Faculty council briefed on budget, searches

By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu

History Professor Patrick Allitt opened the Nov. 13 Faculty Council meeting with remarks on teaching gleaned from his soon-to-be-published book on the subject. Allitt said he challenged himself to write 1,000 words a day on the daily dynamics of a course he taught last spring, then edited the work down to a book.

Allitt spoke of how he developed rules for himself—such as his goal not to become his students’ “friend,” but rather remain their teacher—and then promptly broke those rules. “The messy reality of students’ lives intrudes,” Allitt said, often making it impossible not to develop personal relationships with them.

Next, Interim Provost Woody Hunter and Senior Vice Provost Charlotte Johnson gave a presentation on the University’s ongoing budget deliberations, briefing the council on the main “cost drivers” that determine the shape of Emory’s Education and General Budget. Many of the council’s questions centered on comparative salary data between Emory and its peer institutions, and Hunter said his office would make such data available to departments and/or individual faculty members.

Council chair Frank Vandall announced that he has named the memberships of two ad hoc committees for the year, one on tenure policy and the other on budget advisory matters. The former will be headed by chemistry’s Lou Marzilli and public health’s Huiman Barnhart, while the latter will include the business school’s George Benston and Shehzad Mian.

President Bill Chace updated the council on searches under way to fill various high administrative positions, and he said the search for a new law school dean was nearly complete. Chace also said he hopes to have completed a search for a new director of the Carlos Museum by the end of the academic year.

Chace also informed the council of the new Committee on Academic Integrity, which he is co-chairing this year along with John Ford, senior vice president of Campus Life, and Jim Fowler, director of the Center for Ethics. Chace said the committee will study the state of academic integrity at Emory, with hopes of producing a report and recommendations by the end of next semester.

The next Faculty Council meeting will held Jan. 15 at 3:15 p.m. in 400 Administration.

If you have a question or concern for Faculty Council, e-mail Vandall at fvandall@law.emory.edu.