1. The Council minutes of 5 February 2008 were approved.

2. The Council discussed various aspects of College reorganization specifically in the area of the Earth Sciences. It appears that much of the Dean’s interest in reorganization is directed towards establishing similar departmental profiles relative to teaching and research. It was generally agreed that similar profiles in some cases may not be necessary or in the best interests of COS. For example, a unit primarily devoted to reseach and graduate education might not wish to consider adding an undergraduate program, if one is not appropriate for that discipline. Nonetheless, a concern of the Dean’s office is the low student enrollment in some academic units – a concern which can be and has been alleviated by having faculty in such units teach in other units for which they have expertise.

Much of the discussion was directed towards Climate Dynamics which has a low enrollment and also the Earth Science (geology) component of ESP, which has a large undergraduate enrollment. These two units have been discussing a possible merger into a new department. Randy McBride from the Earth Sciences faculty as a visitor to the Council addressed the possible merger. From the information provided by representatives of both units, there seems to be interest and advantages to the creation of this new department. The consensus of the Council was that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of this merger. The Council also recommends that Climate Dynamics consider a MS degree and relevant undergraduate courses to increase enrollments. Although the member of the Council from that unit expressed the concern that a MS program can serve to divert the unit from its primary mission (the PhD program), most Council members did not see the basis for that concern.

It was also recognized that there are other Earth Science faculty in the College, specifically in Geography/ESGS. These faculty might be interested, and should have the opportunity, to migrate to other more relevant academic units resulting from any COS reorganizations.

3. The Council recommends that the College create one or more Councils of departments with related academic interests. The administrative structure of these units would be a committee of the department Chairs, with each Chair rotating as Council Chair. This structure has the added benefit of avoiding an added layer of administration and its associated costs. Administrative councils also would provide additional advantages including:

 Increased visibility for some units and disciplines
 Greater programmatic consistency and efficiency within departments
 Reduced duplication among departments
 Improved faculty interaction and synergy.

From the discussion of Earth Science, a Council of Geoscience would seem appropriate. That Council could include:

 A new department merging Climate Dynamics and geologists from ESP
 Alternatively, an independent and strengthened Earth Science/Geology department with additional faculty from ESGS. Climate Dynamics might also absorb some faculty from ESGS.
 A merger of Climate Dynamics and ESP
 A Geography and Geoinformation Science department.

Other COS Councils could be established for the Life Sciences and the Physical, Mathematical and Computational Sciences. It is also possible that some Chairs might like to be involved in more than one such Council, based on their programmatic interests.

4. Meeting adjourned.