University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women

Meeting Minutes

3:00-5:00 p.m., 300 Swanlund Administration Building

I. Announcements

A. Welcome to all members and our guest Linda Beale.

B. Please mark your calendars for the next meeting date: Tuesday, November 30, 2004,
    3:00-5:00 p.m. in Room 300 Swanlund Administration Building.

1. Interim Chancellor Herman will be attending this meeting.

2. Mary Ellen O'Shaughnessey will be with us for this meeting to share the report
    of the Provost's Committee on Retention.

3. Carol Livingstone will also be with us for this meeting.

II. Old Business

A. Approval of minutes of the October 5, 2004 meeting.

B. Portraiture across Campus: Kal Alston informed the committee that Robin Kaler will be
    coming in the near future to talk about this. The committee will be notified in advance of
    Robin Kaler's visit.

C. Flexible Appointment Structures for Faculty: Linda Beale apprised the committee
    members about the background of this project. It is a joint project of the Office of Equal
    Opportunity and Access and CCSW.

1. Linda Beale informed that the survey was drafted after consultation with many
    survey experts. Technical problems were encountered with the survey software
    which caused delay.

2. The survey was offered for a three week period in June 2004 through a weekly
    e-mail bulletin and 308 responses were received.

3. The survey software tracks and prevents multiple entries and thus a follow-up
    with a hard copy was not done. Earlier it was assumed that the survey would
    be repeated in fall.

4. We need to decide if a follow-up is required and the possible dates for it.

5. Linda Beale told the committee that the goal of the survey was to find out the
    issues concerning tenure track as observed by the faculty. The aim was to
    discern more flexible kind of tenure track processes which were possible.

6. Linda Beale reported that a broad spectrum surfaced ranging from leaving the
    tenure track as it is to changing it completely.

7. An effort was made to accommodate room for individual comments/ideas
    and too many open-ended questions were discouraged.

8. Out of a total of 308 responses, 100 comments were received and
    Linda Beale apprised the committee with some of them.

a. Some of the respondents were in favor of the tenure system to be
    applied uniformly.

b. Others raised their concerns about the current maternity/paternity
    policies being outdated.

c. Some respondents were in favor of seven year contract system.

9. Kal Alston reiterated that we need to put in our best efforts to give high quality
    recommendations to the Chancellor on this. She will share key recommendations
    from the OWHE/Sloan Foundation. We will schedule a joint meeting with the
    Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity in the future.

D. Mentoring: Kal Alston emphasized the need for devising best strategies to implement
    the recommendations given to the Deans and advance information suggests that mentoring
    plays a role in faculty attrition.

1. Kal Alston raised her concerns about the kind of rewards or incentives that
    need to be built into the system for encouraging mentoring.

2. Linda Beale pointed out that the mentors themselves need to be made clear
    about the true meaning of mentoring. Ginger Winckler also questioned if the
    University was providing any mentoring sessions to the faculty.

3. Joyce Wright told the committee that the Library has had the Peer Review
    Committee for the last 10 years where each untenured individual is assigned
    to tenured faculty members as mentors. They provide guidance to the
    untenured individual on issues of research, librarianship and service.

4. Joyce Wright also informed the committee that an Executive Committee tries
    to match people with similar interests while selecting the Peer Review committee
    for untenured individuals.

5. Kal Alston raised her concerns about cases of conflict between the mentor and
    the untenured individual. Joyce Wright informed that the Executive Committee
    intervenes in such situations and makes recommendations. Moreover, the
    Visiting Committee is asked to give its opinion on the respective individual while
    granting tenure.

6. Kathleen Pecknold emphasized on the importance of a certain comfort level
    between the mentor and the mentored faculty member to ensure uninhibited
    communication and interaction.

7. Kal Alston mentioned that it is extremely valuable to create such climates of
    mentoring and foster a culture of mentorship as is represented by the example
    of the Library. It was also stressed that mentoring should be more generic than
    evaluative in nature.

8. Stephanie Foote pointed out to the committee that at the outset, it is very
    confusing for untenured professors to tap the resources of the University to do
    their research. Mentoring would definitely help such faculty members to learn
    about the practical elements and pave their way through.

9. Kathleen Pecknold informed the Committee that there are certain departments
    on campus that advise their faculty members strongly against joining particular
    committees that will not contribute to their tenure dossier, especially women and
    people of color. Assistance Professors often are not aware about such issues
    and they need to be guided on such issues.

10. Ginger Winckler raised her concerns about the job description of a mentor and
      what roles and functions should be fulfilled by a mentor.

11. Kathleen Pecknold suggested that we should consult the Library for assistance
      in this regard since they have been implementing such a program for the last
     10 years.

12. Kal Alston also mentioned that in small departments a functional barrier is
      faced where a certain depth and potential of members is not available.

13. Ginger Winckler enquired about the kind of resources we were hoping to
      mobilize to implement these strategies.

14. It was agreed that a review of the mentoring program of the Library should
      be done to understand the functioning completely.

III. New Business

A. Issues/concerns for the Chancellor: It was decided to send any issues or concerns that
    the Committee members wished to raise with the Chancellor in the next meeting to
    Mansi Sachdev within two weeks.