Agenda Digest
Ed Ayers called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. In
attendance were Rebecca Kneedler, Ingrid Soudek, Ben Ray, Milton
Adams, Hal Burbach, Rich DeMong. Also in attendance was Jahan
Ramazani, Chair-Elect of the Faculty Senate.
The Committee members discussed the upcoming meeting with Peter
Low, Vice President and Provost, which will be dedicated to
discussing the development of a Teaching Fund. The group discussed
possible criteria for receiving awards and how best to distribute any
monies that might be given to the creation of a Teaching Fund. It
was noted that the program should be of a competitive nature. It was
also noted that funding should be enough to have a significant impact
for every school. The Committee said innovative ideas for improving
teaching should be funded, and it was suggested that some funds could
be matched by individual schools.
Mr. Ayers introduced Mr. Ramazani to the group. Mr. Ramazani
congratulated the Committee on a job well done this past year. The
group discussed ideas/tasks the Committee can take on next year.
There is another Faculty Senate committee envisioned for the upcoming
year, Mr. Ramazani said. This will be the Committee on Research and
Scholarship. Mr. Ramazani said labors need to be divided between the
Academic Affairs Committee and the Committee on Research and
Scholarship.
Mr. Ramazani said "intellectual climate" at the University is a
theme he would like to see addressed in the upcoming year. In regard
to intellectual climate, he said problems need to be isolated, and
then possible solutions to the problems need to be found. Some ideas
brainstormed were: developing intellectual exchanges with junior
faculty; mentoring junior faculty; nuturing junior faculty;
developing a faculty center; interdisciplinary initiatives; and
student intellectual life outside the classroom. The group discussed
how best to present this project to the Senators. They feel that
comments/suggestions should be gotten from the Senators, but possibly
in a less formal manner than the information gotten for the teaching
conversations. Mr. Ayers suggested having a Senate retreat to get an
informal conversation started regarding intellectual climate at
Virginia and other areas of interest the Senators may have. Everyone
felt this was an excellent idea, and it will be looked into further.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
