Academic Council Meeting Minutes-October 21, 2009

Present:

Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque

Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo

Dr. Lawrence Rossow

Dr. Farhang Niroomand

Dr. Kathryn Tart

Ms. Chari Norgard

Ms. Trudy Wortham

Ms. Carolyn Mallory

Dr. Denee Thomas

Mr. Joe Ferguson

Mr. Chris Buford

Dr. Cindy Schnebly

Ms. Karen Locher (Attending for Dr. Dahlstrom)

 

Guests: Mr. John Ellis

             Ms. Tracey Fox

             Ms. Magen Besancon

 

I.                   Review of Minutes-October 7, 2009

1.      The minutes were approved as corrected.

 The word “so” was misspelled in section C, under item 1.

II.                 General

A.     Tracey Fox-Dual credit application and policies

Tracey Fox, Sr. Recruiting Coordinator for the School of Arts and Sciences, presented the council with a draft of a Dual-Credit Agreement form.  Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo noted that they would like to get the form ready to use by Fall 2010.  There was much discussion by the group about the details on the form. It was decided that changes would be made to the form and the distributed to Academic Council members for review.  Ms. Trudy Wortham will also bring verbage that will be put in catalog regarding the new form. The edited form will be presented at the next Academic Council meeting for final approval.

 

B.     Texas Cares Website

Mr. John Ellis, Marketing Director at UHV, shared with the group information about Texas Cares Website, which is a website that is part of the Texas Workforce Commission and was created to show adult students the education opportunities that are available to them.  Ms. Chari Norgard noted that it would be a good place for UHV to advertise.  Mr. Ellis wanted to get feedback from those present regarding items they feel that should be included in a possible video done by UHV. Here are some of the suggestions: a degree from UHV is marketable, quality education, on-line access, convenience, financial aid assistance, non-traditional students-for undergraduate and graduate, positive statements and testimonials, and our website.  Mr. Ellis will bring an outline of the proposed video to the next Academic Council meeting.

 

C.     Downward Expansion

Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo inquired about UHV’s online application and when incoming freshman will be able to apply.  Ms. Trudy Wortham informed everyone that the application is currently being tested in People Soft.   She noted that they will try to have the application ready by November 16, 2009.  Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque announced that even if the application is ready in November, UHV is not able to admit freshman until January.

 

Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo noted that the first year of studies for the incoming freshman will be the core classes, which mainly consist of Arts and Sciences courses. He explained that he would like to be updated on the number of new applicants, so that he can know the best way to help them.  Dr. Farhang Niroomand stated that the initial advising of the newly enrolled freshman should be done by the School of Arts and Sciences.  Dr. Kathryn Tart noted that we should practice what the literature refers to as “intrusive advisement”, which shows to be significant for student retention.

 

Dr. Kathryn Tart recommended that the registrar’s office send out mid-semester grade reports each semester.  Ms. Trudy Wortham said she knows it is an option, but she will have to look into it.

 

Ms. Chari Norgard gave the group an update on the Counseling Committee.  She noted that LeAnn Wagner, Dean of the Division of Allied Health & Physical Education at The Victoria College, has been invited to join the committee.  They meet on October 22nd to see about creating a joint counseling center.

 

Mr. John Ellis informed the group that the marketing department will be sending out a direct mail piece by the end of October.  After much discussion, it was decided that Mr. John Ellis will wait to send out the direct mail piece until he hears that the application for incoming freshman is available through “ApplyTexas.org” from Ms. Trudy Wortham in Admissions.

                       

D.     Enrollment Management

a.      Admissions

No report

 

b.      Financial Aid

Ms. Carolyn Mallory reported that there will be an internal Pell Grant audit taking place starting October 29, 2009.  They are also finalizing the draft of the proposed change for the “Satisfactory Academic Progress Report.”  Ms. Mallory informed the group that currently almost $9 million dollars in financial aid has been given. 

 

c.       LEAD

Dr. Denee Thomas inquired about the long range planning of programs offered here at UHV.  She wanted to share that when recruiters have been out working events/schools, people are inquiring about other Allied Health programs, pre-med, pre-dental, and engineering.

 

Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque informed the group that a school or department of engineering is not possible at this point, but it could be possible in the future.  Dr. Di Leo added that premed and predent are possible by taking chemistry at the community college.  He will provide information on the success of biology majors going to medical school for the use of our recruiters.  Dr. Thomas was concerned about the growing need for biochemistry for students aiming at medical/dental/pharmacy schools.

 

Dr. Kathryn Tart suggested that when prospective students ask about programs that are currently not available at UHV, we should support our other branches of UH and direct them there.

 

E.     Information Technology

Mr. Joe Ferguson announced that the LEARN fiber was broken again yesterday, which disabled the campus’s internet access.  IT is working on a mirrored offsite website to help when our internet access is enabled.

 

He also noted that the problem they were having in giving departments access to edit the UHV website has been solved.

 

He informed the group that the Content Management System (CMS) training is continuing and IT is working with the departments who have implemented it.

 

Dr. Kathryn Tart inquired about the intuitive email address.  Mr. Joe Ferguson said that IT will not be able to get that set up until the first day of the spring semester 2010.

 

Mr. Chris Buford informed everyone that they tested the disaster recovery site for the Blackboard in the Dallas, TX location. He noted that the University of Houston-main campus has servers that are set aside for Blackboard services in an emergency situation.

 

Mr. Buford also informed us that UHV checked with Marshall Schott and the UH Main Campus to find out if there was any “contingency planning” between the two campuses for events where both UHV Support Techs for a school and/or all UHV Support Techs were out or unavailable that UH Main would assist with faculty/student Blackboard issues. Marshall Schott confirmed there was no existing “contingency plan” for situations like this—where the UH Main Campus would provide Support Tech assistance to UHV faculty and students in the event UHV’s Support Techs were unavailable. The reason Marshall stated UH Main would not be able to provide this level of support is because the duties of the UHV Support Techs are so varied and different…it would be impossible for the UH Main Campus to assistance with this and this was not an option.

Mr. Burford included that UH Main Campus and Marshall Schott confirmed that should Sherrie Kroll and Chris Burford both be out or unavailable during an extended period, the UH Main Campus would be able to provide Blackboard system administrator support that Chris and Sherrie normally provide. For example, if Sherrie and Chris were both out at the same time a new semester was starting, the UH Main Campus would provide Blackboard system admin support so that UHV sections would be created in the Blackboard system and UHV students would be enrolled in their respective sections.

 

F.      Library

Ms. Karen Locher reported that the library completed and turned in their annual goals and objectives for VC.

She informed the group about that digitization plan to allow archival materials to be shared over the web.  She noted that the first project will be in coordination with the The Victoria College history.  She also stated that she had discussed using digital archival materials with Charles Alcorn regarding the UHV history website.

 

G.    President’s Office Updates

Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque reminded everyone about the Annual Report on Thursday, November 12th, at 6:00 pm and urged them to invite supporters in the community.

 

H.    Provost Office Updates

Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque distributed to everyone a copy of the draft of UHV’s  mission statement and received input from those at the meeting. She noted that she will then present the draft to the President’s Cabinet and then it will be taken to the Faculty Senate meeting in November.

 

I.       Other

Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo reported that the editor for the “Texas Monthly” magazine, Mr. Jake Silverstein, contacted him excited about the new Publishing program here at UHV.  Mr. Silverstein agreed to take part in an ABR Reading Series that will take place on Monday, March 8, 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 $865.00 for Dr. Timothy Berkey to present at the University Council for Educational Administration Convention in Anaheim, CA on November 19-22, 2009. 

2.       Approved an FY10 conference grant in the amount of $1170 for Dr. Denise Neill to present at the Baccalaureate Education Conference 2009 in Chicago, IL on November 19-21, 2009.

3.       Approved an FY10 conference travel grant in the amount of $1170 for Dr. Ron Salazar to present at the International Academy of Business and Economics in Las Vegas, NV on October 18-21, 2009.

4.      Approved an FY10 conference travel grant in the amount of $1170 for Dr. Jie Yang to present at the first POMS-HK international conference at Hong Kong Polytechnic University on December 30, 2009.

 

As recorded by,

Tessa Naff