Academic Council Minutes, April 7, 2003

I.  General Agenda 

• Data Collection

--Liz Branch reported that staff will be meeting on processes for using laser fiche documents.

She raised a question of how to deal with courses that are partly in person and partly on line with regard to the Coordinating Board’s 9-meeting requirement.  The Council agrees that such courses could be classified as online ones for the purpose of compliance, especially since there is no longer a separate fee for fully online courses. 

• Technology

--Chari Norgard indicated that WebCT support staff from UH and distance education directors from the 4 campuses would be meeting to address problems in dealing with partnered online courses.

She and Beverly Hoerig must attend 3-day Vista training sessions at UH on three different occasions during April and May.  Training for faculty and other staff will come much later, since implementation is anticipated for fall 2004.   

--Joe Ferguson said installation of Virtual Private Network in Sugar Land still appeared to be improving response time in using the Internet.  He noted that bandwidth generally is being affected by increased slamming activity, a form of Internet vandalism.  University firewalls protect computers, but the impact is still evident in slower response times.

--A question was posed regarding whether lab assistants should be able to help students with WebCT problems.  It was noted that lab assistants are not currently hired or trained with that type of demand in view.  Also, WebCT assistance is available from other sources.

II.  Specific Agenda  

•  Student Appeals   

--A student appeal to count a course taken before she entered a master’s program was deemed unnecessary, since the student was still within the allowable period for completion of the degree.  The period is 5 or 7 years for completion, depending on the length of the program, from the time of admission.  A given course may count, however, if no more than 10 years old. 

--A student appeal to participate in spring commencement, though lacking a requirement, was deferred, pending clarification of the student’s reason for the request.  

•  Faculty Development Requests and Reports  

*  Some of these awards are pending receipt of previous year’s reports.

**Some are pending approval by the Human Subjects Committee. 

--Approved the request of Dr. Michele Kahn for a research grant ($1,200) to complete research on the attitudes and actions of Texas 9^th and 10^th grade teachers in regard to sexual minority students. 

--Approved the request of Dr. Thomas Matula for a travel grant ($705) to present at the Marketing Educators’ Association Conference, in Scottsdale, AZ, in April. 

--Approved the request of Dr. Barba Patton for a research grant ($600) to determine which methods of mathematics instruction are the most beneficial for autistic children. 

--Accepted reports on grant-funded travel from Dr. Yung-Ho Chang. 

Note:  Dr. Joseph Ben-Ur reported the Senate had a question about whether transferring $8,000 from sabbatical to research support would mean eliminating sabbaticals.  The answer was no, but schools would have to cover any sabbaticals without additional funding.  It was noted that the Senate would need to provide any input on development/research grants shortly, since policies had to be rewritten in time to inform faculty planning for the coming year.  It was also noted as likely that revisions will eliminate funding support for anything other than presentations or other major participation in a conference program.

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4/9/03