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

ALC MEMBERS: Robert Glenn Allen, Austin Asgill, Tom Ball, Bill Barnes, Richard Bennett, Renee Butler, David Caudill, Lance Crimm, Tom Currin, Venu Dasigi, Ameen Farooq, Alan Gabrielli, Steven Hamrick, Bob Homer, Ruston Hunt, Sonny Kim, Andrew McMorran, Joyce Mills, Julie Newell, Mark Nunes, Ilseok Oh, Jeff Orr, Nikki Palamiotis, Phil Patterson, Dawn Ramsey, Jeffrey Ray, Nancy Reichert, Han Reichgelt, Ronny Richardson, Richard Ruhala, Becky Rutherfoord, Khalid Siddiqi, Denise Stover, John Sweigart, Zvi Szafran, Andy Wang, and Tim Zeigler

MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruston Hunt, Jeff Ray

GUESTS: Pam Frinzi, Diane Payne, George Stickel, Mark Sugalski

Item 1. Updates

Dr. Szafran updated the Council on the following:

Enrollment – Steve stated that enrollment is at 5,520; 7% increase over last fall

Graduate enrollment – Nikki stated that applications were up 14.8%, new student enrollment is up 30.9%. Current graduate enrollment stands at 699 and is a 12.9% increase over last fall.

Budget – no new news; revenues have been up the last few months. We’ll begin our year with a 4% cut; 6 and 8% scenarios were submitted to the System Office to be used if necessary.
Regents – Good news – the Board of Regents approved our request for exemption on the Regents Test.
Core Curriculum – Alan talked briefly about the proposed changes to our core which will be going to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee tomorrow. Gabrielli will be attending a core-curriculum workshop and will share our plan. So far no major issues except with transfer students.
Advisor Training – Dawn stated that the slots for advisor training are filling up and that 80 have registered or completed the training. It was asked if staff should sign up. Becky stated that staff should not be advising per SACS. Interested staff may attend the training planned for part-time faculty since it covers only topics such as campus resources and not academic advising. Becky also stated that our follow-up to SACS was turned in last week. Bob Homer and Becky Rutherfoord will be attending the annual SACS meeting in December and reminded everyone to keep current for our mini self study and five-year report.
ATTIC – move is completed and they are open for business. Tom Currin is chairing the search committee for the three professional academic advisors.
Architecture – has an exhibition going on until October 1 and Ameen Farooq encouraged everyone to come by and see what the students are doing.
International Programs – Rich Bennett announced plans to expand agreements with the Republic of Georgia, Malaysia, and India over the next 12-15 months. A speaker series is also planned for campus. An author on the Vietnam War will speak on Wednesday at noon; P.K. Fokam, President of the Afriland First Bank and President of P.K. Fokam University will be speaking in October. Rich also mentioned that we have a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Eszter Simon. Szafran stated that SPSU supports faculty on Fulbright’s, etc. and will continue faculty members’ salaries during their stay as long as their department agrees and can hire part-time faculty to carry their teaching load. Tom Rotnem was our first Fulbright Scholar followed this year by Omar Zia.
Physics program has moved to building H on the 2^nd floor. The old BCP office will become the Biology & Chemistry programs office.
Khalid suggested that with all of the moves we need an updated business directory.
Graduation – numbers for fall are high enough to need two graduation ceremonies again and they will be same as last time with the first at 10:00 AM and the second at 2:00 P.M. Lunch will be provided for faculty who attend both ceremonies. More information will be forthcoming.
Early Warning grades are due Monday. Student and Enrollment Services will follow up with students listed as not engaged. Szafran reminded the Council to make sure that all of their faculty submit entries on time and that they make sure they are entered accurately and that there will be harsh punishment for those who do not comply. Szafran also reminded the department chairs and program coordinators to submit to their deans how their faculty are making up their workload including release time and reason for release.

Item 2. Start Up Issues

Szafran asked if there were any start-up issues this semester that he should be aware of and received the following comments:

Bldg. H continues to have air conditioning problems. Dr. Szafran stated that Robert Forbes is aware of the problem and that the HVAC system will be upgraded in the near future.
Need more time between Phase III and the first day of classes. Steve has adjusted this for spring semester.
Phil Patterson asked for more advance warning that the schedule is due. Steve stated that he sends out email announcing that the system is open and includes the due date for input.
Can we reduce the number of phases for registration from three to two? Steve stated that it can be done but we have three phases to accommodate all student categories and that changing it would be very complicated.

Item 3. Paper Free Process

Szafran announced that he and Ron Koger will be looking at document imaging systems for the campus to help reduce paper on campus. He had hoped that changing the reappointment process would help eliminate excess paper but not all departments took advantage of the new process and many of the packets that were submitted were extremely thick. He asked the Council for any concerns they may have in moving in the direction of document imaging. Security and access to documents for individuals outside campus were the only ones. Han Reichgelt is working on outcomes for a document imaging system before we decide to purchase one. Any additional concerns should be sent to Dr. Szafran.

Item 4. Faculty Evaluation

The Deans Council voted recently to request the Faculty Senate establish an ad hoc committee to review the instrument used to evaluate faculty each semester and generate an evaluation form that can be used online. Currently, the SIRs II form we are using is costly, the results are often not back in time for inclusion in faculty reappointment packets, etc., and many times unusable due to student errors. Szafran distributed the draft submitted to Pam Frinzi and asked for feedback. Compliance by students seemed to be the only concern so Dr. Szafran assured the Council that steps will be taken to assure students complete the evaluation. Further, Bob Homer talked about the software that could be used and that it is extremely versatile and flexible. Pam will put this on the Faculty Senate agenda for pilot implementation in Spring Semester, 2011.

Item 5. Academic Integrity Draft Policy

Dr. Szafran announced that the Academic Integrity draft policy is almost complete and includes guidelines for faculty as well. He distributed the policy and asked for comments from the ALC. After a brief discussion on a couple of concerns, Szafran asked the Council to send issues or comments to him. Once implemented, the committee will monitor the policy and make any adjustments necessary before creating a permanent policy and procedure. Szafran stated that the committee meets every other Friday and all are welcome to attend or send email concerns to him or any committee member.

Meeting adjourned at 3:30 PM.