Dean's Council Meeting

College of Arts and Sciences

November 9, 2005

Present: C. Bucki, M. Coleman, R. Crabtree, R. DeWitt, J. Escobar, J. Garvey,

M. Gogol, J. Goldfield, D. Greenberg, Fr. Hannafey, S.J., J. McCarthy, E. O'Connell,

L. O'Connor, S. Peterson, R. Poincelot, S. Rakowitz, G. Sauer, K. Schlichting, D. Winn

Not Present: P. Lane, Ellen Umansky

The meeting convened at 3:30 p.m.

Introductory Remarks

• Individually Designed Major—The Dean and Dean Poincelot clarified the criteria for declaring an Individually Designed major. Previously, the policy was changed by the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee to state that an Individually Designed major had to be a student's sole major—a double major was not permissible. This policy was changed back, by the Curriculum Committee, again allowing a student to have an Individually Designed major as a second major.

• College Travel Policy—There is confusion with the College travel policy amongst the faculty. The Dean frequently receives travel request from faculty, and questions pertaining to their travel allotment. The policy has been in existence for years, so the Dean encouraged the department chairs to review the policy and share the travel information with their colleagues.

• Program Directors—The newly designed meeting format for the Dean's Council seems to be beneficial to the program directors. The separation gave the program directors an opportunity to discuss more specific issues pertaining to the Interdisciplinary Programs. During the first two meetings, the directors shared information on the mechanics of their program—the operation of their programs and goals and challenges they are faced with. The goal is to have sufficient time to discuss pertinent issues relative to the Interdisciplinary Programs—how they contribute to the core, how they contribute to the integration of the core in the Strategic Plan, and how the upcoming review of the programs will take place.

The Dean shared some of the issues that he hoped to explore through the reviews of these programs. The Governance Document presently specifies that the duties of the program directors are similar to the duties of the chair, as decided by the Dean. This offers the Dean flexibility but lends confusion for the directors. The responsibilities of the program directors will be assessed and clarified. A focus on the development of a policy concerning expections for lengths of service for directorships will be explored. The evaluation will also observe the programs that are mapped around sole involvement, which is not necessarily healthy for the operation of the program. There will be focus on the three environmentally-oriented programs—Environmental Studies, Environmental Science, and Marine Science—to see if the College might benefit by consolidating these programs. The program review will be conducted jointly be Deans Gogol and Poincelot.

• Classics Conference—Dr. Vin Rosivach joined other Jesuit schools at a conference exploring each of their Classical Studies programs and the discipline at large. The Dean encouraged the chairs to consider discussions of this type with other schools. The College could host conferences each year to share disciplinary activities amongst other Jesuit schools.

• UCA—The University's involvement with our sibling institution, UCA, is growing. The Dean visited UCA, and he was impressed with their operation and their dedicated faculty, administration, and students.

UCA receives approximately 45% of their 8 million dollar budget from their federal government. The University exhibits an incredible amount of interdisciplinary programming. For example, a campus space was developed jointly by the architectural, art, and biology departments, along with their environmental program. All of their programs are required to have an environmental and a gender component. There are a number of independent institutes—mostly socially-oriented—that utilize UCA's faculty and administration. The largest one is a micro finance organization that is attempting to assist citizens with their economic well being.

Dr. Robbin Crabtree shared her experiences, along with the efforts of Dr. David Sapp, and James Mayzik, S.J., who are presently in collaboration with UCA's Communication Program. Mayzik and Crabtree visited UCA, and they found that there was an interest in student-to-student collaboration. Mayzik and Sapp are currently working on this connection through video projects (Mayzik) and web-based programs (Sapp). Technology was a barrier in both of these initiatives.

UCA also showed an interest in faculty development opportunities. Crabtree, Mayzik, and Sapp are working on three programs, which will incorporate faculty development components, student learning opportunities, and public presentations. These revenue generating/continuing education opportunities are for professionals in Nicaragua. The first presentation is scheduled for May, which will address the topic relative to technology—debating whether the Internet is a public or a private sphere. UCA has no faculty expertise in this area lending an opportunity for faculty to learn new initiatives. There will be an open forum for students addressing controversial issues, giving them an opportunity for open discussion. The second program will focus on organizational communication and intercultural communication in the global economy. The third discussion will address a writing related combination of English for special purposes and particular initiatives pertaining to the environment.

The Dean noted that UCA is associated with an environmental institute that has experts who address environmental issues, where their lives and economy are critically affected. Our environmental programs may benefit by partnering with UCA; this may be explored in the upcoming interdisciplinary programs review.

Dr. Kurt Schlichting visited Nicaragua twice with Dr. Winston Tellis.  They developed a project with faculty at LaUNAN in Léon.  They worked with faculty from the School of Public Health, assisting them in the development of a database for the city by utilizing property tax records.  A file was built to analyze different types of housing in various areas of the city.  Three individuals from Nicaragua joined a seminar held at Fairfield University-one faculty member from UCA, one faculty from LaUNAN, and an individual working for the local city government.  The objective of the seminar was to support them in designing a strategic plan for their city.  This project is ongoing. 

A faculty member from UCA expressed, to the Dean, interest in learning how to teach the English language more effectively. Our Modern Language and Literatures AT and OPS sessions may be helpful in obtaining this goal. This is a future initiative that might engage the Department with UCA.

Our goal is to increase our student's interest and opportunities through student exchange programs with UCA. The University started both a semester-long and a one-week program working towards this goal. Fr. von Arx has also created two semester-long scholarships for UCA students to study at Fairfield, facilitating opportunities for cross-cultural sharing.

• Pass around Information—The Dean shared the following opportunities with the department chairs:

o R.H. Perry & Associates is a Search Counsel to Higher Education, which is assisting with the recruitment for two positions. The University of Great Falls Montana is seeking a new Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the College of Misericordia, in Dallas, PA, is searching for a Vice President for Academic Affairs.

o University of Northern Iowa is soliciting applications and nominations for the position of the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences.

o Claremont Graduate University—Seeking nominations for the newly created Claremont National Scholarships for doctoral study. The recipient will receive full tuition, plus a $20,000 annual stipend.

• Upcoming Issues—The January Dean's Council meeting will consist of the following agenda items:

o Normalization of chairs—How chairs are selected and their compensation.

o Staff analysis—A review on issues such as the history, responsibilities, and distribution of staff, along with ways in which relationships with staff can be improved will be reviewed.

o Internships—Sapp received a Humanities Institute Grant to fund an assessment on how the College utilizes internship opportunities. Dr. Curt Naser is analyzing the accessibility to internship opportunities, to better the student's awareness, along with reviewing the ownership to internships among departments.

Approval of Minutes

Dr. Jesœs Escobar motioned to approve the minutes. Dr. Cecelia Bucki asked for a minor change in the wording of the minutes, and Crabtree asked to include Dr. Ed O'Connell and Dr. Ellen Umansky in the section of the minutes pertaining to the College Planning Committee. All present were in favor of approving the minutes upon the amendments stated.

Merit Revisited

The Dean conditionally approved the departmental College merit plans for one year. He made a formal presentation to the Academic Vice President, Dr. Orin Grossman, and then to the President, Jeffrey P. von Arx, S.J. They both approved the College-wide Structure. The College satisfied the many documents set forth for the University in creating these plans.

Overall, the set of plans is diverse, while consonant with the needs and practices of the individual departments and their fields. The challenges are with the many styles of plans, their differences, and how these plans map out to the various levels of additional merit—Additional 0, 1, 2 and 3. Because of the time restraint and complexity, the Dean was not able to analyze each of the plans to assure equity across departments. Many numerically-based plans have thresholds for the different levels of Additional Merit; these must be revisited after a cycle or two to assure that they are calibrated appropriately. The idea is to avoid thresholds that are too high or too low.

The Dean seeks fairness across the departments. He shared a few ideas in assuring the equilibration of plans. Each of these would be set in place just for one year, allowing us to give the various plans some trial runs. The first scenario would be a proportional system where the same amount of funds would be placed within each of the levels, across the College. Departments would then generally base their proportions of faculty receiving the various levels of Additional Merit on that distribution. The second plan would distribute funds for Additional Merit based on the number of faculty within each department. The positive aspect of this latter plan is that it brings the fiscal realities of available monies into the department level. On the other hand, a smaller department whose members have performed uniformly well would not be served well using this plan.

Crabtree suggested that the College utilize the plans, as submitted, in order to assess if the plans are working internally, or whether a lack of proportionality is a function of a unique department makeup, or a function of the plans' inability to sufficiently discern in an appropriately proportionate way. There is an understanding that these plans will have a mechanism for review every year, so that problems could be identified. Dr. Susan Rakowitz's understanding was that the College agreed upon a merit plan document where the distribution of funds would be the same amount across each department; therefore, she was confused with the conversation of optional plans. The Dean noted that, when he approved the plans, he informed the chairs that there may be some adjustments of the plans to assure equilibration. Dr. Rick DeWitt stated that the College agreed that assessments on the additional merit plan would not take place until the number of levels was determined. DeWitt suggested that when next year's data was gathered, if there were plans that the Dean felt did not working appropriately, it may be a good idea to have a College elected committee that could assist the Dean in justifying any deficiencies to these plans.

Based on suggestions by Crabtree, the Council agreed that the issue would be addressed again once we have a rough idea of the number of levels of Additional Merit that University financial decisions would allow. That will guide the decisions that must be made in order to assure equity across departments during this initial period of use of the plans.

The College's Response to the Strategic Plan

The Dean informed the department chairs that the agenda for discussion and approval of the Strategic Plan be the Board of Trustees was scheduled for the beginning of December. This plan was intentionally designed to be wholly strategic and mission-centric, free of tactics. The Plan was drafted in a way that, while not including them, admitted the tactics laid out by the Plan's three Task Forces, while also admitting further creativity on the part of faculty and the larger University community.

Fr. von Arx's implementation of the Strategic Plan was to look at the integration of the core as taking place fully in the Academic Division. He viewed the Center of Academic Excellence as playing a strong role in this process. He observed Living and Learning as a joint mission between the Academic and Student Service Divisions. The integration of Jesuit values into graduate education will take place through a partnership between the Academic and Advancement Divisions. The University also plans a more concerted, overarching marketing plan.

The Steering Committee developed a document in response to the University's Strategic Plan, which will be submitted to the Drafting Committee prior to their discussion with the Board of Trustee in early December. This draft was distributed to the department chairs for their review. Crabtree mentioned that this plan can be discussed at the next College of Arts and Sciences meeting, which is scheduled for November 30. If there is a motion during the faculty meeting, the College could address these issues in time for their December submission. The Dean was concerned with the time restraint; therefore, any amendments need to be addressed quickly.

The Steering Committee highlighted the significant implications found in the University's Strategic Plan relative to the College in terms of work and/or new resources. The Dean suggested that the chairs review the Strategic Plan with a vision of how it fits the College.

Goal #2 Integration of Life and Learning—Schlichting commented that the Integration of Life and Learning requires energy and commitment on the part of the faculty. If the College is going to encourage this initiative and recognize the importance of this goal, the ambition and good will of our faculty should be valued and accountable within the numerical scheme of the merit process. It is harder to place a value on the accountability of faculty's involvement with the Life and Learning component, but this service should be ranked equivalent to other rewarding initiatives.

Under the Living and Learning component of the College's Strategic Plan, the Dean noted that comments of the Plan related to aesthetic education and experience should be related to the wide range of Visual and Performing Arts programming and be included in our response.

Dr. Donald Greenberg questioned the value of Goal #3: Integration of Jesuit Values in Graduate and Professional Education. Greenberg disagreed with the idea of integrating Jesuit values at a deeper level into the graduate and professional programs. He felt that not all department chairs would support this goal. Crabtree asked Greenberg to clarify his implications. She questioned whether his reference was for all programs of the institution, or if he viewed the graduate programs differently from the undergraduate programs, in relation to the University's mission. Greenberg felt that a deeper emphasis on Jesuit values would raise serious academic and cohort questions, which are very different at the graduate level. The statement of integrating Jesuit values more deeply implies that the mission was already accomplished; therefore, Greenberg did not feel further initiative was necessary—more moral or value teaching may undermine the graduate and professional programs.

Greenberg did not understand why the "College of Arts and Sciences remains the central academic entity of Fairfield University, deserving of enhanced and restored stature and recognition for supporting the students and programs of the graduate and professional schools." Crabtree explained that the presence of this goal was relative to an earlier document that Dr. Lane prepared. Lane thought that any emphasis on graduate programs would be a loss for the College in terms of resources and centrality. The statement was designed to bring recognition to the point that as graduate programs increasingly develop, they should not omit the College. The statement of centrality was also inserted in recognition of Dr. Hugh Humphrey's thoughtful response that was addressed to the President regarding restoring the centrality of the College.

Dr. Leo O'Connor asked for clarity on the strategic statement relative to the Jesuit mission. He questioned how Jesuit values could be implemented into a graduate program. The Dean commented that the Strategic Plan did not clearly articulate the Jesuit tactics. It is not clear if the plan is stating that our programs and institution needs to become more Jesuit oriented. The Dean's interpretation, based on hearing Father von Arx's many messages concerning the Plan, is that we should be more responsive to, and accommodating of, our local communities in our graduate programming. He mentioned that accommodations for our graduate students also need to be improved, perhaps through on-campus housing and full accessibility to facilities during the summer months. O'Connor felt that these examples reflected items of concern for any secular graduate program. O'Connor implied that perhaps, on the Jesuit level, graduate students can be made aware of the Ignatian spiritual exercises, which are not only open to our undergraduate students, but also to our graduate students. He felt that the majority of the graduate student population did not base their acceptance of the University on the Jesuit mission. A graduate student's selection is based on entirely different criteria than an undergraduate student—decisions are based on location, specific course offerings, or intellectual stimulation.

Escobar's noted that there are graduate students who indeed attend the University because we are a Jesuit institution. Some students base their decisions on the fact that Jesuit schools have a reputation of having strong faculty. Escobar is in favor of the Jesuit mission; it should be part of marketing for the graduate schools. Programs that are oriented towards community values would be a favorable marketing tool.

Crabtree reviewed the portion of Goal #3 of the University's Strategic Plan, which focused on making the institution one of wholeness with undergraduate and graduate programs valued equally. It states that the University should become more intentional in educating the non-traditional Fairfield student, such as graduate and professional students.

The Dean mentioned that the College's graduate admissions numbers were not recognized as strongly as they should be. Statistical information for the College's graduate admissions is often not totaled as a whole unit, as is done for other schools—the Mathematics and American Studies Programs are recorded separately. Schlichting recommended that a cost benefit analysis be done, along with true cost accountability, in order to assure that the College can find resources without embarking on a program where we are breaking even or losing money. The Dean indicated that no program would be started without assurance that we would maintain the quality of current programming, including undergraduate, and bring that same level of quality to new programs. The Dean also noted that the American Studies Graduate Program is as profitable as any graduate program of the University. O'Connor noted that American Studies faculty serve their contract by teaching undergraduate students, and any faculty member teaching a graduate level American Studies course is teaching an overload, which produces profitability. The growth of the graduate school will warrant enhancement in faculty personnel.

Crabtree noted that the College of Arts and Sciences was already in sync with the University's mission as our programs increasingly develop

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.