Visit Penn's website

SENATE  From the Chair

Under Section 15 of the Rules of the Faculty Senate, notification or distribution to members of the Faculty Senate may be accomplished by publication in Almanac. The following is published pursuant to that rule.

To:	Members of the Faculty Senate
From:	Lance Donaldson-Evans, Chair
Subject:	Notice of Special Meeting of Faculty Senate to Consider Proposed New Standing Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity and Equity

1.    Notice of Meeting. A special meeting of the Faculty Senate will be held on Wednesday, May 5, 2004, at 2:30 p.m. in the Faculty Club, The Inn at Penn, 3600 Walnut St. Adjournment will be no later than 3 p.m.

2.    Agenda. The agenda for the special meeting follows:

a. Call to order.

b. Proposal pursuant to Section 17 of the Rules of the Faculty Senate to amend those Rules to (i) establish a new Standing Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity and Equity and (ii) add the name of that Standing Committee to Section 9(h)(i) of the Rules of the Faculty Senate.

c. Adjournment (3 p.m.).

3.    Background. During the 2002-2003 academic year, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee (SEC) discussed steps that might be taken by the Senate in response to the Gender Equity Report. The Senate tri-chairs met with various members of the University community for input, including, Pheobe Leboy (co-chair of the gender equity committee issuing last year's report), Lois Evans (Chair of the Association of Women Faculty and Administrators), and Stephanie Abbuhl (Director of FOCUS on Health and Leadership for Women of the School of Medicine). The chairs also conferred with Vice President and General Counsel Wendy White about legal aspects of addressing inequities.

At its March 2003 meeting, SEC approved creation of an ad hoc committee on faculty development to address issues of faculty mentoring, diversity and equity across the University. The ad hoc committee was charged in December 2003 to review the Chair's memorandum and related SEC discussion as reflected in the SEC meeting minutes, as well as other documents relevant to faculty development and diversity, and to develop a charge for a new standing committee on faculty development, diversity and equity. The following proposed charge was presented to SEC and approved on February 18, 2004:

The Senate Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity is charged to:

On that date SEC also approved the establishment of the new Standing Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity.