College of Arts and Sciences
Dean's Council Chairs Meeting
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Present: C. Bucki, L. Calderon, M. Carolan (for M. Sourieau) M. Coleman, N. Dallavalle, D. Keenan, P. Lane, J. McCarthy, K. Nantz, M. Patton, L. Porter, R. Rodrigues, G. Sauer, J. Simon, K. Steffen, J. Weiss, M. Wills, D. Winn
Approval of the Minutes
Drs. Dennis Keenan and Marcie Patton-moved to approve the minutes of April 7, 2010, and Dr. Phil Lane seconded the motion. The minutes were passed unanimously.
Core Integration Next Steps—Dr. Kathy Nantz joined the Dean's Council to discuss the core integration initiatives.
• Pathways to Integration—a copy of the brochure, Pathways to Integration, Take Roots, was distributed to all chairs. The pathways event was held on Monday, February 26. Nantz thanked those who participated for their descriptions and learning outcomes and mentioned that she looked forward to working with departments on implementation of projects, associated with integrating and learning goals into their syllabus.
• Seventy-five faculty are signed up for the summer institutes for a variety of workshops, relative to integrative teaching and learning.
• Summer institutes for May and June will cover horizontal integration across core courses within departments, and move core into majors.
• Nantz hopes to continue to engage in Core Unmasked this coming fall. She received constructive feedback from students and appreciates all of the faculty and administrative support. She encouraged chairs to e-mail any suggestion or comments directly to her.
• The student evaluations indicate a request for more opportunities to meet with other students within the disciplines during core unmasked, to receive their perspective and hear about their experiences. Nantz mentioned that some departments had student representation, at this event, and encouraged others to engage more students.
• The Dean mentioned that the College presentation to all students during First Year Student Orientation will incorporate ways to combine information relative to the core.
• Nantz mentioned that a few years ago, there was a faculty and student panel, along with the assistance of Fr. Charles Allen talking about the value of the core curriculum, and encouragement for parents to support their students as they talked about core choices, and the value of a liberal arts education. The student engagement on the panels was instrumental.
• Next year Nantz is planning a serious of workshops, addressing foundational courses in the core—EN 11 & 12, HI 30, RS 10, PH10 & PH150. They would like to run a workshop for each course, so departments could engage in an hour presentation about their learning goals and objectives in these courses. Faculty have showed interest in learning more about what is going on in core courses, so they could build on those ideas to be confident that students experienced these basic courses. It would be useful for departments to prepare a workshop/presentation during an event to share syllabi and other kinds of useful information. During the onset of the conversations about integration of the core, there were interesting conversations about the role of the core. Some people looked at the core as a means to provide foundational information and others simple about breadth.
• The Dean shared the outcome of the May 4, UCC meeting, where there was a motion passed to develop a sub-committee to look at putting together an application process to have courses count as core. The procedure would encompass, asking departments to look at syllabus and seeing if it fits into their requirements. This formal procedure will incorporate a structure involving UCC reviewing syllabus to assess whether learning objectives fits into the core requirements. The Dean hopes this will unfold in a highly collegial way, with the understanding that there are resources and enrollment management issues; therefore, this needs to be done in a very planful way. Science core is a model that will be a first point of contact for how this process unfolds. Dr. Steffen questioned whether the sciences would be expected to create another layer. The Dean-reassured him that their existing procedure is sufficient; therefore there is no need for an additional layer.
The idea is to have parallel structures that have both disciplinary expertise and respect, and someone objective, who would be responsible for managing the core, so that there is a clear procedure for everyone. This has been handled on an adhoc basis between individual faculty members and chairs. The goal is to get beyond a territorial notion of the core, increasingly thinking integratively—a parallel structure to the pathways—focusing on learning outcomes. All the Deans of the University, with the exception of Susan Franzoso, are voting members of the UCC, so all areas of the core will be represented. The sub-committee forming will be in dialog, along with a CAE representative and/or someone highly involved with the core integration task force, so all voices will be present.
CAS Website—Ms. Lisa Calderone, is the Web Liaison for the College of Arts and Sciences and is working with Dr. Joan Weiss on various web based initiatives for the College, inclusive of promoting research, scholarship, and creative activities within the College.
• Student Research—A sub-committee was formed to work on the College website, consisting of Beth Boquet, Kraig Steffen, Ann Stehney, and Jean Siconolfi. The committee worked with CNS to help create an electronic format for the College of Arts and Sciences Student Research publication, which was launched April 2009. The website was expanded to raise the scope and visibility of the following, with a launching date estimated for June 1, 2010.
o Prospective Audience
• Current students & faculty.
• Prospective students & faculty.
• Scholars/Researchers.
• Media looking for faculty expertise.
o Landing Page
• Navigation: Under "Academics."
• Features faculty expertise, student projects, news & stories, resources.
• Photos immediately communicate sciences, arts, global citizenship & personal inquires.
• Text hits on Fairfield's key points of pride—Jesuit tenants of social justice and service to others; strong student & faculty mentorship; capstone experiences, internships, study abroad, Fulbright scholars.
o Faculty Expertise
• Highlight new search function through faculty profiles.
• Faculty news & stories—articles associated with research, scholarship & creative activities listed in Campus Currents, Fairfield Now, news release, etcÉ
• Faculty recognition awards.
• Student Projects
o Ms. Calderone thanked Steffen for helping in creating this section. The student projects form covers two parts
• A snapshot and profile information
• Project information, pulling all information from the current hardcopy research booklet. Once a student submits the form, Ms. Calderone and the faculty mentor will receive an e-mail notification. This gives them an opportunity to review for editing. If students do not follow through on their submission, the Dean has no objection of faculty members submitting these reports, because part of this is reflecting the volume and the marketing goal is to have information to draw from. Ms. Calderone commented that these experiences are supposed to be in the student's voice. This link will eventually become a very useful data base.
• Resources
o Faculty Resources
• Pages are based on the office of sponsored programs, giving faculty opportunity to download a sample funding abstract, inclusive of steps on how to work with officers to fund faculty initiatives.
o Student Resources
• Steffen mentioned that Laura Dancho, Program Assistant for Biology has abstracts from approximately 60 students, who participated in the science poster session (37 posters submitted).
• The Dean recommended that an annual prompt be forwarded to chairs, to share with their program assistants, so they could take the initiative to reach out to students. If there is a bundled research experience within a particular class, the faculty should corral and create common links to report student projects.
• Dr. Dallavalle commented that students need to be responsible to communicate their work in a way that would be effective in the world. Students should take the time to reflect on their experiences; this should be written into the syllabus.
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Comments and Additional Information
• Actions Steps for Chairs
o Talk to faculty about the site.
o Prompt Chairs to communicate to faculty and students relative to submission of pertinent information.
o Talk to students about sharing their experiences.
Announcements and Updates
• Budget—The Dean shared the following:
o No expectation of additional operational budget cuts. Although some IDPs may see cuts, as the Dean looks to distribute funds more equitably, which is not to say equally, but based on strategic priorities and where there is more activity.
o The graduate program budgets may see more funding.
o We are not expecting to see staff cuts within the College. Every opened staff position will not be lost positions. In VPA the Studio Manager, Department Coordinator, and Technical Management will be replaced.
o The College is planning to move forward with searches.
• Admissions—Progress is better than expected, but decisions are being made later and later. The Dean thanked the chairs and their faculty for the deep engagements they had in Magis Scholars, and Admissions, Open House, classroom visits, etcÉ This is front line recruitment, and when students and faculty are engaged our guests are very pleased with their on-campus experiences. She recommended that chairs give thoughts about how we could welcome already declared freshmen into their community. The quicker these students make connection the more likely their retention.
• Orientation Program—The Dean is thinking of a new format for the June Student Orientation. The Dean may be calling on faculty to give a stimulating talk to parents about topics, such as the Ignatian Pedagogy and the Jesuit Intellectual Mission. This is an opportunity to remind parents what it is all about and to be inspired about intellectual people. Another idea is to have a student presentation, with a general panel with students and faculty discussing philosophies about different journeys on how to approach the academic plan.
Dr. Rodrigues recommended that there be a middle ground. She felt that unless the Dean was hearing from parents and students that they did not want a Q&A session, they should still have this opportunity. The Dean agreed and is planning on incorporating both formats.
Year-end Review of College Priorities and Progress
• The CAS Governance Document was approved. The Dean commended Dr. Joan Weiss
• The Dean sent some follow-up communication relative to peer-review and mentoring. At times, concerns are being addressed to the Dean, by specific junior faculty, who do not feel senior faculty are taking the time to visit their class or giving feedback, or not writing up observations. The Dean is finding vague references, so it is not clear if there were formal observations or chairs have seen reports. Junior faculty need formative feedback very close after class visits. This is for the development of junior colleagues and is used formatively for five years
• The progress on assessment is slow. Dr. Curt Naser did meet with numerous departments and he is pleased with the progress. Naser is available; the Dean encouraged chairs to invite him to a department meeting to reflect on what is or is not working, to help departments develop plans and assessment practices that meet their particular needs and goals.
Program Review Updates
• The progress on program review has been good for MA/CS, SO, and PH.
• The Dean does not think Applied Ethics will move forward in the queue, because the directorship has moved and there is a lot of change in the program. With this being said, there is room for a department to begin assessment for next fall. This would begin a two year process, inclusive of an orientation in the fall, a whole year to develop a self study, followed by external visitors engaging in conversation and visits the following fall. This is a long process. The Dean mentioned that junior faculty are excited about this process and excited to be involved. (Note: American Studies joined the queue for next year, along with the previously scheduled LACS and WS programs)
Summer Chair Responsibilities and Expectations
• Chair Elections—The Dean received chair elections for ratification. She is still waiting on some of these elections. These elections are shared with the Sr. Academic Vice President. The changing of chairship is July 1.
• Chairs' Retreat is scheduled for August 25, 2010. All departments must be represented.
o 8:30 a.m. – Noon
o Noon – 1:00 Lunch (all chairs)
o 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. All chairs, followed by dinner
o Preview of Agenda
• New Chairs—cycles, people, forms, responsibilities.
• All Chairs
• Review College Priorities
• Strategic Planning
• Department Best Practices—English mentoring committee, MACS Teaching Club, VPA Monday morning e-mail, Religious Studies research colloquium, etcÉ
The meeting Adjourned for dinner at Hunan Pavilion.