By Ella Prieto, Managing Editor
President Bob Iuliano began Thursday’s faculty meeting with an update on Gettysburg College’s work following the racist incident that occurred last month.
“I want to note that since then, we have had members of my team and colleagues meet student leaders on means of both improving communication and our response to future incidents,” stated Iuliano.
He also said that the College has hired nationally recognized expert Jason Craige Harris to lead the campus through conversations surrounding race, focusing on improvements in structure, policies and practices.
Iuliano then commented on how this incident has caused the College to receive significant attention from national media outlets, stating that most of the coverage was “inaccurate or incomplete” but cannot be countered due to federal laws related to student privacy.
*The Gettysburgian is also limited by student privacy laws in its reporting and has not received responses to further requests for statement from involved parties. Readers are encouraged to view this article for the most up to date information available on the incident.*
Iuliano honed in on the impact of this in the hyper-competitive admissions environment where word of mouth and news coverage increasingly matter. To combat this, he urged the community to amplify all of the wonderful work that has continued to transpire, such as the two new majors of finance and public health policy, the College’s improved rankings and record fundraising.
On the theme of celebrating great work, Iuliano highlighted several faculty achievements.
Director of bands and professor of music education and conducting Russell McCutcheon won the 2024 American Prize in Conducting, musical theater division. Professors of political science Caroline Hartzell and Lindsay Reid presented their research to the United Nations and professor of environmental science Randall Wilson issued a new book, “A Place Called Yellowstone,” which has been well received nationally.
Provost Jamila Bookwala then took to the floor, thanking the management and economics and public policy and health sciences departments for their work on creating the two new majors. She informed that Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Michelle Schmidt will assist the departments as they prepare to hire two visiting faculty members and encouraged the community to promote the majors.
Bookwala then discussed the two to three tenure track searches that Iuliano approved to be conducted in the 2025-26 academic year with appointments beginning in the fall of 2026. The Provost’s Office will send out a call for tenure track faculty requests in November that will be due in February. Criteria for the requests will be enrollment pressure, curricular needs and institutional priorities and values. Furthermore, requests will be “explicitly solicited and favorably evaluated” if they include teaching courses for the race, power and equity element of the curriculum.
Also announced was a new phase retirement program for tenured faculty. Under the policy, eligible faculty members will be granted a two-course reduction in their final year of employment with no reduction in salary or benefits, along with the option to be exempt from faculty committee service in that year.
“The program is a flexible option designed to assist our long-serving tenure faculty in transitioning to a retirement, and I’m grateful that we’re able to offer this form of support,” said Bookwala.
Her final matter was the Endowed Professors program, which was discussed previously in April. The program as currently structured incurs a high cost annually from the salary and operating budget of the Provost’s Office because the earned income from the gifts for the endowments do not cover the salary and benefits for those appointments. On average the program costs about $180,000 each year.
“This raises several concerns for me,” Bookwala elucidated. “Using our budget to cover these program costs favors a few select faculty while bringing undue burden that is borne by the rest of the faculty. And the majority of our faculty have no access to these endowed positions.”
Bookwala hopes to restructure the program so that it carries the same honor but with more modest benefits, allowing savings from salary and operating budgets to be spread out to cover faculty more broadly. Meetings will be held on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22 to further discuss how it can be restructured.
Motion for Public Policy to Become a Standalone Major
Public policy department chair and professor Anne Douds presented to the faculty as a part of her motion to transition public policy into a standalone major. Currently, the major requires a double major, which Douds has found to be a burden to students. She previously discussed this change in a Student Senate meeting back in April.
Douds first emphasized that the department is not asking for any additional resources and nothing about the major is being changed. She then presented several reasons for this change.
First, a double major imposes costs that reproduce social mechanisms of inequality. Students with lower social and financial capital find it more challenging to double major, which Douds has seen firsthand since coming to the College. Furthermore, a second major is no longer necessary thanks to changed circumstances. Previously, there were no dedicated faculty, no standardization and no 300-level classes.
Now, there are three full-time faculty and six part-time along with affiliated faculty in seven different departments with dedicated public policy courses. Additionally, no other major at the College requires a second major nor do any of the College’s ‘reach, like, watch’ schools. Finally, the public policy department will continue to support other departments by cross-listing and pre-approving courses in them.
Wilson commented that the department should also offer a public policy minor if they move to a standalone major, which Douds said they would consider at a different time. Currently, there has been no demand to create a minor, unlike the push to be a standalone major from students.
Professor of environmental studies Monica Ogra asked how depth in a certain area would still be achieved without a double major. Douds explained that every public policy class requires students to engage in a semester-long project, during which they are advised on how to relate that to their concentration, in which they gain depth. Furthermore, students can take electives for depth as well.
Hartzell and professor of political science Alauna Safarpour raised concerns over public policy accepting Advanced Placement test scores for the introductory government class. Douds agreed with them and said she would strike that from the motion.
The proposal was tabled and will be voted on at the next faculty meeting.
Online Masters of Education Program
Professor of sociology in educational studies and Director of the Office of Teacher Education and Certification Divonna Stebick and Vice President of Information Technology Rod Tosten presented their work researching Gettysburg College launching an online master’s of education program. They explained that the program would focus on community investment, as teachers from the greater region surrounding the College could go through it, creating a direct impact on K-12 schools. Furthermore, it would serve as a silent recruiter for the College, as teachers in the program could encourage or inspire their students to attend. Finally, the online delivery of the program will allow the College to manage costs, maximize revenue and provide a flexible structure.
Following a brief discussion, Iuliano adjourned the meeting.
