Faculty Committees 10.04.07

1. Charge of the FCC

The current FCC charge is outdated in a number of ways. The new charge
incorporates the following changes:

--- Addition of a student member. Students are, of course, part of the
academic enterprise, and we think that a student member could contribute
substantially to the work of the committee. We have chosen fairly
neutral language on how this student might be chosen: "one student
member elected by the student government." The head of the student
government has said that the government would be willing to elect a
member for the FCC.

--- Addition of the Librarian of the College as an ex officio member of
the committee, without vote. The library uses technology heavily to
support academics and is itself a provider of technology services to
faculty and students.

--- Updating of titles and department names.

--- Specifying that there would be a faculty representative to the
Internet Strategy Group, the committee charged with overseeing the
College's overall web presence.

Proposed Revised Charge

The Faculty Computer Committee consists of three faculty members appointed by the Committee of Six for two-year terms and one student member elected by the student government. In addition, the Director of Information Technology (IT), the Director of Academic Technology Services (ATS), and the Librarian of the College are ex officio members without vote. One of the faculty members serves as chair. The committee advises the Director of IT and the Director of ATS on topics related to the use of computer technology in support of research and instruction and on other IT issues affecting the academic life of the College. One member of the committee serves as a faculty representative to the College’s Internet Strategy Group.


Current Charge, as found in the Faculty Handbook:

Three members of the Faculty, drawn primarily from those disciplines making the most use of technology, form a committee to work with the Director and staff of the Academic Computer Center. The members of the Committee are selected by the Committee of Six. One of the faculty members serves as chair. By definition, members of the Faculty Computer Committee also serve on the Information Technology Policy Committee, a campus-wide committee that addresses policy matters related to the use of information technology at the College.

2. Gathering input for revisions, improvements, etc. for the College's web site and tools.

Lyle and Sam would review and help prioritize the requests that have come to IT via the Help Desk, and individual requests received by IT staff. The Committee would also send an email to all academic department coordinators requesting input from them as well as asking them to forward the request to faculty in their department(s). The ISG will be assessing and prioritizing requests from all areas of campus at its next meeting, October 17.

3. Online Course Registration

The CEP has agreed to a joint CEP-FCC ad hoc group to guide IT and the Registrar's Office on their work to build/deploy an online course registration system. The proposed schedule will be to have a prototype ready for spring pre-registration, which the College will use in a very limited and controlled way, and then to have a system for use by first year students in August 2008. To some extent, work on revising the system/procedure for creating the course catalogue may be included in this effort. Marisa agreed to represent the FCC.

4. Acceptable Use Policy

The Committee began its discussion of the Draft policy prepared by Peter and College counsel and reviewed by the Deans of Faculty and Students, the Librarian, the Treasurer, and the Director of Human Resources.