Academic Council Minutes – April 2, 2008
I. Review of Minutes – March 5, 2008
-- Approved as circulated
II. General
· Guests
John Ellis, Director of Marketing and Marci Wallace attended.
1. Mr. Danny Ochoa gave an update on the direction and initiatives of LEAD and the partnerships with Coastal Bend College (CBC), Wharton County Junior College (WCJC), Victoria College (VC), and Houston Community College (HCC). Mr. Ochoa stated that during the regular visits to community colleges, LEAD personnel are contacting and assisting students in the transition to UHV.
Dr. LaBrecque asked what steps have the LEAD personnel taken to learn about the various academic programs so that the information can be presented to prospective students? Mr. Ochoa stated that LEAD is working with recruiters, but their main objective is to build one-on-one relationships with minorities to help motivate these individuals in obtaining their four year degree. In many cases, the minority student may be a first generation graduate or may have an associate degree, but does not pursuit a four year degree due to a variety of reasons. LEAD helps motivate those individuals to obtain a four year degree and helps their families realize the importance of a degree. LEAD is also working with area schools and programs to let students know that there is a need for them in the Victoria area. Dr. Stansell agreed that this would be valuable for Education in that it would help to retain teachers in the local area.
Dr. LaBrecque asked how success is measured. Mr. Ochoa stated that success is measured through follow-up. The best way to measure success is once the student enrolls at UHV; however, this is a long and hard to follow process.
Dr. LaBrecque stated that another focus of the Coordinating Board is career planning. Ms. Chari Norgard stated that they should arrange a meeting with LEAD staff, recruiters and Eunice Messa from Career Planning. Dr. Tong-Ai Zhang and Ms. Norgard are working with the Coordinating Board to download program information broken down by ethnicity for ACC, CBC, WCJC, VC, and HCC students.
Dean Charles Bullock asked about the LEAD Ambassador program. Mr. Ochoa reported that the program was no longer available.
Mr. Ochoa stated that centers are being established in the high schools to reach out to students. Dr. Stansell asked if it would be better to establish centers in community colleges. According to Mr. Ochoa, Victoria College has a “Key” Center and there are “Go” Centers at various community colleges.
Dean Bullock asked about the percentage of HSI students. UHV needs around 100 students to reach HSI status. Recruitment efforts at CBC have not yielded many students. Dean Bullock asked why not increase efforts at Victoria College since they are a HSI institution?
A suggestion was made that Mr. Ochoa can provide a statistical update similar to the SCH & Headcount update prepared by the registrar for Academic Council to review.
2. Ms. Chari Norgard announced that the Cabinet agreed upon the name of the one-stop shop. The one-stop shop will be called “Student Solutions.” She and her staff are working on setting goals and strategies for Student Solutions. Staff are being trained and shadowing jobs in all areas including Bursar, Financial Aid, Admission, etc. Ms. Norgard is working with Marketing to inform students about Student Solutions. Dr. LaBrecque suggested that Ms. Norgard attend Faculty Council to inform them of Student Solutions. Ms. Norgard and Dr. Ramamoorthy will discuss the details of presenting the information to Faculty Council.
3. Ms. Norgard met with deans regarding the Uniformed Recruitment and Retention report. The primary retention strategy chosen for the report will be Student Solutions. The primary recruitment strategy will be LEAD. The two strategies will be tracked in the summer and fall semesters and a report will be provided to the Coordinating Board by the December deadline.
1. Ms. Trudy Wortham provided an enrollment headcount and semester credit hour report that incorporated ethnicity of those in the top 10 counties as requested at the March 5th Academic Council meeting.
2. Ms. Wortham reported that she and her staff are training for UHV Student Solutions as well as more general PeopleSoft training. Admissions will be providing additional on-line grading training for faculty.
3. Ms. Wortham reminded Academic Council that the Summer semester registration begins April 21st. The course offerings were made available April 1st.
1. Marketing and Information Technology have been working on a new website design. Ms. Marci Wallace and Mr. John Ellis will be soliciting input to try to get a sense of what is the best web design for faculty and students as well reviewing other university websites and as other web sites. A web projects person has been hired to help with the design. The web projects person will begin mid-April. The new design will take into consideration student opinion as well as the integration of a content management system.
2. Mr. Ferguson provided information regarding the renewal of ESmart. The new cost for FY2009 will be $17,000 which is an increase of $6,000. Only 13 faculty have accessed eSmart since March 2006; however,one faculty member uses eSmart courses and texts in his classes, and 3 other faculty have assigned textbooks in their classes that are available in eSmart. Dr. Dahlstrom stated that the Library may be able order some textbooks for professors. Mr. Ferguson asked for the opinion of Academic Council members on whether or not they felt that it would be beneficial to renew the ESmart contract. Dr. LaBrecque stated that it was difficult to determine by the information provided if there is a cost-benefit to maintain ESmart. After some discussion, it was suggested that Mr. Ferguson discuss ESmart at the next Cabinet meeting. Dr. LaBrecque also suggested that deans may want to talk with Faculty about the use of ESmart.
3. Mr. Chris Burford reported that the migration to WebCT 4.0. Changes in passwords will occur on June 10th. It is also possible that the migration will take us from version 4.2.3 to 8.0 versions. It was asked if an announcement would be made regarding the password changes. Mr. Burford stated an announcement would be made through each school’s online support technician. Questions were raised regarding the new password. Mr. Burford stated he would forward additional information regarding passwords to Ms. Karen Boldt. Ms. Boldt will forward the information to Academic Council.
4. Mr. Ferguson stated that Sugar Land fiber optic cable project is moving forward. He spoke with the vendors and they do not anticipate any problems with meeting the target deadline in August.
1. Dr. LaBrecque received an e-mail this week regarding “use or lose” vacation. She encouraged everyone to look at their schedules and take vacation when schedules permit.
III. Specific.
None.
1. The following Faculty Development requests were approved:
-- Dr. Barba Patton was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $1014 to present at the National Social Sciences Association in Las Vegas, NV from April 7-9, 2008.
-- Dr. Barba Patton was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $286 to present at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in Salt Lake City, UT from April 9-12, 2008.
--Dr. Massoud Metghalchi was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $1,300.00 to present at the Global Business and Finance Research Conference in London, England from July 10-13, 2008.
--Dr. Estella De Los Santos was awarded an FY08 conference grant for $1142.00 to present at the National council of Teachers of Mathematics in Salt Lake City, UT from April 9-12, 2008.
As recorded by,
Karen Boldt
4/2/08