Approval of minutes. The minutes for the meetings of January 21 and February 4, 2004, were approved as submitted.

Remarks by the Secretary. Professor Ditz reported that a revised listing for the lunches with junior faculty was enclosed in the packages. She also reported that short-term changes to the departmental reviews for next year were discussed at the evening meeting on February 10. The Academic Affairs Subcommittee will discuss this further and make suggestions to Council on or before the April evening meeting. In addition, procedures to implement the proposed tenure regulations were discussed at the meeting.

Professor Ditz asked about materials that were recently sent to Krieger School department chairs regarding an undergraduate program. Dean Weiss explained that the objective was to develop a conversation with departments and to encourage departments to have internal conversations about their undergraduate mission. Deans Weiss and Burger are meeting with department chairs to engage the departments in the process. A Council member said that the list of questions in the document was useful in orienting the discussion, and suggested that each department should think about its contributions to a liberal education as well as to its own discipline.

Open Discussion. A Council member asked about the federal subpoena concerning a student organization at Drake University that was in the recent news. Dean Falk said that after resistance from Drake, the subpoena had been withdrawn.

A Council member raised the issue of the Deans' memo on the final exam period that was presented at the last meeting. Saying that he was fully in favor of requirements to give the exams during the final exam period, the Council member described his own experience in trying to get the Registrar to rotate the exam schedule so that over the years regularly scheduled courses would share the more desirable exam slots. He suggested that making the finals period organization more reasonable and fair would increase compliance. The Deans indicated that they would look into the issue. Another Council member commented that under the new requirements timely grading would be very difficult when exam dates (and therefore due dates on papers) fall on the last day or two of the exam period.

The Council then discussed Department Reviews and the Deans' suggestions for 2004/05. Dean Weiss proposed reviewing the Departments of Classics, Cognitive Science, History of Art, Physics and Astronomy, and the Writing Seminars, as well as the Institute for Global Studies and Language Teaching Center. Dean Douglas suggested that Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the part-time graduate programs in engineering be reviewed. After discussion of the review workload, the shorter review cycle in the Whiting School, and the size and different nature of the part-time engineering programs, it was decided to postpone the reviews of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dean Douglas will propose a format for review of the part-time engineering programs, possibly involving outside examiners. It was also noted that Council planned to have a discussion with President Brody about the review process.

The Council turned to further consideration of the proposal for changes to the tenure policy and procedures for their implementation. Dean Falk said that the next issues to be decided are the number of referees' letters and how they are generated. A discussion ensued on these issues, and based on this discussion Dean Falk will present draft language at the next meeting.

Professor Khan, Chair of the Appointments and Promotions subcommittee reported that the following appointments have been approved by the committee: 1) Dr. Veit Stuphorn as Assistant Professor in Psychological & Brain Sciences (with joint in the Mind/Brain Institute) effective 7/1/04. 2) Dr. Jian Song as non tenure-track J.J. Sylvester Assistant Professor in Mathematics effective 7/1/04. 3) Dr. George Oyler as Adjunct Assistant Professor in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering for 7/1/04 - 6/30/05.

Remarks by the Chair. The Provost noted that the first round of election materials for Council was about to go in mail. He also reminded Council to convey any website suggestions to him.

Remarks by the Deans. Dean Douglas noted that some concerns about policy differences should be alleviated by the fact that the Undergraduate Academic Manual is now co-edited by Richard Saunders in the Krieger School and Janet Weiss in the Whiting School. He reported that the new National Academy of Engineering inductees included three graduates of the Whiting School, among them Trustee Jeong H. Kim.

The meeting adjourned at 5:47 p.m.

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Last updated 05Mar04 by dgips@jhu.edu