Westmont College Faculty Meeting

April20, 2012

The meeting was called to orderby Mark Sargent at 3:36pm.

A)Faculty Devotion was ledbyPhil Ficsor.

B)President Gayle Beebe gave his report.

1)Gayle expressed appreciation for the work that has gone on this year across campus and particularly that of new Provost Mark Sargent.

2)Getting ready for the Board of Trustees, Gayle has been reflecting on what a great year it has been for the board.

3)Enrollment is trending well again for the fall. We anticipate full enrollment again.

4)Gayle has been thinking about the great clash occurring within higher education concerning the antagonism against piety and the liberal arts. Some sort of warlike atmosphere is ahead of us and those like us in the world of higher education. We will need to articulate our views about the role of the liberal arts, and expect that others won’t agree.

5)We will be seeking to raise over 75 million over the next 5 years, 50 million before we go public. Gayle is confident that we have developed the right pool of resources for success in this effort.

6)There are many emerging opportunities in front of us. We have addressed many of the concerns present when he arrived 5 years ago and are now about ready to move forward on these new opportunities.

7)Gayle invited us to participate in future discussions about higher education and affordability.

8)Gayle congratulated the Chemistry Department on the matching grant recently received.

9)Questions:

  1. Jesse Covington asked for further comment about the impending “warfare” environment mentioned earlier. Gayle suggested that we need to carefully consider the role of technology and particularly online education in liberal arts higher education. But the forces in contention against us are strong.
  2. Eileen McMahon asked about the response process for the allocation of the seed grant money? Gayle responded thatthe target date is May 15 to consider and give responses.

C)COMMENCEMENT

Joan Wimberley gave a presentation about Commencement.

D)REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES

Tatiana Nazarenko gave a report on the Assessment and Program Review Committee.

Sarah Skripsky, our LEAD Assessment Specialists, reported on Writing/Communication across the Curriculum.

The members of the Program Review Committee gave out the Departmental Program Review Awards.

E)BUSINESS OF THE FACULTY

1)The Minutes from the March,2012 Westmont College Faculty Meeting were approved.

2)Ballots for the 2012-2013 Standing Committee Elections were passed out. Mark asked if there were any additional nominations from the floor. There being none, we affirmed the ballot by acclamation. The nominations were approved.

3)The list of graduates for the May graduation was approved as presented.

F)Mark Sargent’s remarks

1)Mark S. and the faculty expressed a profound thank you to Mark N. for his leadership this year.

2)Mark made note of the evenings retirement dinner.

3)Mark reviewed his schedule for the next few weeks shared between time at Westmont and back to Gordon.

4)Mark invited Chris Hoeckley to speak. Chris announced that Michael Walton will be with us as we gather around the theme of war and peace. The conference will be held the final weekend of February.

5)Mark gave the faculty highlights.

6)Mark announced that he will be initiating an electronic provost’s report.

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F)The April 20thmeeting of the Westmont College Faculty adjourned at 5:04 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Robert A. Hamel