The Ithaca College Faculty Council resumed business at its meeting Feb. 4, where members continued discussing several topics raised at previous meetings, such as clarifying wording in the Faculty Handbook and the Shared Governance Research Task Force. The council also talked about topics to address at future meetings.
Peter Rothbart, chair of the Faculty Council and professor of music theory, history and composition, said the Office of the Provost agreed to paying the fee for the council chair to become a member of the American Association for University Professors, for which Rothbart said he had already registered. In addition, Rothbart summarized a letter he received asking the Faculty Council to look into revisiting the timeline for final grade deadlines. He also suggested updating the council web page and creating a separate email to keep running records of information for Faculty Council chairs to use in years to come.
Marisa Kelly, provost and vice president for educational affairs, said the Ithaca College Board of Trustees will be traveling to Los Angeles next week, where it will talk to students in the Los Angeles program about how their experiential learning while on the Ithaca, N.Y., campus prepared them for their respective internships in LA.
Because Wenmouth Williams, chair of the Department of Journalism and professor of media arts, sciences and studies, will be retiring at the end of the semester, Kelly said she is taking nominations for the faculty athletics representative, a position that Williams held, serving as a liaison between faculty and the athletics department.
Another issue Kelly discussed was the process of looking for a new dean and appointing an interim dean for the School of Business because current dean Mary Ellen Zuckerman will be leaving at the end of the semester to pursue a provost position at State University of New York at Brockport.
In regard to the position that would be open upon David Garcia, associate provost for business intelligence, leaving the college to assume a provost position at Carthage College, Kelly said planning for filling his position will be put on hold while the Department of Information Technology Services sees a reorganization and shift of leaders.
“A significant part of that particular position is linked, as the title implies, to business intelligence and engagement directly with ITS, especially around our data governance, data management needs,” Kelly said.
Steven Skopik, chair of the Faculty Handbook Amendment Committee and professor and chair of media arts, sciences and studies, said the committee is going to go through the tenure section of the Faculty Handbook looking for clarity and consistency in wording.
“The committee is going to stay away from, as much as possible, its own members imposing an agenda on the revision and instead take our cue from wider faculty,” Skopik said.
Skopic said from the survey the Faculty Handbook Amendment Committee sent out to tenure and tenure-track faculty last semester, any item with about a 9 percent threshold of interest from responders would be evaluated as the handbook goes through faculty evaluation.
