Academic Council Minutes, April 20, 2005

I.  Guest 

--Liz Branch gave an update on PeopleSoft implementation and provided a handout.  Integration with WebCT is in prospect. 

II.  Minutes 

--Approved as written. 

III.  General Agenda 

• Data Collection

--Trudy Wortham noted that IPHEDS has been completed.  The calendar is awaiting legislative designation of holidays. 

• Instructional Technology/Online Issues and Updates
   
• ISS

--An issue regarding the timing of and access to student evaluations in online courses was discussed.  It may be possible to set up a WebCT course in each school to collect student evaluations. 

--FACT committee’s recommendation on purchase of Turnitin was discussed.  It was concluded that the university should first review and revise plagiarism policies to ensure reasonable clarity and consistency across the university. 

--The upcoming COW will have a couple of notable speakers.

• IT

--More 800 numbers may be needed.  Installing them is not expensive. 

--IT still intends to drop WordPerfect, instead installing Adobe Professional, since the latter appears to be a more useful investment of available resources. 

--Question of how many copies of ZOC (a response-speed accelerator program) was raised; conclusion was only for those who would really benefit from it. 

--Question of whether to provide options in configuration of PC’s was raised.  Conclusion was that IT should stick to a standard confirmation.  Academic and administrative units can add features if they want. 

IV.  Specific Agenda 

• Student Appeals

--Two student appeals for waiving the TOEFL were approved. 

--A student request to be admitted despite a suspension at a previous institution was approved.  The student has since attended HCC and completed her core with an acceptable GPA.

--Approved a student request to be admitted despite three suspensions at a previous institution.  The student is currently enrolled and has earned good grades at UH. 

--The Council denied a student request that the transcript GPA show only the last grade when a course has been repeated (only the last grade is used in calculation of the GPA for determining graduation, but all grades appear on the transcript).  

--A student request to use old GRE scores was postponed, pending verification of the scores, if scores cannot be verified the appeal will be sent to the school for approval.  

• Faculty Development Requests and Reports

--Approved a research grant ($1,000) for Dr. Peggy Cloninger to conduct research to examine the linkages between internationalization and performance for young ventures.   

--Approved a development grant for conference presentation ($250) to Dr. Yong Glasure, to the Western Economic Association 80^th Annual Conference, in San Francisco, CA, in July. 

--Approved a development grant for conference presentation ($300) to Dr. David Satava, to the American Accounting Association 2005 Annual Meeting, in San Francisco, CA, in August. 

--Approved a research grant ($1,000) for Dr. Joe Szendi to conduct a research study necessary to write a publishable article(s) in a refereed journal, preliminary title Strategic Cost Management Practices:  A Comparison of U.S. and Asian Manufacturers. 

--Approved a development grant for conference presentation ($602) to Dr. Sandy Venneman to the American Psychological Society 17^th Annual Convention, in Los Angeles, CA, in May. 

--Accepted grant funded conference travel reports from Drs. Joseph Ben Ur, Peggy Cloninger, Yong Glasure, Ziad Swaidan, and Andria Young.

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4/25/05