Academic Council Minutes – February 18, 2009

 

I.                   Review of Minutes – January 21, 2008

1.      The minutes were approved as circulated.

 

II.                General

A.                Welcome

1.      Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque welcomed Dr. Mary Natividad as the interim Dean of the School of Education and Human Development

B.                 Enrollment Management

1.      Ms. Trudy Wortham provided the enrollment information to Academic Council.  Headcount was 3260 and semester credit hours were 24,797.  Ms. Wortham is working on finalizing the Coordinating Board report. 

2.      Ms. Norgard discussed issues that Admissions and the Bursar’s office are having because they are not receiving all of the information needed on cohorts.  Therefore, she had Mr. Shawn Brett create an online form that should be completed by the school or responsible faculty member.  There were questions on what is considered a cohort.  If there is a question regarding whether or not a cohort exists, Ms. Norgard can help the schools or users make that determination.  Ms. Norgard will send the form out to the schools and users asking them to identify areas for improvement.

3.      Ms. Norgard informed Academic Council that as a result of a meeting between with the Bursar’s Office, Financial Aid and Admissions, Zap procedures will be changed.  Currently students are being zapped if payment is not made before noon on the Friday before the first class day.  Zapped students then have to late register beginning Monday.   There are currently three zaps: one that occurs the Friday before classes, one that occurs on the 12th class day and one on the 20th class day. To help students, it was decided that registration will end midnight Thursday instead of noon Friday.  The zap will then occur Friday morning instead of Friday afternoon.  It was also decided that we will eliminate the 12th day class zap and focus on contacting students who have not paid to encourage them to pay prior to the 20th class day.  The final zap will occur on the 20th class day.  Also, Ms. Norgard asked why students were being added to classes after the 12th class day.  She also mentioned that some students are added as late as the end of the third week of classes.  It was agreed that students would no longer be added to courses after the second week of classes.  During the first week of classes, students can register online.  During the second week, the instruction and Dean must give approval.  Dr. Di Leo said that Arts and Sciences students can receive approval for adding classes from the instructor and chair.  Ms. Mims stated that the School of Business students will need her approval as well as the instructor’s approval.  In Education, students will need the Deans approval to add courses and in Nursing, faculty and/or Dean can approve students adding classes.  After the 12th class day, no further registrations or appeals will be considered. 

4.      Ms. Carolyn Mallory provided a breakdown by school of financial aid disbursed to the students for Fall 2008 and Spring 2009.

 

B.        President’s Updates

1.   Dr. Margaret Rice stated that she has heard positive reports on the University’s request for downward expansion.    

2.   Dr. Rice is serving on the Board of Healthy Women’s Resources Group.  UHV is hosting the group at the April 28th meeting in the Multipurpose room.  Dr. Rice has asked for any volunteers for those who would like to help plan the event or anyone interested in attending.

 

C.        Provost Updates

1.      Dr. Holly Verhasselt gave a brief update on the visit by Dr. Marilee Bresciani.  Seventy-five faculty attended the faculty retreat at the Country Club in El Campo.  Dr. Verhasselt received assessment data from Dr. Bresciani which she will be reviewing and disseminating to the appropriate departments.

2.      Dr. Verhasselt stated that the Provost Office has reviewed assessment software and are looking into purchasing Sedona in the near future.  Dr. Verhasselt will also be visiting Texas A&M and will review software, in addition to Sedona, that will meet our assessment needs. 

3.      Dr. Verhasselt will be giving a presentation to Cabinet to provide them the feedback she received on the Carnegie Engagement Classification.

 

D.        Other

1.   Ms. Amy Mundy requested that each school, and other areas which may have programs to support, provide a list of program needs to University Advancement.  This will allow University Advancement to have programs and program needs readily available because often there is a tight deadline on providing the information to the potential donor.

 

      Ms. Mundy further stated that the University is holding off on its annual giving campaign until later this year.  University Advancement is hoping that if UHV downward expansion is approved then that can be part of the annual giving campaign.  In addition, the Board of Regents challenged UHV to raise additional scholarship funds to attract students.  Donors can contribute to a regional scholarship fund or they can contribute to a general fund.  The donor can determine which school or program will receive the funds.  Dr. Tart suggested a presidential scholarship fund which allows the student to receive a scholarship and perhaps have dinner with the president. 

 

      Ms. Mundy stated that University Advancement is contacting UHV alumni to encourage them to join the Alumni Association.  Ms. Mundy asked the deans if University Advancement could include letters from the Deans to the student asking them to join the Association.  She feels that receiving a letter from the school dean will have a greater impact on Alumni.  A survey was conducted which stated that 1) alumni do not wish to be contacted by phone, instead e-mail is preferred; 2) if events are held, weekends are preferred.  In order to encourage alumni participation, two events have been scheduled.  The first event is softball event on February 28 and the second event is the baseball event on April 18, 2009.

2.   Dr. Tart reminded Academic Council that the CCNE visit will be March 2nd through March 4th.

3.   Ms. Carolyn Mallory stated that UHV is considering moving from Federal Family Education Program administered by Texas Guaranteed to the Federal Direct Loan Program administered by the Department of Education. 

 

III.             Specific

A.    Student Appeals

1.      None

 

B.     Consent Calendar/Faculty Development Grant Requests and Reports

1.      Denied an FY09 publication grant in the amount of $600 for Dr. Sanjiv Behl. 

2.      Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $1300 for Dr. Peggy Cloninger to present at the International Applied Business Research Conference in San Antonio, TX from March 16-19, 2009.

3.      Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $1300 for Dr. Vivian Nowazek to present at the 20th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice in Cancun, Mexico from July 13-17, 2009.

4.      Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $1300.00 for Dr. Nagarajan Ramamoorthy to present at the 7th International Conference on Management, in Athens, Greece from July 6-9, 2009.

5.      Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $738.57 for Dr. Luh-Yu Ren to present at the Revised Southwest Decision Sciences Institute 40th Annual Conference in Oklahoma City, OK from February 24-28, 2009. 

6.      Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $1300 for Rajan Selvarajan to present at the International Conference on Indigenous Management Practices in Annamalai, Tamil Nadu, India from July 16 to 18, 2009.

7.      Approved an FY09 research grant in the amount of $1300.00 for Dr. Nagarajan Ramamoorthy to continue research on cultural orientations and work attitudes among knowledge workers.

 

As recorded by,

Karen G. Boldt