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: Bob Harbort, Ruston Hunt, Joyce Mills, Phil Patterson, Dawn Ramsey, Denise Stover

GUESTS: Becky Rutherfoord

Item 1: Updates

Dr. Szafran updated the ALC on the following items:

Since formula funding is no longer available, institutions may ask for supplemental budgets of up to 5%. Ours were submitted downtown recently - one consisted of 90% faculty, of which 3-4 were for STEM faculty and 8 additional faculty, and the second was for two evening support personnel positions. These will be reviewed and voted on by March 2008.
The combined faculty ad for next year’s positions have been submitted to The Chronicle and will appear in the December 7^th issue.
Engineering proposals – Civil is complete and the other two are soon to follow. Dr. Szafran reported that he recently received an email from Gary Schuster, Provost at Georgia Tech. They met previously regarding our evening masters proposal and out of that discussion Georgia Tech not only does not oppose our proposal but wants to submit joint proposals for several masters programs. Georgia Tech is putting together a RFP to determine the demand for various programs in the Atlanta area.
Six Sigma – Dave Caudill talked about SPSU receiving a grant from the BoR to provide training throughout the state. The pilot will begin on our campus in the near future and will start with about ten participants.
Whistle-blower hotline – The System is instituting a toll-free hotline for reporting complaints and has contracted with a private company to take the calls. Callers will have the option of remaining anonymous or not. Campuses will begin to set up an internal structure to handle complaints that are referred.
Memorial Day – due to an extra day this year, we will receive Memorial Day as a paid holiday. In the future we may have to give up one day during the Christmas break if Memorial Day continues to be a paid holiday.
Dr. Szafran is hosting a faculty/staff appreciation pizza luncheon on December 7. Email will go out soon.
Relocation expenses – As agreed at the last Deans Council meeting, the maximum amount allowable for relocation expenses will be $2,000. This is now an allowable use of state funding.
P-Cards – due to problems discovered on campus with some of our p-card holders – mandatory training is being conducted for all p-card holders and supervisors. Dr. Szafran reiterated that no one other than the p-card holder may use the card and that give-away items must be explained and documented.
Education program – Alan Gabrielli updated the Council. Two departments are working on curricula and are almost ready to submit proposals to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for new courses. Kennesaw State University has asked for input on the new faculty hires for education as they will be certifying the graduating students. This program could begin as early as next fall and does not require BoR approval.
Political Science proposal was tabled at the last Senate meeting because of time but will be revisited.
Professional masters – Han Reichgelt has prepared an outline of the proposal and has been reviewing existing masters programs to see if they can be modified to fit the professional masters format.
Steve Hamrick talked about the problems associated with scheduling Tuesday and Thursday classes at noon and reminded the chairs that the faculty voted not to have classes scheduled at this time because of problems attending noon meetings. He also reminded the chairs not to reuse course numbers and to be sure that courses are taught the way they are configured. For example, lecture and labs should meet the number of hours they are structured. Enrollment is up 1% over this time last year and Steve anticipates a slight or no increase over last spring overall due in part to schedules being dropped for non-payment and having a limited re-registration period.
Dave Caudill reminded chairs to be careful to complete all fields in Banner for 900 courses so that they will show up on Georgia On My Line.

Item 2: Format for Annual Reports

Dr. Szafran and Jo Galle worked together developing two handouts – one for the core and one for non-core. These were distributed for review and critique. Jo gave an overview of the handouts for core curriculum assessment and academic department assessment. She, Becky Rutherfoord, and Dr. Szafran will meet tomorrow to establish common terminology to be used and will correct and resend the handouts.

Item 3: Strategic Planning On-Line

SPOL – Strategic planning on-line is close to being ready. Workshops on how to use this program will be offered soon.

Item 4: Department Round Robin

Equipment money – will be available so units should start preparing proposals for review in January.
Lab fee funds have not been released yet for summer or fall.
Tom Currin reported that he is working on a major instrumentation grant and is looking for input.

Meeting adjourned at 4:05 PM