School of Arts and Sciences

Department Chair Meeting

Friday, November 10, 2006

Noon – 1pm

J-381

Those in Attendance: Alan Gabrielli, Andrew McMorran, Julie Newell, Mark Nunes, Phil Patterson and Laina Pond.

Agenda

1. Department updates

2. Equipment money

3. New faculty searches

4. New business

 

  1. Updates from the Departments:
    1. ETCMA – There was an Undergraduate Program mini-retreat held on November 2nd, which focused on new Area F courses and a second concentration in the English program. The department is in the process of formalizing two special topics courses, which will serve as transition courses for first semester NENU students. There was a good turnout for the Rainey Tree event, which raised over $1,000 in donations and merchandise purchases, leading us to a little over the halfway point to scholarship endowment for Ken Rainey. 
    2. SIS – The Learning Outcome Draft for core and major courses will be available soon. Julie recommends that Department Chairs take a look at Classroom Assessment Techniques by Angelo and Cross. The department is proposing a 1-credit Introduction to SIS course. They’re currently working on the details of placing the course into the curriculum. Spring 2007 registration is looking great, and there are six SIS graduation candidates for December.
    3. Math – The department has met with Becky and are making steps toward meeting assessment requirements. Andy recently came across accreditation material that needs to be revised. There are currently at least five students registered for each of the four math electives that are being offered during Spring Semester 2007. There was a good turn-out for the Department Picnic at Sewell Park.  Zvi was among those that attended.
    4. BCP – On November 3rd, Larry Peterson,  KSU’s Dean of Math and Sciences, spoke to BCP and Math students on teaching as a career. The event was a success. Several BCP courses have closed section courses. Phil may have to create a few double sections and increase some enrollment caps in order to better accommodate the students.  Alan reminds everyone of the new classroom (J-161), and it’s being available soon. The BCP Learning Outcomes are in progress, along with the Mission Statement. Alan adds that there is an Arts and Sciences Mission Statement, and he asks that Department Chairs take a look at it and offer any suggestions for revisions.
  2. Alan passed out the approved equipment list. Robert Whitaker will transfer the money into the respective department accounts.
  3. Alan announces that the departments now have authorization to begin their faculty searches for all faculty positions discussed earlier. The breakdown of approved A & S faculty searches is as follows:
    1. Math – 1
    2. SIS – 3
    3. ETCMA – 3
    4. BCP – 3

Alan reminds Department Chairs that they are to look at P & P for details on advertising guidelines. All advertising has to be approved. Zvi will place one large ad in the Chronicle, which will be paid out of his budget. Alan suggests using online services for the faculty position postings. Alan, Andy and Julie discuss the advertisement approval details.

4.   Open House will be held Saturday, November 18th. Each department should designate a department representative to be present during the event, this information should be reported to Betty Wooten. Alan goes over the event details: multiple representatives are fine, setup begins at 8:15am, and departments should be ready well before the 9am start time. Alan will e-mail information on the Core Learning Outcomes Assessment, which will need to be completed soon. During our first January Department Chair meeting, Alan plans on discussing the Faculty Evaluations process. Alan and Mark discuss the Classroom Observation Policy details. A Department Chair evaluation will suffice for faculty reviews, but Alan prefers that the faculty have a peer evaluation. This is not required for Pre and Post tenure reviews. Alan reminds that data for accreditation should be collected by each department.