3:30 p.m. – 139 Social Sciences
1. Approval of minutes of February 16, 2006 meeting (minutes)
2. Announcements
3. Question for the Provost
Much effort has been placed on the Duke Faculty Survey to assess the “climate” at Duke. At least two points are clear in the data: Faculty are not pleased with salaries, and they feel teaching and service are not valued. One can argue that these are related items. Over the last decade, raises for faculty ran about 2%, the cost of living ran about 3%, and Duke salaries, according to the AAUP, increased by roughly 4%. What apparently has happened is that Duke has hired star faculty at high salaries for its strategic initiatives and connected significant raises to outside offers. These administrative approaches to compensation promote the belief that Duke values those aspects that make faculty attractive to other institutions. These aspects do not include a commitment to service and teaching. In other words, a commitment to service and teaching at Duke reduces the time available to make oneself attractive to outside job offers, leading to raises below the cost of living increases in Durham, North Carolina.
Furthermore, while federal funding has decreased for research areas outside the Bush administration’s national priorities, and, likewise, Duke’s funding for areas outside its strategic initiatives is minimal, faculty outside these chosen few areas are spending additional personal funds to carry out their research.
As Duke’s reward system devalues service, teaching, and non-strategic research areas, faculty morale and commitment to Duke decreases proportionally. Perhaps if the administration wants to enhance faculty morale and increase faculty commitment to Duke, then the administration will break the negative correlation between a commitment to Duke and faculty compensation. Has the Provost perceived these points from the survey data, or even discussions with faculty, and is there a plan to reward commitments to Duke rather than commitments to seeking outside job offers?
4. Clinical APT Report – R. Sanders Williams – Vice Chancellor Medical Center Affairs
5. Proposal for merger of Psychology Departments – Patricia Bauer, Chair, Psychological and Brain Sciences; Tim Strauman, Chair, Psychology: Social & Health Sciences
6. Proposed changes to Medical School academic titles – R. Sanders Williams – Vice Chancellor for Medical Center Affairs; Ross McKinney – Vice Dean for Research, School of Medicine