Academic Council Minutes, March 24, 2003

I.  General Agenda 

• Data Collection

--Liz Branch indicated the upgrade of PeopleSoft at UHCL had been moved up to March 04 with the other campuses to follow.  Full implementation is expected by fall 2007.

• Technology

--Joe Ferguson indicated that analysis of Internet problems at Sugar Land was continuing but that use of a “virtual private network” had led to improvement.  Bandwidth is not the problem.

--Chari Norgard indicated that she was trying to line up faculty, student, and staff interviews for the SACS visitor with responsibility for distance education.  It is not clear whether that person will go to Sugar Land and Cinco Ranch.  A joint meeting of DE directors, WebCT staff, and enrollment staff will be held on April 11 to address problems in partnering online courses.  There is also a problem of overcrowding courses because of registrations from different institutions.

• Fort Bend

--The provost noted that mowing the property at Sugar Land was very expensive and different options are being examined.  Dan Jaeckle added that Michael Ruland’s crew had about completed setting up the biology room at Sugar Land.

II.  Specific Agenda 

• Faculty Development Requests and Reports

--Approved the request of Dr. Xavier Garza Gomez for a submission fee ($25) for to the 2003 Financial Management Association Annual Meeting in Denver, CO, in October.  Also approved a request for a travel grant ($1,200) to present at the Hawaii International Conference on Business in Honolulu, HI, in June.

--Approved the request of Dr. Siva Somasundaram for a research grant ($1,200) to study the anti tumor activity of red chili active ingredients-capsaicin in prostate cancer cell line.

--Approved the request of Dr. James Walton for a travel grant ($1,200) to present at the 32^nd European Marketing Academy Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, in May. 

--Accepted a report on grant-funded travel from Ms. Tina Herrington. 

• Policy Revisions

--Faculty Development grants:  The Council went over a document the provost had prepared for soliciting input on proposed changes from the Faculty Senate.  The provost will send it to the President of the Faculty Senate for sharing with the appropriate subcommittee.

• Other

--Discussed and approved procedures developed by Liz Branch to implement an automated system of checking prerequisites and co-requisites. 

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3/25/03