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Minutes of the College of Liberal Arts Faculty Assembly

Attending: Abbas, Arthur, Boggess, Buss, Broffitt, Duarte, Ehrstine, Finamore, Freeman, Gölz, Gonzalez, Gross, Guentner, Heard, Heineman, Hesli, Hochstrasser, Honey, Jones, Kleiber, Kuntz, Lang, Lara-Braud, Lindberg, Nagel, Nelson, Norbeck, Oden, Pietrzyk, Schnell, Simon, Squire, Stroyan, Thomas, Ton-That, Trachsel, Troyer, Valentino, Woodard

Excused absence: Altman, Atkinson, Creekmur, Dettmer, Donadey, Farrell, Franklin, Hanley, Lafkey, Lu, Marvin, Peters, Polumbaum, Randell, Silliman, Slatton, Solow, Tomblin, Young

Absent: Adams, Arnone, Beckman, Darling, DiPardo, Fielding, Heilenman, Lewis, Markovsky, Mendez, Mills, Murty, Rigal, Robertson, Rushton, Saenz, Shih, Slatton, Soloski, Spiess, Weirich, Whitmore, Wilcox, Woodworth, Zbiek

Guests: Amitava Bhattacharjee, Physics and Astronomy, member of the Executive Commmittee
Raúl Curto, Executive Associate Dean
Jackie Hammers, Daily Iowan

1. Minutes of December 6, 2000. The minutes of December 6 were approved as distributed.

2. Announcements: Chair Honey announced that in February, member Lisa Troyer will report on the activities of the Research Council. He also reminded members that he is working toward an all-college meeting to discuss the "unfitness policy" (and noted that Mark Schantz, University Counsel, has assured him that the word "unfitness" will not be used; "nonperformance of duty" is one alternative). This meeting will be scheduled for February 14.

3. Discussion of the Executive Committee's Spring Agenda. The chair introduced Amitava Bhattacharjee, Physics and Astronomy, a member of the Executive Committee. Professor Bhattacharjee provided the following overview of the committee's spring agenda:
a) Continued work toward a Division of Interdisciplinary Program. The committee is developing a job description for the Division Director, and will be doing an internal search to fill the position.
b) Continued work toward a vision for the College. The committee will have a day-long retreat with the dean this spring and will be discussing the College's "visibility," both on- and off-campus.
c) The Executive Committee will be reviewing several lectureships and also will be involved in the College's review of the Center for the Book, the Department of Mathematics, and the Department of Psychology.
d) The Executive Committee will be advising the Dean on the allocation of new faculty searches.

J. Nelson (Political Science) asked whether the Executive Committee would be able to share with departments the standards that will be used to evaluate requests for searches. Professor Bhattacharjee responded that the committee's standards are straightforward and reflected in the call for proposals. He spoke at some length about the frustrations of the mismatch between needs and resources, noting that many excellent proposals cannot be funded. He also invited Raúl Curto to speak about this topic. Executive Dean Curto reaffirmed that the College's needs always outstrip the available funds.

As discussion continued, members reflected on the relationship between the College's "visibility" and the allocation of University resources to the College. Professor Bhattacharjee said that the College must find ways to renew constantly the image of the College and retell the College's story. He asked the Assembly members to send him specific suggestions about how to ensure that the President's Office is aware of the many activities of the College's departments and programs. J. Nelson said that the College should remember the advice of Professor Sam Becker (emeritus, Communication Studies), and develop a definition of the College based on its distinctive elements. Professor Bhattacharjee agreed adding that he saw the College as having a complex story of strength and diversity.

F. Woodard (African American World Studies/English) pointed out that there are two different "politics" to consider. He reminded the Assembly that external fundraising and visibility require an approach different from what is needed to influence the internal allocation of resources in the University. Professor Bhattacharjee agreed, and said that a University-wide committee (of which he is a member) is preparing a report for the President on criteria for allocation of resources.

J. Simon (Mathematics) asked whether others shared his perception that ISU and UNI have done better in developing a "vision" or projecting an image than the UI. He also asked whether there was a connection between the strength of those images and resources. Professor Bhattacharjee replied that while the University is well known in several areas, the College needs a clearer image in the state.

D. Thomas (French and Italian) pointed out that the Office of the Provost is being reviewed. He encouraged members to participate in this process and contact members of the review committee.

R. Scullion (French and Italian/Women's Studies) suggested that while in some respects the College cannot compete with larger institutions, it can stress the flexibility that permits faculty to participate easily and effectively in interdisciplinary projects and programs.

Thanking Professor Bhattacharjee for his report, Chair Honey encouraged Assembly members to contact the executive committee with questions, comments and concerns [members can be reached through the EC's web site: http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/governance/ec/index.shtml

4. Discussion of the Educational Policy Committee's Spring Agenda. Chair Honey then introduced John Erickson, Journalism and Mass Communication, who is a member of both the Assembly and the Educational Policy Committee. Professor Erickson reported that while the EPC was still developing its agenda, it has scheduled the following topics: a) The on-going College project to fund proposals to enhance the training of graduate students as teachers. b) The very late finals week scheduled for Fall 2001 (December 17-21). c) The "visibility" of the College-the EPC will meet with the Dean on this topic. d) Requests for new faculty lines. e) Departmental practices for the peer review of teaching. Professor Erickson noted that the EPC wants to discover ways in which departments are nurturing teaching.

5. Discussion of the Assembly's Agenda. Chair Honey noted that he had been asked to include the subject "Library Acquisition Processes and Policies" to the Assembly agenda. The topic of "civility" (recently identified by the Ombudsperson's Office as a serious campus-wide problem) has also been suggested for Assembly discussion. He encouraged members to continue to send him agenda topics.

6. Discussion of the Spring Elections. Chair Honey then introduced Eugene Buck, who is working as Administrative liaison for the College's spring elections. He provided the Assembly with a time line for the nomination and election process. He focussed on the problem of low numbers of nominations in recent election cycles. Members reflected on why fewer faculty were being nominated, and why so many of those nominated decline to run for office. Some argued that more must be done to develop nominations. J. Nelson suggested the establishment of a nominating committee. Others spoke of ways to publicize the election process and how to make the nomination process easier. L. Troyer argued that because of perceptions that service is not valued in tangible ways, faculty members do not feel moved to serve. Others agreed.

7. Adjournment. The time for adjournment having arrived, the meeting ended without discussion of other agenda items.

Respectfully submitted,
Ken Kuntz
Secretary, 2000-01