Academic Council Minutes – October 15, 2008

I.                   Review of Minutes – October 1, 2008

·        The minutes were approved with minor changes incorporated.

II.                General

A.     Information Technology

1.      Mr. Joe Ferguson handed out a corrected chart of ITV classes.  The largest users of ITV are Arts and Sciences Faculty with three classes also scheduled on Saturdays.  Mr. Ferguson stated that he is working on adding another ITV room as soon as funding has been identified.

B.     Enrollment Management

1.      Ms. Chari Norgard gave an update on conditionally admitted students.  Nine students were zapped out of the 93 enrolled due to non-payment.  One student that was zapped had not attended classes.  There are approximately 20 students who have not met the conditions.  Ms. Norgard stated that the 20 students will be contacted and informed that they must have completed all conditions by the end of the semester or they will be unable to enroll in the spring.  Most of the conditions that are unmet are the need for transcripts. 

Dr. John Stansell stated that he heard from one of his faculty members that a new student showed up in a class last week.  Ms. Trudy Wortham asked for the student’s name so that she may look into the matter and report back to him.

Dr. LaBrecque asked Ms. Carolyn Mallory if anything could be done about assisting the nine students who were zapped for non-payment.  Ms. Mallory was unsure if the students who were zapped were eligible for financial aid, but she stated that would look into the matter and report back.  Ms. Mallory stated that some students will have financial aid, but will not accept the financial aid in PeopleSoft.  An e-mail notification of financial aid is sent to the student; however, the students do not always check their e-mail.  Dr. LaBrecque asked if recruiters and staff who have contact with students could remind students to check their e-mail. Dr. Joe Dahlstrom asked if the initial notification to students includes a notice that the student must check their e-mail.  Ms. Wortham believed so, but stated that the letter contains so much information that students rarely read the entire letter. 

Dr. Jeffry Di Leo asked if the e-mail notification could be sent to both their UHV e-mail and personal e-mail.  Mr. Ferguson stated that the problem is that if students change their personal e-mail addresses, then the e-mail will not reach them.  The only effective way is if students log into their UHV e-mail account.   Dr. Kathryn Tart agreed and stated that in order to make the e-mail system effective it would take the effort of faculty, staff, and administration to commit to using just UHV e-mail addresses.

Another suggestion was made to add a statement on the WebCT website that notifies students to log into their UHV e-mail.  Dr. Tart mentioned that many students are using Facebook, text messaging or instant messaging and that they considered e-mail antiquated.  Mr. Ferguson stated that UHV did not have the capability of using instant messaging at this time.  Text messaging was also discussed; however, Dr. Holly Verhasselt reminded Academic Council that some of the students complained about receiving text messages from the PIER system during Hurricane Ike because they had to pay for the text message. 

Mr. Ferguson stated that he believes much of the reason that students do not read e-mails is because the e-mail system is being inundated with e-mails that are not necessarily academic-related.  E-mail content should be short and succinct. 

Dr. LaBrecque suggested that a focus group be formed.  Dr. LaBrecque asked Mr. Ferguson to chair the group and to include Mr. John Ellis, Marketing Director; Mrs. Tammy Whatley, Nursing Recruiter; a representative from Student Services; and a representative from Student Senate.  The focus of the group would be how do we Market UHV e-mail and what would make the UHV e-mail system work. 

2.      Ms. Wortham gave an update on the PeopleSoft project.  The UH PeopleSoft Lead for Academic Advisement would like to start UHV’s module.  Ms. Wortham would like to arrange for Academic Council, degree plan counselors and advisors to view a demo of the module.  Dr. LaBrecque suggested the last Wednesday of October.  Ms. Wortham will try to schedule the demo and will send notification to interested parties.

3.      Dr. Denèe Thomas has been conducting an analysis of the LEAD program and shared her findings with Academic Council. Dr. Thomas noted that the current database that LEAD is using is underutilized.  One suggestion is to have one person dedicated to data entry which will improve unit reporting.  LEAD also needs to capitalize on community support and work with community partners which will assist the University in reaching HSI status.  Dr. Thomas believes that with downward expansion LEAD should expand its focus from high school and college level contact to include all ages P-16.  Students need to take something away with them when they come to UHV for campus visits.  Dr. Thomas believes that Student Services also needs to be involved.  Dr. Stansell also stated that schools and LEAD need to communicate recruitment efforts so that efforts should not be duplicated.  Dr. Thomas stated that LEAD intends to work with the Schools in their recruitment efforts.  Dr. Dan Jaeckle stated that there seems to be recruitment goals, but there should also be a plan.  Dr. Stansell stated that he would like to see an analysis for all of UHV.  Dr. Tart stated that not only should UHV have a recruitment plan, but also needs to include a plan for downward expansion.  Ms. Norgard stated that there is a strategic enrollment plan that everybody plays a roll in.  We now need a more finalized version to avoid duplicated efforts.

C.     President’s Office Updates

1.      Dr. Margaret Rice was on vacation; however, Dr. LaBrecque reminded Academic Council that the President’s Annual Report will be held on November 13.  She encourages each school to purchase a table and invite guests.  Guest names should be turned into Nancy Gresham by October 15.

D.    Other

1.      Dr. Tart discussed the need for Turnitin software.  Turnitin is software that checks student work for plagiarism.  Mr. Chris Burford stated that the Vista 8 update will include SAFEASSIGN software similar to Turnitin that faculty may access.   The only difference is that the PeopleSoft application uses a more limited database.  Dr. Verhasselt provided additional information on how Turnitin works.  Dr. Tart stated that the student can also use the software to check their work prior to submitting it to the instructor.  Dr. Dahlstrom added that the Librarians can help check where a faculty member may suspect plagiarism.  Dr. Verhasselt will check to see what the cost would be for Turnitin and bring it back to Academic Council for discussion.

III.                Specific

A.     Student Appeals

1.      None

B.     Consent Calendar/Faculty Development Grant Requests and Reports

1.       Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $1300 for Dr. Chun-Sheng Yu to present at the 2008 Annual Conference of Applied business and Entrepreneurship Association International in Kauai, Hawaii from November 16 to November 20, 2008. 

2.       Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $1300 for Dr. June Lu to present at the 2008 Annual Conference of Applied business and Entrepreneurship Association International in Kauai, Hawaii from November 16 to November 20, 2008.

3.       Approved an FY09 conference travel grant in the amount of $1300 for Dr. Tim Berkey to present at the NCPEA-AASA conference in San Francisco, CA from February 19-21, 2009.

4.       Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $1300 for Dr. Nora Hutto to present at the World Conference on Lesson Study from Hong Kong, China from December 1-3, 2008.

5.       Approved an FY09 conference travel grant in the amount of $1300 for Dr. Marie Plemons to present at the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) conference in Chicago, IL from March 18-21, 2009.

6.       Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $267.51for Dr. Mary Natividad to present at the National Association for the Education of Young children (NAEYC) 2008 in Dallas, TX from November 5-8, 2008.

7.       Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $371.14 for Dr. Hsin-Hui Lin to present at the National Association for the Education of Young children (NAEYC) 2008 in Dallas, TX from November 5-8, 2008.

8.       Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $735.89 for Dr. Hsin-Hui Lin to present at the Consortium of State Organizations for Texas Teacher Education (CSOTTE) 2008 in Austin, TX from October 18-21, 2008.

9.       Approved an FY09 conference grant in the amount of $800 for Dr. Andrew Baerg to present at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport in Denver, CO from November 5-8, 2008.

10.   Approved an FY09 conference grant for $461.56 to Dr. Mary Natividad to present at the Professional SACES Conference in Houston, Texas from October 23-25, 2008.

11.   Approved an FY09 conference grant for $1300 for Dr. Ziad Swaidan to present at the International Academy of Business and Economics in Las Vegas, Nevada from October 18-22, 2008.

12.   Approved an FY09 conference grant for $1300.00 for Dr. Ron Salazar to present at the International Academy of Business and Economics in Las Vegas from October 18-22, 2008.

As recorded by,