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

MEMBERS: Bill Barnes, Charles Bachman, Dave Caudill, Tom Currin, Alan Gabrielli, Steve Hamrick, Joyce Mills, Nikki Palamiotis, Jeffrey Ray, Han Reichgelt, Zvi Szafran, and Taixi Xu

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Dr. Szafran opened the meeting with updates:

Spending regulations – Dr. Szafran talked about the current status of the budget. The State is trying to recoup funds from all institutions and have issued restrictions on spending. All expenditures (except routine office supplies) deemed critical must be justified and approved in writing. All travel must be justified and will be approved by Dr. Szafran if travel is for presenting a paper or chairing a session at a conference, etc. Capital purchases and new/replacement hires required additional justification. All new hires will require Presidential approval also. P-card purchases must be approved prior to purchase and must be justified. Foundation and lab fees accounts do not require justification. If expenditures can wait, Dr. Szafran asked that they be held but if needed, send through. Szafran will begin prioritizing new hires for next year and updated the Council on the searches and offers extended and accepted.
A question was raised about the likelihood of losing the new building because of funding issues and Dr. Szafran responded that this is not likely to happen. There was a meeting this morning to discuss the building design and all agreed on the same design.
The AAMI Grant has gone out. Dr. Szafran will email the Council a copy.
Globalization Proposal – we received $5,000 for our proposal and were encouraged to reapply next year.
Dr. Szafran will send out an email regarding the core curriculum proposal from Dorothy Leland. The A&S faculty is drafting a letter to Ms. Leland regarding their concerns about changes to the core.
Dr. Szafran announced that Wayne Clough, President of Georgia Tech, will step down from his post on July 1, to head up the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
The NAAB (National Architectural Accrediting Board) team will be here March 22-26, 2008.
An official announcement went out regarding the Division of Engineering. Steve Hamrick stated that we need to get approval from the System Office to create the division so that courses can be entered and faculty can be assigned.
Concentrations – Steve Hamrick talked about the need to clarify concentrations, tracks, and minors. After discussion, it appears departments are not consistently using the same definitions so Steve will draft something for review by the Council and will then send forward to the Senate. Also discussed were issues with the academic calendar. After debate and no consensus, the calendar issue will be referred to the Senate for resolution.
Dr. Szafran encouraged all schools and departments to have proposals ready if year-end money should become available.

Meeting adjourned at 3:45 PM.