Bloomberg School of Public Health
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 20, 2008 | 3 p.m. | 929th Meeting

Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, Laura Caulfield, William Eaton, Stephen Gange, Diane Griffin, David Holtgrave, Thomas Louis, Edward Miller, and James Yager.

Guests: Drs. Thomas Burke, Pamela Cranston, Francesca Dominici, Yash Gupta, and Judith Kasper; Mr. Paul Seifert; and Mss. Diane Glover and Allison Wishon.

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

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 928th Advisory Board meeting of February 28, 2008 were approved as submitted.

Remarks by the Provost

Provost Johnson reiterated the earlier announcement that President Brody will be stepping down from the University presidency in December 2008. A committee will be formed to search for President Brody's replacement.

The University-wide strategic planning process has now begun. Three committees have been formed: "People;" "Ways and Means;" and "Discovery." Faculty from across the University will be asked to serve on each committee; Dr. Zeger will be critically involved in developing the strategic plan.

Remarks by the Dean

Dean Klag updated the Advisory Board on several recent events and activities. He announced that the 2008 Stebbins medal will be awarded to Dr. Carl Taylor of the Department of International Health. The Stebbins medal is given by the faculty for contributions to educational programs.

Dr. Marie Diener-West will become chair of the MPH program following Dr. Brookmeyer's successful tenure as chair. Dr. Peter Agre will be the 2008 Convocation speaker; we expect to graduate our largest class ever in May 2008. Dean Klag signed an agreement with a non-profit corporation to offer an executive MPH in Asia (Hong Kong or Singapore) starting in 2009; the Abu Dhabi MPH/DrPH will be offered starting in mid-2008.

Other Business

Report from the School Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women

Drs. Kasper and Dominici and Ms. Wishon joined the meeting. Dr. Kasper chaired the School's Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women, on which Mss. Wishon and Fox served, while Dr. Dominici was a member of the University-wide Vision 2020 Committee. Dean Klag charged the Ad Hoc Committee to assess the recommendations of the Vision 2020 Report, set appropriate goals for the School, recommend policies for achieving the goals, and develop metrics for measuring progress at achieving the goals. The Ad Hoc Committee recommendations focus on gender equity for women faculty, staff and students. Dr. Kasper noted that many of the recommendations are consonant with the School's efforts to improve diversity and increase the representation of underrepresented minorities across the School.

Among the Ad Hoc committee's recommendations are: including gender equity progress in the portfolio of one of the associate deans of the School; working toward achieving 50 percent representation of women faculty in senior positions, including center and institute directors, directors of educational programs, and other leadership opportunities; providing more information to search committees to facilitate the search process in a proactive manner; setting goals for greater representation of women faculty in each department; and providing greater leadership opportunities for faculty, staff, and students, particularly students who will seek academic careers. The Ad Hoc Committee commended the new University benefit for staff wishing to enter degree programs outside the University, but asked that the University consider developing an up-front funding mechanism, rather than reimbursing staff who may not have the resources to pay tuition. Improving work-life balance through the development of policies for faculty and staff, possibly including paid maternity leave, and better use of flextime for staff, were also encouraged.

The Ad Hoc Committee also recommended that indicators for monitoring progress in achieving gender equity goals be developed. Dr. Kasper commented on the many strengths of the School in assessment and evaluation, which are critical to our culture, however more and broader indicators can be developed. The Committee also suggested several avenues to enhance communication internally and externally about the School's commitment to gender equity.

Dr. Dominici then provided an abbreviated history of the Vision 2020 committee, noting that Dean Klag charged the Ad Hoc Committee to review the Vision 2020 recommendations to determine which were most appropriate to the milieu of the School. In response to a question, Dr. Kasper indicated that the recommendation to designate an associate dean with responsibility for gender equity issues is not a recommendation to recruit a new associate dean; rather it is to explicitly add this responsibility to the portfolio of one of the associate deans. Dr. Dominici noted that US schools of public health now graduate predominantly women students; it will be critical to develop and retain women graduates in faculty positions. There was a brief discussion about recruitment of tenure-track vs. non-tenure-track faculty, and the work-life balance for faculty, particularly faculty with family responsibilities. Several members of the faculty expressed concern that achieving a 50-50 balance of women in faculty leadership roles may mean that only women faculty can be recruited; this may be an unrealistic target.

Dr. Johnson indicated that faculty recruitment needs to be flexible in order to achieve diversity of all types, including under-represented minorities and, in some fields, males. Leadership can also be very broadly defined, leading to many different and creative opportunities. The Advisory Board also discussed the possibility of developing explicit faculty recruitment targets for each department to increase the representation of women and minority faculty.

Dr. Kasper noted that the Ad Hoc Committee recommendations have been shared with Dean Klag. After further discussion, Dr. Johnson thanked Dr. Kasper and the members of the Ad Hoc Committee for their report and recommendations. Dr. Johnson recommended that the School's efforts to expand the diversity of the faculty begin with a focus on the recruitment of department chairs and other highly visible leaders in the School.

Introduction to Dean Yash Gupta of the Carey Business School

Provost Johnson introduced Dean Yash Gupta, inaugural dean, and Dr. Pam Cranston, vice dean, of the Carey Business School. Dean Gupta discussed his broad vision for the role of the Carey Business School (CBS) in galvanizing US graduate business education. He wants the CBS to become a leader in innovation and in training business leaders who will affect and transform societies. Johns Hopkins is uniquely positioned to meet these challenges due to its strengths in working with communities, and in health and health care. Dr. Gupta provided a few examples where the business school can interface with other parts of the University to improve the human condition. The Johns Hopkins culture encourages cross-cutting and interdivisional collaboration around critical areas; one potential area for increased collaboration is patient safety.

Dr. Black indicated interest in collaborating with CBS faculty in vaccine sciences, in particular initiatives with pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Gupta would also be interested in developing case studies based on real problems addressed by the School of Public Health for CBS students to work on as part of a team. He reported that the MBA program now under development at the CBS will likely require student internships of three to four months duration; therefore a close partnership with the School of Public Health will be even more critical.

After further discussion, Provost Johnson thanked Dean Gupta for sharing his exciting vision of the future of the Carey Business School.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

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Last updated 01Jul08 by dgips@jhu.edu