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Deans Council

Deans Council Meeting

B-120

September 21, 2011

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

Members: Bill Barnes, Dave Caudill, Tom Currin, Steve Hamrick, Ruston Hunt, Joyce Mills, Thomas Nelson, Jeff Orr, Nikki Palamiotis, Jeffrey Ray, Han Reichgelt, Zvi Szafran

Members Absent:

Guests: Sylvia Carson

Item 1. Updates

Dr. Szafran updated the Council on the following:

AJC – Szafran spoke briefly about several recent articles published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution regarding teachers.
BoR – policies regarding new construction are changing. Minimal new construction will be approved and the focus will be on renovating existing structures. Additionally, no designs for new projects can be drawn up until the BoR approves the project. The BoR will be evaluating each campus regarding space use efficiency, especially classroom utilization on Fridays. SPSU will be among the first group to be evaluated. The Council was asked to identify spaces, other than classrooms, that are used for productive purposes and to make sure they are coded to show how they are being used. Leigh Ann Soublis is working on establishing codes for this purpose.
Budget – it appears a 2% budget cut is likely
Benefits – new eligibility issues still need to be clarified
Retirement Benefits – Russ Hunt stated that Extended University is responsible for paying retirement benefits for retirees if they were paid using soft money while working here and that this could potentially become a fiscally unmanageable.
Rehiring Retirees – It is a BoR rule that you cannot make an offer to a retiree to come back to work in a 49% capacity job prior to their retirement.

Item 2. Open Forum on Faculty Promotion and Tenure

Szafran discussed the changes to the Board of Regents P&P on Faculty Promotion and Tenure and our recent updates to our P&P to make it consistent with theirs. These changes are not negotiable; however, our implementation policy is up for discussion. We will be holding an open forum for faculty on this subject on Thursday, September 22^nd at noon. He further stated that the timeline for submission of promotion packets may need to be adjusted because of the new requirements and he will allow two extra weeks to be added to the date the packets are due, if needed. Han will look for a list of terminal degrees.

Item 3. Advising Expectations

Han has updated the advising expectations proposal with the additional wording and asked where this should be listed. It was suggested to make this part of the annual expectations form and to be sure that faculty are informed about this addition. Becky will generate something.

*Next agenda item – define responsibilities for professional advisors and faculty advisors. Jeff Orr will meet with the professional advisors and have them review their job descriptions and make recommendations of any modifications that may be needed based on their experiences over the last year.

Item 4. Proctoring of On-Line Courses

Today continued a previous discussion on using Extended University to proctor on-line course exams. After reviewing the pros and cons associated with this, the Council’s recommendation is that departments who wish to use the services of Extended University to proctor exams for their on-line courses will pay for this service out of their departmental distance learning or other funds. Dave Caudill and Russ Hunt will work together to determine how fees will be paid for out of town students and how the departments will pay Extended University for the proctoring service. Any department planning to use proctoring services must coordinate with Russ Hunt well in advance – preferable before the beginning of the semester.

Item 5. Efficiency in Course Scheduling

The Council discussed ways to increase efficiency in course scheduling:

Reduce frequency of course offerings
Establish permanent schedule as soon as possible – will be critical for the TCSG students
Need training for department chairs on how to schedule according to actual needs and not based on previous years’ schedules
When submitting proposals to the UCC for new courses, suggest making them part of the permanent schedule and list the frequency of which they will be offered
Talk to the chairs and bring this topic up to the ALC
For each course identify how often it will be taught and in what format it will be taught
Twin online and hybrid courses and give the instructor of record only one course load credit – if the enrollment becomes too large provide extra compensation
*Future agenda item – discuss what we do if there are high enrollment numbers in online and hybrid courses and how to fairly compensate faculty or provide other incentives.
Dean Nelson has made a commitment to bring some Math courses on line. He is also planning to participate in TADL.
Determine who is responsible for space optimization on a global basis. It was suggested that Ad Astra may be helpful.

Item 6. School of Engineering

Tom Currin discussed his proposal for the Division of Engineering to become the School of Engineering. There was a motion to discuss the proposal – it was seconded. The Council briefly discussed the proposal and Szafran stated that if it is approved he would then make a recommendation to Dr. Rossbacher who will review it and if approved determine a timeframe for implementation. If the President approves, the timeline may be implemented in phases. There was a motion to vote. It was seconded. The proposal was approved unanimously under the condition that the budgetary numbers in the proposal are correct. Currin needs to add the department chair’s annual stipends totaling $7,200 which was not included in the proposal’s budget.

Item 7. New Business

Nikki announced the Staff Open Forum on Thursday and encouraged the Council to allow their staff to attend.

Meeting adjourned at 3:42 P.M.