School of Hygiene and Public Health Advisory Board
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, February 27, 2001 / 3 p.m. / 845th Meeting

Members Absent: Drs. William Brody and John Breitner.

Guests: Dr. David Celentano and Ms. Diane Glover.

Meeting Convened: Provost Steven Knapp convened the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 844th meeting on January 30, 2001 were approved.

Remarks by the Provost

Provost Knapp announced the appointment of Ray Gillian as assistant provost and director of the JHU Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Programs. Mr. Gillian's responsibilities will include disability issues and improving the climate for minority and women faculty. He will work with existing groups or committees in each division and will also be responsible for federal reporting requirements. The product of a national search, Mr. Gillian will join Hopkins on April 2, 2001. Dr. Knapp acknowledged the leading role played by the School in conducting surveys and performing analyses to assure equal opportunity for faculty, and commented that other divisions look to the School for direction in this area.

The second round of interviews for the director of the Urban Health Initiative is underway, and a number of qualified candidates have been identified. A search committee for the replacement of Paul Wolfowitz, Dean of the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), has been appointed. Stephen Szabo will be interim dean during the search process. Nominations of candidates for the SAIS deanship should be forwarded to Dr. Knapp.

Dr. Knapp and Mr. Lindgren are meeting with the deans to identify priorities and divisional goals for the next capital campaign. They are seeking ways to represent what makes Hopkins distinctive compared to other institutions, and plan to target both new and existing donors. An example of the University's strength may be its decentralized nature and entrepreneurial faculty, which encourages collaboration across divisions and groups. Dr. Knapp then thanked Dr. Zeger, who addressed the Trustees at a dinner in celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the University. The 125th anniversary speech by Dr. Brody, initially planned for February 22, will be rescheduled as a result of the poor weather.

Dr. Zeger asked about ways to improve the interface between divisions for joint recruitment of faculty couples, noting that he may not be able to recruit a promising junior faculty member in the department of Biostatistics because positions are not available in other divisions of the University for a spouse. Dr. Knapp is aware of similar acute needs, and noted there is a consortium of local universities to help facilitate interests across institutions in the greater Baltimore area. He noted that faculty appointments in the School of Arts and Sciences are controlled and allocated by the Dean rather than by departments. Dean-to- dean and chair-to-chair conversations are generally the best mechanisms to explore joint recruitment efforts involving the Homewood Schools, since Homewood faculty are paid primarily by general funds. Dr. Zeger suggested making efforts to combine resources across the University, including raising new endowment from the next campaign for this purpose. Dr. Knapp agreed that a separate funding stream would be helpful, but reminded the Advisory Board that neither faculty positions nor funds for faculty support are allocated centrally.

Remarks by the Dean

Dean Sommer commented that the groundwork for the new capital campaign is being laid. Dean Miller thanked Dean Sommer for his support of the new child care center, which is to open in the summer of 2001. Dr. Miller further reported that the School of Medicine received $303 million of support from the National Institutes of Health in the most recent fiscal year, an increase of 19% over the previous year.

Report from the Faculty Senate

Dr. Ensminger reported that the Senate is reviewing the specific goals and objectives of the Strategic Plan and is considering administering a targeted quality of life survey to the faculty.

Distance Education Update

Dr. Lawrence provided a list of iMPH students and their status in the program in response to a request by Dr. Guyer. Dr. Lawrence noted that 39% of full-time and part-time MPH students expected to graduate in 2001 who are not part of an iMPH cohort have participated in at least one Distance Education (DE) course. A list of iMPH and part-time MPH student faculty advisors was circulated. Dr. Lawrence commented that the program is eager to expand the list of advisors for these non-traditional students. A list of courses now available or in planning stages for availability on-line was circulated. Revisions are requested in the next few weeks.

Report on Quantitative and Molecular Sciences for Research on Populations Searches

Applications from 33 candidates have been received and are available for review on the Quantitative and Molecular Sciences for Research on Populations website. Candidate visits in several departments are underway, and several offers have been made. Dr. Sommer commented on the positive interactions that result from interdepartmental and interdisciplinary activities for a common goal.

Other Items

2000-2001 Faculty Salary Analysis

Dr. David Celentano, chair of the School Committee on Affirmative Action, joined the Advisory Board. The Committee on Affirmative Action has requested that annual salary analyses be undertaken and tracked over the years. He briefly reviewed results of the 1999-2000 analysis. Dr. Zeger, who performed that analysis, reviewed the number and types of faculty included. For 2000-2001, scientist track faculty were included but in future years will not be included, while research and public health professorial faculty will be included. Dr. Zeger reviewed the raw data, then data stratified by rank for female compared to male faculty, and for minority compared to non-minority faculty. After adjustment for a number of variables, Dr. Zeger reported that the salaries of women faculty were, on average, 1.7% less than those of their male counterparts. This difference was not statistically significant and was smaller than the difference observed in the 1999-2000 analyses. Salaries of minority faculty members, when taken as a group, continued to be lower than their non-minority counterparts (4.7%). This difference persisted when the analysis was limited to the relatively small number of under-represented minority faculty (African, African- American and Hispanic). A list of faculty outliers is provided to Dean Sommer for his review and for review and discussion with each of the department chairs.

The Advisory Board conjectured about possible reasons for continuing, albeit small, differences between salaries of male and female faculty, and minority and non-minority faculty. It further speculated about practices that might improve the climate for minority faculty as well as the diversity of the faculty. After further discussion, Provost Knapp and Dean Sommer thanked Drs. Celentano and Zeger for their presentation.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

© 2001 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
Last updated 28Mar01 by dgips@jhu.edu