The Advisory Committee, consisting of Professors Chris Bailey, Leslie Miller-Bernal, Arnold Shilepsky (Chair) and Jeanne Goddard or Crawford Thoburn, met between one and two times a week throughout the semester.

We held the required open meeting at the beginning of the semester to discuss the concerns of the faculty. Most of the discussion related to the Faculty Manual revision process. Other issues raised included how visiting professors fit into salary negotiations, and the selection and composition of the Evaluation Committee. The Advisory Committee distributed minutes of this meeting to the Faculty.

The Committee met with the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board to discuss the status of the Faculty Manual rewrite process. During this meeting the Academic Affairs Committee made the important decision to use the Faculty’s draft as the working document. Each Board member on the Academic Affairs Committee has been asked to make a list of important issues raised in the Faculty’s draft or the consultant’s draft. Alain Seznec, chair of this Committee, will prepare a comprehensive list that will be shared with the Bridge Committee and discussed at the next Board meeting. Members of the Advisory Committee have and will continue to work on a list of issues important to the Faculty. The Faculty will likely be discussing many of the issues raised by either group during the spring semester.

The Committee held a meeting with the Evaluation Committee, Dean Hall and Arthur Bellinzoni, to discuss the evaluation process prior to beginning the evaluations. We agreed on several procedures for the reviewing process. We met later with a smaller group to settle a specific question of procedure. We participated in the evaluation of four colleagues for reappointment, promotion, and/or tenure.

The Committee received seven proposals for sabbatical leaves for next year and dispersed some money for faculty travel. The Committee worked with the President and Dean to develop a process for selecting named chairs and procedures for making a decision to conduct a limited search rather than a full search for a tenure track position. The committee was briefed on the recent changes in our health plans and the distribution of benefits, and requested that representatives of the faculty be more involved in this area in the future. The administration reconsidered favorably its contribution to health benefits following this meeting.

Leslie Miller-Bernal is the Advisory Committee's representative to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees, Chris Bailey is the Advisory Committee's member on the President's ad hoc committee on salary and the budget representative, and Crawford Thoburn is managing the distribution of research and travel money.

Respectfully Submitted,

Arnold Shilepsky, Chair

Advisory Committee on Faculty Personnel

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