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Deans Council

Deans Council Meeting

B-120

January 18, 2012

 

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: 

 

Item 1. Updates

Dr. Szafran updated the Council on the following:

  • BoR – formula funding is in the new budget, approximately $120,000,000.  If all goes as in the past, SPSU’s share should be about $1,200,000.  The Board’s emphasis has moved to renovations rather than new construction; however, the budget does not seem to reflect that.  Funding is available for all three phases of Building I-1.  Once Architecture moves from M, that space will be available to others.  No raises are projected for next year and there may be major changes in our health care providers.  Two percent was taken from our current budget and will continue to be taken going forward, but with formula funding we should come out even or slightly ahead.
  • Space Study Group – will be releasing their full report soon but it appears that SPSU has a fair amount of underutilized classroom and lab spaces.
  • Fee Increases – possibly no lab fee increases, fee increases, or new fees will be allowed for next year.
  • Education Program – received a $50,000 grant.
  • Future City – is this coming weekend.  Volunteers are still needed.
  • International Fee – Some universities are charging an international fee to support their international and study abroad programs.  We should consider this in the future.

 

Item 2. QEP Project Issues & Sacs 5th Year Review Issues

Bob Homer and Becky Rutherfoord talked about the SACS 5th year report which will be due in March 2015 and distributed a timeline for completing the report.  Homer talked about the documents required for the report and Rutherfoord reiterated the need for policies and examples of how these policies are being followed.  She also stated that we must take our 5th year report very seriously and that we need to begin an outline of the report now and collect bullet points.  This will be discussed further at the ALC meeting next week.

SPSU 1001 issues – Rutherfoord stated that it appears some faculty are objecting to incorporating SPSU 1001 into their orientation courses because they claim the faculty did not vote on this.  She reminded the Council that the faculty did vote on this and that the QEP was approved.  Other points:

The QEP won’t work if it is not mandatory

Not listing SPSU 1001 on curriculum sheets is causing confusion for students

List SPSU 1001 as a requirement in the departments or list as a requirement in the catalog as part of the QEP and explain this is required as part of our SACS reaffirmation.

Dangerous precedent to impose this on the departments – no data to support that the pilot QEP actually worked

Faculty originally supported making SPSU 1001 part of the orientation course but now it is a 1 hour course students must pay for

Departments have the option of offering SPSU 1001 as a separate course or incorporating it into their orientation course.  This course must be charged for due to financial aid regulations.

Need faculty support

Need data that this pilot was successful

New students are required to take this course but that chairs and deans have latitude to exempt certain students in the same way as they do for orientation courses

Must have a process in place that everyone understands

Create a statement explaining SPSU 1001 requirement and that chairs have latitude to exempt students.  No curricula changes needed at this time.

If this course is incorporated into the orientation course, how would the student prove to the Registrar’s Office that they have fulfilled the requirement when they petition to graduate?

This item will be brought for discussion at the next ALC meeting.  Becky will identify specific learning outcomes and how they will be tested to bring to chairs – chairs will decide how to handle SPSU 1001 either by offering it as a separate course or incorporating it (and its outcomes and assessments) into the departmental orientation course.  Becky will need a copy of all syllabi and data if the department chooses to incorporate it into their orientation course.  Becky and Steve will work on a catalog statement regarding this.

 

Item 3. Fees Charged for Credit By Exam

The Council discussed fees charged for credit by exam and what happens to those fees since they do not come back to the department doing the work.  This requires additional work for the faculty at no compensation.  Other issues discussed were how to charge for PLA credit, portfolio evaluation, etc., the need to develop a method of distributing the fees collected so that the departments/deans receive a portion, and whether to give release time instead of pay to the faculty.  This will become a bigger issue as time progresses, with more students seeking to get credit for non-traditional learning.  Szafran, Han Reichgelt, and Bill Prigge will get together to work out some of the fiscal details and bring this back to the Deans Council.

 

Item 4. New Business

Hamrick brought up complaints about the final exam schedule and after a brief discussion it was suggested that Steve look at an example that Jeff Ray has used and found to be successful.