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

ALC MEMBERS: Austin Asgill, Tom Ball, Bill Barnes, Richard Bennett, David Caudill, Lance Crimm, Tom Currin, Venu Dasigi, Ameen Farooq, Alan Gabrielli, Steven Hamrick, Bob Homer, 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, Becky Rutherfoord, Khalid Siddiqi, Denise Stover, John Sweigart, Zvi Szafran, Andy Wang, and Tim Zeigler

MEMBERS ABSENT: Richard Bennett, Venu Dasigi, Joyce Mills, Nikki Palamiotis, Dawn Ramsey, Denise Stover

Item 1. Updates

The ALC was updated on the following:

Nancy Reichert needs an instructor to teach the Honors Intelligent Robotics class.
Graduation rates – there will be a strong focus on retention and graduation rates this year in the University System. The System Office is comparing graduation rates among all USG institutions and against aspirational schools. While SPSU’s graduation rate is in the lower one-third, it has risen over the last few years to approximately 30%. Regent Potts is leading this effort and chairs a system committee on this subject. Dr. Szafran reiterated that SPSU should continue to be the best we can be, increase support to students to build a culture of graduation, and by no means lower our standards just to graduate more students. Julie Newell asked Steve Hamrick for access to department-specific major retention data. He will check with IT to see if this can be done. Retention/graduation rates will be on the Deans Council agenda indefinitely and that the deans should be looking at attrition in their departments’ 3000 and 4000-level courses since junior attrition rates at SPSU appear to be high relative to other institutions.
New hires – Dr. Szafran has submitted the list of faculty needs to the president and is awaiting final approval to begin searches. Even when the advertisement is approved by the president, this does not guarantee all positions will be filled. The positions will be prioritized and filled as the budget allows.
New Core proposal – Alan Gabrielli briefly discussed the proposed changes to the core curriculum. The proposal was drafted by a USG committee of faculty and administrators and will be on the October 13, 2009, Board of Regents agenda.
Fall Convocation - Mark Nunes announced that he is close to having a confirmed speaker for the fall convocation on Tuesday October 13. Once finalized, Mark will send a campus-wide email with all the details. The second presentation in the International Film Series will be tomorrow. These programs are aimed at first-year students but all students should be encouraged to attend.
PSLSAMP – Phil Patterson talked about the upcoming competition in Fort Valley. Approximately 120 students will be participating and there is still a need for judges and asked for volunteers.
Research Centers – Russ Hunt updated the Council on the status of the Research Centers. Currently there are 8 proposals on the website and two more in the beginning stages. Hunt has received a lot of interest and positive responses.
Mini grants – Today is the deadline for mini grant proposals and to date only three have been submitted for $10,000 each and four for $5,000 each. Funds are still available. Szafran wants faculty to be aware of Centers and encourages faculty to work together. STEM grant funds are available and suggested we establish a STEM Center. There have been individual efforts on campus in the STEM area but no overall collaborative effort so far so this may be a good opportunity.
Webmaster position – 22 applications have been received to date for the in-house website design position
Nancy Reichert and Julie Newell will co-chair an interdisciplinary committee which will meet soon and asked Dr. Szafran for a clearer charge for the committee.
Parking – it appears students are not fully utilizing the parking deck in part because of complicated foot access to campus. Additionally, students may not have been notified that the deck is open. Faculty and staff continue to have serious problems finding parking. Dr. Szafran will talk to Kasey Helton.
Final exam schedule – Steve Hamrick talked about recent complaints from faculty that the final exam schedule is coming out too late and explained the factors that necessitate this, one of which is the campus’ desire to continue to give student live diplomas at graduation. He reminded everyone to be sure that labs and recitations are marked “non-gradable” to reduce conflicts in the final exam schedule and to send suggestions or comments to him.

Item 2. Co-Curricular Programs

The discussion on co-curricular programs was carried over from the last ALC meeting, with Dr. Szafran asking the Council how to coordinate these activities to engage students and build community. These programs tie in with our QEP and our strategic plan. Szafran talked about a program at Elon University in North Carolina in which students’ extra-curricular activities are documented on a co-curricular transcript. Some of those activities include service, leadership, honors, internships/Co-ops, study abroad, research efforts, etc. After a lengthy discussion and no consensus from the ALC, Nancy Reichert volunteered to do a pilot program for honors students but stated that she would require additional support. Dr. Szafran will gather additional information and support the pilot program in Honors. He asked the Council to talk to their faculty and let him know of any additional departments that would like to join Honors in a pilot program. It was also suggested that Academic Affairs work with Student Life to bring people/events to campus that would broaden students’ awareness in both academic and cultural areas and asked for volunteers to form a committee to look at this. Han Reichgelt volunteered.

Item 3. Commencement

Dr. Szafran spoke about a recent discussion in a Senior Staff meeting about overcrowding at commencement ceremonies and the fact that as we continue to grow we will eventually either have to seek an alternative to our campus gym, or split the graduation. The solution suggested in Senior Staff was to separate undergraduate and graduate ceremonies for the short-term and look at alternatives for the future. Students were surveyed about this and the two most popular options were to rent a larger off-campus venue or if necessary have commencement outside. Students were strongly opposed to limiting tickets to family members, splitting commencement into separate ceremonies, or having to pay any additional costs. The ALC was also not in favor of splitting ceremonies as this does not promote community and would require some faculty to attend both. It was asked if graduation fees could be redirected to offset the cost of renting a venue. Dr. Szafran will bring all of the concerns/suggestions to the Senior Staff.

Item 4. Assessment

Becky Rutherfoord reminded the Council that they should be using the new template and that the deadline for having it completed is November 1, 2009. Bob Homer will resend the form. Dr. Szafran reminded the department chairs that he is still missing some departmental reports.

Item 5. New Business

Zvi announced that ET received ABET reaccreditation and that IT received accreditation.
USG is reviving Comprehensive Program Reviews – accredited department can use accreditation materials instead. A schedule (mostly affecting Arts and Sciences) needs to be established.
Mark Nunes asked if there could be a policy in place to give release time to faculty who oversee independent studies, internships, theses, senior research projects, etc. and asked what other departments are doing. Dr. Szafran stated that the proposed workload policy addresses this by giving the deans ability to give release time for this or related matters, but that the cost must be made up elsewhere in the department since there is no budget available to cover this. Mark closed by saying that this is an inequity that needs to be addressed.

Meeting adjourned at 4:15 PM.