Bloomberg School of Public Health
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, June 19, 2008 | 3 p.m. | 933rd Meeting

Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, Laura Caulfield, John Groopman, Martha Hill, Michael Klag, Edward Miller, and James Yager.

Guests: Drs Janet DiPietro, Sheila Fitzgerald, Michael Griswold and James Tielsch; Prof. Stephen Teret; Mr. Paul Seifert; and Ms. Diane Glover.

Meeting convened: The meeting convened at 3 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 931st and 932nd Advisory Board meetings of May 15 and May 20, 2008 were approved as submitted.

Remarks by the Provost

Provost Johnson announced an agreement with the Fraunhoffer Institutes to develop a collaboration in interventional surgery with the Schools of Engineering and Medicine, principally in endoscopy and robotic surgery. Fraunhoffer has over 50 institutes that partner with universities; the present collaboration is anticipated to lead to a long-term relationship.

The deadline for “Framework for the Future” applications is July 1, 2008. Many faculty have expressed interest in submitting them. Dr. Zeger reported that faculty across the University have reacted positively; a number of unusual and interesting cross-disciplinary collaborations have been suggested. An internal faculty review committee will make recommendations for funding. Dr. Johnson commented on the possibility that additional funds will be allocated due to the large number of proposals expected. Some of the most innovative proposals may help seed ideas with which to launch the next University-wide fundraising campaign.

Provost Johnson then welcomed Dr. Marie Diener-West, newly-appointed chair of the MPH program, to the Advisory Board.

Report of the Faculty Senate

Dr. Gange indicated the next meeting of the Faculty Senate will be on July 10, 2008.

Other Business

List of faculty for 2008 – 2009 reappointment

The list of faculty appointments was approved, including one change circulated at the meeting. Dr. Blum asked about how other departments determine standards for the appointment of associates and other part-time faculty. Other departments indicated that such faculty should have a demonstrable relationship to the School to support appointment or reappointment. Several chairs indicated the importance of proactively evaluating appointments annually to determine the faculty member’s contribution to the School and to the department, its faculty, students and programs.

2007-2008 Faculty Salary Analysis

Drs. Griswold and Fitzgerald joined the meeting. Dr. Griswold reported that the methods used in the present analysis were developed by Drs. Zeger and Elizabeth Johnson and that the 2007-2008 analysis has been presented to the Committee on Affirmative Action. The analysis compared faculty who are similar on a number of demographic factors to assess the existence of salary differences based on gender and ethnicity. The analysis includes only demographic information; assessment of faculty members’ performance is not included. The analysis revealed that the salaries of professorial faculty were not statistically different by gender or minority status, however, there were small but persistent average differences over the years when comparing salaries of male and female professorial faculty as well as minority and non-minority faculty professorial faculty. Among the professorial faculty, the salaries of under-represented minority faculty did not differ from those of non-minority faculty; the differences were limited to non-under-represented minority faculty.

The residual differences, comparing expected versus actual salaries, were also reviewed. Dr. Griswold commented that the modest male-female salary differences occurred along the salary continuum from lower to higher paid faculty. Dr. Zeger remarked that the salaries of male professorial faulty are distributed more widely (i.e., a larger range) than the salaries of female professorial faculty, leading in part to this observation.

Dr. Griswold then reported on a comparison of professorial salaries in 2006-2007 with salaries in 2007-2008. The higher range of male salaries seemed be most closely associated with the new faculty of all ranks who were hired during the year. The Advisory Board conjectured on possible reasons for differential hiring salaries among male and female professorial faculty. Dr. Zeger indicated his interest in merging the salary data with information on faculty promotion patterns for longitudinal analyses and research.

Dr. Griswold also reported that among the Scientist faculty, females earn more than male while the salaries of minority scientists are equivalent to non-minorities. The numbers, however, are small, making direct comparisons difficult.

The Advisory Board discussed whether to discontinue reviewing the salaries of all minority faculty in addition to those of under-represented minorities and concluded that such analyses should continue to include all minority and separately, under-represented minority faculty.

Dr. Fitzgerald, chair of the Committee on Affirmative Action, thanked Dr. Griswold and the Department of Biostatistics for conducting these important analyses. Dr. Zeger indicated that other groups and institutions have adopted these analytic methods. Ms. Fox reported that information on the salaries that are found to be less than expected are provided to Dean Klag to include in his annual budget discussions with the department chairs. Dr. Fitzgerald remarked that major salary differences by gender in the School were identified and corrected many years ago; faculty understand this important activity and are appreciative of our continuing efforts to insure equity. Provost Johnson expressed enthusiasm about the analysis as a “best practice” of the School and is highly supportive of it as an ongoing self-monitoring activity.

Proposed revision of PPM Academic Programs #2 - SAIS and SPH dual degree program

Dr. Tielsch joined the Advisory Board. He briefly reviewed the proposed changes in the PPM related to the SAIS-SPH dual master’s degree program. The changes will enable students to gain international experience in the form of a practicum as part of the School’s MHS program prior to matriculating as a SAIS student but will continue to enable students to complete the two degrees within three years.

The program has been small; with the proposed changes it hopes to attract more students who are interested in hands-on international experience. The Advisory Board voted to approve the proposed PPM revision.

Recognition for departing Advisory Board members

The Advisory Board then acknowledged the long-term and considerable contributions of Drs. McMacken, Samet, and Zeger, who are all stepping down from their chair positions and therefore from the Advisory Board. Provost Johnson led a toast in their honor and thanked them heartily.

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

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

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Last updated 05Aug08 by dgips@jhu.edu