{"id":10324,"date":"2024-03-25T14:23:45","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T19:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/provost\/?page_id=10324"},"modified":"2024-05-13T13:39:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:39:19","slug":"faculty-meeting-agenda-for-april-18-2024","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/provost\/faculty-meeting-agenda-for-april-18-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Minutes of the St. Olaf Faculty Meeting of April 18, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Faculty Meeting April 18, 2024<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Susan Singer welcomed us and announced that Rabbi Shosh Dworsky will retire at the end of the term. Rabbi Dworsky was the first rabbi to join the college ministry and was the first pastor hired to expand the college ministry into a multifaith institution. She was celebrated with a standing ovation of considerable length.

Pres. Singer also reminded us that she would not lead the remainder of the meeting, instead introducing the new President Pro Tempore, Allison Luedtke (Economics) to applause.

Quorum was established at 160 attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call to Order<\/strong>
President Pro Tempore<\/em> Luedtke called the meeting to order at 11:38 AM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening Prayer \u2013 Shosh Dworsky, Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life <\/strong>
Rabbi Dworsky shared some words of Torah (exigesis) to begin her blessing. She noted that Passover, a week-long Jewish festival, begins next Monday night with a celebratory seder. At the seder, Jews sit around the table at home and share the story of Exodus from the Hebrew Bible. Rabbi Dworsky noted that it is important for the leader of the seder to be sensitive to the needs of their audience and to be engaged with this group of learners. Such engagement is especially important given that there is a great deal of violence and brutality in the story. The seder ends with a prayer for redemption, bringing to mind the example of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, who rescued Moses from the river and therefore set this story into motion. Her rescue of Moses was an act of defiance. Should it have been punished or celebrated? We can learn from this as educators: when should we trust in the wisdom our students have rather than trying to \u201cteach\u201d them otherwise?

Rabbi Dworsky then offered a blessing for teachers and requested that all those who work in the transmission of meaning and knowledge be blessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approval of the<\/strong> March 14, 2024<\/a>, Faculty meeting minutes
Minutes voted on and approved, Yes: 140, No: 3, Abstain: 7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consent Agenda<\/strong>
Curriculum Committee Resolution 23\/24-13<\/a> Approval of New Courses: ENVST 204, HIST 248, and REL 215

Consent agenda voted on and approved, Yes: 157, No: 4, Abstain: 7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Business<\/strong>
Faculty Governance Committee Resolution 23\/24-10<\/a> – Contingent Faculty Positions on Standing Committees
Prof. Groton (Classics) introduced this resolution, which would require that the three largest faculty committees include at least one non-tenure-track committee member. She read a brief paragraph in support of this proposal, which is reproduced under \u201cRationale\u201d in this resolution.
There was no further discussion.

Resolution voted on and approved, Yes: 150, No: 13, Abstain: 2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committee Reports<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty Governance Committee \u2013 Anne Groton – report<\/a><\/em>
Prof. Groton highlighted the most important element of the report submitted on behalf of FCG. We will all receive a survey shortly asking us to vote on faculty representatives for service roles. This form must be completed by noon on Tuesday, 23 April. It is also not too late to fill out the preference for service form already disseminated. Prof. Groton then reminded us of the importance, in Petronius\u2019s words, to enter faculty meetings and other events \u201cdextro pede!\u201d, right foot first!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assessment Committee \u2013 Katie Ziegler-Graham – report<\/a><\/em>
Prof. Ziegler-Graham (MSCS) had no further comments and referred us to her report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty Life Committee \u2013 Arthur Cunningham – report<\/a><\/em>
Prof. Cunningham (Philosophy) had no further comments and referred us to his report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Life Committee \u2013 Chris Chapp – report<\/a><\/em>
Prof. Chapp (Political Science) had no further comments and referred us to his report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curriculum Committee \u2013 Justin Merritt – report<\/a><\/em>
Prof. Merritt (Music) had no further comments and referred us to his report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retention Report by Chris George and Louis Epstein<\/strong>
Prof. Louis Epstein (Music) rose to offer a report on student retention on behalf of the College\u2019s Retention Committee. He noted that some tables had postcards for first-years. These were to be filled out and sent to first-years, a practice that makes them feel welcomed and improves retention.

Prof. Epstein then sang a brief definition of retention (sensu Tinto 2010): essentially, retention is a metric, the proportion of students who are present at a given benchmark in time divided by the number of students present at a given starting time (e.g., the 10th day of their first semester). The Committee also recognizes retention as a metric of student thriving. This, in turn, requires faculty and staff thriving. Prof. Epstein reported that, recently, we have had retention of ~90%, down from a high in 2014 of 92.5%. These numbers are good in the context of peer institutions, but, more concerningly, we are finding that too many (~160) students leave over the 4 years after they arrive.

Prof. Epstein asked us to consider why some students leave. Some reasons are out of our control. Others \u2013 principally academic struggles and lack of belonging \u2013 are under our control. We can mitigate these factors by connecting with students, especially first-years, and we are doing this work! SOAR leaders report that many faculty are connecting with first-years and placement of new students with advisors who taught a first-semester class has improved retention. Early Alerts are also really important for improving retention; they are not meant as punishments for students or faculty. Prof. Epstein walked us through some of the finer points of the completion and interpretation of Early Alert forms. Early submission of Early Alerts (before drop or switch to S\/U dates) is particularly important in preventing DFWI (D or F grades, withdrawals, and incompletes), which in turn are negatively correlated with retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academic Calendar Discussion by Justin Merritt<\/strong>
The following resources were provided to inform the discussion:
Survey Results<\/a>
Fall Semester 2025-2026 Draft Resolution<\/a>
Spring Semester 2025-2026 Draft Resolution<\/a>
2024-2025 Academic Calendar<\/a>

Prof. Merritt initiated a discussion around potential changes to the academic calendar. He noted how fraught this process is and thanked the Calendar Committee for their work evaluating potential changes. The changes ultimately recommended are not sweeping and will not be voted on today. Our discussion today instead is a chance for the Curriculum Committee to get input before putting together a formal proposal. Prof. Merritt highlighted a few large changes:
-Starting the fall semester earlier
-A longer fall break
-A Wednesday during Quiet Week with no classes
-4 instead of 5 days of finals, no night finals
-An earlier end to fall semester
-Locking in spring break to the third week of March

Prof. Merritt noted that the Committee is aware of trade-offs implicit in these proposed changes and provided a few examples of these. He solicited information about further trade-offs that faculty may be aware of and shared summarized results from the survey given out to faculty, staff, and students regarding these changes. Generally, each individual change received majority support (sometimes wide, sometimes slim), but questions were posed on an issue-by-issue basis, not as a comprehensive package of changes.

Prof. Merritt then gave us a 10-minute period to discuss our responses, fill out paper surveys made available at our tables, and consider an online survey disseminated via email. Responses to both of these will be reviewed by the Curriculum Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remarks by the President<\/strong>
President Singer shared gratitude for those who have engaged with the Strategic Planning Process so far. She informed us that further input from faculty will be solicited in advance of the submission of updates to the Board of Regents at their next meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remarks & Report <\/a>by the Provost<\/strong>
Provost Marci Sortor thanked Claudia Gonzalez-George for organizing our first faculty meeting in her new role and acknowledged recently released works by faculty, including:
-Taking Moral Action by Prof. Charles Huff (Psychology) and Dr. Almut Furchert (formerly in Philosophy at St. Olaf)
-Prof. Emery Stephens\u2019 (Music) performance of the works of James P. Johnson (Naxos)
-Nourish and Resist by Prof. Hannah Ryan (Art and Art History)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remarks for the Good of the Order<\/strong>
Prof. Sequoia Nagamatsu (English) shared that author Rebecca Makkai (The Great Believers) will visit campus as part of the Claire Gilbert Marty Visiting Writer Series to read from her most recent novel on May 2nd from 7:00-8:30.

Prof. Chapp noted that from 4:30-5:45 today, Prof. Heather Sharkey (UPenn) will visit and lecture on \u201c\u2018A Guide to Modern Cooking\u2019: Tracing the History of Sudanese Women through an Arabic Home Economics Textbook.\u201d

Prof. Joe Roith (MSCS) advertised tonight\u2019s 6:30-8:00 Kleber-Gery Lecture by Aleszu Bajak (Director of Data Visualization at the Urban Institute) on \u201cTelling Your Story with Data.\u201d

Prof. Luedtke thanked Claudia Gonzalez-George again for her support in running our faculty meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adjourn<\/strong>
President Pro Tempore Luedtke adjourned the meeting at 12:25 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectfully Submitted,
Jake J. Grossman, Secretary to the Faculty<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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