Bloomberg School of Public Health
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 3:00 p.m. | 885th Meeting

Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, Robert Blum, William Eaton, Edward Miller, Jonathan Weiner, and James Yager.

Guests: Drs. Judith Kasper, Sharon Krag and Cecile Pickart; and Ms Diane Glover.

Meeting Convened: Dean Alfred Sommer convened the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 883rd, meeting on April 29, 2004 were approved.

Remarks by the Dean

Dean Sommer reminded the Advisory Board about the reception for newly appointed and promoted faculty. The undergraduate public health majors published an exciting first edition of "Epidemic Proportions", featuring information about their studies, research projects and other aspects of the undergraduate public health studies program.

Remarks by the Faculty Senate

Dr. Weiner reported that the PPM on faculty titles will be revised once more based on comments and suggestions at the earlier Committee of the Whole meeting. The final version will be presented for a vote at the June Advisory Board meeting. He then noted that representatives from MIT attended a recent Senate meeting to present and review the Open Course Ware project, and that there is general enthusiasm to participate.

Remarks by the Provost

Provost Knapp joined the meeting. He commented on several critical events faced by the University community over the past several months, including the murder of an undergraduate by a home intruder. The University has hired a consultant to help review its security measures across all campuses.

Dr. Knapp congratulated the School on the recent rededication and on the wonderful new facilities and space. The Peabody Conservatory also had an excellent unveiling of its new space and facilities. He then reported that the University accreditation was very successful and that full reaccreditation was recommended without conditions or findings. The focus of the University self study and subsequent reaccreditation was on undergraduate education, a topic that cuts across almost every division.

In acknowledging Dean Sommer's announcement of his intention to step down from the deanship, Dr. Knapp thanked Dean Sommer for the growth the School in both size and stature. Following commencement, a faculty committee will be convened to begin the search for Dean Sommer's successor, during which advice from School of Public Health faculty will be sought. Several other large schools of public health are presently seeking deans as well. The search for the dean of the School of Engineering is expected to conclude in the next few weeks.

Dean Sommer then announced that the 2004 Golden Apple awards for excellence in teaching will be presented at Convocation to Drs. Ron Brookmeyer and Tom Burke, and Mr John McGready, and the Stebbins medal will be presented to Dr. Keerti Shah. Dr. Robert Lawrence is one of the faculty awardees of the Advising, Teaching and Mentoring award given by the Student Assembly.

5. Other Business

2003-04 Faculty Salary Analysis

Dr. Kasper joined the Advisory Board and commented that the faculty salary analysis is one of the most important annual activities of the Committee on Affirmative Action. The analysis is now longitudinal in that salary changes over time can be assessed for differences by gender and minority status. She commented that Dean's attention to the results of the analysis and to correcting any differences identified are recognized and appreciated by the faculty.

Dr. Zeger then described the data and methods used in the analysis. Salaries of female faculty are compared to those of the male faculty, and salaries of minority faculty are compared to those of non-minority faculty, taking into account other important salary indicators such as rank, years in rank, and highest degree (MD vs PhD). He noted that the number of women and minority faculty have increased appreciably over the past several years. Dr. Zeger then reported that no significant differences were identified between the salaries of women and minority faculty compared to male and non-minority faculty, along the entire range of the salary spectrum from low to high. For the first time this year, salaries of under-represented minority faculty were compared to those of non-minority faculty, and no significant differences were found.

Dean Sommer reported on the annual comparison of Hopkins Public Health faculty compared to other schools of public health. Dr. Zeger further reported that a member of the Affirmative Action Committee conducted a small analysis of minority faculty hiring and found that minority faculty on the short list of candidates for a professorial position were equally like to be hired as non-minority candidates. Topics for future review may include an evaluation of the "stop-the-clock" policy for faculty family leave, and examination of patterns of departures from the professorial ranks.

The Advisory Board then thanked Drs. Kasper and Zeger for presenting the important results of the annual Faculty Salary Analysis.

Other Items

Dr. Hill commented briefly on a meeting she attended organized by the NIH to discuss the "NIH Roadmap" and its call for increased emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to complex health issues. She noted that public health, nursing and other non-medical sciences were not well- represented.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

© 2004 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
Last updated 16Jul04 by dgips@jhu.edu