Peter Lange addressed the first Academic Council meeting of the year Thursday, presenting a summary of new policies to be implemented in response to reports from the Faculty Diversity Task Force and the Women's Faculty Development Task Force.
Lange outlined 10 initiatives adopted by the provost's office to respond to issues raised by the two task forces. One major focus of his presentation was the need to improve faculty mentoring processes within the different departments, noting that efforts in the past had stalled.
"It is now time to give [mentoring] even greater and more focused attention," Lange said. "It is also an integral part of our efforts to foster the development of our entire faculty."
He said that in order for mentoring to take root, fundamental changes in the faculty culture would need to take place. He cited several reasons that senior faculty members had been reluctant to mentor younger members, including a fear of giving poor advice to faculty in regards to tenure.
The initiative also includes a commitment of up to $1 million from Lange's office to hire women and minority faculty members, as announced in the unveiling of the Women's Initiative final report earlier this week. Lange said that while the money would provide an important incentive to departments, he hoped that in the future, "as the commitment to a diverse faculty becomes an even more integral part of our institutional culture... fewer of these central initiatives should become needed."
Several of the points focused on the collection and organization of more specific data regarding the number of black and women faculty applicants. While Lange said that no quotas would be used to guide the hiring of either of these groups, he said that collection of data would prove "strong, good faith efforts are being made."
Lange also presented his annual report on on the results of the Provost's Advisory Committee on Appointment, Promotion and Tenure during the past year. He said that the committee reviewed three more internal tenure cases in the past year than the year before.
He made special mention of the high number of requests for early reviews for tenure; nine of the 19 internal reviews were early reviews, the highest in many years. While such a large number is unusual, he said, the cases for early review during the past year were among the strongest considered.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: Chair Nancy Allen presented a report on the formation of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, a new national organization focused on balancing athletics and academics at major universities. The council passed a resolution supporting goals of the COIA, after statements of support from members and a strong statement of support by President Nan Keohane, who said that the coalition would play a vital role in preserving the welfare of collegiate athletes.
Four new members of the Faculty Hearing Committee were announced for the upcoming year. The new members are: Professor Lawrence Carin of electrical and computer engineering, Associate Professor Sally Kornbluth of pharmacology and cancer biology, Associate Professor Ralf Michaels from the School of Law and Professor Christina Williams of psychological and brain sciences.
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