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Academic Affairs

Committee Members

  • Liz Economy, Chair
  • Gus Schwed, Vice Chair
  • Bill Boulding
  • Sean Decatur
  • Lia Haskin Fernald
  • Lucy Lang
  • Cindi Leive
  • Bennett Lorber*
  • Dawn Porter
  • Dorothy Robinson
  • Anne Schuchat
  • Robin Shapiro*
  • Jim Snipes
  • Brian A. Wong
  • Winston Zee

The chair of the Board is an ex officio member of every committee.

*Emeritus board member

Committee Charge

The Academic Affairs Committee is charged with reviewing all faculty appointments and promotions, including endowed professorships; consulting on guidelines for yearly faculty salary increases, and recommending the granting of degrees for graduation.  But each of these ritual events is seen as part of broader policy discussions frequently centering on questions of educational philosophy, goals, and practices.

In recent years, the committee has received frequent comprehensive reports from the provost on the progress of the current curricular planning and annual statistics on the demographic composition of the faculty, as well as educational presentations about on-campus procedures for tenure decisions and appointment of endowed chairs. The committee has also participated in discussions regarding the use of technologies for instruction, off-campus study, the future of the library, the "quality of life" for faculty, and heard summaries of reports from departmental visiting committees.  Faculty are frequently invited to our meetings to present their ideas and engage in discussions about timely academic issues.