Instructional Support Committee

Minutes of April 6 approved

Two subcommittee actions were noted

• approved classroom visitor proposal Director of Grinnell's Alternative High School to speak about class differences and whiteness in Grinnell to AMS/AFR 235. Honorarium: $75
• approved Teaching and Learning Discussion proposal from a Junior Faculty Group for two spring lunch meetings devoted to junior faculty conversations with senior faculty. Meal: 15 participants, 2 meetings, $6 each à $180

Discussion of draft ISC Support Guidelines
Suggested priorities include:

• Proposals that affect more than one course (within or outside of department, public speaker who will visit multiple courses, etc)
• Institutional priorities for curricular development as endorsed by the Executive Council or the faculty
• Paying expenses rather than stipends

Proposal guidelines:

• Should state explicitly how a new course transcends the individual faculty member's areas of responsibility and affects the department, college, and strategic priorities.
• Eliminate stipends and expand range of expenses covered

One potential issue is that of exclusion: if we give favorable consideration to proposals that have a public component or correspond to strategic plan priorities, what will happen to proposals that fall outside of these favored areas?

The Committee agreed to eliminate stipends but to consider funding expenses that fall outside of departmental responsibility but are necessary to carry out a curricular development project. Faculty members should state these expenses clearly and provide a budget with their proposals. Expenses can include student assistance and materials (excluding books). Other expenses may also be considered. Committee members will send suggestions for additional types of expenses via email before the next meeting.

The ISC agreed that this change needs to be endorsed outside of the committee, and so will forward their recommendation to the Executive Council or to a general faculty meeting.

Guidelines for proposals will be discussed further at the next meeting.

Current proposal decisions
Wilson proposal: meets ISC guidelines and will be funded outside of ISC, so we agreed to pass the proposal on to the Wilson Committee for their consideration.
Faculty-Faculty tutorial: approved. $650 each plus up to $75 total for expenses
Grinnell-in-Washington workshop proposal: approved

ISC believes the following proposals may merit funding under our current guidelines but also are closely related to proposers' normal teaching duties. As such, the Committee agreed to fund at one-half of the requested stipend.
Contemporary Women's Health Issues: one-half stipend + $400 expenses
Design and Analysis of Experiments: one-half stipend
Grassroots Rural Development: meets ISC stipend guidelines, passed proposal on to Center for International Studies with recommendation that it be funded at one-half of the requested stipend