Faculty Development Committee

Minutes of the FDC Meeting October 8, 2004

Present: Jeanine Grenberg (chair), Paddy Dale, Shelly Dickinson, Marty Hodel, Arnie Ostebee, and Bill Thornton

  1. The minutes of the September 24 meeting were approved.
  2. A review of the Proposal Writing Workshops was held. While attendance was not high, 8 in the first, 3 in the second, these events were considered to have been useful. The location in a Buntrock conference room was preferred over the Dittman lecture hall. The contribution of Professor Cherewatuk, linking professional development to tenure, was noted.
  3. Much of the discussion centered on whether one of the letters attesting to the intellectual merit of the project need be from a colleague outside of St. Olaf. The merits and demerits of this were discussed, including the difficulty of obtaining some outside letters. The consensus was that outside letters should be encouraged not required, and that members of the Faculty Development Committee should balance the specifications of departmental statements of significant professional development with contributions to the broader scholarly community.
  4. The criteria for awarding released time grants were reviewed and found useful. Some experiences from last yea's review process were discussed.

Respectfully submitted,
Paddy Dale