Present: Mahmoud Abdalla, William Arrocha, Avner Cohen (Vice President), Andrea Hofmann-Miller (Zoom), Pushpa Iyer, Thor Sawin (President). Absent: Sabino Morera (Zoom), Katherine Punteney. Staff: Stacie Riley.
Board Meeting: The Senate will be meeting with the Institute Board of Overseers on Friday, November 15th for one hour. Some ideas are:
- The future plan for Language Studies since both the French and Japanese programs have been decimated. Currently, there has been no discussion about the future or a plan put in place. We need to get clarity on what the next steps will be.
- The proposed DPP program language requirements. William and Pushpa both assure Mahmoud that the DPP program will remain as is for the foreseeable future. Mahmoud then asks about the proposed IEM change, which is still going through APSIC. It was decided this was not a topic to discuss with the Board.
- The financial infrastructure. After the crisis of last year, what is the Board planning; are they going to keep the status quo between MIIS and MIID or are they going to implement further charges? What is the financial approach in the future? There are still a lot of gaps with the merger.
- The idea of expanding the number of undergraduates on the MIIS campus, what are the financial implications and the logistics to manage that? What will it mean for our classrooms, pedagogy, teaching allocations, etc.?
- An update on Operation Underbrush (aligning calendars, Carnegie credits, financial aid, etc.).
- Integration of the Schools Aboard and MIIS. How much and how realistic is this idea?
- The benefits gap between MIIS and MIDD. Aligning benefits could help increase morale. Since we are one big M the benefits should be the same.
- International faculty visa/green card sponsorship.
- Enrollment and financial sustainability. Thor suggests this would be better discussed with Jeff Cason, not the Board.
Faculty Handbook Revisions: Each Senator was asked to draft proposed language changes or additions to the Handbook prior to November 19th. These changes will be presented to General Counsel Hannah Ross for review before being brought to the Assembly for discussion and vote.