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Faculty Steering Committee

The Faculty Steering Committee is a standing committee composed principally of the chairs (or chair-designated members) of faculty and all-college committees. It serves as the coordinating body for faculty governance, facilitating communication and collaboration among committees, administration and the broader faculty community, with a particular focus on ensuring that faculty meetings are productive and representative of faculty interests.


Function of the Faculty Steering Committee

Early in the academic year, the Faculty Steering Committee will provide the major agenda items to be addressed by each all-college and faculty committees for the upcoming year. Each individual committee shall thereafter report regularly about decisions or recommendations they have made that do not require faculty meeting action.

Function:

  • Generates the agenda of the faculty meeting, determining what topics should be placed on the agenda and in what form.
  • Solicits reports and agenda items from senior staff by meeting monthly with representatives from the provost's and president's offices.
  • Solicits reports and agenda items from committee chairs, heads of working groups or commissions as appropriate.
  • Gathers questions, thoughts and concerns from faculty about topics of interest and guides those questions to appropriate committees and/or administrative offices.
  • Shares information among the committee about individual agendas of college committees to improve effectiveness of committee work and coordinate on issues that require contributions from multiple committees.
  • Recommends changes to existing college committee functions, voting compositions and new committees to the faculty meeting.
  • Approves changes to non-voting memberships of existing college committees and reports them to the faculty meeting.
  • Extends invitations to additional community members whose expertise is relevant to specific agenda items to attend faculty meetings as appropriate.

Anyone intending to present proposals or wishing to add agenda items to the faculty meeting should contact the Faculty Steering Committee via the Secretary of the Faculty. If the Faculty Steering Committee does not place on the agenda of a faculty meeting an item that a voting member believes should be part of the agenda, the Faculty Steering Committee shall, upon written appeal by the voting member, place the item in question on the agenda of a regularly-scheduled faculty meeting no later than two months after receiving this appeal. This ensures that the Faculty Steering Committee will not stifle any voice in its effort to expand the range, and focus the work, of the faculty meeting. The agenda for the faculty meeting, supporting documents and administrative reports are posted electronically to the college Gateway at least five calendar days in advance of the meeting.

Faculty Meeting Dates for 2026-27 and Deadlines for Agenda Items

Agenda items should be sent to Faculty Secretary Lorelei Koss at koss@dickinson.edu by noon on the dayslisted below.

Sept. 1 & 3 Faculty Meeting (Tuesday/Thursday)

  • Friday, Aug. 21 – Agenda items due to Lorelei Koss by noon.

Oct. 6 & 8 Faculty Meeting (Tuesday/Thursday)

  • Friday, Sept. 25 – Agenda items due to Lorelei Koss by noon.

Nov. 5 & 10 Faculty Meeting (Thursday/Tuesday) Observing Election Day on 11/3.

  • Friday, Oct. 23 – Agenda items due to Lorelei Koss by noon.

Dec. 1 & 3 Faculty Meeting (Tuesday/Thursday)

  • Friday, Nov. 20 – Agenda items due to Lorelei Koss by noon.

Feb. 2 & 4 Faculty Meeting (Tuesday/Thursday)

  • Friday, Jan. 22 – Agenda items due to Lorelei Koss by noon.

Mar. 2 & 4 Faculty Meeting (Tuesday/Thursday)

  • Friday, Feb. 19 – Agenda items due to Lorelei Koss by noon.

Apr. 6 & 8 Faculty Meeting (Tuesday/Thursday)

  • Friday, Mar. 26 – Agenda items due to Lorelei Koss by noon.

May 4 & 6 Faculty Meeting (Tuesday/Thursday)

  • Friday, Apr. 23 – Agenda items due to Lorelei Koss by noon.

May 20 Final Faculty Meeting for the Semester (Thursday)

 

Members of the 2026-27 Faculty Steering Committee
  • Steering Chair: Lorelei Koss (Mathematics and Computer Science), Faculty Secretary
  • Alex Bates (East Asian Studies), Chair, Research & Development Committee
  • Jeremy Ball (History), Chair, All-College Committee on Planning and Budget 
  • Shawn Bender (East Asian Studies), Chair, Faculty Personnel Committee
  • Eva Copeland (Spanish), Co-Chair, All-College Committee on Student Engagement & Experience
  • Karen Neely Faryniak (President’s Office), Chief of Staff and Secretary of the College (without vote)
  • Sarah McGaughey (German), Parliamentarian 
  • Melinda Schlitt (Art and Art History), Co-Chair, All-College Committee on Student Engagement & Experience 
  • Farhan Siddiqui (Math & Computer Science), Chair, All-College Committee on Equity, Inclusivity and Belonging
  • Sarah St. Angelo (Chemistry), Chair, All-College Committee on Information and Technology Services
  • Tony Underwood (Economics), Chair, All-College Committee on Academic Program & Standard