Governance of the college
Legal authority for the operation of the college, under the charter granted by the State of Oregon, rests with the board of trustees.
A charter and bylaws (Bylaws of the Reed Institute) provide for a
minimum of 30 and a maximum of 50 trustees, of whom one is the
president of the college. Four are selected by the alumni association,
one annually, each for a term of four years. The other trustees are
elected by the board, with a nominating committee ordinarily presenting
names for consideration; such trustees serve for a term that is
normally five years, but these terms are renewable. In practice, it is generally recognized as a chief responsibility of
the board of trustees to select the president of the college. This task
is undertaken by a search committee appointed by the chair of the board
and consists of both trustees and members of the faculty. The board
also approves faculty appointments, which are recommended by the
president and approved by an academic affairs committee of the board.
Other specific and important responsibilities of the board include
approval of the college budget, including the general salary schedules;
management of investment and other financial and property
considerations, with the assistance of an investment counsel; approval
of new buildings and general planning and upkeep of the campus; and
assistance in fund raising. In general, the board operates through a
committee structure that includes an executive committee, academic
affairs committee, budget policy committee, buildings and grounds
committee, development committee, investment committee, nominating
committee, student life committee, and such special committees as the
chair or the board shall deem necessary. In all of these matters the
president and other college officers are concerned to provide
leadership and assistance to the board. See the college organization chart. The president is appointed by and responsible to the board of
trustees. He is the chief executive officer of the college and also the
presiding officer of the faculty and the representative of the faculty
to the board. The president is an ex officio member of Committee on
Academic Policies and Planning (CAPP) and presides at meetings of the
Committee on Advancement and Tenure (CAT). He recommends the
appointment, promotions, salaries, academic tenure, and other
conditions of employment for the members of the faculty and for
administrative officers. Within budgetary and other limits set by the
board of trustees or its executive committee, the president also
employs other required staff members of the college. He recommends
budgets for the management and operation of the college, and he is
responsible for sound financial conduct of the college. He reports on
the state of the college and makes recommendations on desirable changes
or clarification of policy at each regular meeting and at appropriate
special meetings of the board. The vice president for college
relations, the dean of the faculty, the vice president and dean of
student services, the vice president/treasurer, the dean of admission,
and the director of institutional research report to the president. The dean of the faculty
is the chief academic officer of the college. Working with the
Committee on Advancement and Tenure (CAT), the dean oversees and
coordinates the recruitment of new faculty members and the evaluation
and advancement of the existing faculty. Working with the Committee on
Academic Policies and Planning (CAPP), the dean oversees and assists in
the planning and development of educational policy and the academic
program. The dean is an ex officio, non-voting member of both
committees and is the chair of CAPP. The dean is the representative of
the faculty to the president and to the external community. The dean is
the second administrative officer after the president and may act for
the president in his absence. Jerlena Griffin-Desta, Vice President and Dean of Student Services. Eliot 218, extension 7521 (503/777-7521) The student services office is responsible for the quality of
undergraduate student life beyond the classroom and for working with
students to improve it. Extracurricular activities and residence life
at the college are intended to complement and enhance the student's
academic experiences; student services provides a wide range of
programs and services toward that end. The vice president and dean of student services and the associate
and assistant deans assist students in responding to college academic
policies and procedures. Students see the deans for general counseling
and advising, including questions relating to academic skills support,
leaves of absence, withdrawal from the college, course load, and other
issues relating to college policies and procedures. The associate dean
of student services also coordinates the college's disabilities
program, while the dean of multicultural affairs is also available to
assist multicultural students with their specific needs. The Faculty Code is the academic policy document for the college.
The faculty formulates and administers educational policy, including
but not limited to requirements for admission; procedures for
registration, withdrawal, and transfer; graduation requirements;
curriculum; grading and examination policy; student living, conduct,
and academic discipline; and other areas not under the purview of the
trustees or other decision-making body. As the faculty adopts or
changes policies, it is the responsibility of the Administration
Committee and the registrar to update the Faculty Code. Students may refer to copies of the Faculty Code in the library, the
dean of the faculty's office (Eliot 318), the registrar's office (Eliot
311), or the student services office (Eliot 218). The faculty constitution and bylaws set forth the rights and
responsibilities of the faculty and the processes by which the faculty
participate in the governance of the college. It is jointly ratified by
the faculty and the board of trustees. Under Article I, section 3, "The Faculty, in cooperation with the President, is charged by the
Board of Trustees with the fundamental responsibility for the
formulation, revision, and continuous review of educational policy. The
Board of Trustees shall make no alterations in the basic educational
policy of the College without a prior and full review by the Faculty." The president is responsible for the operation of college facilities
and the financial administration of the institution. He or she is
assisted in these matters by the dean of the faculty, the vice
president and treasurer, the vice president and dean of student
services, the vice president for college relations, and other
administrative officers. The president is also the presiding officer of
the faculty. Much of the work of the faculty as a policy-making and
administrative body is accomplished through the five divisions and
through standing and special committees provided for by the faculty
constitution. The most important standing committees include the
Committee on Academic Policies and Planning (CAPP), the Committee on
Advancement and Tenure (CAT), the Community Affairs Committee (CAC),
the Administration Committee, the Committee on Admission and Financial
Aid, the Library Board, and the Off-Campus Study Program Committee. The faculty constitution is the document that makes provision for community government. "The faculty may join with the student body to institute procedures
and set policies for such matters of joint concern as they may jointly
deem appropriate and as do not infringe on the authority and
responsibility of the Board of Trustees" (Article X). "When business is brought to a meeting of the Faculty by a Faculty
committee with student members, those student members may be requested
by the chair of the committee to attend and participate in a full
discussion of that business. "A sign-up sheet for non-participating student observers shall be
provided outside the President's Office at the time of the release of
the Agenda for all meetings other than Grade Reviews. A total of eleven
seats shall be allocated for student observers at each meeting. One of
these seats shall be reserved for a Quest reporter. The remaining ten
seats shall be open to the first ten students signing up for the
meeting. The Faculty reserves the right to move into closed session at
any time by means of a vote of a majority of those members present"
(Faculty Bylaws Article I, Sections 5 and 7). "Representatives of the Senate, nominated by the Student Body
President in consultation with the President of the College, may
participate as non-voting discussants during Faculty consideration of
proposed community legislation. Senate representatives shall
participate at such meetings at the invitation, and under the
sponsorship, of the President of the College" (Community Constitution,
Article III, Section 5). The minutes of the faculty meetings, except for portions dealing
with grade reviews or with confidential matters, are released to the
community after they have received faculty approval. They are available
for perusal in the registrar's office and may be reviewed by students
with permission of the dean of the faculty. "All faculty vacancies shall be announced to the academic community.
Each Search Committee provides opportunity for students in the
Departments concerned to meet with prospective candidates for Faculty
appointment when they are visiting the campus, and subsequently for the
students to discuss their views concerning the candidates with the
Committee orally or in writing" (Faculty Code VII C). Below are the major college committees with a description of their
function, and those committees that have student representatives are so
noted. Student representatives to those committees are appointed by the
president on the recommendation of the student senate. "The academic Faculty shall select annually the members of a
Committee on Academic Policies and Planning. The President and Dean of
the Faculty shall be ex officio, non-voting members of this Committee.
The dean, or, in his or her absence, a Chair selected by the Faculty
members of the Committee from among its members, shall preside at
meetings of the Committee. . . . The President shall refer to the
Committee for discussion all issues relating to the assignment of
Faculty FTEs or to Faculty awards and workloads. These shall include:
requests for leaves and sabbaticals; requests for replacements for
leaves, sabbaticals, resignations, and retirements; assignment of
floating FTEs and new positions; review of CAT appointment of search
committees and approval of job descriptions for regular and temporary
appointments; staffing. . . . in the humanities and other
interdisciplinary programs; the appointment of faculty members to
committees; review of proposals for internal grants or institutional
nominations for external awards. . . . The Committee shall work with
departments and divisions in order to maintain a working knowledge of
the current curriculum and to formulate and maintain a long-range plan
of curricular priorities from which it may initiate and shall review
all proposals relating to the curriculum and educational goals of the
College" (Faculty Constitution Article VIII). The Administration Committee is a faculty committee that sets the
academic calendar, recommends to the faculty academic actions for
underclass students, acts on student petitions for waiver of deadlines
or petitions, and interprets the Faculty Code. It consists of at least
one member of the faculty from each division, the registrar, and the
dean of student services. The Committee on Admission and Financial Aid formulates admission
and financial aid policy and works with the admission staff in deciding
on applications for new students. It consists of the dean of admission
(ex officio), the director of financial aid (ex officio), all associate
and assistant directors of admission (ex officio), the dean of student
services, at least eight members of the faculty (one of whom chairs the
committee), and two senior students. "The Academic Faculty shall select annually a Committee on
Advancement and Tenure. The President shall preside at Meetings of the
Committee, but the President shall not be a member of the Committee.
The Dean of the Faculty shall be an ex officio, non-voting member of
the Committee. The Committee shall select from among its members a
Secretary who shall keep minutes of the meetings and other records, who
shall preside in the absence of the President, and who shall serve as
the representative of the Committee in presentations to the Faculty"
(Faculty Constitution, Article VI, section 1). "The President shall refer to the Committee for its advice on the
membership of search committees and search committee recommendations
and all recommendations by the President to the Board of Trustees
relating to the appointment of new members or changes in title, salary
or term of service of any existing member of the faculty, including
members of the Committee. The President shall also seek advice of the
Committee on performance of administrative officers in their roles as
Faculty members and may seek advice of the Committee on performance of
other staff members of the College. The Committee shall have the
responsibility for assembling and evaluating the evidence upon which
its advice is based. The recommendations of the Committee and the
rationales thereof shall be submitted to the President in writing"
(Faculty Constitution, Article VI, section 2). This committee makes recommendations to the president about the
proper uses and display of Reed's art collection, use of the art
gallery, and use of the Vollum lounge for the display of art. The
committee includes two students. Policy for the bookstore is formulated by the bookstore board of
managers, which consists of three members of the faculty, one student,
and (ex-officio) the vice president/treasurer, the bookstore manager,
and the controller). "The Dean of Student Services shall use this committee as a forum
for testing and seeking advice about faculty opinion on issues and
policies regarding the conduct of that office, and on general matters
of student welfare. The [CAC] shall represent the views of the Faculty
to the Student Body Senate, and shall review all enactments of the
Senate, except for allocations of Student Body Funds. At the request of
either body, the [CAC] and the Senate shall meet jointly for discussion
of issues of mutual concern. In no event will meetings be less frequent
than once each month when the College is in session" (Community
Constitution Article II). The fellowships and awards
committee nominates students for nationally competitive awards such as
the Beinecke, Carnegie, Churchill, Goldwater, Marshall, Mitchell,
Rhodes, Truman, and Watson. In addition, the application materials of
enrolled seniors who apply for a Fulbright scholarship are reviewed by
this committee. The library board passes on matters of general library policy,
subject to the approval of the faculty, and apportions book and
periodical funds. It consists of the college librarian (ex officio and
chair), one faculty member from each division, and one student. The media center board makes policy for the instructional media
center (IMC) and audiovisual services. The board meets about twice a
year to consider priorities, general concerns, and overall policies on
issues such as loan period lengths, use of facilities, audiovisual
concerns, and collections. Board membership includes one faculty
representative each from music, dance, foreign languages, and history,
and one student representative. This committee reviews proposals for research involving human
subjects, ensures that the subjects are given sufficient information
about the experiment to allow them to make informed judgments about
participation, and reviews possible risks to subjects. Committee
membership includes one student. This committee makes recommendations to the president about the
proper use of space in campus buildings and other facilities and is
consulted about new facilities when the president so requests.
Committee membership includes two students. This committee heightens awareness of and fosters communication
about the teaching of writing at Reed. The committee organizes several
workshops each year on topics of interest to faculty, writing center
tutors, and students. The committee also oversees the work of the
writing center tutors in conjunction with the associate dean of student
services. Committee membership includes two students. In addition to most of the committees listed above, the following committees include students in their membership: Animal Care The faculty and student body jointly enacted a constitution of the
Reed community, according to which they share responsibility for the
governance of community affairs. The constitution outlines the process
by which the student body senate and the faculty Community Affairs
Committee initiate and review community legislation. It provides that "except for committees (such as the Committee on Advancement and
Tenure) dealing primarily with personnel issues, or committees (such as
the Administration Committee and the Fellowships and Awards Committee)
dealing with student academic standing and awards, or committees
dealing with programs (such as graduate study) not designed for
undergraduates, all committees established under the Constitution and
Bylaws of the Faculty shall either have voting student members or shall
work in relation to such parallel committees as may be established
under the Student Body Constitution" (Article V, Section 2). "When parallel committees (such as the Faculty and Student
Committees on Academic Policies and Planning) have been established,
the faculty and student committees shall meet together at least once
each semester. . . . Student committees shall routinely send to their
faculty counterparts copies of all their minutes, memoranda, working
documents, and recommendations, except those pertaining to meetings
defined as 'closed' to the community at large in the Bylaws of the
Constitution of the Reed College Student Body. Faculty committees shall
routinely send to their student counterparts copies of all their
minutes, memoranda, working documents, and recommendations, except
those pertaining to meetings defined as 'closed' to the Faculty at
large in the Bylaws of the Constitution of the Faculty" (Article V,
Section 3). The governance of student affairs is chartered by a student body
constitution. This constitution provides for a student body senate, an
elected body of representatives presided over by the student body
president. It grants the senate the authority to initiate and review
community legislation on behalf of the student body and to represent
student interests before the faculty, staff, and trustees. The senate
also allocates, distributes, and supervises student body funds. The
student body senate may recommend to any committee of the faculty that
it address a particular problem within its competence. The full text of the constitution and other community documents is
available on the campus network. Directions to access the Griffin
Exchange server can be found at http://web.reed.edu/cis/help/servers.html#griffin.
Once you connect, open it to find folders ("Community Documents" and
"Organizations and Committees") that contain community documents. Reed has 23 departments grouped into five divisions. Each of these
departments (except dance, which offers an interdisciplinary major in
conjunction with theatre) offers a major, requirements for which can be
found in the catalog. For 2008-09, the chairs of these departments are
as follows: Biology Linguistics Mathematics Steve Hibbard Albyn Jones Each department is required by chapter VII of the Faculty Code to
hold a meeting of faculty and student majors in the department at least
once a year to discuss departmental courses, staffing, and other
departmental matters. For purposes of educational administration, the college is divided
into five divisions, each with an annually elected chair and secretary: Art, dance, music, theatre: David Schiff, chair; Carla Mann, secretary Anthropology, economics, history, political science, sociology: Chinese, classics, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian: Biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics: Jim Fix, chair; Jamie Pommersheim, secretary Philosophy, psychology, religion, linguistics: Meg Scharle, chair; During their first two years at the college, students are under the
academic jurisdiction of the general faculty. Their scholastic record
is reviewed by the Administration Committee and by the faculty as a
whole, and academic discipline--where necessary--is administered by the
faculty. Later, students come under the jurisdiction of the division in
which they major. Each division, in accordance with chapter VII of the Faculty Code,
will schedule at least one meeting a year, with at least one meeting
during the fall semester for the purpose of discussing with students
the process of evaluation and other matters of divisional concern. The
dates and agendas of these meetings are publicized to the community so
that underclass students may attend one or another of the meetings on
the basis of their anticipated major. The Student Committee on Academic Policies and Planning (SCAPP) is a
student committee parallel to the faculty's Committee on Academic
Policies and Planning (CAPP). By yearly mutual agreement, three members
of SCAPP regularly participate as non-voting members in all meetings of
CAPP except those defined as closed to the faculty at large (generally,
those dealing with staffing questions). CAPP and SCAPP send to one
another copies of their minutes, memoranda, working documents, and
recommendations.Board of trustees
Organization of the college
President
Colin S. Diver, President. Eliot 312, extension 7500 (503/777-7500)
Dean of the faculty
Peter J. Steinberger, Dean of the Faculty. Eliot 318, extension 7258 (503/777-7258)
Dean of student services
Lily Copenagle, Associate Dean of Academic Support Services, Eliot 218, extension 7521 (503/777-7521)
Michael Leidecker, Associate Dean of Student Services for Residence Life. Eliot 101, extension 7536 (503/777-7536)
Lisa Moore, Assistant Dean of Multicultural Affairs, Eliot 205A, extension 7527 (503/777-7527)
Faculty
Faculty Code
Faculty constitution and bylaws
Faculty meetings
Faculty searches
Faculty committees
Computing Policy
Drug and Alcohol
Gray Fund
Off-Campus Study Programs
Radioactive Materials
Reactor Review
Reed UnionCommunity constitution
Student body constitution
Departments
Department
Chair
Anthropology
Rob Brightman (fall); Jon Bialecki (spring)
Art
Michael Knutson
Keith Karoly
Chemistry
Alan Shusterman
Chinese
Hyong Rhew
Classics
Wally Englert
Dance
Pat Wong
Economics
Noelwah Netusil
English
Peter Rock
French
Ann Delehany
German
Ülker Gökberk
History
Jacqueline Dirks
Music
Virginia Hancock
Philosophy
Paul Hovda
Physics
David Griffiths
Political Science
Darius Rejali
Psychology
Kathy Oleson
Religion
Ken Brashier
Russian
Lena Lencek
Sociology
Alex Hrycak
Spanish
Diego Alonso
Theatre
Kathleen Worley
Divisions
Arts
History and social sciences
Denise Hare, chair; Alex Hrycak, secretary
Literature and languages
Roger Porter, chair; Zhenya Bershtein, secretary
Mathematics and natural sciences
Philosophy, religion, psychology, and linguistics
Student Committee on Academic Policy and Planning (SCAPP)