Academic Council Retreat Minutes, January 20, 2006

Morning session:

1. Minutes of previous meeting were approved
    
2. Faculty Development grant requests were approved as follows:

--Approved a development grant for conference presentation ($1,000) for Dr. Meledath Damodaran to present at the 5^th Annual Security Conference, in Las Vegas, NV, in April.
--Approved a development grant for conference presentation ($912) for Dr. His-Hui Lin to present at the 2006 Association for Childhood Education Annual International Conference and Exhibition, in San Antonio, TX, in April.
--Approved a development grant for conference presentation ($1,000) for Dr. Martin Munoz to present at the American Counseling Association 2006 Annual Convention, in Montreal, Canada, in March.
--Approved a development grant for conference presentation ($700) for Dr. Mary Natividad to present at the American Counseling Association 2006 Annual Convention, in Montreal, Canada, in March.
--Approved a development grant for conference presentation ($570) for Dr. Hal Smith to present at the Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Conference, in San Antonio, TX, in April.

3. Reports were accepted as follows:

--Accepted grant funded conference travel reports from Drs. Vera Adamchik, Meledath Damodaran, and Carol Klages (2).

4. The new TOEFL scoring system was presented, and the Council approved the registrar’s recommendation of a minimal composite score of 79, which is approximately the same as 550 on the previous scoring system.  An Academic School may establish a higher score or alternative but equally rigorous method of demonstrating proficiency as approved through the academic governance process.
    
5. Participation in the Lone Star Diversity Conference sponsored by A&M University was discussed.  It was concluded that we should send a couple of representatives, both to support the effort and to gain possibly helpful knowledge.
    
6. Academic programs approved by the Faculty Senate were discussed and accepted.
    
7. The Senate committee’s report on programs reviewed was discussed with consideration of what actions to take by way of follow-through on recommendations made.  Of particular concern was how to improve the number of returns from students on surveys of program effectiveness and job placement.  Several suggestions were offered.  The most promising appeared to be getting students to complete a survey when applying for graduation.  This would require that there be a standard form for the three schools.  This strategy would not, however, address the problem of getting surveys returned after students have been out for some time and have found employment.
    
8. Quality control in online courses was discussed in relation both to ensuring quality and maintaining credibility.
   1. The provost and ISS director will work on putting together a university statement on good practice—indicating what provisions and support are available, what is generally expected of faculty teaching online courses, and what students can generally expect by way of requirements and responsiveness.  They will bring this back to the Council for review.  Schools may have more particularly defined expectations.
   2. Extended hours of course and technical support will be kept under review and will probably soon become more of an issue, as online enrollments grow and include students studying abroad.
   3. Internationally deliver was seen as a challenge to providing support, given the difference in time zones.  Language and organizational differences could prove problematic.  The technology itself was not considered to be a significant problem, since the same hardware and software are used worldwide and tend to be relatively current from country to country.
       
9. Tentative budget requests were shared:
   1. IT -- no significant new request, despite need for additional help;
   2. Faculty Senate -- need for office space and bulletin board access;
   3. Student Services – need for recruitment assistance (also a possible position for an externally funded project, but that would be provided by the funding received);
   4. Arts & Sciences – need for funding to continue a half-time recruiter in Fort Bend; need for additional instructional help in History; need for an additional full-time faculty member in School Psychology;
   5. Business – no new requests;
   6. Education – need for two new faculty in Reading and C&I; possible need for consultant help in pursuing accreditations.
   7. ISS – no new request, unless for modest increase in funds for staff training;
   8. Registrar – no new requests;
   9. Library – need for some additional assistance in online library instruction, a need expected to expand to a full position worth in 2-3 years;
   10. Provost office – no new requests.  [except possibly as noted below for graduate fellowships]

Afternoon session: 

1. Adjunct and grad assistant pay:
   1. Adjunct pay scales were considered adequate in Victoria region but probably not in the Houston area for fields in which there is short supply.  Conclusion was to incorporate more flexibility in the policy, especially since budget constraints tend to exert a control on the kind of stipends that can be offered.  Provost will draft language for review.
   2. Graduate assistant pay was considered okay for the kind of assistantships currently offered. 
   3. But it was concluded that additional competitive fellowships could be useful for recruitment and quality improvement, if supporting funding could be found for these.  Needed would be 2-4 fellowships per school, requiring 20 hours of work a week to qualify for in-state tuition, expectation of a 9-hour course load, and with tuition and fees paid through scholarship funds.  About $5,000 would be needed per fellowship, plus tuition/fees, though these would be a wash.  However, work done by the fellows might take the place of other budgeted labor.
       
2. Review of home-office support – seen as adequate for the time being.

DNS/kw
1/23/06