This year a new committee, the Instructional Support Committee (ISC), charged with encouraging teaching initiatives and ensuring the auxiliary support necessary for the successful completion of pedagogical objectives, took over the roles of the Faculty Development Committee, the Library and Bookstore Committee, and the Academic Computing Committee along with additional computing-related committees.

Faculty Development

The Instructional Support Committee provided oversight for the allocation of funds provided to faculty for curricular development. It streamlined the process by which faculty members apply for curricular development support from a variety of sources by designing a centralized system for announcing the availability of curricular development funds and for the application process. ISC reviewed the faculty reports submitted to each of the committees which received funding and endorsed continuing funding for individual or collaborative curricular development projects adding diversity to the curriculum, promoting interdisciplinary connections or using new pedagogy or technology to enhance student learning. Curricular development stipends were granted to 25 faculty ($26,700 from the base budget). Additional stipends were awarded to sixteen faculty for the integration of technology into teaching using funds from our Mellon and Culpeper grants.

The Committee provided oversight for the allocation of funds to faculty for travel to professional meetings and conferences to support curricular or pedagogical development and projects. In doing so, it established a set of policy guidelines. Thus, it assumed that attendance at such conferences was supplemental to attendance at a scholarly conference, and to be funded at the same rate as second scholarly conferences. Where attendance at a conference might be considered either scholarly development or pedagogical/curricular development, a very strong case had to be made for funding from ISC. Faculty members who had already received funding for a second conference, whether scholarly or pedagogical/curricular, were put at the end of the line for further funding.

ISC provided funds for materials for four faculty reading groups (Race and Ethnicity, FemSem, Freedom and Authority, Political Economy), for the Faculty Weekend Seminars, and for three teaching and learning discussion groups (science, humanities/social studies, tutorial). ISC also awarded stipends for five faculty development workshops (Africana Studies Curricular Development Workshop; Writing Workshops (2); Oral Communication Workshop; Humanities 140 Workshop).

Library/Bookstore/Academic Computing/Classroom Facilities. The ISC is charged with raising issues of immediate concern and participating in long-range planning regarding the development and maintenance of facilities and services to support teaching.

The Committee considered questions concerning faculty and staff library loan privileges at the college and made a number of recommendations to the Librarian of the College. These recommendations were accepted by the Librarian, the Dean and the President. The Library began implementing these policies over the summer. The Committee also reviewed and discussed a report by the Librarian of the College entitled "Just How Good Are We Anyway? A Statistical Comparison of the Grinnell College Libraries with those at Eleven Other Colleges."

A member of the ISC participated in the Bookstore Manager search and various members of the committee were involved in the interviewing process. The full committee was consulted during the drafting stages of a strategic technology plan for Grinnell College; the Committee also discussed the reorganization of Computer Services into the new Information Technology Services. A member of ISC is serving on a small committee appointed by the President to review FFE proposals dealing with technology and to make recommendations for funding. A subcommittee of ISC was appointed to review Mellon/Culpeper proposals for the integration of technology into teaching and for Noyce Award selections. Recommendations from this subcommittee went to the full committee for approval. After discussion of the computer needs of the College, the Committee recommended to the administration that the College purchase two additional T1 lines. The College did purchase such lines.

ISC began discussing procedures for assigning classrooms in order to assure that we are providing adequate facilities for the pedagogical needs of faculty especially in regard to technology.



Submitted by Helen Scott, Associate Dean and Bob Grey, Chair