Academic Council Minutes – March 5, 2008
I. Review of Minutes – February 20, 2008
-- Approved as circulated
II. General
· Guests
John Ellis, Director of Marketing attended.
1. Ms. Chari Norgard distributed new information from the Coordinating Board regarding the Uniform Recruitment and Retention (URR) report. Ms. Norgard informed Academic Council that the Coordinating Board revised the current report requirements. Ms. Norgard believes that the Coordinating Board may forego site visits scheduled for April and May.
2. The Coordinating Board is now requesting one strategy for recruitment and one strategy for retention for the URR report which is due in December 2008. These strategies must be tied to the Closing the Gaps initiative. Ms. Norgard stated that the one-stop shop will be used as the retention strategy, but that a recruitment strategy needs to be determined.
Dr. Linda Dune asked if a survey has ever been conducted to find out which programs students would like to pursue. It was not known if such a survey has been conducted at UHV. Dr. Dune suggested partnering with the Community College Institutional Research offices to find out what programs UHV could offer. Dr. John Stansell also suggested targeting the students at the community college to find out their interests.
It was suggested that the recruitment strategy focus on one program that has the largest impact on minority student populations. Ms Norgard and Ms Mims will run queries to find out the percentage of minority students are enrolled in which programs to determine what program will be used for the recruitment strategy. Dr. Di Leo asked that the query include data from the previous five years, if possible. Ms. Norgard will provide a report at the next Academic Council meeting.
1. Ms. Trudy Wortham provided a draft enrollment headcount and semester credit hour report that incorporated all requested changes at the last Academic Council. Ms. Wortham stated that she will also add a breakdown by school under the “Others” location category.
2. Ms. Wortham reported that she will be attending a Higher Education Users Group (HEUG) Conference in Las Vegas next week where she will gain insight on queries, Peoplesoft 9.0 and the academic advisement module. Student Administration areas are still reviewing current business process changes which have been made necessary due to the Peoplesoft.
1. As a result of a discussion at the previous Academic Council, Mr. Joe Ferguson asked his staff to look into a site license for Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey does not issue site licenses. However, IT will purchase one copy of Survey Monkey Pro for each school, one copy for Student & Academic Services, and one copy for IT (this copy will be available for any other department to use). Each account can be used by multiple users in each school or department. It will be up to the school or department to manage the use and distribution of access to their account.
2. Mr. Chris Burford reported that they are gearing up for the migration to WebCT 4.0. Changes in password patterns anticipated in the summer will provide better password security. Dr. LaBrecque asked if any decision to redesign the web site had been discussed. Mr. Ferguson will ask Ms. Marci Wallace, Web Services Manager, to attend the next Academic Council meeting.
3. Mr. Ferguson mentioned that Sugar Land fiber optic project is moving forward. Funding and contractors have been identified and are now awaiting a contract. He hopes for implementation in the Summer with noticeably improved bandwidth. Dr. LaBrecque asked if there were any plans for Cinco Ranch. Mr. Ferguson stated that there were not since the need was not apparent at this time.
1. Mr. John Ellis addressed Academic Council regarding using WebCT to communicate with students. Mr. Ellis stated that WebCT could allow for announcements such as registration reminders, Jaguar game reminders, etc. Mr. Burford stated that currently all postings to WebCT require the approval of the school deans. Academic Council felt that the WebCT main page could be used as a means of communication for academic messages and that a pop-up window could be used for registration reminders or the announcement of new programs. Other academic messages may be better relayed by providing a hyperlink on the side message bar.
2. Dr. LaBrecque announced that Academic Council meeting scheduled for March 19 has been cancelled due to Spring Break.
III. Specific.
None.
1. The following Faculty Development requests were approved:
-- Dr. Teresa Le Sage was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $257.00 to present at the National Conference on Science Education in Boston, Massachusetts from March 27-30, 2008.
-- Dr. Teresa Le Sage was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $893.00 to present at the National Social Science Association in Las Vegas, NV from April 7-9, 2008.
--Dr. Jane Fry was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $354.00 to present at the National Science Teacher's Association in Boston, Massachusetts from March 27-30, 2008.
--Dr. Jane Fry was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $287.00 to present at the 2008 Association for Childhood Educational International (ACEI) Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on March 26-29, 2008.
--Dr. Yixi Ning was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $1300.00 to present at the 15th Annual Global Finance Association Conference in Hangzhou, China from May 18-20, 2008.
--Dr. Joseph Ben-Ur was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $580.00 to present at the 5th International Political Marketing Conference in Manchester, UK from March 27-29, 2008.
--Dr. Nora Hutto was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $1300.00 to present at the 2008 Professional Development Schools National Conference presentation in Orlando, Florida from April 10 - 13, 2008.
--Dr. Marie Plemons has received an FY08 conference grant for $253.00 to present at the 2008 Association for Childhood Educational International (ACEI) Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on March 26-29, 2008.
--Dr. Don Smith has received an FY08 conference grant for $430 to present at the Improving University Teaching, 33rd International Conference in Glascow, Scotland from July 29 to August 1, 2008.
--Dr. Cindy Schnebly has received an FY08 conference grant for $1300 to present at the Multi-Ethic Literature Conference in Columbus, Ohio from March 27-30.
-- Dr. Jeffery Di Leo has received an FY08 Research grant for $1300 for manuscript preparation for submission to press and creation of index for Federman at 80: From Surficition to Critifiction
As recorded by,
Karen Boldt
3/5/08