Approval of minutes. The minutes for the meeting of November 2, 2005 were approved as amended.

Remarks by the Secretary. Professor Rugh said that he had a number of items to report on from the dinner meeting on November 8. There was a discussion of appointment and promotion procedures in preparation for a review in the spring. There was some discussion of the departmental reviews which concentrated on the advantages of the current process. That does provide a mirror back to the departments and it is easier to respond to than if there is an external committee involved. There was one suggestion about the possibility of including an external discipline expert. There was a discussion of Hopkins' traditions regarding small departments and selective excellence and whether this was tenable for the future. Academic Council members expressed a desire to invite President Brody to a dinner meeting to discuss his ideas on the future structure of the University in responding to this kind of pressure and whether the traditions ought to be a major focus for the future. Council agreed to invite President Brody to a dinner meeting and to have a preparatory discussion at a dinner meeting in either December or January, depending on which meeting will be better attended.

The appointment of Dr. Ben Vinson as Professor in the Department of History effective July 1, 2006 was approved.

It was reported that The Board of Review has approved the appointment of Dr. Alan Brandt as Research Scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Professor Rugh reminded Council to let Sally Marcin know if they will miss a Council meeting. When Professor Ball asked when the drafts of Departmental Review reports are due, he was told December 15.

Open discussion. A Council member said in order to expedite decisions, she urged that chairs be reminded to include all required information when submitting cases to the Deans for Board of Review consideration.

A Council member said that there is a very good website about the Pakistan earthquake - www.risepak.com. Another Council member added that she had consulted with the Committee on Social Concern and she was told that the Pakistani student organization was collecting for earthquake relief. A comment was made that beyond the general needs, there are now very specific needs.

A Council member said that he came from a neuroscience meeting with 35,000 scientists in Washington, D.C. There is a lot of nervousness that the university/government partnership is unraveling these days. There is nervousness in young people especially. The climate seems so negative. He asked the Provost to comment. Provost Knapp said that President Brody is chair of a committee looking at NIH and its funding practices. It is focused on this and making a case for foreign graduate students and scholars, making it easier for them to get in the country. The Provost said he announced at the Faculty assembly last week that they have had some progress in the handling of international visas. There has been some receptivity to this question that it is in the national interest to have a government that supports innovation and research. NIH is in trouble in terms of funding because they have been flatlined. It is an actual cut in terms of the effects of inflation. It is a somewhat worrisome picture because we are spending $2 billion a week in Iraq, there is the Katrina relief, and there are looming tax cuts. When you put all that together it does not leave a lot of discretionary funding for research or anything else. Hopkins is very active on Capitol Hill through our government relations office. The Provost added that he shared the concern. It is something that the University is working on very actively.

Dean Douglas said that on November 15 2004, there were 591 early decision applications and this morning there are 765. It is good to have more. Last year about 280 students were admitted early decision. This is a larger pool, but it does not necessarily mean that more students will be admitted early decision.

Remarks by the Chair. The Provost said that at the December 7 meeting there will be an election because Professor Marshall is going to be on leave. He called Council's attention to the election information on the table. He urged Council to take the balance of fields into account and to make sure that a person is willing to serve before nominating them. This election will be for a one semester replacement.

The Provost asked Council to reflect on the list of outstanding Council issues which is on the table. The list indicates who is responsible for moving forward.

The Provost reported that the first round of interviews of candidates for Dean of the Krieger School was completed on Friday. All the interviews should be completed by December 16 which puts us on track to meet with President Brody the first week in January and announce the next Dean by the beginning of the spring semester. They are working on the search for the next director of the Peabody Institute. There are thirty-two nominees, but they welcome more. Bob Lindgren who is Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations is going to be the President of Randolph Macon College in Virginia. A search for his replacement will be conducted and an interim Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations will be announced in the next couple of weeks. It is a very important position in the University. We are on the verge of completing a 2 billion dollar campaign which has a deadline two years out. We will be finishing early and are discussing with the Board of Trustees whether to raise that perhaps as much as another billion dollars. No matter what, we will keep raising money. There are critical priorities including Gilman Hall. The Computational Life Sciences facility and other aspects of this lower quad are developing. Financial aid is a crucial need. We are dependent on tuition revenue to pay financial aid, because we don't have enough endowment. University-wide it is our biggest single competitive disadvantage. We are providing as much financial aid, but we don't have as much money left over to spend on programs as peer institutions.

Remarks by the Deans. Dean Jones announced that the Institute for Computational Medicine was formally announced on October 12. It is Rai Winslow's institute. It will be one of the primary occupants of the new building going up right on the Garland quad. Within a week of the announcement Rai had already landed a gift and a grant to support the efforts of the institute. The name has been changed from the Institute for Mathematical and Computational Life Sciences. Before using the word medicine in the title approval was obtained from East Baltimore. Dean Jones said that support from East Baltimore was willingly forthcoming and he takes it as a positive sign of the state of collaboration between the Whiting School and the School of Medicine. When a Council member asked if anyone whose primary appointment is in the School of Medicine will be housed in the new building, Dean Jones said that they are very flexible. This is set up as a cross disciplinary collaborative environment so that we envision having people from other divisions, academic and non-academic in the building. We are hopefully setting aside some space for industry research lab as well on a part-time basis. Rai Winslow is moving there. When a Council member asked which departments would be located in the new building, Dean Jones said that is a difficult question, certainly from Biomedical engineering, mechanical, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and applied mathematics and statistics. That is, five of the nine departments will have faculty located there. He is not sure of the proportions as yet.

The meeting adjourned at 4:53 p.m.

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