Academic Council Minutes, February 26, 2001

General Items

--Program enrollment data Discussed with MaryAnn Rivera the most useful format for providing enrollment data to the deans to assist with planning and course delivery needs. Program enrollment will be provided by degree program and years for each county and for county clusters around Victoria and Fort Bend. Identifying location for online students remains a problem.

--Instructional technology and distance delivery Chari Norgard and Joe Ferguson have joined the Council to ensure a full forum for addressing increasingly vital and voluminous issues and resource implications related to electronic delivery of courses--including WebCT support, infrastructure support, instructional support, etc. Chair Norgard provided a report, and a number of issues and concerns were addressed. >How to communicate with students taking online courses prior to the courses getting underway was discussed. >How to deal with book returns and fee refunds in the case of delayed start up of online courses was also discussed. >Providing more versatile fax/printers to Fort Bend faculty was considered to be possible within a short time as new printers are purchased.

Student Appeals

--Denied the request of a student to be graduated absent the completion of one course requirement.

--Approved the request of a student to be graduated under an earlier catalog despite a hiatus of a year or more as an enrolled student.

Faculty Development Grants/Reports

--Approved early a request of Dr. Horace Fairlamb for a travel grant ($438) to present at the International Interdisciplinary Conference on "Language, Thought, and Reality East West Perspectives" in Chico, CA, in April 2001.

--Approved early a request of Dr. Yong Glasure for a travel grant ($688) to present and serve as a panel discussant at the Southwest Economics Association meeting in Fort Worth, TX, in March 2001.

--Approved early a request of Dr. Harold Smith for a travel grant ($600) to chair a panel at the Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies in Palo Alto, CA, in April 2001.

--Accepted a report on grant-funded conference travel from Dr. Donald Loffredo.

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2/28/01