The minutes of the meeting of September 5, 2007 were approved as amended. The minutes of the meeting of September 19 were not available.

Remarks by the Secretary. Professor Leslie reminded Council of the dinner meeting on Tuesday, October 9. The Deans will attend to talk about the departments that Council is reviewing. Council will invite Provost Johnson to the dinner meeting on November 13 to talk about the proposed reorganization of the Graduate Board and other topics.

Consideration of proposal for a new graduate program entitled Chemistry-Biology Interface program for a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Biology. Professor Cammarata, chair of the Academic Affairs subcommittee said that the committee felt that substantively the proposal was quite good. Historically the program has been administered out of Chemistry Department and used Chemistry Department resources for clerical and other expenses. It will not be a Chemistry degree anymore but will be its own separate degree.

Professors John Toscano and Marc Greenberg joined the meeting at 3:10 p.m. and gave a brief history of how the program was conceived. The program has attracted a large number of talented students. Last year there were 40-45 domestic applicants for four positions. Last spring, the steering committee, the curriculum committee and Professor Toscano met to evaluate the program and determine the best way to move forward. They ultimately agreed that the present proposal should be the path that they should take in order to have the greatest impact on graduate education, to attract the broadest group of students, and to devise a program that would complement the existing departments. The submitted proposal requests the transformation of the Chemistry-Biology interface program from a parallel-track program in the Chemistry Department to its own free-standing, Ph.D. granting program.

Council members asked about the administration of this program and also about its title. Professor Greenberg said that there has been a half-time administrator devoted to the program since 2005. When a Council member asked about going forward with a Ph.D. with this name, Professor Greenberg said that they had discussed this point at length and decided to go forward with the name because they wanted to emphasize the fact that the students were all going to go though a common curriculum. Since it is a unique curriculum, it makes sense to have its own degree. Professor Toscano said that they had surveyed students applying to the program and found out that the Chemistry-Biology interface attracts not only chemists, but also biologists and pharmacologists, and then gives them all the same training. When a Council member asked if the degree would be awarded by the Krieger School, Professor Greenberg said yes, even if students end up in a research group in the School of Medicine. They would be teaching assistants in the School of Arts and Sciences. This program will augment the pool of graduate student applicants to other departments. Once the program is entirely separate, students will apply directly to the Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) program. On the application there will be a question asking if the student would like to be additionally considered by any of the departments. Those departments will be those in which faculty who are involved in CBI have their appointments. When a Council member asked about other Chemical Biology programs, Professor Greenberg said that there is only one other Chemical-Biology Ph.D. program, at the University of Michigan. The guests left the meeting at 3:27 p.m. The Chemistry-Biology Interface program was approved.

The appointment of Dr. Michael Bevan as Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering effective January 1, 2008 was approved.

Two faculty members (outside Council) were approved to serve as third members of the departmental review committees.

Further discussion of Academic Council restructuring led by Professor Dagdigian. Professor Dagdigian said that since Council put together the response to the Bagger committee report, there have been three venues at which Academic Council restructuring has been discussed: recent KSAS and WSE chairs' meetings and the Faculty Assembly meeting on September 24. A brief reprise of some of the comments made in those venues was presented, and a discussion followed.

Dean Falk suggested that the Administration and Bylaws committee meet and come back to Council on October 17 prepared to lead a structured conversation about the precise form a restructuring of the Council should take.

Approval of Whiting School Graduate Committee new members. Professors Aviel Rubin, Tim Weihs, and Kevin Yarema were approved to serve on the Whiting School Graduate Committee for 2007/08. John D. Sivey, a doctoral student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, was approved as the student member of the Graduate Committee.

Approval of Engineering Curriculum Committee new members. Professor Joseph Katz (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) and Lian Shen (Civil Engineering) were approved to serve a two-year term, 2007-2009 on the WSE Curriculum Committee. The students Brian Ejsmont, Jeffrey Lin, Frederick Loguidice, and Joseph Vidalis were approved to serve for 2007-2008 on the Curriculum Committee.

It was reported that the following appointments and promotions had been made: 1) Dr. Chen-Ming Fan promotion to Adjunct Professor in Biology effective 10/1/07, 2) Dr. Yixian Zheng promotion to Adjunct Professor in Biology effective 10/1/07, 3) Mr. Eric Vohr as Lecturer in the Center for Leadership Education effective 9/24/07, were approved by the Appointments and Promotions subcommittee.

Open discussion. A Council member said that there had been a positive change in SAP related to foreign travel. A Dean commented that the faculty making their views clear was critical in resolving this issue.

Remarks by the Deans. Dean Falk reported that the appointment of Dr. Qinbin Li as Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences effective January 1, 2008 was approved by the Dean's Office over the summer.

The meeting adjourned at 4:43 p.m.

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Last updated 08Feb08 by dgips@jhu.edu