March 7, 2005

Present: Rob Shakespeare (chair), Judith Anderson, Erik Bucy, Katy Fraser, Roger Levesque, Al Ruesink (recorder)

The meeting convened at 2:30.

Minutes of our meeting of February 28 were amended and approved.

Following a short discussion of how much should be said in the minutes about individual positions or contributions, Ruesink agreed to pull names whenever requested but in general to continue noting who was primarily responsible for committee activities or documents.

Elections for next fall were discussed and plans were made. Three persons will have completed terms and will have left the CPC (Chuck Livingston for Biological, Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Katy Fraser for Arts and Humanities; Kevin Hunt as at-large). Katy will chair the nomination committee, assisted by Al and Jeff. Suggestions from the faculty for candidates for an April election should be sent to Katy (cfraser@indiana.edu). The commitment is for a 3-year term on a lively committee that meets weekly for about an hour and a half. Please send Katy your suggestions!

We continued our discussion of salary equity issues and discussed whether putting the governance and salary policy documents from individual departments on a College website would encourage best practices and tend to reduce biases. Roger will explore what is needed to move such a project along.

As reported in earlier minutes, Roger had been planning to serve on the CPC until Spring Break and was then going to be replaced by Yasuko Watt. Chuck Livingston's early departure leaves a vacancy on the committee until the end of the semester. The CPC has valued Roger's participation, and because Roger is willing, he will continue to serve on the CPC even as Yasuko joins us for the remainder of the semester.

Swamy joined the committee at 3:14.

Much of the conversation involved an organizational change that will be reported in the minutes when it is further developed.

There was further consideration and tweaking of the proposal for a Senior Faculty Recognition advisory committee in the College. The proposal as it now stands follows as an appendix below. Swamy and the CPC will consider it further after faculty feedback has been received. Send your comments to Rob (shakespe@indiana.edu).

The meeting adjourned at 4:02.

Albert Ruesink, recorder

Appendix:

Proposal for a Committee on Senior Faculty Recognition

Peer review beyond the department is an established principle and respected procedure within the College and the University. An area in which comparable faculty input is presently lacking pertains to the senior reward structure currently in place–existing prizes, awards, titles–and to faculty appointments to College committees, lesser administrative appointments, and the like. This is an area in which faculty participation could substantially and beneficially broaden representation, helping to mitigate long-standing, systemic biases involving field, gender, and ethnic group or race, as well as to counter instances of departmental inbreeding or cronyism. Simply put, peer review affords an alternative perspective that is larger, less insular, and arguably more objective.

We therefore propose to the Dean a committee to review the vitae and current annual reports, as sent to the College, of all full professors, for the sole purpose of identifying particularly accomplished senior faculty. This committee would review a third of the senior faculty each year, thereby generating a cumulative list adjusted annually for faculty losses (retirement, departure, etc.). The committee would number six, who should be broadly and equally representative of the three major areas in the College (Arts and Humanities, Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, as each area is inclusively defined in the constitution of the CPC). The committee would be appointed by the Dean, with half of its members drawn from a list of faculty nominated by the College Policy Committee. The list would include at least one member of the CPC. For at least the first year, the chair should be a member of the CPC. This Faculty Committee would report to the Dean.

The Committee would provide a list of senior candidates for consideration of name-professorships and other awards, as well as for consideration to serve on appropriate committees. This list would both complement and supplement the recommendations of chairs. It would allow a more thorough and more broadly comparative consideration of achievement in research, teaching, and service than is possible by any single (likely overworked) person.

The purpose of the committee would be to inform and advise, rather than to make decisions about awards or appointments. The work of the Committee would be particularly useful to a new Dean, whether recruited from within the University or from outside it, but it would also serve to broaden participation on committees and further to enhance the credibility of the award structure.

Once the committee has completed its first full cycle of reviews–that is, at the end of three years--the CPC, in consultation with the Dean, will review the procedures and results of the committee and will consider any appropriate changes in its mandate.

Questions or comments regarding the minutes and actions of the Policy Committee may be addressed to Rob Shakespeare, Dept. of Theater and Drama, Theater and Drama Ctr. A300H, 5-4367, shakespe@indiana.edu. Past minutes and College Policy Statements can be found at the CPC web page: www.indiana.edu/~college/faculty/policy/policies.shtml.