Academic Leadership Council Minutes

Ballroom B – 2:00 P.M.

March 14, 2007

 

NOTE:  At times, issues of confidentiality may require that some items discussed in meetings be excluded from these minutes.

 

PRESENT:  Bill Barnes, Richard Bennett, David Caudill, Tom Currin, Venu Dasigi, Ameen Farooq, Joel Fowler, Alan Gabrielli, Steven Hamrick, Ruston Hunt, Andrew McMorran, Mike Murphy, Julie Newell, Mark Nunes, Jeff Orr, Nikki Palamiotis, Phil Patterson, Dawn Ramsey, Ronny Richardson, Khalid Siddiqi, John Sweigart, Zvi Szafran, Andy Wang, and Tim Zeigler

 

Item 1: Updates

 

  • Systems Engineering will be on the BoR agenda next Tuesday; the name of the degree was changed at the last minute to a B.S. in Systems Engineering.
  • Deans Searches – progressing well for both searches.  Interviews should be starting in the next few weeks.
  • Budget – It will probably be late April or May before we get next year’s budget.  SPSU has not yet received notification about the special funding initiative we submitted.
  • MRR – Dr. Szafran reminded the Council that he needs MRR requests as soon as possible.  Departments are encouraged to submit other special needs (not related to MRR), as there are some funds available.
  • End of year money – although insignificant last year there may be some available this year.
  • Chancellor – will be on campus June 28th and wants to meet with the academic leaders on campus from 1-2:00.  Dr. Szafran may schedule an ALC at that time to accommodate this.
  • Fall Kickoff – will begin August 13th will probably be similar to last year’s schedule:
    • Monday – Orientations for new faculty and staff
    • Tuesday – Division/Department meetings and faculty meeting
    • Wednesday – Events and luncheon
    • Thursday – Student orientation
  • Lab Fees – Rob Whitaker is acting as Interim Comptroller and is looking into lab fees issues.
  • NYT – Representative from NYT, Petra Kohlman, was on campus today meeting with faculty about ways to incorporate The New York Times into their classrooms.  Academic Affairs and Student Government will share the cost of having copies of the NYT delivered daily to various locations.  The New York Times will also sponsor events on campus send reporters to talk to the campus.  Suggestions of locations to have the papers delivered are invited.
  • Portal Project – Our proposal is currently at the BoR pending approval.
  • Frank Butler, formerly with the BoR, has been named Interim Dean of Education at Kennesaw State University.
  • Aviation Ground School – will be on our campus for two weeks this summer.  Dawn Ramsey will send out information soon.

 

 

Item 2:  Status Reports

 

  • Engineering versus Engineering Technology - Tom Currin reported that there will be a meeting tomorrow and will include the following topics:

 

    • name change of Systems Engineering and implications associated with this
    • engineering physics
    • Project Kaleidoscope
    • IAB Meeting – first annual event will be held April 18th and will include a luncheon and speaker.  More information will follow soon.

 

  • Academic Planning – Dr. Szafran spoke about concerns he has been receiving from faculty regarding recent class size discussions.  He assured the ALC that no changes would be made without much discussion with the departments and without careful consideration.  It was also suggested that there are many other ways to increase efficiency on the campus besides just increasing class size and that looking at using post-docs to help with course loads might be one suggestion.  

 

  • SACS – A reminder will be sent soon soliciting faculty volunteers to serve as (1) Co-chair of our SACS effort and (2) Quality Enhancement Project Leader.  Committees will be populated soon.  An ad will be going out soon in The Chronicle of Higher Education to hire a lead person at SPSU for Planning & Assessment.

 

  • End of Year Money – Dr. Szafran talked about a proposal to utilize a database management system for the campus (along with staff) and to support and maintain it.  The Council discussed concerns and pros and cons of having such a system (including potential high cost, our ability to maintain such a system, our track record in successfully using software of this type, etc.).  It was agreed that much scrutiny would be necessary before embarking on such a project, and agreed that having a database system where one could make a single change and have it updated in several places would be a good thing if it could be successfully implemented.  This will be looked into further.

 

Meeting adjourned at 4:15