CAS Dean’s Council Meeting

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Approved Minutes

Attendees

Dr. Peter Bayers, Director of American Studies

Dr. Angela Biselli, Chair of the Department of Physics

Ms. Jean Daniele, Manager of CAS Operations

Dr. Richard Greenwald, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Terry Ann Jones, Director of International Studies

Dr. Dennis Keenan, Professor of Philosophy, On behalf of the Chair of the Philosophy Department

Ms. Andrea Martinez, CAS Assistant Dean

Dr. David McFadden, Chair of the Department of History and Director of Russian, E. European and Central Asian Studies.

Dr. Eric Mielants, Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Dr. Irene Mulvey, Chair of the Department of Mathematics

Dr. Elizabeth Petrino, CAS Associate Dean

Dr. Shelley Phelan, Chair of the Department of Biology and Director of the School of Natural & Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Judy Primavera, Chair of the Department of Psychology

Dr. Glenn Sauer, CAS Associate Dean

Dr. Kathy Schwab, Director of the School of Communication, Media and the Arts on behalf of the Chair of Visual and Performing Arts

Dr. Gary Weddle, Chair of the Department of Chemistry

Dr. Jiwei Xiao, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

Dr. Tommy Xie, Chair of the Department of English

Dr. Qin Zhang, Chair of the Department Communication

Regrets

Dr. Janie Leatherman, Chair of Department of Politics

Dr. Laura Nash, Chair of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts & Co-Director of the Honors Program

Approval of September 20, 2017 Minutes

Dr.  Eric Mielants moved to approve the September 20 minutes with a second motion from

Dr. Tommy Xie. All were in favor of the minutes.

New Program Development and Curricular Innovation

The Dean is interested in creating new programs and/or curricular innovations that support the College of Arts and Sciences. Chairs were asked to talk to their colleagues to discuss ways to move the existing curriculum forward and to discuss potential ideas for new programs within their discipline.  Also departments should think about interdisciplinary programs and areas where there would be collaboration between majors, minors, graduate programs, and even other schools.

The Dean will ask for faculty nominations to serve on a task force to evaluate curricular proposals for program innovation. Proposals around certificate programs, new minors, new majors, new masters, developing a track in a program, etc. are all welcomed ideas.

The Dean will create a Call for Proposals with more detailed information, including information relative to stipends for faculty involvement. The number of accepted proposals would be based on the resources available.

The goal of this initiative is to grow programs to increase the footprint and outreach of the College.

Dean’s Seminar on Higher Education

·      The Dean is interested in engaging in discussions as a community around some of the larger ideas on Higher Education. 

·      This initiative will pilot this coming spring, with the hopes to discuss a few key topics in an informal session.  A copy of the reading materials will be supplied by the Dean prior to each seminar.

·      An announcement/invitation will be sent to the College Faculty.

New University Programs and CAS Impact

• The Dean would like to collectively engage in conversations around new proposed Programs across the University. Individual departments/areas are being contacted to join in discussions. The Dean would like to be involved in these conversations. While we need to be collegial through this process, we also need to ensure that the College receives the necessary resources to accommodate the needs of the program.
• The Public Health Program was approved. The approved budget only offered $12,000 in adjunct support for the College and we need to ensure it is fully resourced so as to avoid strain on College departments.
• There was concern with course releases being approved at the Provost level without the department chair’s knowledge/feedback; especially since they are attempting to coordinate teaching schedules for upcoming semester. These requests should be discussed with the Dean and the chair for collaborative discussions.
• Departments in the College should not feel the pressure or experience a negative impact with program expansions outside of the College, needing CAS course offerings to accommodate students within these programs.
• There will be further conversations with the Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies regarding programs being considered in Social Work and Health Studies.  There is a Masters of Social Work in various stages of development. These programs should be shared programs across University, combining all the resources allows the University to offer richer programs.

Discussion on Line Request Template

• There are inconsistencies with the submissions for new faculty line requests; therefore the CAS Associate Deans reviewed some of the best practices by other institutions to create a more efficient template to follow for the College.
• The goal is to identify the information that the University, the Dean, and the departments need to make rational decisions and set hiring priorities.
• A Hiring Line Request and Justification (draft) was shared to offer departments guidance while submitting faculty line request(s). This was designed to make the information provided more uniform and informative.
• It was suggested to add retirement(s) and/or resignation(s) under the faculty data to help determine replacement needs.
• The Dean will reach out to the IR office to supply data to each department to help them determine their need for additional faculty lines.  5 years of data relative to student enrollments (numbers of majors, minors, as well as students served) and 5 years of data relative to faculty within each department will be requested. It was recommended that departments verify the data to ensure the numbers seem reasonably accurate.  IR seems to use frozen data, with a cutoff of October 1, so chairs should be mindful of this.
• Budget Section of proposals – It was recommended that an estimated budget be available to include on each of these requests, unless there is extenuating circumstances where budgets should be increased. 
• Chairs will receive the final template with a submission deadline of November 21. The final version will be sent out within the next few weeks. These requests should include any full-time faculty requests (tenure track, POP or one-year visiting positions).
• Collaborative discussions during a future Dean’s Council meeting will take place to prioritize the needs of the College as a whole.

Program Review Cycle – Preliminary Schedule

Dr. Glenn Sauer shared a draft proposal for program review cycle.  Fall 2017 departments/programs listed are under the review process for this year.  If a scheduled date listed is not convenient for a department, the chair should reach out to the Dean’s Office for a discussion.

The Dean will work with each department to choose appropriate external reviewers, which is critical to a successful review.  The reviewers need to understand what type of institution we are, understand the teaching responsibilities, committee service, and needs for lab space for sciences.  A good strategy is to choose one peer institution and one aspirational institution.  We want to continue offering high quality, high impact education to our students, so this is a way for external reviewers to verify we are meeting our goals. Reviews unfold over an 18 – 24 month period, and the ultimate goal is to have each department and interdisciplinary program engage in a review prior to the next NEASC visit.

The program review process is a departmental initiative that should be shared collectively among all colleagues in the department.

Announcements

NEASC Update —The NEASC Team commented on the following points.

• The University has a strong commitment to students and an engaged qualified faculty body.

• A disconnect between the University’s Strategic Plan and an evaluation of the Strategic Plan.
• Challenges around issues of diversity—faculty, student, and administration.
• Concern with the lack of assessment, in particular with the change of the Core, without accessing the existing core. 
• Certain units in the University are not assessment savvy and not making data driven informed decisions. The Dean would like to think about assessment in the College more systematic and holistically.
• There was confusion around the institutions Governance.

Distribution of Department Minutes

Departments are required to submit their department minutes to the Dean and the Provost

Attendance at Dean’s Council Meetings for School Directors & Other Guests

There was a request from the Chair of Economics to continue to attend the Dean’s Council meetings, since their department currently offers a major in the College. The Economics Chair would not have voting privileges, but would attend as a guest.  A motion was recommended to invite Economics to attend the DC meetings for the year.  All chairs were in favor.

Directors of the CAS Schools, as well as interdisciplinary program directors will be invited to attend Dean’s Council meetings as a guest depending on the scheduled agenda.

Event and Guest Speaker Announcements

• The College invited Lisa Lucas, President of the American Book Foundation to engage in a public lecture with students.  Dr. Lucas is the face of American Literature; a dynamic speaker that will talk about literature in troubled times. She is a good resource for the College and is being considered to join the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board.
• The Journalism program is going to NBC on October 12.  NBC is funding twenty students to visit, offering them a tour of the studio, an opportunity to meet with the producers, and engage in mock interviews.
• Dr. Mark Demers, the 2016-2017 Robert Wall Award recipient will be given a lecture on “Chasing Butterflies: Chaos Theory and the Lorenz Attractor” on November 15 at 3:00 p.m. in the Dogwood Room/Barone Campus Center.
• Square Foot Theater in Wallingford is offering a free preview night on Next to Normal on October 12^th donations will go to the Jaime Hully Arts Foundation.
• The Humanities at Work Lecture Series will begin November 14 with Christian Madsbierg, Sense making: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm, held in the Dolan School of Business Dining Room.

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.