The regular meeting for September of the Marietta College faculty for the 2001-2002 academic year convened at 5:00 p.m. September 10, 2001, in the Selby Science Center, room 101. Dr. Sidney Potash, Chair of the Faculty, presided.

1. Announcements

1. Dr. Potash announced that Dr. Suzanne Walker and Professor Fraser MacHaffie would continue as Parliamentarian and Secretary, respectively.

2. Dr.Potash noted with appropriate comments the death in April of Dr. William C. Hartel, Professor of History, 1965-2000.

3. The meeting also noted with sadness the death of the mother of President Scott.

2. Minutes of Meeting of 9 April 2001
   
       The minutes were approved.

3. Provost’s Report

   1. Dr. DeWine reported that recent events had passed successfully: the ground breaking for the Rickey Science Building, the Convocation at which honorary degrees had been bestowed on David Ferguson and David Rickey, and the day of celebration in the Physics Department.

   2. Dr. DeWine reported a change in the format of the trustees meetings. Henceforth, only one-half of the board committees would physically meet during the two days. The other half would handle business by conference calls. The objective was to open up more time for plenary discussion. The Natural Science Division had been asked to make a presentation at the October meeting on its plans for the future. These items reflected the desire on the part of the trustees to increase interaction with the faculty.

   3. The Provost reported that Daniel Bryant had met with the bookstore manager to discuss alleged late arrival of books, and Mahendra Singh had responded to concerns over the wiring of the residence halls.

   4. At the request of Council, Dr. DeWine introduced new faculty who were present.

   5. Dr. DeWine reported on the outcomes of discussions she had had with Council: presentation of faculty awards was moved from Commencement to Founders Day, the number of and the stipend attaching to Harness Fellowships were to be increased (3 to 4 and $3,000 to $4,000, respectively), a new award opportunity had been made possible by the gift of alumnus Nicholas Coburn which created "The Fund for Small but Important Things That Might Otherwise Not be Funded."

   6. Dr. DeWine appealed to committee chairs to convene meetings only when necessary and to keep the meetings as short as was consistent with good governance.

4. Curriculum Committee

   Dr. Mark Sibicky, chair of the Curriculum Committee, announced that the committee had divided itself into two subcommittees, the Minutiæ Committee chaired by Professor Osborne and the Big Picture Committee chaired by Dr. S. Walker. Dr. Sibicky indicated that the committee was proceeding with building on the new curriculum approved by faculty during the 2000-2001 academic year. In order to provide time for the committee, divisions, and departments to work on the identification and articulation of the goals of general education, the committee had declared a moratorium on changes in majors and minors, except in emergency cases. Out of the discussions on general education, the committee hoped would come consensus among the faculty as to whether the new curriculum would meet these goals. Dr. Sibicky reported that meetings had already been scheduled at the divisional level which were to be preceded by departmental discussions, and also reminded the faculty of meetings with a curriculum consultant at 12 noon and 5:00 p.m. on Monday September 20.

   During his comments, Dr. Sibicky reported that an advisee had challenged the "48-hour rule" which stipulated that a student could count no more than 48 hours in most departments towards graduation. Dr. Sibicky commented that since the rule does not appear in any recent College Catalog, he conceded that the student’s challenge was successful. The Curriculum Committee was following up on this omission.

   Prof. Osborne reported on the work of the Minutiæ Committee. His comments were based on a Power Point presentation and copies of the slides are attached as an Exhibit to these minutes.

   Dr. S. Walker likewise reported on the plans being formulated by The Big Picture Committee.

   At 5:57 p.m. the meeting was opened up for questions. Topics raised included: assessment, the non-divisional nature of global/multicultural courses, the need for discussion to determine whether consensus existed for the new distribution requirement.

5. Adjournment
   
       The meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.

EXHIBIT(click on link): Slides used in report from the Minutiæ Committee

cc. Dr. Jean Scott
     Dr. Sue DeWine (2)
     Dr. Sidney Potash
     Reserve Collection, Dawes Library