I.  General Agenda 

• Common Calendar

--Common calendar options for the next two years were considered for input to the Provosts’ Council.  Preference was for starting the week before MLK day, doing spring break later in March, starting summer term around June 1, and eliminating the week off between the first and second summer sessions. 

Preference was also expressed for doing only one summer session with some flexibility.  Scheduling of rooms, course load for students and faculty, and faculty compensation would be issues, as would consistency with the other UHS institutions.  But the provost and deans will work on a proposal and see how it goes.  E.g., initial start date would have to be a common one.  Then, 5, 8, or 10-week options would have to fit into the existing 10-week time bands to ensure efficient classroom utilization.  Experience elsewhere suggests that enrollment impact would be minimal and temporary. 

• Catalog, Etc., on the Web

--Liz Branch reported that the new catalog is now available on the web in both PDF and html.  She distributed a policy that was accepted on making updates.  Substantive changes, which must go through the faculty approval process, will be incorporated once a year, as is the case presently, as a “snapshot” in time.  Editorial changes will be made on a continuing basis and should be channeled through the registrar.

--The registrar also reported that progress continues on the schedule and on the data-imaging project. 

• IT/ISS Development

--IT/ISS developments were discussed at some length, particular with regard to providing online orientations to WebCT for students and for faculty.  Setting up a faculty advisory committee on instructional technology was proposed and was considered a worthwhile thing to do.

• Fort Bend Developments

--Fort Bend developments were reviewed.  They have been shared with the faculty or will be in forthcoming updates.  Textbook orders were briefly discussed.  In the current environment, it may suffice to have the textbook titles on the web for each course and point the students to online vendors that seem capable of handling orders on time and providing for refunds, buy backs, etc.

II.  Specific Agenda

• Faculty Development Grants

--Approved early the request of Dr. Gayla Lawson to present at the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration 56^th Annual Conference, in Burlington, VT, in August.

--Accepted reports on grant-funded conference travel from Drs. Lu and Yu. 

--Policy and practice on awards were discussed.

--Proposed revisions of Faculty Development policy and amounts were considered, and various options were discussed for contending with an increase in faculty and decrease in endowment payout.  Some revisions were tentatively agreed to and will be incorporated in a new draft.  The provost will examine spending patterns to see whether caps need to be imposed to ensure that funds remain available for later in the year.

University of Houston-Victoria·3007 N. Ben Wilson·Victoria, Texas 77901·361-570-4848