Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, John Groopman, and Scott Zeger.

Guests: Drs. David Celentano, Sharon Krag, Lawrence Moulton, and Noel Rose; and Ms Diane Glover.

Meeting Convened: Provost Knapp convened the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 830th meeting on November 30, 1999 were approved.

REMARKS BY THE PROVOST:

Provost Knapp reported that President Brody just returned from a productive trip to China, where a memorandum of agreement was signed to establish a joint HopkinsNanjing research institute. Dr. Knapp provided a short history of the 13year old HopkinsNanjing program, and commented that a desired outcome of the research institute is to strengthen the academic ties of the program. Involvement by all divisions of the University is anticipated, and will build upon SHPH activities in Asia as well as the Singapore Center. Dr. Knapp further noted that the Hopkins program is the only permanent U.S. campus in China and has the only freely circulating library in China.

Dr. Stephen McClain will relocate to Berlin in early 2000 to develop a "Hopkins presence" in Europe.

Dr. Knapp commented that the transition and appointment of Dr. Richard McCarty as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences has gone smoothly, and that Dr. McCarty is enthusiastic about continuing efforts with the SHPH on developing an undergraduate program for public health majors.

REMARKS BY THE DEAN:

Dean Sommer noted the paucity of topics awaiting discussion and requested that the members of the Advisory Board bring forward any topics for discussion. He wished everyone a happy holiday and new year.

REPORT OF THE FACULTY SENATE:

Dr. Yager reported that the Senate approved the creation of a voting position from among retired SHPH faculty members. The Senate plans to evaluate its role in the School as part of the strategic planning process. The Senate is identifying some examples of websites that can be used as models to improve the information contained in and organization of the School's website, including search capabilities.

Dr. Yager then updated the Advisory Board on the strategic planning process. Three subcommittees have been organized, and a number of ad hoc groups have been formed to address specific topics. Faculty will be asked for input, possibly through town meetings.

OTHER ITEMS:

Faculty Salary Analysis:

Drs. David Celentano and Lawrence Moulton joined the group. They reviewed the results of the 1999-2000 faculty salary analysis conducted by Dr. Zeger, which found small but continuing differences in salaries of women and minority faculty compared to salaries of white male faculty members. The Committee on Affirmative Action noted that the phenomena of bringing up the salaries of the lowest paid women and minority faculty has been effective, but has also been insufficient to solve the continuing problem of salary differences. On behalf of the Committee, Drs. Celentano and Moulton recommended the following: 1) that Dr. Zeger develop methods to remediate salaries so that women and minorities will be more equivalent to white males. Such methods might include addition of a constant factor and/or a merit factor; 2) that the Committee consider using different definitions of "minority" faculty, in particular underrepresented" U.S. minorities, in future analysis, rather than one large minority faculty classification; and 3) that longitudinal salary analyses be undertaken to track salaries over time rather than serial cross-sectional analyses.

Dr. Knapp suggested that bringing up the lower end of the distribution along with larger merit increases may be appropriate methods to correct salaries. Dr. Sommer noted that the Committee on Finance has compared SHPH salaries with those of other schools of public health, and found that we are below the median salaries in most categories compared to comparable schools. After discussion, Dr. Sommer asked Dr. Zeger and Mr. Hansen to develop methods to adjust the salaries of women and minority faculty within the School, then compare the adjusted salaries to those of comparable schools of public health. Continued monitoring of adjusted salaries will make certain that slippage does not occur. Dr. Miller commented that there may be differences in salary structures by department and specialty, and that adjustment and continuous monitoring of salaries must occur. Dr. Sommer suggested focusing on adjusting the salaries of women and minorities where the bulk of the faculty who have differences lie (between 1 and 20% lower than predicted.)

After further discussion, Provost Knapp and Dean Sommer thanked Drs. Celentano and Moulton for this important report.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

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