GUESTS: Drs. Alan Goldberg, Sharon Krag, Ellen MacKenzie, and Noel Rose; Mss Sylvia Eggleston Wehr and Diane Glover; and Mr. Herbert Hansen.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 794th meeting on October 22, 1996 were approved.

Remarks by the President:

Dr. Brody commented that he was delighted to attend his first Advisory Board meeting at the School and that the School has made extraordinary progress on a number of fronts. He believes the School has great growth potential, and noted that the undergraduates are enthusiastic about their experiences at the School. He acknowledged that the School has been through some difficult times and that soft-money institutions may continue to face substantial challenges. However, continued efforts to build the School's endowment will provide much needed support. He commented that changes in the health care field have created the opportunity for the Schools of Medicine and Public Health to work more closely to create a new model academic health center. He hopes that a non-traditional approach to managed care will allow Maryland to act as a laboratory for developing and improving new methods for the provision of health care.

Dr. Brody congratulated the School on its efforts to move into the distance education area. He noted that the University will develop a unified educational strategy consistent with its strengths to allow it to identify and pursue new international opportunities.

In response to a question, Dr. Brody commented that the senior leadership of the University will work with each other, and with their faculty, to develop innovative methods for provision of health care.

Remarks by the Dean:

Dean Sommer reported on the recent meeting of the Association of Schools of Public Health, where there was effort to increase ASPH-affiliated schools of public health without any rationale and little concern over quality control of the new schools.

He noted that Mr. Hansen will investigate developing software over the next year so that departments will be able to project general funds scholarship support under scenarios of different numbers and types of students, and that chairs and their administrators will be trained to use the software.

There will be a two day retreat of the School's Advisory Board (not including the President and Provost) and faculty leadership to review a number of issues, including developing mechanisms to reduce pressure on faculty, and to determine priorities for the School in balance with the realities in which the School operates.

Dr. Sommer announced that the Department of Biostatistics received a generous endowment from the estate of Dr. Zenas Sykes, a graduate of the Department and former faculty member in the School. He reminded the Advisory Board that a School-wide minisymposium entitled "From Research to Policy" will be held on December 2 from 1 - 3 p.m. It will be moderated by Dr. Guyer.

Report of the Faculty Senate:

Dr. Scocca reported that the next meeting of the Faculty Senate will be a Faculty General Assembly meeting on distance education, and will include demonstrations by faculty involved in the distance education process.

Other items:

Term periods for endowed chairs
Ms. Eggleston Wehr remarked that while the School presently has very few endowed chairs, it hopes to have several more as a result of the current fund-raising program. One concern (as has occurred in other institutions) is that a faculty member holding an endowed chair may cease to be productive and feel like they have become the "owner" of a "chair". She and Dean Sommer proposed having endowed chairs evaluated every five years with the possibility of reappointment as approved by the Advisory Board. Dean Sommer noted that every endowed chair is voted upon by the University Board of Trustees.

The group determined that there seem to be two types of endowed positions. The first is held by a faculty member by virtue of his or her administrative/leadership position, such as dean, department chair or division head. The occupant of this endowed chair changes when the leadership changes. The second type of endowed position is held by a faculty member not in an administrative or leadership position. After discussion, the group agreed that the term for a faculty member holding a non-administrative endowed position would be mutually agreed upon by the Dean and the faculty member, and that renewal of the term would be reviewed and voted upon by the Advisory Board prior to approval by the Board of Trustees. Dean Sommer will draft a statement to this effect for inclusion in the Policy and Procedures Manual.

Evaluation of laboratory science scholarships
Mr. Hansen reported that the Committee on Finance reviewed the methods used to evaluate the laboratory science scholarship program. The data collected included the amount of tuition allocated to departments, the number of eligible students, and the number of traineeship applications and awards to departments with and without laboratory science components. The Committee on Finance concluded that the time period of about 3 years is too short for a proper evaluation, although traineeship applications and awards are monitored. Mr. Hansen noted that only $45,000 of the $8.9 million in general funds allocated to departments was for scholarship support for laboratory science students in this program.

Dr. Steinwachs requested that information on the amount of tuition dollars allocated to departments over time be presented. In response, Dean Sommer noted that tuition allocated to departments has increased from $5.5 million in 1995 to $8.9 million in 1998.

Mr. Hansen will report at a future meeting about central costs and the remaining magnitude of central costs to permit an informed discussion concerning the desired distribution of future "general funds" between renovations and capital improvements and their allocation to departmental income.

Mr. Hansen updated the Advisory Board on the network rewiring of the Wolfe Street and Hampton House buildings, which has taken approximately six months. He commented that almost every office will experience increased network and communications speed. Dr. Zeger requested that the University examine how e-mail addresses for faculty, staff and students are assigned and consider simplifying them, as have many other universities.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.

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