Chairs/Directors Meeting Minutes
October 3, 2006
10:00AM – Ruth McQuown Room
Agenda
1. Ph. D Best Practices- Sylvia Chan-Olmsted
- Dr. Sylvia Chan-Olmsted presented her research on Ph.D Best Practices. The presentation focused on areas such as recruitment, admissions, faculty mentoring, and the Ph.D programs in general.
2. Fall Enrollment- Albert Matheny
- In terms of undergraduate enrollment, growth is mostly occurring in upper division courses which are often expensive to fund, and the more technical of lower division classes (labs, etc.) which are also costly. Students are often admitted to UF having already completed credits in the Social Sciences and Humanities which results in larger growth in the Natural and Mathematical Sciences.
- Graduate enrollment has reached historic highs at the 9L level even though the total number of graduate students has decreased.
- The university almost met its undergraduate enrollment goal this year, surpassing it only by approximately 120 students.
3. Tenure & Promotion- Allan Burns
- T&P packets are due October 13th
- Each department’s criteria should be reviewed before submitting packets.
- Letters of transmittal from the chair of the department are extremely important and should place the packet in context. Transmittal letters should honestly address strengths as well as weaknesses in the application.
- If 20% of the votes are abstentions or negative you need to explain why; this is also recommended if at least 15% are negative.
- It is against policy to speak with CLAS T&P committee members about cases.
- The packet is the candidate’s responsibility in terms of editing, completeness, and having the correct materials.
- Peer teaching evaluations are not necessary for junior faculty, but they would not hurt. They are also necessary for applications for full or distinguished professor status as well as different awards.
4. CLAS Budget Issues-Neil Sullivan
- A projection of the evolution of the CLAS E&G Budget through FY 2008-09 was presented.
5. Items from the floor:
- In response to a query about communications between CLAS chairs (and faculty)
and the Dean’s Office, the following is a general indicator. In
order to facilitate better two-way communication, general enquiries relevant
to the different divisions should be directed to:
- Humanities - Jim Mueller
- Natural and Mathematical Sciences - Jack Sabin
- Social Sciences - Allan Burns
- Centers & Institutes - Angel Kwolek-Folland
of duties, but those listed above should become the point of first contact
for many issues.
- Accuracy of Data (FTE, SCHs, etc.)
- Concern was addressed about differences in numbers for FTEs and SCHs in the College database compared to IR and department data.
- We are now in the process of checking the departmental data against university records, e.g. Registrar, graduate school or OIR.