By Ella Prieto, Editor-in-Chief
The first 20 minutes of the Faculty Meeting were a closed, faculty-only discussion. The rest of the meeting was open as usual.
Proposed Change in Policy for Soliciting External Evaluator Letters
The faculty revisited the proposal to make the Provost’s Office responsible for soliciting letters from external evaluators of tenure requests and providing those letters to evaluation committee members and the FPC, which Department Chairs currently do.
Psychology Professor and Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC) member Kathy Berenson presented in favor of the change. She explained that according to the Faculty Handbook, the Provost is already in charge of deciding who to solicit letters from.
“The only thing that would be different is who actually sends the emails to those four evaluators,” she explained. “So, from my perspective, I don’t think the change is going to be tremendous, and I think if anything, it is going to save time for Chairs and streamline things.”
Chair of the English Department Christopher D’Addario stated that he is opposed to the policy.
“I don’t really see the point of taking this out of the Chairs’ hands,” he added. “This is a professional networking opportunity to connect with others in your field, and it is not overly time-consuming.”
Other faculty members, including Environmental Studies Professor Sarah Principato and Theatre Arts Professor Christopher Kauffman, spoke in favor of the policy, asserting that it would save time and streamline the process.
The policy went on to be passed after a vote by the faculty.
Proposed Policy to Change Faculty Meeting Operating Rules
The faculty also revisited the proposed change to allow for more than one main motion to be introduced before the resolution of a separate main motion. After broad support for the policy, it passed.
Proposed Data Science Major
Musicology Professor and Chair of the Data Science Program, William O’Hara, presented an introductory proposal to add Data Science as a major, as it is currently only offered as a minor. The proposal was put together by the Data Science Advisory Committee, consisting of faculty from across disciplines.
To begin the presentation, O’Hara briefly went over the core learning outcomes of Data Science and explained its rise in popularity at the College. He also showed survey results of current Data Science minors who wished for it to be a major. Notably, students expressed that they would want to add Data Science as a double major, not have it replace their current major.
The proposed major structure would include around four math and computer science courses (such as Calculus, Linear Algebra, Scientific Computing), Statistical Methods, a Data Science core class and then a choice between further Data Science study (Data Ethics, Data Visualization, a Capstone Experience) or Domain knowledge, consisting of a three-course sequence in a relevant discipline.
O’Hara emphasized that this major is something the Advisory Committee is still working on. They want to consider it more fully with input from the faculty to hopefully make a motion to propose its implementation in the fall semester.
Through faculty questions, O’Hara clarified that the Data Science minor will remain if the major is implemented and that the major would be flexible for students, allowing them to double-count some classes if they were doing a double major. Environmental Studies Professor Rud Platt also proposed that the major could be a mandatory double-major, like the Public Policy major before it was voted on to be a standalone major.
O’Hara affirmed that the program hopes Data Science can be used in humanities courses, with East Asian Studies Chair Eleanor Hogan and Art & Art History Chair Felicia Marlene Else also expressing their hope for collaboration.
Economic Professor Meg Blume-Kohout chimed in through her role as Coordinator for First-Year Data and Society courses. Currently, there are no classes in that cluster that involve the humanities. She asked faculty in that division to reach out to her if they are interested in creating a class that would qualify, and she can help them do so.
Announcements
The reveal of Gettysburg 2.0 data will take place in the CUB Ballroom on April 28 from 4 –5 p.m.
