AGENDA
- Call to Order
- Chair's Remarks
- Announcements
- Diversity Committee - Viray
- Committee Reports
- Appointments Committee - Palmieri
- Planning Committee - Thomas
- New Business
- Executive Session
- Adjournment
MINUTES
The regular meeting of the faculty of the Department of Mathematics was held via Zoom at 3:30pm PST, June 1, 2021. John Palmieri, Chair, presided at the meeting. Rose Choi was recording secretary.
Chair's Remarks
The minutes from last month’s meeting are not yet available. An email copy will be sent out for review and approval shortly.
A virtual graduation ceremony will be held again this year. A video is being compiled by an outside organization and will be shared in approximately 10 days.
There is no news on raises this year; however, we hope to be able to provide 2% to all faculty and staff. The raises, if given, would go into effect in September.
The Graduate Student Union contract was ratified. The students will receive a 3% raise for each of the 3 years of the contract.
Faculty teaching assignments for next year have been sent out. There is a shortage in a few calculus sections in winter and spring so instructors are still needed. Faculty may be asked to take on an extra section to cover the shortage. The average projected teaching load for tenure-stream faculty is much lower than in a typical year.
Faculty hiring has been approved by the Dean and the recommendation has been forwarded on to the Provost.
Prof. Novik will be the chair of the Appointments Committee next year. Prof. Shokrieh will be chairing the Diversity Committee. Thank you to Bianca for all of her great work on the Diversity Committee for the past two years. Prof. Devinatz will be stepping down as the Undergraduate Program Coordinator. Prof. Taggart will be taking over this role next year. Thanks to Prof. Lieblich, Prof. Billey, and Prof. Thomas for all of their work on their respective committees this year. There may not be a need for a Planning Committee next year. And an overall thanks to all in the department for their amazing work this year despite the challenging circumstances. Hopefully, we’ll resume in the next year in person.
Committee Reports
Prof. Viray shared a revised version of the department’s Diversity Commitment Statement to include the following items in bold: “A commitment to diversity is central to the academic mission of our department. We take diversity to be the expression of a wide variety of values, perspectives, and experiences that reflect differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences may include race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, age, abilities/disabilities, gender identity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status, immigration status, and educational background.
A mix of individuals contributes diverse perspectives which enrich the intellectual environment. Science in general and mathematics in particular benefit when confronted with input from different sources. Moreover, a department whose constituency reflects society is in a better position to serve the community, both domestically and internationally. We acknowledge the important need to overcome barriers to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of talented students and faculty from historically underrepresented groups.
She also shared the department Wiki with the faculty to remind them of this useful tool.
Prof. Palmieri, on behalf of Prof. Novik, relayed that there will not be any members in the Appointments Committee from “priority areas” this year. Instead, the committee will consult with those groups to help identify strong candidates. The members will be Bella (chair), Jarod, Tatiana, Stefan, Thomas, Dima, and Farbod. The Divisional Dean will be meeting with the committee to discuss the hiring process at a much earlier stage this year. The committee will use two rounds of rubrics in the first stages of the hiring process. A draft was shared with the faculty. Further discussions will take place as feedback is gathered.
Prof. Thomas provided a report on what the Planning Committee has worked on this year. The mandate was to think broadly about issues that affect the department and how to deal with them. In October, input was received from the faculty, program coordinators, and Sarah Garner. Research and teaching graphs were constructed based on this varied input and a hiring plan was discussed with these graphs in mind. A plan for a professional Master’s program was discussed, along with models for 2xx classes, a proof-based freshman class, and recommendations for changes to the postdoc program.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no new business, the meeting passed into executive session at 4:01pm.