September 3, 2003
Noon, Faculty House

Attending: Ralph Savarese, David Ellison, Vince Eckhart, Bob Cadmus, Susan Ireland, Martha Voyles, Christopher McKee, Helen Scott

Helen Scott opened the meeting by reviewing the charge to the Committee. The ISC is responsible for encouraging teaching initiatives and ensuring the support necessary for the completion of pedagogical objectives. Duties include supporting teaching initiatives, participating in long-range planning regarding facilities and services to support teaching, assisting in developing and reviewing computing policies, and reviewing instructional support facilities and services (Faculty Handbook, 21).

Vince Eckhart agreed to serve as Chair of the Committee.

The Committee decided to hold meetings every other Wednesday at noon in Faculty House. The next meeting will be held September 17.

The Committee briefly discussed its strategy for reviewing Bill Francis' July 2003 changes to the Academic Computer Use Policy, changes that affect the operation of virtual communities. The Committee expects to receive a report soon from the ad-hoc committee (GOCAC) Bill Francis assembled to review the issue.

The Committee approved up to $600 in funding for a Faculty Weekend Seminar proposed by the Africana Studies Concentration. The September Seminar is in preparation for the upcoming DuBois Symposium in October.

The Committee discussed the implementation of support for pedagogical conferences. Is there flexibility between the budget lines? For instance, if fees are more than the budget allows, but lodging is less, can the faculty member "borrow" funds from one line to pay for another? Helen Scott agreed to check on these questions with the Dean's office.

The Committee briefly discussed funding policies for Summer Faculty Development Workshops. Issues raised included whether some workshops should be moved to the non-stipend category and whether emphasis should be placed on approving the workshop rather than approving the participants.

Helen Scott reported that the list of Faculty Development Activities will be sent to faculty this week, and that so far one teaching colloquium, one reading group, and one weekend seminar have been proposed.

The Associate Deans' office will compile reports from last year's faculty development projects and distribute them to the Committee soon. Of special interest to the ISC will be reports from "experimental" cases, such as one faculty member's award to attend a National Science Foundation short-course outside of the faculty's discipline.

The Committee agreed that next meeting's agenda should include discussing the draft "Guidelines for Requesting Support for Teaching and Curricular Development" that Helen Scott distributed at this meeting. The next meeting also should define additional agenda items for the semester. Likely agenda items include a review of last year's on-line information resource survey and a review of library space concerns.

Helen Scott agreed to send a link to committee, a link detailing the current status of ITS and directions for the future. Grinnell College :: ITS :: Directions for the Future