Academic Council Meeting Minutes-October 7, 2009

Present:

Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque

Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo

Dr. Lawrence Rossow

Dr. Farhang Niroomand

Dr. Kathryn Tart

Dr. Margaret Rice

Dr. Holly Verhasselt

Ms. Chari Norgard

Ms. Trudy Wortham

Dr. Joe Dahlstrom

Dr. Denee Thomas

Mr. Joe Ferguson

Mr. Chris Buford

Dr. Cindy Schnebly

 

Guest: Ms. Elois Kraatz

 

I.                   Review of Minutes-September 16, 2009

1.      The minutes were approved as circulated.

 

II.                 General

A.     Michael Ruland-

He will present the ACUPCC curriculum request at the November 4th meeting.

.

 

B.     Developing a new Mission Statement

The current Mission Statement needs to be redone by end of the fall semester. Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque shared with the group a handout that included a Memorandum from Ed Hughetz, Associate Vice Chancellor for Planning & University Outreach, UHV’s current Mission Statement, a draft Mission Statement updated on October 7, 2008, and the UHV Core Values.  She noted that the Pappas Report states who we are and includes our existing Mission Statement and our proposed Mission Statement.  There was a lengthy discussion regarding the editing of the Mission Statement. Feedback from the group was collected and Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque and Dr. Cindy Schnebly will meet this week and create a draft of the mission statement. They will then present it to the Academic Council, the Staff Council and the President’s Cabinet.

C.     Dual Admissions Agreement with Victoria College

Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque shared with the group that at the retreat hosted by The Victoria College on Wednesday, September 30, 2009, at the Student Center on campus, a draft of a Dual Admission Agreement was presented and it will be in place for a five year period.  Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque noted that it still needs to be approved by our legal department.

 

Ms. Chari Norgard noted that UHV needs to be sure to work closely with The Victoria College’s counselors and informed every one of the three things that need to be monitored with in this agreement.

1.      The number of hours a student has needs to be monitored sp that students aren’t inadvertently penalized for getting an associate’s degree along with their bachelor’s.

2.      The Financial Aid for a student may expire.

3.      If a student goes over the minimum number of hours needed for the Bachelor’s degree they are trying to attain, then UHV will not get funding.

 

Dr. LaBrecque informed the attendees that at the retreat an agreement was made to revitalize      the 2 + 2 program and that Deans and other support staff from The Victoria College and the University of Houston-Victoria will meet once a semester. Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque will host the spring 2010 meeting.

 

D.     Downward Expansion

Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque stated that she is going to check in with Dr. Sarah Armstrong to see how the evaluation of the Substantive Change Report is going.

 

The Curriculum Committee is working on the new core curriculum.

 

Ms. Chari Norgard is creating a timeline of new positions we will need.

 

Catherine Parsoneault will possibly come from the Coordinating Board and speak on the core curriculum and assessment.

 

Dr. Denee Thomas informed the group that scheduled campus tours will be done once a month until demand grows. Student Success and Enrollment Management will train students who would give the tours. Dr. Thomas needs information from the Deans regarding which staff and faculty members from the Schools would be available for participating in campus visit presentations. Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque suggested creating student ambassadors whose main job was to give campus tours.   Dr. Di Leo suggested that the recruiters or degree plan advisors speak to parents initially, and then if needed, they could speak to the chair of the departments or professors.  Dr. Kathryn Tart suggested that tours be given during Spring Break.

Ms. Chari Norgard stated that she would like to meet with the Deans to get their input regarding tours with prospective students.

 

E.     Enrollment Management

 

a)      Admissions

Ms. Trudy Wortham brought back to Academic Council the revised version of the “Requirements for Graduate Admission” that was discussed at the previous meeting. The Council approved the section with revisions as italicized below:

 

 

Admission index of 1,400 or higher:                         Students are admitted, so long as they meet any additional criteria specific to a particular degree program.  Students who are denied admission may discuss their options with an academic advisor. 

 

 

Admission index 1,300-1,399:                                   Students may be admitted by the dean of the school, considering scores on the analytic portion of the GRE (or equivalent), grades in particularly relevant courses, or other relevant indicators of a student’s potential to succeed in a given graduate degree program.  Such admission may be conditional or probationary with initial coursework specified.  Students who are denied admission may discuss their options with an academic advisor. 

 

     Admission index below 1,300:                                     Students will not be admitted and may not appeal the decision.  Students who are denied admission may discuss their options with an academic advisor.

 

 

b)      Financial Aid

No report.

 

c)      LEAD

Dr. Denee Thomas announced that LEAD is working with community colleges in the Valley, Laredo, and Corpus Christi, as well as with high schools. Recruiters met with over 300 interested prospects from their recruiting visits to the Valley and Corpus Christi.  She noted that the programs that were most asked about were the Psychology, Publishing, Criminal Justice, Nursing, premed/predent and engineering programs.

                       

F.      Information Technology

Mr. Joe Ferguson reported that the single account/single password project has been resurrected and is being discussed to see if it can be moved further along.  He also informed the group that the new webpage has been launched and asked for everyone to advise IT on the links that don’t work.

 

Ms. Trudy Wortham asked when there would be training for the Content Management Systems (CMS), which is what all of the web pages will be moved to eventually. Mr. Joe Ferguson said that if anyone would like CMS training they need to contact Marci Wallace.

 

G.    Library

Dr. Joe Dahlstrom noted that there was a good turnout at last week’s Banned Books Read Out.

 

H.    President’s Office

Dr. Margaret Rice shared that the new Regent, Nandita V. Berry, came to visit our campus. 

 

She also reminded the group about the Annual Report is going to take place on November 12, 2009.   It consists of dinner and program.  The emphasis is on inviting people within the community. Traditionally, it has been those who support UHV.  Dr. Margaret Rice will email the Academic Council the details after the meeting.

 

I.       Provost Office Updates

Dr. Holly Verhasselt announced that the 5th year Interim Report Committee meeting was held this week. The committee is hoping to have most of the work done in January so that it can be reviewed.  The report covers a total of fourteen standards. The members of the committee may be contacting the deans and Academic Council members. 

SACS will be up for reaffirmation in 2014.  The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) will be worked on after the 5th year Interim Report and before the reaffirmation.

 

 

            J. Other

Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo noted that the Communication Design Bachelor’s Program will hopefully be approved by the Board of Regents in November and will go to the Coordinating Board for 30 days for review.  The Forensic Psychology Program is currently going through its second reading at the UHS Provost’s Council.

Dr. Lawrence Rossow informed the group that he, Dr. Holly Verhasselt, and Dr. Tong-Ai Zhang went to a CREATE (Center for Research, Evaluation & Advancement of Teacher Education) Conference in Austin.

 

Dr. Kathryn Tart announced that the School of Nursing program received full national accreditation. The formal letter will arrive in March, but it is retroactive to when they came to visit last year.

 

Dr. Farhang Niroomand shared with the group that the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation visit will take place in February and the decision will be made sometime in spring 2010.

 

III.             Specific

 

A.     Student Issues

1.      None

 

B.     Consent Calendar/Faculty Development Grant Requests and Reports

1.       Approved an FY10 conference grant in the amount of $1170 for Dr. Meledath Damodaran to present at the ISECON/CONISAR conference in Washington DC on November 5-8, 2009. 

2.       Approved an FY10 conference grant in the amount of $1039 for Dr. John Kagochi to present at the 79th Annual Meeting for the Southern Economic Association in San Antonio, TX on November 21-23, 2009.

3.       Approved an FY10 conference travel grant in the amount of $997.84 for Dr. Jun-Yeon Lee to present at the INFORMS Annual Conference in San Diego, CA October 11-14, 2009.

4.      Approved an FY10 conference travel grant in the amount of $1043.70 for Dr. Hsin-Hui Lin to present at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) 2009 Conference in Washington DC on November 18-21, 2009.

5.      Approved an FY10 conference travel grant in the amount of $1105.61 for Dr. Mary Mayorga to take part in the “Teaching Psychopharmacology to Graduate Students: Reasons and Justification” Roundtable discussion in San Diego, CA on October 14-18, 2009.

6.   Approved an FY10 conference travel grant in the amount of $1170 for Dr. Nagarajan Ramamoorthy to present at the Dutch HRM Network Conference in Amsterdam on November 13-14, 2009.

7.   Approved an FY10 conference travel grant in the amount of $600 for Dr. Luh Yu (Louie) Ren to present at the International Business & Economic Conference in Las Vegas, NV on October 5-7, 2009. (It was decided by the Deans, Dr. Cindy Schnebly, and Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque, that the rest of the $1139.25 will be covered by the School of Business Administration)

8.   Approved an FY10 conference travel grant in the amount of $1170 for Dr. Lawrence Rossow to present at the 2009 ELA 55th Annual Conference in Louisville, KY on October 21-24, 2009.

9.   Approved an FY10 research grant in the amount of $1170 for Dr. Hsin-Hui to study how gender, ethnicity and poverty level affect students’ science performance.  Statistic training seminar: $900.00, Data storage and backup drivers: $150.00, Statistics and research method textbooks: $120.00.

 

As recorded by,

Tessa Naff