Academic Council Minutes, April 4, 2007

I.                   Minutes

--Approved as circulated

II.        General

·        Guests

1.      Mr. Danny Ochoa gave a presentation to the Academic Council on the new direction of the LEAD program.  Historically, LEAD has promoted K-14/16 educational awareness to parents and community as well as offered assistance through the mentoring program and FASFA in Spanish. LEAD’s focus has shifted with recruitment efforts that are more innovative and customized to recruit from targeted areas.  Areas of focus include junior/senior level high school students, community colleges, businesses and community.  New recruitment efforts will also reach those community members who complete their lower division coursework but who have not taken their education to the bachelor’s level.  In addition, LEAD will supplement recruiting efforts by creating awareness through advertising campaigns in both English and Spanish, working with Financial Aid to secure funding for targeted groups, and incorporate cultural activities such as Fiesta Day and Hispanic Heritage Month. 

Dr. Stansell suggested that LEAD focus on the drop-out rate among Hispanic and other minority/underrepresented students.  He challenged LEAD to find ways to reach those students before they dropout of high school.  Mr. Ochoa stated that LEAD had done this in the past and is hoping that initiatives such as WCJC LEAD will now focus in that direction. 

Dr. Stansell stated that there are many graduates who have teaching certificates but a smaller percentage actually teach in the public school system.  Dr. Stansell encouraged LEAD to bring those students with a bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate back to school to further their education as potential principals and superintendents.

Dr. Gunasekera also stated that many of the students have problems with study habits which discourage them from continuing their education.  He asked if LEAD can assist these students to improve their habits.  Chari Norgard stated that once LEAD has recruited students and they have enrolled in UHV then Student Services will assist the students through the Academic Center and through mentoring.

Dr. Stansell stated that faculty members need to be aware of those individuals who need additional encouragement so that they will be able to assist the student with those needs.

Dr. Di Leo suggested innovative ways such as a writing contest for high school students in which LEAD could work with the schools to provide an opportunity to high school students. 

Professor Bullock asked if LEAD is now the recruitment arm for UHV?  Chari stated that LEAD will work with recruiters in the schools to reach these areas without overlapping or duplicating efforts. 

Dr. LaBrecque suggested that Mr. Ochoa and Chari meet with Sugar Land and Victoria school recruiters to inform them of the new LEAD recruitment focus so that all recruiters will be on the same page.

2.      Mr. Richard Phillips gave an update on handling proposals for the Greater Texas and Alcoa foundations that Margaret discussed at the March 21^st Academic Council.  He stated that proposals for foundation grants should be processed through the Office of University Advancement.  Proposals for research are processed through Dr. Hartshorn.  University Advancement will be hiring a Grant writer that will be coordinating foundation requests for the University.

Dr. LaBrecque asked how Deans find out that these foundations have funds available?  Mr. Phillips believes that the grant writer will identify foundations and then notify the proper individuals of the opportunity and work with them to write grants. 

3.      Mr. Phillips notified the Council that UHV is ready to begin its Comprehensive Campaign.  He is working with the consultant to write the plan which will be circulated for review.

·        Data Collection

1.      Mrs. Trudy Wortham provided a copy of the Admissions Application Status Report as of April 2, 2007.

2.      Ms. Wortham discussed her findings on the requirements of the Texas Common Application.  The university is required to make available the application for all transferring and freshman students.  The graduate application is not required but is available at no cost.  The University may establish an application, but the application database would have to be compatible with PeopleSoft.  It is possible to have an “add-on” package that would allow for an application to be loaded into PeopleSoft, but it would be expensive and would require System approval.  Currently all UH campuses are using only the Texas Common Application.  Certain professional schools are using their own application, but manually entering the application information into PeopleSoft.

Dr. LaBrecque suggested to Mr. Bullock that deans may wish to discuss the application “add-on” with Joneel Harris during her visit next week.

·        Other

1.      Dr. Gunasekera reported that the University Faculty Executive Conference was a success with over 100 faculty from the UH System in attendance.  UHV was well-represented, but the exact number of attendees was not yet tabulated.

2.      Dr. LaBrecque asked that the agenda include a Faculty Senate update at every Academic Council meeting.

III.       Specific

·        Student Appeals

1.      Student submitted an appeal for grade replacement from an “F” in Spring 2005 to a C earned in Fall 2006.  Request was denied.

2.      Student submitted an appeal to change grade from an “F” in Fall 2006 to a “W” or “I”.  The appeal was submitted to the school dean who approved the appeal.

3.      Student submitted an appeal to graduate in Spring with one course pending to complete a bachelor’s degree.  UHV policy states that a student may be denied participation in the commencement ceremony if all requirements for graduation cannot be met during the current semester; therefore, the appeal was denied.

4.      Student submitted an appeal to graduate in Spring with two courses pending to complete a bachelor’s degree.  UHV policy states that a student may be denied participation in the commencement ceremony if all requirements for graduation cannot be met during the current semester; therefore, the appeal was denied.

·        Faculty Development Grant Requests

1.      Dr. Di Leo was awarded $1300 for a conference grant for the Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2.      Dr. Chien-Ping Chen was awarded a $534 conference grant for the International Academy of Business Disciplines Conference in Orlando, Florida.

3.      Dr. Joseph Ben-Ur was awarded a $100 conference grant for the International Political Marketing Conference in Sinaia, Romania.

4.      Dr. Don Smith was awarded a $433.00 conference grant for the Annual Conference on Improving University Teaching in Jaen, Spain.

5.      Dr. Hal Smith was awarded a $1,125 research grant to research the collection of the Texas Birth Control records from its Texas Affiliates in order to write 1) an Article using on the history of birth control in Texas for the Handbook of Texas and 2) to write an article asking for the material contributing to knowledge in the field.

6.      Accepted a grant funded conference travel report from Dr. Nora Hutto.

As recorded by,

Karen Boldt