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, 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: Richard Bennett, Denise Stover

GUESTS: Becky Rutherfoord

Item 1: SACS

Today’s agenda was modified slightly to allow Becky Rutherfoord to speak to the Council members about SACS at the beginning of the meeting. Dr. Rutherfoord talked about our upcoming SACS accreditation visit and distributed several documents for the Council to review. Dr. Rutherfoord went over the handouts, talked about the committees that have been formed, and also stated that the documents used for ABET can be used for SACS. Dr. Szafran announced that a software package, Strategic Planning Online will be available later this semester and that the deans and chairs will be called on to use this so to pay special attention to the strategic planning section of Dr. Rutherfoord’s handout. Szafran also asked the Council to review the website where the must statements are posted and if anyone has access to the missing documents, please provide them to him.

Learning outcomes for General Education were also discussed and it was decided that there must be agreement on a single set of learning outcomes and that it needs to be voted on and approved by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. These outcomes affect all programs and feedback should be submitted to Dr. Szafran no later than Tuesday, September 4.

Item 2: Updates

Enrollment - Steve Hamrick reported that current enrollment is approximately 4,400; 250 were dropped for non-payment and 70 have been added back. Our number last year was 4,200 so we are up approximately 5% over last fall semester.
Degrees – the Chemistry proposal was approved at the last Board of Regents meeting; Psychology is currently under review, and a number of new programs are under development including evening engineering and science education.
WIPRO – Dr. Szafran thanked Venu Dasigi and Mike Murphy for their hard work on the Wipro project. Wipro is a big international IT consulting company from India that has been looking for locations in the U.S. to open centers. Wipro was impressed with our proposal and Kennesaw’s and has chosen the Atlanta area to open a center. They also selected Kennesaw and SPSU to provide the training for their employees. Kennesaw will be the lead institution in this partnership. SPSU has the potential to gain many CSE students and will offer the classes in a face to face or hybrid format.
Regional Partnerships – Dr. Szafran talked about a statewide initiative to develop regional partnerships between institutions to provide low residency or online programs across the state. Dr. Szafran met with Joy Heimal of ICAPP recently to discuss how ICAPP can help SPSU in this endeavor. ICAPP helps provide funding for these type programs for the first two years until the programs can sustain themselves. Dr. Szafran encouraged the Council to think about potential partners and the types of programs that could be offered. We will also explore other sources of funding.
Budget – Rob Whitaker has cleared up the budget issues and those departments with budgetary deficiencies will have those restored in the near future.

Item 3: Other Assessment Issues

Assessment Software - Dr. Szafran talked about outcomes assessment and two pieces of assessment software that have been purchased. The first software – Strategic Planning Online, incorporates information for strategic planning, budget, and SACS and other accrediting bodies. This software does not include course-level assessment. IT is working on another software program which should be finished soon that includes University, program, and course-level assessment.
Comprehensive Program Review – Dr. Szafran thanked Venu Dasigi and Bill Barnes for their help getting Computer Science and Architecture program reviews completed. Tim Zeigler is working on the review for Surveying and Mapping.
CLA – Collegiate Learning Assessment is a program that looks at general education programs to see if they are meeting certain goals in the areas of critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem solving and written communication. Students are given the test at the freshmen level and again at the senior level. The results are compared to a national sample of students with similar SAT scores to determine it students are performing at expected levels and to see if the goals of the general education curriculum are being met and if growth has occurred. The advantage of using such a program is that you would have nationally normalized data which could prove that your general education program was doing what you said it was, which would be useful for accreditation purposes. The cost is $7,000 per year. He asked the Council if this is something that we should pursue. After much discussion it was decided to invite the Provost of Lander College in South Carolina, who has been using a similar program for the past two years, to talk to us about his experience with their program so far. Dr. Szafran will set this up and notify the Council.

Item 4: Department Round Robin

Jeff Ray will be meeting with various ET department to prepare for ABET.
Jeff Orr talked about the recent Regents test changes. The test will now also be used for diagnostic purposes and will be given to all non-exempt freshmen in October, regardless of whether they have taken 45 hours already or not. If they don’t pass the exam they will be given help to prepare for the next exam. This is a directive from the Board of Regents.
Charlie Bachman brought up distance learning and talked about the collaboration between IT, Dawn Ramsey, and David Caudill and stated that things are coming together. Dawn Ramsey spoke on some of the products available for faculty to use and the training and tools that are also available. She also talked about the support and services available to faculty and students.
Dave Caudill talked about his plan for having one point of contact for faculty with classroom technology issues and is continuing to work on this. Nancy Reichert asked what issues should be addressed at IT’s level and what issues should be brought to the department. Caudill stated that he is still trying to decide that.
Some surveying and mapping courses are going on-line starting next summer. The minutes from the Deans Council retreat are posted for review and one topic addressed was on-line courses. The deans will be talking with their chairs about this.
Julie Newell worked with IT on their Strategic Plan and encouraged the Council to review the plan and to give Bill Gruszka feedback. The faculty are to vote on this plan at the next faculty meeting. Dr. Newell also expressed to the Council that she is having difficulty scheduling courses that fit with students’ schedules because major departments are scheduling long classes and labs on the most popular days (MW&F). Dr. Szafran suggested that the chairs pay close attention to the schedule of courses so as to meet the greatest need of the students.
Khalid Siddiqi talked about the overcrowding in most of his classrooms. Dr. Szafran reminded the Council that there is MRR money available to upgrade Burruss (which will help this situation) and that input is needed from faculty who may use this space. He also stated that faculty input will be needed also once an architect has been chosen to design the new Engineering Technology Center.
Charlie Bachman asked who is responsible for fixing a broken projector in one of their classrooms that was purchased with tech fees. Dr. Szafran suggested he contact IT to see if this is covered by them and if not the department will be responsible.
Phil Patterson brought up an issue some of his faculty are having with the campus bookstore. He stated that even though their book orders were placed on time, some of the books were late arriving or still not available and asked what the University’s policy is on using outside sources, such as the bookstore across the street, for books. Dr. Szafran responded that we should expect good service from our Bookstore and if we don’t get it, to email Patrick McCord and copy him. He also stated that there will be a new manager soon and that we should work with the new manager to resolve any issues.

Meeting adjourned at 4:05