Academic Council Minutes, October 1, 2007
I. Review of minutes – September 5, 2007
--Approved as circulated.
II. General
· Data Collection
1. Mrs. Trudy Wortham distributed the enrollment update. Dr. Di Leo asked if the count included the courses that are partnered with UH Downtown. Ms. Wortham confirmed that the count did not include those hours. Ms. Wortham will certify the numbers and complete the Coordinating Board report for submission by October 15th.
2. Ms. Wortham asked Dr. Di Leo if he had any decision from faculty on if they would allow students to enroll through the web during the second week of late registration. Dr. Di Leo stated that faculty will be discussing this at the next Faculty Council meeting.
· PeopleSoft Issues and Updates
1. Ms. Wortham stated that Alex Leal will be coming to Victoria to train UHV personnel on how to build queries. Dr. LaBrecque stated that she will include the need for additional training on the Provost council agenda. She feels it UH may need to review the need for additional training and additional support personnel.
2. Dean Bullock asked about the possibility of receiving additional programming support from Mrs. Mary Ann Rivera, UHV’s database analyst; however, Mrs. Rivera has also not received much of the training she needs to effectively manage the data. It was noted that Mrs. Rivera is the only programmer/ database analyst with no backup in case of absence. Mrs. Sherrie Kroll provides limited assistance when Mrs. Rivera is not available.
1. Mr. Joe Ferguson shared with the Academic Council that the bandwidth project was completed in Victoria, but has been experiencing problems. Mr. Ferguson is considering bringing in a specialist from Houston to identify any areas that may need improvements in order to experience the higher bandwidth throughout the campus.
2. Mr. Ferguson stated that Sugar Land will be receiving an upgrade in bandwidth. Information Technology is looking into using either microwave, dark fiber or the current system UHV is using.
3. In light of the recent WebCT down time on September 30, a question was raised regarding the protocol for when there is a problem WebCT. UH System notified Mr. Chris Burford who placed a notice on the WebCT log-in page. However, notification was not received from Houston until sometime after the problem occurred. Mid-terms were scheduled on the day that the down time occurred. On-line support technicians received calls from students, but were not made aware of any connection problem. UH should notify on-line support technicians in addition to Mr. Burford so that they will know how to answer student calls. Mr. Ferguson will look into the matter.
· Fort Bend Issues and Updates
1. Dr. LaBrecque discussed the meeting with the AAS committee to discuss several issues.
· One issue that was discussed was the bookstore. It seems the biggest challenge is receiving bookstore orders in time. Often the bookstore does not carry enough books. Since many students are on-line it is difficult to determine how many books are needed. Often students order their books online through Half.com and other sites. The problem with ordering on line is that students do not always receive their textbooks in time for classes. Also, there seems to be a disconnect between what Victoria College provides and what Barnes & Noble can provide. Dean Bullock suggested that Faculty develop courses packs, but Dr. LaBrecque reminded everyone that copyright issues can become a problem. Dr. LaBrecque will ask Mr.Wayne Beran to attend the next deans meeting to discuss the various problems with Barnes & Noble.
· In addition, it was brought to Dr. LaBrecque’s attention that UHV does not observe the time bands set for classes. The deans indicated that often the class times are changed to meet the needs of the student. Ms. Norgard stated that these time bands may need to be examined since they were established years ago and may not be working for every campus.
· Other
1. Dr. Joe Dahlstrom updated Cabinet on content management software installation at the Library. Installing CMS on the library computers will assist in tracking who is using the computers and limit non-affiliated persons to ˝ to 1 hour usage. What this means is students will be able to have more access to computers in the library.
2. Ms. Norgard talked about the outcome of a meeting held last week with Mr. Beran and Mrs. Carolyn Mallory to discuss consortium agreements in relation to PeopleSoft. It was decided that since PeopleSoft does not process consortium agreements and that software to do so would be costly, UHV will no longer enter into consortium agreements. Those agreements that UHV is currently under will be terminated. Terminating consortium agreements will affect approximately 5 students; however, they will still be eligible for financial aid.
3. Discussion was held regarding payment to faculty for foreign nationals employed outside the U.S. as research assistants. In light of increasing international programs, Dean Bullock asked if UHV could obtain a legal opinion on how UHV should make payment to foreign nationals. Ms. Karen Boldt will check with Mr. Jose Rangel, UHS Legal Counsel.
III. Specific
· Student Appeals
1. There were no student appeals.
· Faculty Development Grant Requests
--Accepted a grant-funded conference report from Dr. Selvarajan.
--Accepted a grant-funded research report from Dr. Garza Gomez.
--Accepted a grant-funded conference report from Dr. Di Leo.
--Dr. Peggy Cloninger was awarded a conference grant for $1279.86 for her presentation at the International Academy of Business and Public Administration Diciplines conference, January 3 – 6, 2008 in Orlando, Florida.
--Dr. Mel Damodaran was awarded a conference grant for $655.24for his presentation at the Association of Computer Educators in Texas annual conference in San Antonio from October 10-13, 2007.
--Dr. Xavier Garza Gomez was awarded a conference grant for $1200 for his presentation at the FMA annual meeting in Orlando, Florida from October 17-20, 2007.
--Dr. T. T. Selvarjan was awarded a conference grant for $800 for his presentation at the International Academy of Business and Economics meeting in Las Vegas, NV from October 14-17, 2007.
--Dr. T. T. Selvarjan was awarded a research grant for $1300 for research regarding the influence of culture on employees’ attitudes: an empirical study of Asian employees in a Mexican cultural context.
--Dr. Mary Mayorga was awarded a conference grant for $600.00 for her presentation at the Texas Counseling Association Professional Growth conference in Corpus Christi, TX on November 7-10th, 2007.
As recorded by,
Karen Boldt
10/01/07