ABSENT: John Savage, Chung-I Tan

GUESTS: Bill Crossgrove, Nicholas Hill, Donald Marsh

The Chair opened the meeting at 3:07 p.m. After minor grammatical corrections, a motion was made, seconded and approved to accept the 2/13 minutes as amended.

Professor Valente gave a Chair's Report. The meeting between the FEC and the Corporation went well. Ms. Wendy Strothman reminded the FEC they are welcome to invite some of their colleagues who are not FEC members to meetings with the Corporation. The F EC plans on doing so at the next Corporation meeting this spring. Professor Valente continues to correspond with Dean Fennell about the issue of providing faculty members with comparative information on faculty salaries and the method by which this could be accomplished. Some discussion ensued with regard to publication of the salary curves and how to calculate those curves more accurately for each discipline. Perhaps it would be more useful to the faculty to receive the Report on Faculty Salaries prio r to the budget meetings held early in second semester. The Dean of the Faculty will report on faculty salaries at the April faculty meeting. The FEC will be discussing Modern Culture and Media's proposal for a new Ph.D. Program at the March 13 FEC meet ing, and Professors Mike Silverman and Philip Rosen along with Deans Peder Estrup and Joan Lusk are invited to attend. Professor Valente hopes to present the proposal at the April faculty meeting. The Graduate Council will submit final reports to the FE C on all new graduate programs, which will accompany proposals when presented to the faculty. The FCEL will be reviewing the proposal for a doctoral program in Theatre and Performance Studies because it impacts other departments, and the Africana Studies proposal is still with the FCEL. The Nominations ballot is complete, and everyone Professor Valente contacted answered the call to serve, which was very encouraging. A brief discussion ensued with regard to faculty agenda mailings and the possibility o f eventually posting the agenda and attachments on the Web in lieu of mailings. The FEC agreed that Professor Valente should make an announcement at the March faculty meeting that the April faculty meeting agenda will be sent by e-mail in addition to the regular mailing. Those who do not wish to receive the agenda electronically should contact the Office of Faculty Governance. The May agenda will be sent via e-mail and attachments posted to the Web on the Faculty Governance web site, the regular mailin g going to only those faculty members who request it.

Professor Nicholas Hill was invited to discuss the report from the Medical Faculty Executive Committee (MFEC). The written report distributed with the FEC agenda focused on three main issues discussed by the Committee last year including compensation for hospital-based faculty for time spent teaching, the issue of revising ethical guidelines to ascertain they are current and in line with other universities, and the Stop-the-Clock policy. Professor Hill touched briefly on those points and mentioned there was one issue not included in the report that is currently being discussed, the Tuition Aid Program (TAP). There is concern that campus-based faculty aid has been raised from $7,500 per child to $10,000 and hospital-based faculty aid has remained at the $1,000 per student level for the past 20 years. Other hospital-based faculty members have complained that they have had difficulty obtaining reimbursement. Hospital-based faculty pays for its tuition aid program by contributing to a pool, and a similar mechanism might have to be created if tuition aid is to increase for hospital-based faculty. Although the MFEC addresses issues of importance to all faculty members, they feel they have no authority, and advocacy is probably the most important thing the FEC can offer the MFEC. It was noted that hospital-based faculty issues are very different from campus-based issues. Perhaps through the FEC, the MFEC can make their voice heard to the senior administrative officials at Brown. Professor Hill will not be able to attend the March 6 faculty meeting and will ask someone else if they can report on his behalf.

Dean Donald Marsh was invited to discuss the reports from the Biomedical Faculty Council and the Committee on Medical Faculty Appointments (CMFA). The Biomedical Faculty Council is now meeting quarterly rather than monthly. Last year, the Council approv ed the creation of the Clinician Educator Track and a faculty policy regarding extension of time period for promotion from assistant to associate professor in the academic medical faculty tracks. Routine duties of the Council included approving the list of candidates for the M.D. degree and a number of new course recommendations from the Medical Curriculum Committee. A waiver was granted for a student requiring completion of all requirements of the M.D./Ph.D. degree within a period of nine years. Dean Marsh spoke briefly about the two tables in the CMFA written report. The first table showed the appointments and promotions for last year for the academic track, (research) track, and the clinical (voluntary) track including associate and full professors , senior (research) faculty, and senior level clinical voluntary faculty reviews. Out of the 39 senior level actions submitted to CMFA, six departments submitted dossiers for review. There were two negative promotion decisions and two tabled actions, on e of which was later approved. The Provost and President approved all CMFA actions presented. The second table showing an 11-year promotion track review was for comparison purposes and clearly revealed that activity has declined since the mid 1990's. D ean Marsh answered a few questions after which he was invited to report at the March 6 faculty meeting.

The meeting was called to Executive Session at 4:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl A. Moreau
Secretary