Academic Council Meeting Minutes-December
2, 2009
Present:
Dr. Suzanne
LaBrecque
Dr. Holly
Verhasselt
Dr. Jeffrey Di
Leo
Dr. Farhang
Niroomand
Dr. Kathryn Tart
Ms. Trudy
Wortham
Ms. Carolyn
Mallory
Dr. Denee Thomas
Mr. Joe Ferguson
Dr. Cindy
Schnebly
Dr. Joe Dahlstrom
Dr.
Mary Natividad (attending for Dr. Lawrence Rossow)
I.
Review of Minutes-November 18,
2009 meeting
Minutes
were approved as circulated.
II.
General
A. Downward
Expansion
Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque informed
the group that Dr. Hudson, Mr. Wayne Beran and Ms. Chari Norgard are attending
a specially called UH Board of Regents meeting today to address the purchase of
a building for Fall 2010 freshman housing.
B. Enrollment
Management
i.
Admissions-Trudy Wortham
Ms. Wortham informed the group
that as of this morning UHV has 122 freshman applications. The Admissions office is currently working on
converting high school GPAs. She also noted that they are adding a dynamic
question to the freshman application inquiring if the applicant is applying to
multiple institutions.
Ms. Wortham reported that the
number of students currently registered for spring 2010 is at 1,748, which is
44.6% ahead of this time last year.
Dr. Kathryn Tart shared with the
group the admission process called “evidence based admissions” that the School
of Nursing is in the process of completing for the 2nd Degree Fast
Track Program. They had a total of 277
applicants and of those, 77 were selected to be interviewed. The interview
process consisted of the students, in groups of 25, being placed in a computer
lab and each student had to answer one interview question by email. The responses were then evaluated by using a
rubric that included the reflective thinking, writing skills, and the technical
ability of the student. After this
process, they selected 48 of the 77.
Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo noted that the
School of Arts & Sciences admission numbers are up 36%.
ii.
Financial Aid-Carolyn Mallory
Ms. Mallory reported that $8.4
million in scholarships have been awarded for fall 2010. Currently, there are 1, 979 students
receiving financial aid at UHV. The
current total of Financial Aid given in Fall 2009 and
Spring 2010 is $16.9 million. Approximately
60% to 65% of UHV students receive financial aid.
Ms. Mallory noted that she, Dr.
Denee Thomas, and Ms. Chari Norgard are meeting to talk about the Campaign
Victoria funds. She also informed the
group that the “Satisfactory Academic Progress Committee will be meeting to
work on getting certain processes routinely scheduled to assist the Student
Success and Enrollment department in fielding calls from students.
Dr. Kathryn Tart inquired about
the status of the setting up of mid-term progress reports.
Ms. Wortham noted that the
process is still being discussed.
iii.
LEAD-Dr. Denee Thomas
Dr. Suzanne complimented LEAD on
the presentation they did at the President’s Cabinet meeting. Dr.
Thomas noted that she has been looking over student applications and they have
received 44 from the Houston area, 20 from the San Antonio area, 3 from Laredo,
8 from Corpus Christi, 25 from the Valley, and 17 from the “donut” area.
Her staff is attempting to track methods that are most effective for student
recruitment.
Dr. Thomas informed the group that there will
be more visitors on campus. The Victoria ISD AVID (Achievement Via Individual
Determination) group contacted her and arranged a campus visit for Monday,
December 14th , from 9:00 to 2:00 in the
Multipurpose room in the Center Building. She invited the Deans and
Administrators to stop by and visit with the visiting students.
Dr. Thomas noted that LEAD and Student
Recruitment is able to recruit students locally through the 2 + 2
arrangement with Victoria College. She also informed everyone that LEAD and
Student Recruitment participated in “College Night” hosted by Victoria College.
C. Information
Technology-Mr. Joe Ferguson
Mr. Ferguson informed the council
that Windows 7 performance it better and they are going to upgraded one of the
computer labs to Windows 7. IT will test
it and if all goes well, in January they will start installing it on faculty
and staff computers.
Mr. Ferguson also shared that Skillport is now available.
Skillport is a set of free online courses,
which UH uses for remedial training. It
also has 4,000 to 5,000 free online books that are available. Students are able
to use this system, if their course book is one of those available, instead of
buying books.
Dr. Joe Dahlstrom asked if the
books were site licensed and are able to have multiple
users.
Mr. Ferguson affirmed that they
were and they also have limited the number of pages a student can print within
a single book.
Mr. Chris Buford did not have any
Black Board updated at this time.
D. Provost
Office Updates-Dr. Holly Verhasselt
Dr. Verhasselt reported that Dr.
Tong-Ai Zhang and the University Survey Committee developed
an “in house” student opinion survey.
They have posted it online and the response rate so far has doubled from
the response rate at the last administration. They will close the survey on
December 10th.
Dr. Jeffery Di Leo suggested she
bring the survey to the next Academic Council meeting.
Dr. Verhasselt informed the group
that the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Faculty Survey of
Student Engagement (FSSE) results have come in.
After meeting with Dr. Hudson and other administrators to review the
initial results, she is working on materials that will be disseminated to
faculty, staff and students that will summarize the results.
Dr. Mary Natividad asked if the
survey is for undergraduate or graduate students.
Dr. Verhasselt said the survey is
for undergraduate students. Normally it would be for freshman and seniors. UHV
sent it to the seniors in Spring 2009, and the survey
is administered every other year.
Freshmen will be surveyed during the next administration of the NSSE
during the 2010-2011 academic year.
Dr. Verhasselt reported that the
5th year Interim Report Committee is meeting weekly and their goal
is to have the draft of the sections completed by January 1, 2010.
E. Library-Dr.
Joe Dahlstrom
Dr. Dahlstrom handed out a flyer
for the upcoming summer Korean War Conference taking place June 24-26, 2010 at
Victoria College. He also announced that the library hired Laurie Neuerburg as their new Catalog Librarian and she will start
January 4th.
F. Presidents
Office Updates-Dr. Margret Rice
Dr. Rice announced that the President’s
Regional Advisory Board meeting will take place in the multipurpose room on
December 9, 2009. She also requested
that if anyone had any ideas or suggestions on how we could improve the
Commencement Ceremony to accommodate our growth, to please share them with her. UHV will have 400 graduates at the
Commencement on December 12, which is the largest ever.
G.
Other
None.
III.
Specific
A. Student Issues
1. None
B. Consent Calendar/Faculty Development Grant Requests and Reports
1. Approved an additional amount of $139.78 to be added Dr. Jun-Yeon Lee’s FY10 conference grant that was originally for $997.84, due to a higher lodging expense, to present at the INFORMS Annual Conference in San Diego, CA on October 11-14, 2009.
2. Approved an FY10 conference grant in the amount of $984.39 for Dr. Mary Natividad to present at the 21st Annual National Youth At-Risk Conference in Savannah, GA on February 28-March 3, 2010.
3.
Approved
an FY10 conference grant in the amount of $1102.99 for Dr. Marie Stern Plemons
to present at the 21st Annual National Youth At-Risk Conference in
Savannah, GA on February 28-March 3, 2010.
As
recorded by,
Tessa Naff