Faculty Development Council Meeting
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Adelbert Hall, Room 301
Members Present:
Chris Ash
Diana Bilimoria
Alison Hall
Members Absent:
Cleve Gilmore
Jacqueline Lipton
Ica Manas-Zloczower
Daniel Scherson
Lynn Singer
Carol Stark
Ronald Occhionero
Patricia Underwood
Invited to Attend:
Amanda Shaffer
The meeting was called to order by Diana Bilimoria, Council Chair, at 3:00 p.m.
Minutes
The minutes of the June 15, 2011 meeting were approved by the Council.
Today’s meeting will be divided into two topics: Continue the discussions on Climate
Survey and Faculty Development Council Website.
1)
2010 Climate Survey Discussion
Prior to the meeting, Lynn Singer issued an email to the Council members and
asked for their input on the Faculty Survey Reports. The data is confidential and
should not be discussed outside of the group. The Council’s goal is to give two
or three recommendations to the Provost’s Office and other senior administrators
to implement. For example, the Council’s recommendations will be relevant for
the Deans’ Council, Faculty Senate, etc.
Discussion of the 2010 climate survey ensued. The responses from the 2004 to
2007 surveys are not fully comparable since the scales used are different. It
appears that the 2010 responses are somewhat more positive than in prior years.
A statement was raised that more dissatisfied responses are usually received in
Faculty Development Council Meeting
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Page 2
surveys (than satisfied responses), because satisfied people do not usually
respond to surveys. Amanda Shaffer will look into whether there is any research
on whether dissatisfied responses are more likely to be received.
Action plans must be developed to answers the following questions:

Why are the faculty leaving?

Is there a breakout of assistant professors vs. other faculty members?
Certain items are more or less relevant for assistant professors. Lynn will
send around a breakout of the responses of assistant professors only.

What items need to be included in the budget to reach our goals?

Should we develop a pre-award program that would replace Spiderware
and other software programs? (This could streamline our processes and
help administrators.)
Two main areas of concern are identified from the Satisfaction Report of the
2010 Climate Survey. First, research infrastructure at the university needs to be
improved. More than 40% of the faculty are dissatisfied with start-up funds and
almost 40% of the faculty are dissatisfied with (a) support for securing grants and
(b) other resources to support research. Thus, research infrastructure is clearly
an area which strongly needs improvement university-wide.
Second, more than 35% of the faculty were dissatisfied with access to teaching
assistants. This is also a major area of concern for the Council. The role of
Teaching Assistants (TAs) was discussed. TAs are paid for by the
department/school to assist with large classes. There is currently no central
funding for TAs.
Support is needed for securing grants or research. Some schools write their own
grants. We need the ability to network but this is not currently readily accessible.
Also needed is a person that is trained to assist in writing grants. Pilot funds
which were available in the past are not available now.
A fellowship program is needed, to assist in mentoring and support with graduate
fellowships. Develop a list consisting of recommendations for research analysis
and prioritizations.
Need to make recommendations on research and other items and request
recommendations for benchmarking and best practices. Some departments
don’t have access to the same funds.
There are three additional reports to come from the Climate Survey: retention of
faculty; assistant professors only, and mentoring. Lynn will send these around
shortly.
In light of the findings of the Satisfaction Report of the 2010 Faculty Climate
Survey, we recommend that the Provost’s Office:
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Page 3
(1)
Improve the research infrastructure of the university in three aspects:
(a) Improve start-up funds, (b) Improve support for securing grants, and
(c) Improve other resources to support research (e.g., travel to
conferences)
(2)
2)
Improve faculty access to Teaching Assistants.
Discuss Faculty Development Council Webpage
Alison Hall discussed the “Revised Proposed Content for Faculty Development
Council Website” that was attached to the agenda for today’s meeting. The
Council was asked to enhance this template with additional categories that
pertain to their school or were omitted from this form.
Each school needs to create customized ideas. The Council was asked to make
revisions to the current template and send to Alison to update. Amanda Shaffer
will send revised links to Lynn Singer to discuss at the next Deans’ Council
meeting. A list of what resources are needed this year and for future years
needs to be developed. Question was raised who is the person who controls and
updates our server? There are currently no funds available for updating the
system. Amanda is working on collecting the three bids for the website.
What items should be on the website?

What are the next steps for a mid-level person - such as how to become a
department chair, what new skills are needed, mentoring, etc.?

Include links to other websites such as NSF.

Information included in the retention packages.

Develop succession plans for leadership.
The Council needs funding in the budget to prioritize and update the website.
3)
Topics for future meetings:
Set up one separate meeting to discuss each group: assistant professors,
associate professors, and professors. For assistant professors to associate
professors, the tenure track is clear; associate professors to full professors (no
time limit to reach the full professor level.)
Other agenda items to discuss: IDEAL focus groups, ADVANCE website
(University of Michigan).
Meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m. Notes by Carol Stark (carol.stark@case.edu or
368-4389).
Next Meeting:
Thursday, August 18, 2011
11:00 – 12:00 p.m.
Adelbert Hall, Room M2