MEMORANDUM 26 November 2004

TO: Avron Abraham, Chair, Coordinating Committee on Education, Faculty Senate

CC: Charles Boncelet, President, Faculty Senate

Lesa Griffiths, Vice Provost for Academic and International Programs

Gretchen Bauer, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

From: James Brophy, Director, Continental European Studies

RE: Petition for Postponement of Program’s Permanent Approval

I write to petition the Faculty Senate for a postponement of Continental European Studies’ review for permanent status until next year. This request lies not with any problem of this small program. Rather, the need for a postponement lies in the oversight of the director and his misreading of deadlines. In a memorandum last year, the Faculty Senate notified me to submit my materials for review by 1 December 2004. It is this date that I grasped, but I did not apprehend the memo’s subsequent instruction that my material must first make its way through the College of Arts and Sciences. Hence, when I began to collect my data and write my report last week, I realized that my paperwork needed to be submitted much earlier to my College. In short, I have made an egregious administrative blunder.

I offer my sincere apologies for this oversight, but I ask that this fledgling program not suffer because of my mistake. I therefore ask that the University Senate delay the review of CES for permanent status until next year. The program will submit its materials in a timely and proper fashion in the fall of 2005 to allow both the Senate of the College of Arts and Sciences and the University Faculty Senate to examine the program’s status.

There is an auspicious future for Area Studies programs at UD, and Continental European Studies will play a critical role in contributing to the University’s innovative commitment to interdisciplinary studies. Accordingly, the College has generously supported the needs of CES, and I hope to repay this confidence in CES by receiving the full endorsement of your committees when submitted next year.

I offer my apologies once again, and I hope that the Faculty Senate can accommodate this request.