Minutes of the August 28, 2008 Faculty Meeting

I. Call to Order
President David Anderson welcomed the faculty to the opening meeting.

II. Opening Prayer
Pastor Bruce Benson opened the meeting with a prayer for the work we have ahead of us in preparation for another academic year.

III. President’s Welcome
Agenda Setting Committee:  The president will continue to seek the guidance of this committee (the chairs of the standing committees of faculty, the dean and the parliamentarian) in creating the agenda.  Anyone wishing to bring business before the faculty is welcome to discuss it with any members of this committee

Faculty Meetings: Faculty meetings will continue to be over the noon hour and lunch will be provided.

Enrollment: The President discussed the trends of enrollment and the number of students who accepted St. Olaf’s offer despite the economy.  He discussed how we will go about selecting a smaller class size next year.

Good News:  St. Olaf was selected to join Davis United World College Scholars Program which provides scholarships (in the amount of $10,000) to students who complete the last two years of high school at a large number of international schools.

St. Olaf was awarded three S-STEM Scholarships totaling 1.6 million dollars in three departments: Math, Biology, and Chemistry from the National Science Foundation.

St. Olaf has also received a $296,000 grant from the Freeman Foundation.  This grant will enable the college to hire two half-time faculty members in Chinese and Japanese, to further develop the Asian Conversations programs, to provide scholarships for students, and to bring the arts of Asia to campus.  The grant requires a $150,000 match from the college.

The Mellon Foundation has given money to fund post-doctoral fellowships.  We will be recruiting two post-doctoral fellows for next year, one in Ethnomusicology and one in Asian Studies. 

There is one grant pending that would enable the college to hire tenure-track faculty to prepare to meet the needs of the college for faculty who have already agreed to retire at a certain date. 

The president commented that each of these grants speak to our commitment to provide a richly diverse educational environment, the confidence the funding organizations have in St. Olaf and the quality of our programs.

Other Announcements
Tenure Track Searches: This year we will have ten tenure-track faculty searches in the following departments: Art and Art History, Biology and Biochemistry, History, Math, Statistics, Nursing, Social Work, Statistics, Philosophy, and Religion. Bruce King, newly appointed Assistant to the President for Institutional Diversity, will be assisting with the searches.

The president also welcomed Paula Carlson, ’76, newly appointed Vice President and Liaison to the Board of Regents.

College Ranking Season: US News & World Report now ranks St. Olaf among the top 50 liberal arts colleges in America.  The profile of the incoming class and the creation of smaller class sizes are two likely reasons for climbing seven spaces in the rankings.  The Princeton Review rated St. Olaf 4th for campus food, 8th for town-gown relations and 17th for best quality of life. 

The president reiterated that these rankings do not happen by accident and extended a hearty welcome back to everyone.

IV. Approval of the minutes of the May 2008 Faculty Meeting
The minutes were approved.

V. Introduction of New Colleagues
Provost Jim May welcomed back faculty members who were on leave or on international programs last year and introduced new members of the faculty.

VI. Update on the Class of 2012 and the Work of the Admissions Division
Michael Kyle reported on the incoming first-year class, thanked the admissions staff, gave several sketches of incoming first-year students, and outlined future challenges to student recruitment.  He noted that the student body is now more diverse than it ever has been.

VII. Presentation on Student Health Issues
Mary Carlsen, Sharon Powell and Steve O'Neill presented information on mental health trends at St. Olaf. Up until the 1990s, relationship issues were the most common mental health issue; now the most common issue is depression.  The number of students with anxiety and the rates of students on medication for mental health issues have doubled in the past five years.  There are also a growing number of students coming to St. Olaf with ADHD/ADD or Autism spectrum disorders, or are being tested once they arrive on campus.  These trends are consistent with other colleges across the nation, and we will likely see this trend continue. A mental health resource packet was handed out to encourage faculty to get involved. 

Connie Ford reported on the services provided from the Academic Support Center and stressed that disabilities and intellect are two separate issues.  Connie discussed student accommodations and confidentiality.

VIII. Announcements
Mary Cisar reviewed the week zero and week one schedule and mentioned that preliminary information about the Old Science renovations can be found on the facilities website.

Mary Walckzak asked faculty to remind students to complete the Research Practices Survey.

Matt Richey requested that everyone wait to visit Regents Hall until a full occupancy permit is acquired.

Chris Thalhammer announced that Eddie Daniels, South African anti-apartheid leader, will be speaking on campus Sept. 23.

Meeting adjourned at 10:24 am.

Minutes prepared by Kari Lie, Secretary to the Faculty

PRINTABLE VERSION