MEMBERS ABSENT: Drs. William Brody, James Anthony, Diane Griffin, Ellen MacKenzie and Donald Steinwachs.

GUESTS: Drs. Noel Rose and Robert Schoen; Mss Sylvia Eggleston Wehr, Diane Glover and Donna Helm.

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

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 802nd meeting on June 24, 1997 were approved.

Remarks by the Dean:

Dr. Sommer introduced Ms Sylvia Eggleston Wehr, who updated the Advisory Board on recent gifts. She first noted that the materials developed for the Department of Maternal and Child Health's 50th anniversary celebration are of high caliber. She reported that a Virginia-based foundation has expressed interest in supporting the Gates Foundation gift in the area of family planning. In addition, she announced that Becton-Dickinson will provide a $750,000 gift to the School to renovate the Anna Baetjer room into a lecture hall and distance learning facility.

She then briefly described the Faculty Staff campaign, part of the University-wide Johns Hopkins Initiative and solicited recommendations for a faculty and staff member to chair the divisional campaign. The divisional campaign will consist of one appeal by mail. Ms. Eggleston Wehr commented that, unlike some of the divisions, many active and retired faculty and staff are already donors to the School.

Dr. Sommer circulated information on the Calderone Prize in Public Health. Names of possible faculty nominees should be forwarded to the Dean's Office. He commented that the School's reaccreditation process will begin early in the fall and that the Self-Study will be undertaken during the next year followed by a site-visit in the spring of 1999. The School must be reaccredited by July, 1999.

He reported on the major issues discussed at the recent retreat of the deans of schools of public health, including unified lobbying effort for the schools, developing a standardized qualifying examination for professional public health students in accredited schools on a trial basis, and cooperation among the schools in the development of health status surveillance systems and monitoring of the health of local communities and vulnerable populations at risk from changes in social welfare systems.

At the request of the Dean, Dr. Scocca reported on efforts to develop a more unified training program for laboratory-based students in the School. The program may include a seminar series, more coordinated student recruitment efforts and increased interactions among the laboratory sciences. Development of a consolidated program in the "basic sciences of public health" would create a new and exciting niche for students. Dr. Sommer thanked Dr. Scocca for apprising the Advisory Board of these efforts. A more formal report will be provided in the Fall.

Report of the Faculty Senate:
There were no remarks.

Other items

Revised PPM: Academic Programs #7 - Master of Public Health Degree

Dr. Lawrence reviewed proposed changes to the MPH PPM. After one change in wording, the Advisory Board voted to approve the revised PPM.

Report from the Office of Research Administration, 1996-97 activities

Ms. Helm reviewed the School's sponsored research income for the second half of 1996-97 and compared them to projections for the same period for the entire School and by department. The School did modestly better than predicted six month ago, and the level of indirect cost recovery will be almost on budget. Dean Sommer commented that the School continues to take a conservative fiscal approach for the coming five years.

Request for authorization for the Dean or his designate to act on the Board's behalf in consultation with those Board members available during the summer months

The Advisory Board voted to approve this request.

Faculty Salary Analysis, 1996-97

Dr. Zeger briefly reviewed the findings of the analysis, undertaken by the Committee on Affirmative Action, and commented that no significant difference was found between male and female professorial faculty salaries. A small and non-significant difference between salaries of white male and minority faculty members which first appeared this year will be monitored over the next few years. Dr. Sommer thanked the Committee on Affirmative Action for their continued efforts in this area.

Response from the Committee on Academic Standards regarding scientist track faculty serving as doctoral advisors

Dr. Robert Schoen joined the group. He reviewed the deliberations of the Committee on Academic Standards in response to a request by the Advisory Board to evaluate a change to the current PPM for scientist track faculty. The current PPM now differentiates responsibilities of the scientist track faculty from tenure track faculty only in that scientist track faculty may not serve as primary advisors for doctoral students. Dr. Schoen explained that since scientist track faculty are evaluated by different criteria than are tenure track faculty, the Committee on Academic Standards did not feel that all scientist track faculty should act as primary doctoral advisor, even though many of them are as well qualified as tenure track faculty and might be appropriate to act as primary doctoral advisors.

After discussion, the Committee on Academic Standards was asked to develop a set of standards or criteria by which scientist track faculty can be individually identified as suitable to act as primary doctoral advisors. In addition, the Advisory Board agreed that they will devote a special session to a discussion of issues surrounding the appointment of scientist track faculty.

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

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

© 1997 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
Last updated by dgips@jhu.edu