At 3:35 p.m., having called to order the March meeting of the Arts and Sciences Council, Prof. Shanahan outlined the major agenda items of the day: (1) a presentation by Assistant Vice Provost Kathy Pfeiffer and Associate Director John Campbell concerning the updating of Duke’s Office of Student Information Services and Systems (SISS); (2) a proposal to establish a major in Slavic and Eurasian Studies, presented by Prof. Jody McAuliffe (Theater Studies) and Prof. Jehanne Gheith (Slavic and Eurasian Studies); and (3) a proposal to establish a certificate program in Energy and the Environment, presented by Prof. McAuliffe and Deans Emily Klein (Nicholas School of  the Environment and Earth Sciences) and Tod Laursen (Pratt School of Engineering).

     Prof. Shanahan then called for corrections of the Council’s February minutes.

No objections being voiced, she pronounced the minutes approved.

     Prof. Shanahan next observed that since several members of the Council would be completing their terms in May, there would be electronic elections of new (or perhaps revivified) members in March.  She therefore asked all who were rotating off to be sure to share this information with their departments in order that appropriate steps might be taken to either renew present members or designate new ones. 

     Next she welcomed to the lectern Executive Vice Provost James Roberts. To begin discussion concerning the SISS, he observed that for a number of years there had been efforts to improve student services at Duke.  Only since the year 2000, however, had those efforts really begun to mature.  Ideas began to be forthcoming from many sources, with significant “upgrades” every so often.  “Exciting new features” were now being integrated in their work, and both Dr. Pfeiffer and Dr. Campbell would be delighted to hear of any responses or relevant ideas that Council members had to offer.  Most simply, “We want your suggestions.”

     Stepping forward next, Dr. Pfeiffer began by remarking that some of the good news concerned the Automatic Course Enrollment System (ACES), which had now been around for about ten years. Eventually it had involved three systems that were doing essentially the same thing, but now, fortunately, these three had been pretty well integrated.  Further good news was that when faculty members checked in they could now see essentially the same things that the students were seeing.  In short, a number of changes for the better had been made, and further changes were in the offing.

    

     A relevant power-point presentation (itself a work in progress) was then presented by Dr. Campbell.  He began with a quick run-through of some of the newer features now available.  Among these he mentioned class enrollments and descriptions of courses.  A professor could now call up the student roster of a given class.  Other options included the display of weekly schedules. One could now call up one’s advisees, even find pictures of them.  In fact, one could look back into the entire academic history of a student.  And yet another innovation was a “planner” that would enable a faculty member to lay out long-range plans.  In short, Dr. Campbell pointed out a number of electronic possibilities germane to courses, classes, and students.                           

     Prof. Leslie Digby (Biological Anthropology and Anatomy) inquired whether it would be possible to search for the majors of students.  Response: Directors of Undergraduate Studies had sometimes made this request, and the answer, with certain qualifications, was affirmative.  One might access a page called “Reports,” which would “know” and make certain that the person seeking information was either a Director of Undergraduate Study or a faculty advisor. Some further good news was that “We can add things of this sort as we go along.”  And elements now available were definitely changeable.  In short, “We are in the fairly early stages of some of these things.”

     Following a brief coda of further comments, Prof. Shanahan, on behalf of the Council, expressed thanks to both Dr. Pfeiffer and Dr. Campbell for their interesting and upbeat presentation.  She then invited Prof. McAuliffe and Prof. Gheith to present the proposal made by Slavic and Eurasian Studies to establish a second major in that department. 

     Prof. McAuliffe, chair of the Curriculum Committee, spoke briefly and briskly on the nature and rationale of the proposal, a portion of which reads as follows:

The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War dismantled... [the] overt political structuring and marketing of the Slavic field.  Yet as Russia and its former republics and satellite states disaggregated and underwent an ill-defined political and economic transition, it became clear that this vast, varied region of our world still required separate “studies”–for quite different and more complicated reasons.  Between the end of the Cold War and the start of the “War of Terror,” new transnational actors and networks have altered the politics and cultures of Eurasia.  The countries of Central/Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, Turkey, and the independent states of the Caucasus and Central Asia constitute a space “between” a developed European “west” and a developed or rapidly developing “east.”  As their halting admission into the European union demonstrates, Central/East European nations and Turkey continue to be perceived by the Europe of France, Germany, et al., as an “other Europe”–imprinted still by Soviet, nationalist, and religious influences and complicated by the ethnic heterogeneity and cross-cultural mixing that are the lasting legacies of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires...

Duke’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures was one of the first in the U.S. to recognize these fundamental geopolitical changes, new opportunities for cross-cultural study, and new challenges in working with this complex region in flux.  Our name change to the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies (SES), our recent tenure-track faculty hires (the Turkologist Erda_ Göknar, the Russianist/Polonist Beth Holmgren) and our inclusion of other language courses in our purview (Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, Georgian, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Persian) attest to our efforts to redesign our programmatic and curricular coverage of the region.  While we plan to retain our traditional undergraduate major in Russian Culture and Language to provide Duke students with thorough linguistic and historical training in one of the world’s major languages and cultures, we seek now to add a second undergraduate major in Slavic and Eurasian studies.

     Prof. McAuliffe then commented on the requirements of the proposed major, explained that students would be encouraged to study abroad, noted that helpful corollary courses would be available at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and made it clear that the proposed major would have no negative effects on the major currently in place. Then she and Prof. Gheith fielded a few questions.

     Prof. Lucas van Rompay (Religion), who had noted the lack of any reference to Armenia, was assured by Prof. Gheith that the department was seeking “very actively” in that field.  In fact, there were hopes of including a couple of other relevant languages.

     Prof. Van Rompay was troubled also to think that amid all the concerns about current times, there seemed to be little or nothing said about ancient times.  “It is not a good idea to ignore history.”  Prof. Gheith explained that the problem thus far had been that Duke had not yet found anyone to teach that material.  We certainly would welcome such courses, but “We do not yet have a final list of courses to be taught.”

     Prof. Shanahan: In other words, will there likely be other pathways within the new major?  Response: “That is very much what we have in mind.” 

     At this point Prof. Shanahan informed the Council that the members of the Executive Committee of the Council had put the proposal forward because they considered it very promising.   

     Dean Robert Thompson (Trinity College) observed that the Department’s recent and carefully chosen name-change was very much reflected in the proposal now put before the Council.  And it did, indeed, “intimate that we would see still more.”              

     Prof. McAuliffe then added that the proposal had “virtually sailed through” the Curriculum Committee.

     The moment seeming propitious, Prof. Shanahan called for a vote.  Without opposition, then, the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies was declared to have a new major. 

     The final scheduled business of the day, also ministered by Prof. McAuliffe, was discussion and voting on a proposal for an undergraduate certificate entitled “Energy and the Environment.”  She considered it to be “a very exciting proposal” and proceeded both to describe and praise it.  Put forward by Dr. Klein (Nicholas School Senior Associate Dean) and Dr. Laursen (Pratt Senior Associate Dean), the proposal stated in part:

     Our proposed Certificate in Energy and the Environment is intended to provide undergraduate students with an understanding of the breadth of the issues that confront our society in its need for clean, affordable, and reliable energy.  The Certificate will provide students with an understanding of the three key disciplines in the study of energy and the environment: markets and policy, environmental impacts, and energy resources and technology.  The Certificate program will culminate in a multidisciplinary capstone project course, teaming engineers with non-engineers to tackle real world energy problems.

     We believe that this Certificate will appeal to students majoring in various disciplines, ranging from Economics and Public Policy to sciences and engineering.  An expertise in energy will expand the students’ career options in the private, non-profit, public and academic sectors.  Some students may choose to work in the energy industry, others may help to craft energy and environmental policy, and still others may seek to develop new energy technologies.  Depending upon their ambitions, some students may choose to expand their career options by continuing to study the energy system at the graduate level.

     The Certificate in Energy and the Environment for undergraduates will benefit from the resources of the Nicholas School’s Energy & Environment program, and the Pratt School’s Gendell Center for Engineering, Energy and the Environment.  The Nicholas School’s Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) curriculum offers a track in Energy & Environment, which during the 2007-2008 academic year will offer fourteen energy courses for MEMs, most of which are open to undergraduates, and two energy courses for undergraduates.  The Pratt School’s Gendell Center for Engineering, Energy and the Environment will develop and house courses in introductory energy technology and environmental engineering, and will also create a learning environment through which the energy technology capstone offerings will be offered in this certificate.  Through two dedicated Professors of the Practice in Engineering, as well as three Gendell professorships that reside in the Nicholas School, the Center will provide teaching resources, laboratory space, and budgets for laboratory equipment to support the design portion of this certificate. 

     Prof. McAuliffe then observed that she and the Curriculum Committee had worked closely with the proposers of the certificate, and everyone was enthusiastic about its promise.

     Dean Margaret Riley (Study Abroad) asked whether students enrolled in this new program would have any priority when it came to determining who was to occupy the new Smart House, which had been designed with the aid of engineering students to be environmentally friendly.

     Dean Laursen replied that he did not think that had been considered, but there definitely could be some overlapping.

     Dean Klein then spoke of the value of senior Trinity College students working together with senior Pratt School students.  Students coming from a variety of backgrounds were likely to come up with new perspectives and ideas. 

     Dean Thompson briefly reiterated his recently expressed thoughts on the benefits of certificate programs in general (vide Council minutes of 14 February 2008).  He predicted that they were likely to be especially fruitful when Trinity, Nicholas, and Pratt students were enabled to work together.  “I couldn’t be any more delighted.”  In short, as far as he was concerned, it was  “Hats off!” to those who had developed this certificate for Energy and the Environment.

Without further ado, Prof. Shanahan, reading the atmosphere, asked if the Council’s members were ready to vote.  They were, and moments later she was able to proclaim “We now have another new certificate program!”

     Though the mood following the creation of both the major in Slavic and Eurasian Studies and the certificate in Energy and the Environment seemed to be as euphoric as an academic meeting was likely to produce, Prof. Shanahan had need to address one further and final piece of business.  She therefore proceeded to report the unexpected between-semester departure from Duke of Prof. Peter McIsaac, who had been serving as a member of both the Council and its Executive Committee.  As Prof. McIsaac’s replacement, Prof. Shanahan nominated Prof. Daniel Foster (Theater Studies).  When it became clear that there was to be no further nomination of friend, foe, or oneself, the Council members present signified their approval by unanimously voting affirmatively. 

     Prof. Shanahan then pronounced the meeting closed at approximately 4:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Dale B. J. Randall

Executive Secretary