes Professor Angela Kim Harkins with its 2011 Distinguished Teaching Award.

Crabtree concluded with thanks to: the people serving on the CAS award committees, members of the Planning Committee and A&SCC, Profs. Abbott and Rakowitz for serving as CAS secretary, Prof. O'Driscoll for chairing, the committee that developed the divisional merit review proposal and the divisional merit review committees, faculty who engaged with the CAS Board of Advisors, especially Prof. R. White, chairs and program directors, CAS staff, especially Aaron Perkus (for his help with all the UC business), Joan Weiss, and Jean Daniele, and to all faculty of the College for another productive year (as evidenced by the creative and scholarly work available at the back of the room). She ended by declaring it an honor and a pleasure to be a member of this world-class faculty, and to serve as its dean.

Prof. Bucki, seconded by Patton, moved to adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 4:52.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Rakowitz