Faculty Meeting Minutes, October 13, 2006
I.Call to Order
The provost called the meeting to order at 3:35.
II.Devotion
Laura Montgomery gave the devotion.
III.Introduction of New Faculty Member
Steve Julio introduced himself.
IV.Business
The provost conducted the business of the faculty.
A.Approval of Minutes of 15 September 2006
The minutes were passed as distributed.
Tom Fikes asked that in future that the minutes be posted on the relevant website.
The provost noted that Faculty Council wanted committee reports to be a more common feature of faculty meetings.
B.Report From Joyce Luy, Admissions Office
Joyce Luy reported on the work of the Admissions Office, commenting on the successful early action process; number of applicants; and the profile of the incoming class.
She noted that more and more of our applicants are applying to non- Christian liberal arts colleges alongside Westmont, rather than other Christian colleges Pepperdine is the Christian school with whom we share the most applicants. She also noted that we are attracting more Catholic students.
Luy expressed gratitude for faculty involvement in the admissions process.
C.Report From Professional Development Committee
Alister Chapman gave the report on behalf of the committee. The other committee members are Marilyn McEntyre and Allan Nishimura.
The committee continues to do its work of making decisions on sabbatical proposals and faculty development grants. It has also been working on issues relating to pedagogy (at the Faculty Council’s suggestion), and plans to organize a faculty forum every semester to focus on this.
This semester, the committee has discussed the Mutual Mentoring program for senior faculty, leaving it as it is.
Next semester, the committee plans to examine the current system of student evaluations with a view to revising it. This brief was given to the committee by Faculty Council last year.
D.Report From Academic Senate & Review Committee
No report was given.
- Provost’s Perspective
The provost:
- outlined the events surrounding the installation of Mark Nelson in the Monroe Chair of Philosophy on October 27.
- announced various items of faculty “glory.”
- encouraged the faculty to apply for CCCU Initiative Grants.
- commented on the work of the Long-range Planning Committee. The committee will give a draft to the faculty by the end of the semester. The provost stressed that nothing in this draft will be set in stone—it will all have to be vetted by the faculty, trustees, and the incoming president.
- exhorted the faculty to keep going in the WASC process. She recognized the need to incorporate the stuff of program review into considerations of faculty workload. She mentioned the Liberal Arts Institute’s conference in February about assessment in the liberal arts. Department chairs were asked to contact their assessment coordinator if they were unclear on what they still needed to submit for the November report. After the report is in, work will continue on getting ready for WASC’s campus visit next semester.
- spoke about the plans for the transition in the provost’s office. The faculty’s nominations are being discussed by the faculty council. The discussion will be taken to the Presidential Advisory Committee and the Trustees, with the hope that an announcement can be made by the end of October.
- noted that while she is still Westmont’s provost, she is also acting as the president of Houghton, given the fact that the college needed a president (for legal reasons apart from anything else). She recognized that this is a “crazy” option, but it was better than all the others. The great majority of her time is still spent on work for Westmont. She asked for our prayers for the rest of the semester.
- closed by referring to the preceding Monday’s faculty exchange on surviving as a faculty member at Westmont. The provost encouraged us to find contexts where we don’t feel we have to prove ourselves and where (if necessary) we can have a good old “rant,” places of “safety” and “shelter.” She encouraged us to work out what it means to work out of joy rather than drivenness.
VI.Adjournment
The provost adjourned the meeting at 5:40.
Respectfully submitted by Alister Chapman