Faculty Meeting Minutes
Murray Aikins Dining Hall, 2nd Floor/Zoom
November 7, 2025
Natalie Taylor, Interim Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs called the meeting to order at 3:36pm.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Dean Taylor asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held October 3rd, 2025. Hearing none, the minutes were approved.
OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS
On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Associate Professor Ting Li read the following motion, which was introduced at the October Faculty Meeting.
MOTION: The Faculty Executive Committee moves that the faculty adopt the 2025-2026 Faculty Handbook as the governing document for faculty policies and procedures. This version of the Faculty Handbook reflects changes approved by the faculty in 2024-25 and updates that ensure consistency with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) ratified between 麻豆传媒网站 and the bargaining unit. Revisions include the removal of language that duplicated or conflicted with the CBA, as well as formatting updates and clarifying edits for coherence and transparency.
A faculty member speaking in favor of the motion reminded the faculty that a two-thirds majority is required to pass, as the changes do affect the bylaws section of the Handbook.
There being no further questions, the motion was seconded and the vote proceeded. More than a two-thirds majority was reached and the motion was passed.
Associate Professor Erica Wojcik reported to the faculty on the findings of last month鈥檚 Committee of the Whole. Please find the full details of that report here.
PRESIDENT鈥橲 REPORT
President Conner opened his report with a continued attention to academic freedom and freedom of expression, explaining the landmark 1957 case of Sweezy v New Hampshire that established the 鈥渇our essential freedoms鈥� of colleges and universities, and upon which our current standards of academic freedom rest. He shared that he has signed on to the AAC&U and Phi Beta Kappa Higher Education Compact, which he described as an assertion of the principles and commitments of higher education in the United States. The seven ideals that it emphasizes - opportunity, affordability, excellence, freedom, security, partnership, prosperity - are in perfect alignment with Skidmore's mission. We will act on the Compact by continuing our core work.
President Conner took a moment to highlight some recent campus events; faculty dinners at Scribner House continue apace, the Ciancio Award Dinner in honor of Professor Jenni Mueller, the 25th Anniversary of the Tang Teaching Museum and accompanying visit from Oscar and Agnes Tang, the 鈥淚n It 10鈥� program on land acknowledgement and meaningful action at the Wyckoff Center, Celebration and Parents鈥� Weekend, inductions into the Athletics Hall of Fame, and Skidmore Theater鈥檚 production of Keely and Du. He commented on the success of these events and programming, and went on to also commend the work put into the Malala Yousafzai lecture at Zankel Music Center, the African Heritage Awareness Gala, the Project Pericles Faculty Directors Conference, Paul Hockenos鈥檚 lecture on Ukraine sponsored by the History Department, Associate Professor Murat Yildiz鈥檚 talk at the Fall Research Colloquium, and the celebration for the Mellon Grant for Africana Studies in the Humanities at Skidmore.
President Conner then reported on the Board of Trustees October meeting. The formal report from the Board Meeting will be shared in the next day or two. Much of the discussion was about the federal government actions, the AAC&U Compact, and external pressures. Budget, enrollment, and finance were also discussed, as is standard. The Board was interested in the findings of the report from the Huron Consultancy but did not devote significant time to this topic, as its level of detail is outside their fiduciary and governance purview. The Career Development Center presented to the Board, with participation from Professor Kelly Sheppard in his role as Health Sciences Advisor. Academic Affairs facilitated a conversation about artificial intelligence with Professor Barbara Black and Professor Kris Covey sharing their views. Student Affairs spoke to the board about the residence halls and residential curriculum. The Board also visited classes for the first time in at least 7 years, an experience about which they have been effusively positive. President Conner thanked Dean Taylor for her work in arranging the class visits. He said that these class visits will continue at the October and February Board visits in the future. The Board of Trustees also discussed Skidmore鈥檚 upcoming campaign.
The Board of Trustees approved this year鈥檚 Strategic Action Agenda (SAA). The SAA always begins with a summary of last year鈥檚 progress before laying out the goals for the coming year. This year the SAA has four goals. The first is implementing the Strategic Plan and some of its most strategic initiatives, including the student residential experience, preparing students for the post-College/professional world, and creating an optimal environment for free speech and expression. The second goal is sustaining Skidmore鈥檚 long-term financial future. The third goal is maintaining and building on inclusive community. The fourth goal is the Middle States Reaffirmation of Accreditation, which will culminate this spring with the site team visit.
This week we had our preliminary site visit from the Accreditation Team Chair, Dr. Jamila Bookwala, the provost at Gettysburg College. She was on campus for three days, meeting with most of those involved with the Self Study. Dr. Bookwala was impressed with Skidmore, and helpful with regard to the rest of the accreditation process.
A Search Committee for the next Vice President for Advancement has been formed, and the search is underway. Witt/Kiefer has posted the position profile and we are deep in the marketing and recruitment stage. President Conner said that he would like to bring three eventual finalists to campus in the latter half of January and have a new VP for Advancement named before the February Board Meeting.
President Conner noted that the November Faculty Meeting is the first since the news that Dean Taylor has accepted a second year as interim Dean of the Faculty. This was greeted with applause by the faculty. Due to the complex nature of the search for a new DOF/VPAA, the longer timeline is useful. A Search Committee for the role will be convened in early spring to plan the search, write the prospectus, and hire a search firm. The aim is for the search to be launched fully at the start of the 2026-27 academic year.
With regard to ongoing discussions of AI, President Conner shared an overview of what work the college has done on this topic. He explained that the purpose of the AI Working Group (AIWG), which was formed about a year and a half ago, has been to facilitate discussions and research about this disruptive technology and its potential impacts at Skidmore. , Skidmore has not put out college-wide policies or statements about AI, in part because the AIWG is not a governance or policy-making body, as well as because the full impact and implications of AI remain to be understood. President Conner said that he believes that the AIWG will remain in place for another year or two, repeating that a typical working group term is around 1-3 years, depending on the topic. Four members of the AIWG met with IPPC today to have wide-ranging, small group discussions and answer questions. Professors Barbara Black and Erica Wojcik will meet with IPPC at its following meeting to share 鈥淎I-resistant鈥� perspectives. President Conner emphasized that his main suggestion to the faculty is to include on all syllabi the course鈥檚 AI policies to provide students with clear guidance on this complex issue.
The President then solicited questions and comments from the faculty.
A faculty member asked for a clarification on what constitutes an AI policy, noting that the Academic Integrity Handbook mentions AI in its section on plagiarism. President Conner clarified that there is no academic or curricular policy generated by his office, IPPC, or the AIWG and asked Dean Taylor to answer with respect to the Handbook, as that is a matter within Academic Affairs. Dean Taylor explained that in the case of the language about plagiarism, it references specifically 鈥渦nauthorized use of AI.鈥� Essentially, if the professor requests that their students not use AI and the student is found to do so, that would constitute plagiarism. However, if the professor allows for AI to be included in student work, then it will not be considered plagiarism.
A faculty member asked what kind of work the AIWG is doing outside of Academic Affairs. The faculty member specified that the meeting notes from the Staff Meeting in April 2025 includes a mention of an AIWG member 鈥減resent[ing] an update on Skidmore鈥檚 efforts to integrate AI across campus. A working group is developing a phased AI pace-setter strategy to increase AI fluency and improve operations.鈥� The faculty member continued on to say that this suggests that the AIWG is advocating for the adoption of AI at Skidmore, and asked for the President鈥檚 thoughts on this. President Conner answered that AI is in use across campus, and that the purpose of the AIWG is not to advocate but to respond to needs. Part of the work of the AIWG is to ensure that, as AI is used at Skidmore, security and privacy are safeguarded. He said that there had been an early document developed by the AIWG that presented a plan to keep up with where AI was going enterprise-wide across higher education systems. Little progress has been made, as the development of AI so far has outpaced the agility of an institution of higher education. The AIWG has primarily responded to the needs of those on campus already using AI, particularly with regard to licenses and guidance on security matters.
A faculty member asked if there was a sense of how long the AIWG will exist as a body on campus. The President reiterated that it will continue on for another 1-2 years. He also emphasized that the academic issues of AI will be decided through faculty governance.
A faculty member commented that a way to avoid suggestions of Presidential favor for or against AI, would be to move away from a Working Group and create an IPPC Subcommittee. The President agreed that this would be an option to consider.
DEAN OF THE FACULTY AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS鈥� REPORT
Dean Taylor congratulated the faculty on their hard work on the many exciting events of the last month. She updated the faculty on two major efforts of the Office of the Dean of Faculty, the first being the Middle States Reaffirmation of Accreditation. She said that the visit from Accreditation Team Chair Dr. Bookwala was very helpful. Dr. Bookwala shared that her approach is not to poke holes, but to understand what the College is doing well and help us to improve. She thanked those of the faculty who have helped with the Self Study and visit, highlighting the work of the Steering Committee and Working Groups. That work was led by Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Planning Joshua Woodfork, Institutional Effectiveness Specialist Amy Tweedy, Professor and Faculty Director of Assessment Kelly Sheppard, Director of Institutional Research Joseph Stankovich, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Health and Wellness Julia Routbort Baskin, and Professor Beau Breslin. Dean Taylor also thanked Mariel Martin, Director of the Wyckoff Center, for her work planning the visit.
Several meetings have been held by the Office of the DOF/VPAA with department chairs and program directors about ongoing efforts to reduce the Academic Affairs budget. On October 6th, the Summer Working Group (SWG) shared its recommendations with the chairs and program directors. The SWG is a group of faculty and Associate Deans of the Faculty assembled by President Conner following the Huron Consultancy鈥檚 engagement, which was concluded in June. The SWG found that the best possibility for reducing the budget without closing programs would be through reducing the number of course releases and latent capacity. Because the course releases given to chairs and program directors are approximately equivalent to 13 full time employees, the SWG has recommended a divisional director model for department leadership.
After the October 6th meeting, chairs and program directors provided feedback, which has led to the Dean鈥檚 Office creating three additional possibilities for reducing course releases. The four scenarios were the primary topic of discussion during the divisional roundtables that were held with chairs and program directors in the final weeks of October. There is sufficient interest in the divisional director model to do more research into how similar models function in peer and aspirant institutions. There was a good deal of interest in the other models as well. After consulting with FEC, Dean Taylor will form two small groups of former and current chairs and program directors to do some initial research on the various models. The next step will likely be to create a working group to refine the most promising model and present it to the Dean.
Chairs and program directors have also been asked to work with their departments to think about how to reduce their latent capacity. This could entail any of a number of things, for example changing the number of requirements for majors or eliminating some courses鈥� prerequisites. This will vary from department to department. Dean Taylor reiterated that both she and her office welcome discussion with chairs, departments, and individual faculty on these matters. She thanked the chairs and program directors for their work, emphasizing her gratitude to them for being so generous with their time, energy, and input.
Dean Taylor then solicited questions from the faculty.
A faculty member said that, when First Year Experience (FYE) began, an expectation was set that faculty teach in FYE approximately every three years, and the administration committed to staffing the program. Some faculty members have taught FYE as many as 9 times, while others have never taught in the program. The faculty member noted that one can receive tenure or be promoted to full Professor at Skidmore without having offered an FYE course. The faculty member asked if the President was aware of this. The President deferred to the Dean of the Faculty, as this is a matter within the purview of Academic Affairs. Dean Taylor affirmed that she is aware of this, explaining that pressures on faculty time make it difficult for some members of the faculty to contribute to FYE. Flexibility in departments is key in order to ensure that they are able to deliver the necessary courses, and this disparity in FYE offerings is a result of that need. The faculty member emphasized that this was not an effort to place blame on the Dean or the FYE Director, but that she hoped to make Appointments and Tenure Committee (ATC) and Promotions Committee (PC) aware. Former Chair of PC Professor Wojcik clarified that cases are evaluated based on the criteria laid out in the Faculty Handbook, and that neither ATC nor PC鈥檚 criteria contains language requiring certain courses to be taught in order to be promoted or tenured. If the faculty believe that this should be included, it would need to be part of the formal Handbook amendment process. Professor and FYE Director Rachel Roe-Dale shared that the report produced by FYE鈥檚 external reviewers last year is being worked through, and will be shared with the Committee on Educational Planning and Policy (CEPP) and Curriculum Committee (CC). She acknowledged the uneven presence of different departments in FYE and confirmed Professor Wojcik鈥檚 assertion that teaching FYE is not mandated in the Faculty Handbook. Professor Roe-Dale stated that there is an informal expectation in PC that any faculty member submitting themselves for promotion who has not previously taught in FYE will have plans to do so in the future.
There being no further questions, the Dean concluded her report.
OTHER
Skidmore Student Government Association President Samantha Majiedt was invited to the podium to update the faculty on the work of the SGA.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Associate Professor Jason Ohlberg and Professor Barbara Black, co-organizers of the Humanistic Inquiry Symposium thanked their sponsors, Katherine Gross and Barbara Kahn Moller, as well as Ian Berry and the Tang for hosting the Symposium. Over 30 potential themes were suggested, and after a robust voter turnout the theme for this year鈥檚 Symposium will be Space/Place. Proposals for papers, presentation and performances will be solicited via email soon, and will be due around January 15th. They are looking for a keynote speaker, and ask the faculty to submit recommendations.
Dean Taylor, on behalf of Skidmore Shop, reminded the faculty that course materials for the spring are due in to Becky Mattison and Evelyn Lee by November 26. They can be . The deadline helps the Skidmore Shop to keep course materials as affordable for students as possible.
On behalf of Skidmore Cares and Senior Associate Director of Athletics Megan Buchanan, Dean Taylor reminded the faculty of the upcoming food pantry drive. This will be the 20th anniversary of the food drive, with drop offs at the Lucy Scribner Carriage House on November 19th and 20th from 11am to 5pm.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:14pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Nora E. Graubard
Senior Administrative Coordinator