2015_02_26 CAS Minutes

A. Call for nominations

The Chair announced that the following calls for nominations are officially open. Elections for these positions will be held at our March meeting.

1.   Merit committee (department & at-large reps, 2-year terms)
2.   ASPC/planning committee (natural sciences & math; interdisciplinary programs; 2 year terms)
3.   CAS faculty secretary (2 year term)

B. Upcoming plans for campus Water theme, Prof. Yarrington

Prof. Yarrington provided an update on Water theme events and initiatives.

Water Theme Steering Committee Members
Jo Yarrington, facilitator, CAS
Patricia Poli, co-facilitator, DSB
Lori Jones, co-facilitator, Quick Center
Faculty (CAS, DSB, SOE, SON)
Administrators
Students

Initiatives to date…
Web page
Water Wall
Interdisciplinary film series
Interdisciplinary seminar – EV 302
Core Writing Sequence, AY 2014-15 (Gannett)
Business Leaders Breakfast Discussion about Ethics (Schmidt)
Assessment

Water theme courses
BI 174    Biology of Food (Klug)
BI 76/CH 76    Environmental Science (Biardi)
CH 83    Survey of Chemistry (Bethray)
EC 120Environmental and Resource Economics (Franceschi)
EN 12    Texts and Contexts II (10 sections)
EN 214    Oceanic Shakespeare (Kelley)
HR 202    Water as a Global Security Issue (Rajan)
EV 302    Interdisciplinary Research Seminar (Yarrington)
MG 101    Introduction to Management (Cavanaugh)
MK 101    Principles of Marketing (Neal)
SA 11    Foundations: Structure, Space, Environment (Donovan)
SA 133    Photography I: Alternative Processes Post
SA 134    Digital Photography: Imagine Water (Edwards)
SA 139    Watercolor (Chamlin)

Interdisciplinary Film Series
Rain, 1929 and The River, 1938, Discussant: Scalese
Tapped, 2009, Discussant: Poli
Water, 2005, Discussant: Mughal
Manufactured Landscapes, 2006, Discussant: Edwards
DamNation, 2014, Discussant: Berdanier
Chinatown, 1974, Discussant: Lerner
Ugetsu, 1953, Discussant: Xiao
The Business of Being Born, 2008, Discussant: LoGiudice
The Island President, 2011, Discussant: Biardi
lo sono Li, 2011, Discussant: Carolan
Rivers and Tides, 2001, Discussant: Donovan
Gasland, 2010, Discussant: Biardi and LEAF members

Spring Campus Events (2015)

Performance: The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer
FUSA Film: Captain Phillips
Public Lectures

Robyn Smyth, Ph.D.: Bio-Physical Modeling of Photosynthesis in the Southern Ocean: Implications for Carbon Sequestration (Biology Lecture Series in Memory of Dr. Donald J. Ross, Sr.).
George S. Logan, Director, Environmental Management and Government Relations, Aquarion Water Company.
Jamil Ahmad, Deputy Director, United Nations Environmental Programme.
Gary LeCleir, '98, Ph.D.: Using Next Generation Sequencing Technology to Answer Questions in Aquatic Microbial Ecology (Biology Lecture Series in Memory of Dr. Donald J. Ross, Sr.).
Mary Mattingly, internationally known artist/environmentalist: Discussion of artwork and interdisciplinary project at Fairfield University. Mattingly will be giving a hands-on project workshop earlier in the day, from 11 – 12 pm, in Loyola 20. She also is available to visit individual classes in the afternoon, as per advanced request. Public Lecture.
Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs, Water and the Age of Sustainable Development (Open Visions Forum.
Janine Caira, Ph.D.: The Denizens of the Deep Revealed: A Global Look at Shark and Ray Tapeworms, (Dr. Donald J. Ross, Sr.Biology Lecture Series)
Reading, Open to the Public: Cinelo Okparanta, author of "Happiness, Like Water."

Discussion with students on the politics, economics, research and stewardship of water in the state of CT, John Herlihy, Vice President of Water Quality and Environmental Management, Aquarion Water Company (and Fairfield alumn).
Exhibition, Open to the Public: Fair Water, opening reception April 15, 5 – 6:30 pm.

University Sponsored Field Trips
March 21: Maritime Aquarium, Norwalk, CT (Yarrington and Poli)
April 11: Mill River: Coordinated by Biardi (with Steffen)
April 24: Millstone Nuclear Power Plant (Yarrington)

Water Events in 2015-2016
Public Lectures and Events Committee
Spring survey for new theme
Business Leaders Breakfast Discussion about Ethics
D. Schmidt and Fairfield Rotary
Panel Discussion I - Partnering with Aquarion Water Company
Government and regional issues
Environmental impact
Panel Discussion II – Partnering with N. Napolitano, Jesuit Social Ministries
Activism and global stewardship

Prof. Yarrington encouraged colleagues to consider taking on the position to be the next cross-curricular theme leader. She described her experience as the Water theme chair as a positive one.

C. Update on 20/20 process and potential changes to the Core

Prof. Dallavalle provided a brief report on the 2020 process and potential changes to the core. She noted that the discussion on revisions to the Core are on hold until a Director of the Core Curriculum is selected. The director will lead any strategies to revise the Core via normal committee processes (plenty of opportunities for discussion)

Prof. Dallavalle encouraged colleagues, departments, and programs to submit feedback on the proposed revisions to the Core. She advised colleagues to be "concrete" and put your ideas on the table for the yet to be appointed Director of the Core..

Prof. Bowen: What was the process of soliciting nominations, and what are the criteria for selecting the director? Will the director be a faculty member?

Prof. Epstein (task force member): The proposal and task force document will be handed off to a faculty committee and the new Director of the Core Curriculum, who will report to Dean. He added that the process of soliciting nominations began with a call for nominations, but there was no certainty who received that call for nominations (perhaps steering committee members).

Prof. Dennen: What was the rationale for the $1million line in the budget for “core or 2020 initiatives?

Prof. Dallavalle: I do not have information about that.

Prof. Bowen: Can we get information on the process and criteria for selecting the Director of the Core Curriculum?

Prof. Gannett: Now that the 2020 committee process is complete, who should we send our comments and responses to now?

Prof. Dallavalle: Send it to the former chairs and/or steering committee members.

Prof. Mulvey noted that it is concerning and difficult to reconcile with the $1 milion budget line considering that the 2020 initiative was fueld by the idea that we need to save money and increase efficiency.

Assoc. Dean Perkus: I sat on the steering committee last year. If we look at the demographics, it is clear that if we don't diversity our portfolio and get more students, we will not have a sustainable model. Some ideas will create revenue, some will require funding, and others will be revenue neutral.

Dean Simon: I spoke with Lynn about the new Director of the Core. I encouraged the Vice President to select a Director from the college, which houses the Core. The Dean reported that he nominated 10 CAS faculty members for the position. The Vice President of Academic Affairs has interviewed at least one of the faculty nominated by Dean Simon.

Prof. McFadden Thanked Dean Simon for his discussion with AVP Babington.

Prof. Dennen: Who will be responsible for spend the budgeted funds?

Prof. Dallavalle: At end of semester, the steering committee will send a report to the President, and the budget and process go from there.

Prof. Rosivach: Please reiterate throughout the process that any changes or revisions to the Core curriculum must go through the proper channels.

Assoc. Dean Gudelunas reported on a meeting with the Chairs of the Social and Behavioral Sciences and Admissions and Marketing. The primary take-aways from the meeting are listed below:

Departments and the College need dynamic, user-friendly presences on line
Departments will vary in terms of their web presence (from simple/basic to dynamic contents and blogs)
Faculty expressed concern about lacking the resources to keep timely updates, contents, etc.
Marketing is willing to help faculty and departments translate their programs and discplines to parents, students, and the public (without diluting our academic content).
The university website will feature a few revisions for home page (soon). The updates are a normative practice for higher education websites and in corporate America. My.fairfield will be slightly retooled as well.
What can depts. & programs do?

Talk about the work of students and faculty to an external audience. Don’t simply replicate what’s in the catalogue.
Designate a faculty member to be the marketing liaison… perhaps a great opportunity for a junior colleague who is tech savvy.
Decide what your department wants: a dynamic presence, minimal presence?
Consider making use of the new blog dfeature that will become available… see International Studies and their blog to see how they use this tool in a dynamic way. The Associate Dean will assist departments who want to do this.
Carolyn Arnold will launch a rotation system in which all progs and departments meet with her twice a year to discuss website options and to make updates to your dept page.
Faculty can get training in T4 which can put you in the drivers seat for small website changes that don’t rquire assistance from Carolyn Arnold.
We must work together to define ourselves as Fairfield CAS… how do we translate the mission statement to a broader public (consumer facing… accessible… tangible)? How do we translate our great work?
The Associate Dean will schedule lunch sessions to discuss these ideas with CAS faculty

The Dean noted that he was keen to sustain his tradition of keeping his comments brief. Today he discussed three items before opening the floor for comments and questions.

Dean’s Search: Last Friday we learned from the AAVP that the CAS Dean's Search is on hold becaue there was “no consensus” on best candidate for this moment in the history of the college. The AAVP was traveling and could not attend the CAS meeting to address our questions. The Dean reported that the AAVP will consult with colleagues about next steps. Dean Simon explained that his term as Dean is scheduled to end on July 1, 2015. He will be on sabbatical for Fall 2015. He said he was/is not included on some of the Dean's Search business because he was a candidate for the position; he compared his situation to the Jimmy Cliff's lyric: "Sitting here in limbo, waiting for the tide to flow..." CAS Colleagues applauded Dead Simon and Prof. McFadden thanked the Dean for sharing this information.
Getting freshmen into the CAS:

New majors and expansion of 5-year BA/MA programs are part of the strategy. The Dean asked Assoc. Dean Perkus to summarize where we are with this:

Current graduate directors agreed on path to create a 5year MA program.
Students take 96 credits before their senior year (with GPA requirement), they will meet with Financial Aid, they will apply for the program. Once approved, they take two graduate classes as a senior. Those two classes will be applied to their MA upon graduation.
Prof. Bowen: What programs? Dean Perkus listed the following: MFA, math, communications, MPA, and American Studies. Prof. Bowen asked if there would be an MAT program with the MFA. Associate Dean Perkus reported that he set up an initial meeting with GSEAP to assess the feasibility (do we have the resources for this initiative).

The Dean recently met with 45 students about applying for the Magis Scholarship.

Workshop on mentoring and advising: the Dean reported that suggestions from the January workshop on mentoring and advising are already being implemented.

1st and 2nd year faculty members will attend a Spring 2015 advising workshop
Dean's Office hosted an internship director workshop
The Dean would like to raise the profile of faculty advising at Fairfield. Assoc. Dean Walker found that some schools have annual awards for advising as well as teaching. The ASPC asked Jim to recruit three CAS colleagues to discuss this idea and bring their recommendations back to the full CAS body.

Q&A with the Dean

Prof. Yarrington: Do you have updates regarding software liscensing, and specifically the cost of adobe programs/access? The Dean explained that Adobe is now based entirely on the cloud. They no longer sell their programs for installation on hard drives. The cost is approximately $60 per student per class. The Dean says that he has had discussions on whether students and/or professors should or shouldn't pay these costs.
Prof. Abbott: What are the various groups that did not agree on the search? The Dean reported that he was not aware of the other groups who did not come to agreement on the Dean's search. He rais that department chairs met the candidates and provided evaluations, but apart from that we're "in the dark."