Craig Henriquez, professor of biomedical engineering, was elected incoming chair of The Academic Council at the body's meeting Thursday.
"It's one of those jobs where they ask you to do it and sometimes they twist your arms to agree," Henriquez said. "One of the things I want to accomplish is to increase involvement of young faculty... and to work with administration in these tough economic times-that's probably going to keep me busy for the next year or so."
Before the council went into executive session, members voted through secret ballots that were collected and counted after the closed meeting. Current Chair Paula McClain, professor of political science, announced Henriquez's victory at the conclusion of the meeting. Henriquez will begin his two-year term July 1.
"Everyone who's done it and everyone who's told me about their experience says it's a rewarding job.... It's a challenging job-but be prepared to work hard," he said. "So that's what I'm going to try to do and hopefully I'll do as well as the people before me."
The council went into a closed-door executive session for 30 minutes during Thursday's meeting. Members discussed conferring an honorary degree and heard an update on financial issues from President Richard Brodhead, Provost Peter Lange and Executive Vice President Tallman Trask. Several members refused to comment on the confidential meeting after adjournment.
In addition to electing Henriquez, council members voted unanimously to approve the creation of a Department of Dermatology in the Duke University Medical Center. The council heard a proposal for creating the department from Dr. Michael Cuffe, vice dean and vice president for medical affairs.
In other business:
Kevin Smith, scholarly communications officer for Perkins Library, discussed the pending Google Book Search lawsuit settlement and rights of authors, who include faculty.
The lawsuit was filed in 2005 by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers over alleged copyright infringement as a result of digitizing copyrighted publications.
"The problem is that many, many Duke faculty who are authors of copyrighted books are impacted by this settlement either because they have to make a decision or possibly because decisions about what will happen to their books will be taken out of their hands," Smith said.
Smith said all authors who own copyright registered before Jan. 9, 2009 will be affected by the settlement. Everyone affected will have to decide by May whether to stay in or opt out of the settlement. He added that those who remain in the settlement can send in an objection to the court, and those who do not submit a decision will remain in the class and be bound by the settlement terms.
Part of the solution, he said, is his plan to hold a workshop March 17 to address faculty questions and concerns.
He said "38-page, intimidating, simplified" notifications were first sent to affected authors last week, but he added that notices will also be published in major media outlets to reach those authors whose addresses are unavailable. Smith asked the council to contact him with suggestions of how to reach out to faculty to inform them and to gather their input on the settlement.
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