President Brody introduced Nick Jones as the new Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering and thanked Andrew Douglas for his extraordinary service as Interim Dean. The President also welcomed back Professor Dan Naiman from his leave of absence, and the new members: Professors Paola Marrati (Humanities Center), John Marshall (History), and Sarah Woodson (Biophysics).

President Brody opened the discussion by expressing his concern at the broad, and increasingly ill-defined, interpretation of the International Trade and Export Regulations (ITER) by the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security. Export regulations are now envisaged to apply to a "virtual" export of a "dual-use" technology, and this can interfere with a University's commitment to the free exchange of information and to the free flow of knowledge. President Brody, along with several other university presidents, had signed a letter to members of Congress and the Administration protesting these interpretations. Several members of the Council expressed their agreement with the President. The Provost said that the Association of American Universities (AAU) has been very active regarding these issues. Vice Provost Poehler had put together a summary of the relevant ITER regulations.

The minutes for the meetings of May 26, 2004 were approved as amended and the minutes of June 2, 2004 were approved as submitted.

The Secretary, Professor Poland, informed the Council that the theme for the evening meetings this semester would be undergraduate education: the evaluation of undergraduate teaching and its role in promotions, and the use of lecturers in large required courses. Deans Paula Burger and John Bader had been extended invitations to meet with the Council.

In response to a question, President Brody said that the situation regarding financial issues such as City taxes was stable, but the big question concerned the maintenance of the Sellinger funding, at least as far as the next three years of the budget were concerned.

The Council discussed the question of the regular and permanent attendance at Council meetings of Deans Falk and Douglas. A motion was put forward to this effect and approved.

The appointment of Dr. Yung K. Lee as Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics and Astronomy was approved.

The Council approved the subcommittees for the departments that were to be reviewed this year. It also approved a proposal from Dean Jones for the review of Part-time Programs in Engineering and Applied Science.

The Council had an extensive discussion of the committee structure under which it operates and does its work. Dean Douglas suggested that the Council think carefully about how much of the academic governance of the Whiting and Krieger Schools it wants to control. The Subcommittees proposed by the Deans were approved.

The Council approved the Board of Review with Professor Alan Stone as Chair, and Professors Karl Alexander, Kyle Cunningham, Holland Ford, Kevin Hemker, and Pablo Iglesias as members. There was a departure from past practice in that there would now be three members from each School.

Professors Jane Guyer (Anthropology) and Dean Moyar (Philosophy) were approved as new members of the KSAS Curriculum Committee.

The appointment of Dr. James Mayfield was approved, over the summer, by the Board of Review as Associate Research Professor in the Department of Computer Science effective July 1, 2004.

Provost Knapp drew attention to a package of documents reflecting the Council's work in recent years that had been distributed to Council members. He hoped that it would be useful to members.

Dean Jones was enthusiastic about his return to Hopkins and thanked Dean Douglas for his many contributions. He reported that Professor Charles O'Melia and Hugh Ellis had agreed to respectively chair DOGEE and the Department of Civil Engineering.

Dean Falk reported on a set of technical issues that were flagged by the General Counsel's office when they reviewed the new tenure regulations documents. These concerned procedures for dismissal for just cause, the section on laying off faculty during a financial exigency, and the various appeals procedures. He also mentioned the need for reconsideration of departmental review procedures, and informed the Council that that there was considerable concern about the overall composition of the Academic Council, election procedures, and the term lengths of the members. He said there was concern among humanities and social sciences faculty that the number of their representatives is small, that it fluctuates wildly and that is disproportionately represented by one-year members. In particular, there was sentiment that the concerns of the humanities faculty were not adequately heard. He encouraged Council to think seriously on these issues. Dean Weiss proposed convening a small group of faculty from the Whiting and Krieger Schools along with some Academic Council members to consider these concerns and report to Council.

The Council also discussed the advisability of streamlining the procedures for eligibility to the rank of Professor Emeritus across departments.

Professor Rugh asked for a summary of last year's appointments and promotions, as well as list of those who resigned and who actually came on board.

The meeting adjourned at 4:38 p.m.

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Last updated 25Oct04 by dgips@jhu.edu