Present: Molly MacGregor-Cole, Sean Cassidy, Brian Fonnesbeck, Keegan Schmidt, Ella-Mae Keatts, Chris Riggs, Paul Krause, Susan Odom

Unable to attend: David Massaro, Jack Hutson

Old Business:

The committee members reviewed work accomplished thus far this academic year. Funding for eleven faculty development grants was approved. The total amount funded was $11,061.40. For the Spring faculty development proposals there will be a balance of $13,726.95 available.

Five sabbatical proposals were reviewed and ranked. Three sabbatical leaves will be funded by the Provost’s office. Two sabbaticals will be for one semester and one sabbatical will be for a full academic year.

New Business:

Sabbaticals - The sabbatical policy and procedure was revised last year, but there were still issues regarding the policy that were not fully discussed due to lack of time. The committee would like to revisit these issues and solicit input from faculty across campus. If viable changes are recommended by the faculty then the committee will present a new policy and procedure to the Senate.

Issues that the committee would like to investigate include:

The small number of sabbaticals awarded each year
Lack of guaranteed funding for sabbaticals
Cost of full year sabbaticals vs. one semester sabbaticals
Pros/cons of sabbatical funding when the faculty member has also received external funding

In order to look into these issues the committee would like to propose a “Thinking Through Lunch” faculty forum on January 23, 2004. Faculty will be invited to speak to these issues and give feedback to the Faculty Development Committee about possible revisions to the current sabbatical policy. We will talk with Provost Tony Fernandez to discuss the feasibility of funding this forum.

Respectfully submitted,