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

ALC MEMBERS: Charles Bachman, Tom Ball, Bill Barnes, Richard Bennett, David Caudill, Lance Crimm, Tom Currin, Venu Dasigi, Ameen Farooq, Alan Gabrielli, Jo Galle, Steven Hamrick, Bob Harbort, Ruston Hunt, Andrew McMorran, Joyce Mills, Julie Newell, Mark Nunes, Jeff Orr, Nikki Palamiotis, Phil Patterson, Dawn Ramsey, Jeffrey Ray, Nancy Reichert, Han Reichgelt, Ronny Richardson, Khalid Siddiqi, Denise Stover, John Sweigart, Zvi Szafran, Andy Wang, and Tim Zeigler

MEMBERS ABSENT: Denise Stover

GUESTS: Sylvia Carson

Item 1: Introduction of Sylvia Carson

Dr. Szafran introduced our new Public Relations Director, Sylvia Carson. Ms. Carson spoke briefly about her plans for Public Relations and asked each unit to designate a person who will be responsible for sending news to her.

Item 2: Updates

Dr. Szafran updated the ALC on the following items:

Education – We’re continuing to work on the new program in Education – all is on track.
Evening Engineering – Zvi will be meeting with Georgia Tech on February 14 regarding the research study.
Our new building made the Governor’s budget. Meetings with the architects, etc. are on-going. Jeff Ray welcomes input and announced that the website will be available soon complete with minutes of the meetings and design plans for the new building.
The Tutoring Center has been planned for the lower level of Howell Dormitory. Alan Gabrielli, Jeff Orr, Phil Patterson, and Andrew McMorran are working on this with funding from the STEM Grant.
SPARC – the State wants us to participate in a Rapid Response Program to re-train engineers. The SPARC is working on this initiative and continues to work on multiple projects.
Dr. Szafran will meet with the four ET departments tomorrow at noon regarding the Division of Engineering. The proposal explains using “division” terminology and why this is needed to address engineering and engineering technology during the intermediate stage.
The new Engineering Technology building will be located across from Buildings G & I. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin on October 10, 2008.
The parking deck under consideration may be located near the ET building. Efforts are being made to avoid taking away from existing parking lots. Faculty and staff who choose to park in this deck will have to pay a fee. Otherwise, there will be no parking fee for faculty or staff.
AAMI – African American Male Initiative – SPSU has been asked to participate in this initiative. Approximately $30,000 is available. The deadline is March 14 with a decision by March 28. Dr. Szafran will send out an email with details to the ALC.

Item 3: Strategic Planning On-Line

Jo Galle distributed handouts on assessment and SPOL (Strategic Planning On-Line) and talked to the ALC about upcoming deadlines for inputting information. Ms. Galle then spent the remainder of today’s meeting showing the ALC members how to use SPOL and answering related questions.

Meeting adjourned at 4:00 PM.