Approval of minutes. The minutes for the meetings of May 28 and October 1, 2003 were approved as amended. It was reaffirmed that in the public minutes individual Council members would not be named, but that names of Ex officio Council members could be used where appropriate.

Remarks by the Secretary.

Professor Lattman, Academic Council Secretary, reported that the tenure policy working group chaired by Dean Falk attended the dinner meeting on November 4, and that they had a very productive discussion about tenure policy. Dean Falk said that the working group is nearing completion of its effort. The working group will submit recommendations to the Deans. After the Deans' review, the matter will come back to the Academic Council and, if approved, then to the President and Board of Trustees. A Council member asked if the issue of leave policy for untenured faculty had been discussed, as policy varies from department to department. Dean Weiss said that this issue has been discussed in the Dean's office and that they are working toward a more consistent approach.

Professor Lattman reminded Council members of the Faculty Assembly meeting on Tuesday, December 2 at 3:30 p.m. in Arellano Theater.

Open Discussion.

Professor Leslie, liaison to the KSAS Curriculum Committee, reported that in a joint meeting of the KSAS and the WSE curriculum committees there was a clear disagreement between the schools on the policy of covering grades in first semester of freshman year. The Whiting School would like to uncover the grades while a clear majority in the Krieger School disagree. The Provost commented that the policy of covering grades is appealing to prospective students. It was decided that Professor Ball, who is informed on the issue because of his work on CUE, would talk to Dean Douglas and the Academic Affairs subcommittee. It was noted that this issue was discussed by the Academic Council previously, and those minutes could be provided.

Dean Douglas reported on the Department of Mathematical Sciences name change. Effective November 6, 2003 the name of the Department will be changed to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. The new name reflects what they do and more clearly differentiates them from the KSAS Department of Mathematics, which is supportive of this change. The course offerings will not be affected by the name change.

Professor Khan, Chair of the Appointments and Promotions subcommittee, reported that the following appointments have been approved: 1) Dr. Steven Lubar as Senior Lecturer in History of Science and Technology for 1/20/04 - 5/20/04. 2) Ms. Melissa Epstein as Lecturer in Cognitive Science for Spring, 2004. 3) Mr. David Satter as Lecturer in Political Science for Spring, 2004. 4) Nicholas Klein as Lecturer in the Humanities Center for 2003/04. 5) Dr. Sharon Levy as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Humanities Center for Fall, 2003. 6) Dr. Mark Katz as Adjunct Professor in the Humanities Center for Spring, 2004.

Prof. Khan reported for Prof. Das, liaison to the Board of Review, on appointments approved by the Board of Review: 1) Dr. James McPartland as Research Professor in Sociology. 2) Dr. Joyce Epstein as Research Professor in Sociology. 3) Dr. Anatoly Dragan promotion to Research Scientist in Biology.

Professor Lattman spoke in favor of repeating the successful program of having lunches with junior faculty. He encouraged Council members to make themselves available to attend the luncheons. He added that in the past department chairs have requested meetings with Academic Council members. It was decided to send an e-mail inviting chairs interested in an informal meeting with Council members to contact Sally Marcin.

It was noted that Council members will not be in a position to discuss changes in tenure policy and this was a likely topic at the lunches. A Council member asked if there were plans for a town hall meeting about the proposed new tenure regulations and suggested that the Faculty Assembly address this issue. The Provost said that the idea of lunches with Council members is not so much about the possible reform of tenure regulations, but to discuss with junior faculty the expectations of the Academic Council and what junior faculty should be thinking about as they prepare for promotion. Professor Lattman commented that it is important to meet with junior faculty even if Council members do not know the fate of changes to the tenure regulations.

The Council approved faculty and student members to fill vacancies on the Whiting School Graduate Committee. Faculty members: Dr. Michael E. Paulaitis, Dr. James C. Spall, and Graduate Student, Marvin G. Chang.

The Council approved the following faculty members to fill vacancies on the Arts and Sciences Advanced Academic Programs Committee: Victor Corces, Professor of Biology, to serve for 7/1/03 - 6/30/05, Richard Henry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy for 7/1/03 - 6/30/04, Sharon Kingsland, Professor of History of Science and Technology for 7/1/03 - 6/30/06 and Mark Blyth, Associate Professor of Political Science for 7/1/03 - 6/30/06.

The Council approved the appointment of Saul Garlick as KSAS Curriculum Committee student member for 2003-04.

Remarks by the Chair.

The Provost noted that the last few months had been exciting in terms of recognition of the scientific excellence of the University faculty. The Nobel Prize was awarded to Peter Agre of the School of Medicine. There was an article in The Sun reporting on a survey of the fifty most influential scientists in the last twenty years based on a citation count, and numbers 1, 3 and 19 are Hopkins faculty members. He described this as a stunning recognition of scientific excellence.

The Provost updated the Academic Council on the subject of classified research. At the Academic Affairs committee meeting of the Board of Trustees there was a presentation by Vice Provost Poehler about issues that arise because government agencies are interested in having certain kinds of research done with restrictions imposed on the sharing of information coming from that research. Susan Martielli, Associate General Counsel, talked about the U.S. Patriot Act, and Professor Frank Fukuyama from the School of Advanced International Studies spoke about issues of privacy. In preparing for this meeting, a 1968 policy on classified research was found that states classified research will not be done on the academic campuses of the University. The policy may not be consistent with current realties and the changing nature of classified and sensitive but unclassified research. The Provost suggested that at some point the Academic Council should review the 1968 policy.

Reporting on searches, the Provost reported that Vice President for Human Resources, Charlene Hayes, is on campus. She comes from North Carolina and succeeds Audrey Smith. The search for a successor for Estelle Fishbein, Vice President and General Counsel, is coming to a close, and the search for the Dean of the School of Engineering is on-going. The Provost said that a search firm has been engaged to identify candidates. In recent years this firm has done about 10 engineering dean searches.

Remarks by the Deans.

Dean Falk asked Council members to think about which reports are useful as they go through the Departmental Review stats packages. The Provost commented that in the agenda meeting it was suggested that the letters to the departments should specify the data wanted in the self-studies.

The meeting adjourned at 4:34 p.m.

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Last updated 25Nov03 by dgips@jhu.edu