Open forum set on strategic plan for athletics and physical education

An open University Faculty Forum on the draft Strategic Plan for Athletics and Physical Education will be held Feb. 17 at 4:30 p.m. in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium in Kennedy Hall.

The forum, open to faculty, students and staff, will provide an opportunity for the Cornell community to hear about and comment on the draft proposal before it is considered by the Cornell Board of Trustees in March. The forum will be the second in a series of public discussions organized by J. Robert Cooke, dean of the faculty. The first such community discussion of a universitywide issue was a discussion last semester of the reorganization of biological sciences at Cornell.

Tobias deBoer, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, will call the session to order at 4:30 p.m. A panel organized by George Conneman, professor of agricultural resource and managerial economics and chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee on Athletics and Physical Education, will give a presentation. Charles Moore, director of athletics, will give an overview of the strategic plan; Dale Grossman, senior lecturer, agricultural resource and managerial economics, will review the mission of the Department of Athletics and Physical Education; Carol McFadden, senior lecturer, animal physiology, will present background on the intercollegiate athletics program; William Cox, professor of soil, crop and atmospheric sciences, will provide an overview of Physical and Outdoor Education and Recreational Services; and Wolfgang Sachse, professor of theoretical and applied mechanics, will discuss the grades and graduation rates of student athletes.

Ad hoc committees of the Faculty Senate, Student Assembly, Employee Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly will review the report and prepare questions for the panel. The remainder of the meeting, until 6 p.m., will be reserved for questions from the floor and those previously submitted to deBoer or to the Office of the Dean of the Faculty by members of the Cornell community. Questions may pertain to either the strategic plan or to other issues relevant to athletics and physical education at Cornell.

Questions not used due to time limitations will be posted, along with the panel's responses, on the University Faculty web site http://UniversityFaculty.cornell.edu.

Copies of the draft strategic plan have been distributed to the department-elected members of the Faculty Senate; other members of the community may obtain a copy from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, 315 Day Hall, 255-4843.