Faculty Meeting

A Brief History of the Faculty Meeting, provided by Andrew Martinez, RISD Archivist

For the first faculty meeting in 1923, the faculty consisted of 7 department heads. In 1929 this group became the Faculty Council, with its own constitution and bylaws, meeting on a monthly basis, with the right to "recommend to the Executive Committee any changes in the curriculum which it from time to time shall deem desirable, the decision in the matter remaining with the Executive Committee, but except in emergency  no change in curriculum or calendar shall be made without consulting with the Faculty."

As early as 1923, there was a Joint Standing Committee of the Executive Committee (of the Board of Trustees) and Faculty, consisting of the President of the Trustees, the Director of the Institution, the Executive Committee and the Faculty. The purpose of this Committee was to promote understanding between the RISD administrators and the teaching faculty by the “discussion of matters of mutual concern.” There was generally at least one meeting each term.

In 1947, RISD had its first administrative President, Max Sullivan, and 1947 also marks the beginning of the Dean’s Advisory Council. At this time, the faculty met as a body irregularly, sometimes just once at the beginning of the academic year and once at the end, for an opening and closing address from the President.

In 1958, President John R. Frazier, who had served RISD for close to 50 years as an Instructor, Faculty Member, Department Head, and Division Chair, asked the Dean’s Advisory Committee to endorse the creation of a regular Faculty Meeting.

“The proposal to arrange a schedule of faculty meetings grew out of the felt need to have our common problems reviewed and discussed at length by the entire faculty….while the divisional meetings were adequate for their purposes, that is for the consideration of departmental and divisional matters, problems common to all divisions need to be considered by the larger group.” The first Faculty Meeting was held on October 1, 1958 with President Frazier presiding over the meeting. This is the beginning of the monthly Faculty Meetings that we have today.

In March of 1960, the Faculty voted to organize itself as a duly constituted body within the structure of the institution, with the right to chose its own officers and forms its own committees. In his year end report to the Faculty (May 17, 1960), President Frazier stated:

“May I congratulate you on the success of your efforts to effect a formal organization. You have provided the college with new power and strengthened yourselves as individuals. For the first time in the history of the school the faculty is an organized body. … I have read the minutes of the proceedings that brought about this transformation and predict that when viewed in retrospect what has been accomplished here in the past few months will be judged as a firm step forward in the development of the college—a necessary step.

In the past the instructional staff was organized on a departmental or divisional basis. There the influence of the individual teacher virtually ended. Division Chairmen spoke for the school. They will continue to speak for the school, but your voice will also be heard. That is if you maintain the organization as a forum dedicated to the principle that everyone has a right to be heard. If you do the college will be greatly strengthened.”

From 1958‐1968, the Faculty Meeting was chaired by the President. From 1969, it was chaired by a Dean, or Provost. At a Faculty Congress in April of 1987, the faculty voted that beginning with the 1987‐88 academic year, the Faculty Meetings would be chaired by an elected member of the faculty, which it has been the case since then.