New Shimer faculty

Shimer has recently hired two new facilitators, Daniela Barberis and Adam Kotsko. They will begin teaching in the fall semester. Their respective CVs are quite impressive, and leave little room for doubt that they will be excellent additions to the community. Welcome, Daniela and Adam!

(Adam Kotsko is already known to some Shimerians in his capacity as a blogger, through outlets including An und für sich. It is perhaps unsurprising that a blogger of Shimerian interest would also be vocally skeptical of the value of blogging in higher education.)

Agenda for Shimer College Assembly of 4/10

Agenda for the Meeting of the Shimer College Assembly

April 10, 2011 – 4 PM

1) Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of February 27, 2011 (prepared by Secretary Neel Rana)

2) Committee Report Updates and Questions

3) President Noonan’s “State of the College” Address

4) Elections for Assembly Committees (to begin August 2011):

a. Academic Planning Committee
b. Administrative Committee
c. Budget Committee

5) Discussion of Number of Members on upcoming Presidential Search Committee

6) Consideration of the following proposed Amendment to the Assembly Constitution, motivated by David Shiner on behalf of the Academic Planning Committee (APC): The description of the APC should be amended to include the clause, “the APC is responsible for setting salary policy for the faculty.”

7) Consideration of the following proposed Amendment to the Assembly Constitution, motivated by David Shiner: All instances of “committees of the College” should be amended to “committees of the Assembly.”

8) Discussion of the following proposal, forwarded to the Assembly by the Agenda Committee on behalf of its author, alum Sam Henderson (Class of ’98):

[That] the Assembly establishes a temporary ad-hoc committee on external relations. The committee is to consist of at least one student, at least one faculty or staff member, and at least one alum, and may expand its membership (to no more than 10) by unanimous consent of the members. The committee will seek suggestions and feedback from both the internal and external communities, and will report back to the Assembly with its proposals no later than the second meeting of the fall 2011 semester. The purpose of the committee will be to explore ways of establishing stronger ties between the Assembly and the external community, and particularly to find better ways of communicating the actions and significance of the Assembly and its committees to groups outside of the internal community, including alumni, friends of the college, and the general public.

9) Announcements

10) Adjournment

Shimer gets new Metra station

As of April 3, Metra's Rock Island trains stop at the new 35th Street Station, 1 block from Shimer. The station is a flag stop, so it is necessary to alert the conductor if planning to disembark there. The Rock Island trains terminate at LaSalle Street Station downtown, and serve the southwest suburbs out to Joliet.

[Rock Island Line schedule as of 4/3/2011 (PDF)]

(Shimer is of course already very well-served by the CTA's Red and Green lines, and also advantageously situated within blocks of the Dan Ryan Expressway and Lake Shore Drive.)