The Arts and Sciences Council approved minor changes to the structure of two of its internal committees Thursday in a light meeting that also included a presentation by Duke Student Government members.
The changes target the Committee on Faculty Research and the Committee on Computing, specifying redefined functions and new membership guidelines.
The Committee on Faculty Research will now be charged with the administration of Arts and Sciences Professional Meeting/Conference Travel Funding for faculty; awarding Arts and Sciences Council Annual Research Grants; formulating policies regarding travel funding and research grants; and formulating recommendations for the enhancement of Arts and Sciences faculty research development.
"Faculty should have some venue for considering larger issues like how available funding, time crunch and publishing is affecting research," said committee chair Naomi Quinn, professor of cultural anthropology.
The Committee on Computing, currently charged with making recommendations and determining priorities for academic computing, will now also take on the responsibility of representing Arts and Sciences on University-wide computing issues.
Melissa Mills, associate dean of Arts and Sciences for computing and an ex-officio member of the committee, said the new charge will codify the committee's efforts to give input on major issues, as it did previously with the proposed undergraduate laptop requirement and the search for the new chief information officer, Tracy Futhey.
Mills added that the move has been a long time in coming. "We originally proposed this amendment in 1998. It's taken a while to get it on the agenda," she said.
The two bodies will take on slightly different membership structures as well. The Committee on Faculty Research will change from comprising two representatives from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences to only one per division. Representative will still serve three-year staggered terms. The Committee on Computing, which previously included eight faculty representatives, will now include an unspecified number of professors, as well as the usual undergraduate student, graduate student and ex officio member from the office of the dean of Arts and Sciences.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: DSG Vice President for Academic Affairs Lyndsay Beal, President Joshua Jean-Baptiste and legislator Alex Barna made a presentation on the organization's top initiatives this year, specifically calling on council members to urge their peers to opt-in to the newly permanent online course evaluations system.
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