Provost Peter Lange presented a proposal at Thursday's Academic Council meeting that would move the Biological Anthropology and Anatomy Department completely under the umbrella of Arts and Sciences. Currently, BAA is housed jointly by Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine.
"It is my strong belief that this is the best outcome for the department that we have available," Lange said. It is in fact a very good outcome from the standpoint that, over time, I believe the department will thrive under the new system."
According to a report distributed to the council, the move was precipitated by the School of Medicine's announcement last year that "the mission and funding structure of the [BAA] department [was] no longer consistent with the strategic vision of the school."
Lange said the move would have little effect on undergraduate students, but would leave some key issues to be resolved between Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine. Most notably, anatomy instruction will be phased out of the program under Arts and Sciences.
"There are obviously issues of transition that will be difficult for certain individuals and some issues of substance including how gross anatomy is going to be taught," Lange said. "Long-term we have not found any volunteers just leaping to that task. Those of you who have taught gross anatomy will understand what I'm talking about."
The School of Medicine currently utilizes faculty from BAA to teach gross anatomy to its medical students. As part of the proposal, the School of Medicine will continue to pay for faculty and post-doctoral and graduate students responsible for teaching anatomy, said School of Medicine Dean Dr. Sandy Williams.
While the short-term change will be minimal, the medical school will eventually become responsible for its own instruction of anatomy with the incremental retirement of current BAA faculty members over subsequent years. "Some schools of medicine are abandoning direct dissection of human cadavers altogether... [but] we are committed to the continued contact of students with the cadaver for the foreseeable future, and we will do what's necessary to maintain that," Williams said.
Williams also pointed out that, although the School of Medicine would continue to fund the teaching of anatomy by members of the department, it would no longer pay for faculty research in BAA.
"Our responsibility is to provide excellence in the teaching of medical anatomy, and we assume the full financial responsibility for these missions," Williams said. "The other aspects of the department, though we wish to be collegial and supportive, are not rightfully a core mission of the School of Medicine."
Lange downplayed the effect this move would have on undergraduates, saying he did not expect a decline in the number of students taught by the department, but instead predicted an increase.
Academic Council Chair Dr. Nancy Allen reminded council members that the name of the department would change under the proposal; the word anatomy would be removed from the name as the program phases anatomy instruction out over time. While Lange said that biological anthropology would be the new title, the official decision has not yet been made.
vUnder the by-laws of the council, voting on the issue was delayed until the March meeting.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: President Nan Keohane gave three presentations to the council on issues including the official allocation of the $2.36 billion raised during the Campaign for Duke, the impact of the USA PATRIOT Act on faculty responsibilities and the proposed University guidelines for socially-responsible investing.
Keohane reported that $774 million was contributed to Duke's endowment across all schools and programs, a figure that was twice the value of the total endowment when the Campaign for Duke began. The endowment contributed to the funding of 132 professorships, student financial aid and libraries. Keohane said the current endowment stands at over $2.5 billion.
Keohane also touted a long list of "transformational" facilities that were funded by the campaign--notably the Perkins Library renovations, the Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences and the Nasher Museum of Art.
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