I. General Agenda

• Data Collection

--The Council reviewed the PeopleSoft schedule for sessions on Fit/Gap analysis during April and May. Degree Plan Counselors and other key academic staff will need to attend some of the sessions. Liz Branch will convene a meeting to review fit/gap concerns and determine how to handle attendance at the sessions, which will be all-day ones and should be available by ITV. She will request that certain sessions be postponed, so that they do not interfere with responding to students during one of the busiest times of the year. It was noted that one option was to forego the fit/gap session or to maintain only minimal attendance so long as we were willing to accept the decisions made with regard to functionality of the system.

• Instructional Support Services

--Chari Norgard review the recent AAS meeting, noting that more of the participants were interested in doing schedules only on line.  She distributed a description of the new version of WebCT and explained some of the changes.

• Information Technology

--Joe Ferguson said that Windows 2000 was 75% installed on staff computers and that the conversion of faculty computers would begin next week and is expected to go quickly and smoothly. IT will then begin the conversion from Eudora to Outlook for e-mail support.

• Fort Bend

--The provost noted that the modular buildings for Sugar Land were more expensive than anticipated and that funds were quite constrained for next year. If the System cannot help with the initial outlay, the office buildings will be reduced from three to two, plus a restroom facility.

II. Specific Agenda

• Student appeals

--Two students’ requests to participate in spring commencement before completing coursework for the degree were denied.

--A student appeal for graduating under an earlier catalog despite a lapse in attendance was approved.

--A student grade appeal was denied.

• Faculty Development grants

--Approved the request of Dr. Vera Adamchik for a research grant ($1,250) titled "Gender Pay Differential and Gender Differences in Labor Market Outcomes During the Transition Process in Poland."

--Approved the request of Dr. Joseph Ben-Ur for a travel grant ($600) to present at the Hawaii International Conference on Business, in Honolulu, HI, in June.

--Approved the request of Dr. Estella De Los Santos for a travel grant ($1,031) to present at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 80th Annual meeting, in Las Vegas, NV, in April.

--Approved the request of Dr. Yong Glasure for submission and printing fees ($75) to The Journal of Current Research in Global Business.

--Approved the request of Dr. Massoud Metghalchi for a travel grant ($1,100) to present at the Academy of Business Administration in Key West, FL, in April.

--Approved the request of Dr. Barba Patton for a travel grant ($1,031) to present at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 80th Annual meeting, in Las Vegas, NV, in April.

--Approved the request of Dr. Jifu Wang for a travel grant ($600) to present at the Business and Economics Society International 2002 Conference, in Montreal, Canada, in July.

--Accepted reports on grant-funded conference travel from Dr. Estella De Los Santos and Dr. David Satava.

• Proposed Center

--Dr. Fairlamb was present to discuss a proposal for designating the MAIS program as a "Center for Graduate Interdisciplinary Studies" in order to provide the program with an identity that could be more easily communicated and marketed, especially on the web, the concern being that only those who already know about the program would know where to look for it. The concern has become more pressing now that the program is operating in the University of Houston System Cinco Ranch and Sugar Land sites. Council members saw no reason not to pursue this proposal.

• Other Matters

--The following items were postponed to a later meeting, owing to the press of time and need for additional information

-Proctoring
-Revision of graduate admission policies
-Research grant request

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3/25/02