MINUTES

Meeting of Social Change and Development Faculty, Feb. 11, 2005.

Present: Lynn Walter (chair), Andrew Austin, Tony Gait, Harvey Kaye, Kim Nielsen, Craig Lockard (minute taker), Larry Smith

Absent: Mark Everingham, Andy Kersten

Celebrations:

* Kim Nielsen announced that the Women's Studies program has tentatively been awarded a Fulbright-Hays grant to bring in a visiting professor of Islamic women's studies in the 2005-2006 academic year. Congratulations to Kim!

* Kim Nielsen has been invited to lecture in Japan this summer. Huzzahs all around for this recognition of her stature in the field.

* SCD grad Kevin Brennenstuhl is in the M.A. program at Hamline University.

* SCD student Rachel Abhold was accepted by Loyola University Law School.

* SCD grad Patty Powell got a job as a children's advocate at Golden House.

* Larry Smith will present a paper on sustainability at a Hawaii conference.

* Larry Smith noted that we have several outstanding students in SCD courses who are not SCD majors and wondered if there was some way to honor them. We made no decision.

1. There was some discussion of the Minutes for recent SCD meetings.

2. Larry Smith updated us on recent developments on the General Education Council.  There was some interest how General Education might be reshaped to become a more effective program.

3. We discussed how to use the remaining travel funds in the SCD S&E budget as well as the remaining funds from Andy Kersten's teaching grant. We decided to revisit the subject in our next meeting.

4. Lynn discussed the fall timetable. Concern was expressed about room

assignments, especially in Wood Hall. All favored MAC Hall classrooms. Lynn has contacted Katrina Hrivanak in the Registrar's Office with our concerns and suggested that individual faculty make their classroom needs known to Katrina as well.

5. We discussed ad hoc needs for the fall and how we should use the ad hoc

positions and/or S&E that will replace faculty teaching in the Extended degree program. Lynn noted that Extended Degree agreed to provide either 4 ad hocs or 2 ad hocs and $6000 in S&E for the 2 SCD faculty teaching in the ED program each year.  There is broad support for a research reassignment system but some disagreement as to how we might shape it or how many we could support with Extended Degree funds each year. It is also possible that Larry Smith may teach for ED bringing in additional resources. Pending Smith's application, no final decisions on how to proceed were made. We will revisit the topic soon.

6 We discussed the proposal to move most personnel files back to the units from the Faculty Governance Office. Most had no strong opinion or seemed willing to consider the proposal, but we wanted some examination of where these might be housed.

Exhausted on a Friday after a long week, we adjourned at 3.

Cc Fergus Hughes, Dean, Liberal Arts and Sciences

   Ken Fleurant, Secretary of the Faculty

   Social Change and Development Faculty