EPPC decides rankings for requests to staff

Social position in Asian-American studies given highest rank

The Educational Plans and Policies Committee (EPPC) finished its yearly process of ranking departmental requests to staff this week. The committee gave requests made by the Mathematics Department, Sociology Department and Environmental Studies Program the highest possible rank - highest priority permanent. The request made by the Comparative Literature Program received a lower rank of important priority permanent.

"Highest priority means these are considered very, very important curricular priorities," Suzanne Gay, chair of EPPC and associate dean of the college said. "If something is considered permanent, it reflects the opinion of the committee that is a basic, important addition to the department for a significant period of time."

The sociology position has a focus in micro-sociology and cultural analysis with an emphasis on Asian-American issues. Gay said the committee sees this as an area of increasing importance. "It is a response to the long-standing high demand for Asian-American Studies at Oberlin," she said. She also said the sub-fields of micro-sociology and cultural analysis are welcome additions that will work well with a focus in Asian-American Studies.

Sociology Chair Bill Norris said he was surprised by the department's ranking. "You could have knocked me over with a feather," he said. Norris said the request was partly a response to student demand. "It is very clear there's a great deal of interest," he said. Norris said he first tried to pursue working with other departments and then decided the best way to deal with the issue would be to request it as an individual department.

Norris said that having faculty to teach Asian-American studies is important. "It recognizes the importance and necessity of including all groups in the curriculum. To leave them out gives an incomplete understanding of society and changes in society," he said. Norris also said sociology has been an important historical contributor to the growth of Asian-American studies as a discipline.

The intersection of Sociology and Asian-American studies is not new to the Department. The Sociology Department hired Linda Vo as a visiting assistant professor for a one-year position this year. Vo's courses included ones on urban ethnography, sociology of Asian-American communities, the contemporary Asian-American experience, immigration and Asian-American women. Norris said Vo's courses were very popular.

The position in Environmental Studies is one which would focus on geography and environmental change. Gay said the position would be one which integrates technology using geographic information systems. Gay also said she thinks the addition of a full-time staff member would help alleviate current pressure on the major and on the department.

Director of the Environmental Studies program David Orr said the new position will link biology, geography and economics within the Environmental Studies program. It will focus on geographic science, technology and spatial analysis.

A new position would do several things for the program, Orr said, including improving the variety of courses offered, alleviating advising pressure and diversifying the make-up of the program's faculty.

Orr said if the position is filled, the program would look for someone with a range of skills who can bridge the sciences and the social sciences. Orr described the person who would fill such a position as "someone with a lot of intellectual stretch."

The mathematics position, centered on quantitative proficiency, would help the Mathematics department fulfill students needs for more basic math classes. Gay said that since the Mathematics department "bears the brunt" of most of the need for quantitative proficiency, they need help offering courses to do that.

"There is going to be a long-term need for basic math course fulfilling the quantitative proficiency requirement," she said.

The position in Comparative Literature would be a half-time position to help the program offer it core course on methodology, Gay said. "The Program has drawn from various departments and programs, but it has a hard time with its most basic methodology requirement that gives unity and cohesiveness to the Program," she said. "EPPC feels it does deserve a permanent solution."

Once the EPPC ranks requests, they are sent to the College Faculty Council (CFC) and the Dean of the college, who use the rankings to help make future staff decisions. "[Changes] may not happen immediately, but ultimately the CFC and the dean get around to it - particularly items in the highest priority permanent ranking," Gay said. All the requests which have been ranked highest priority permanent in the past have been filled.

Gay said the committee ranks requests on two scales, whether it deserves a permanent or temporary staff, and whether it is highest priority, important priority, desirable or not desirable position.

Gay explained that the EPPC does not rank requests against each other. Nor does the committee have limits on the number of recommendations of a particular level it can make.

The Environmental Studies, Math and Comparative Literature requests had all been made in previous years, but had received lower rankings. The Sociology request was new. "It shot right up there," Gay said.

Gay said she is optimistic about the rankings. "I think they are a pretty forward-looking set of rankings," she said.