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, Alan Gabrielli, Steve Hamrick, Ruston Hunt, Joyce Mills, Jeff Orr, Nikki Palamiotis, Jeffrey Ray, Han Reichgelt, Zvi Szafran

Members Absent: Jeff Ray

Guests: Austin Asgill for Jeff Ray, Bob Brown, Dawn Ramsey

Item 1. Updates

Bob Brown talked about the QEP pilot being done in the School of Computing and Software Engineering Fall Semester 2010. All CSE students except those in Game Design are taking QEP sections of SPSU 1001 this semester. Beginning Fall 2011, all new students will be required to take SPSU 1001 or their major department’s equivalent course. Exceptions will be handled case by case for transfer students, older non-traditional students, etc. Bob also talked about the preference of pre-registering these students and block scheduling, and distributed a detailed report on our QEP. It was asked if there is a report that can randomly assign students to a block. Steve will work with Kelly to see if this is possible. Bob Brown also offered to create a manual to help set up block scheduling and Steve agreed to help with this. The deans were asked to talk to their chairs to see what courses they want in their blocks and to share any questions or concerns they may have with him.

Dr. Szafran updated the Council on the following:

Engineering at UGA – this agenda item has been moved to the November Board of Regents meeting. SPSU has put forth a position paper stating that we could absorb engineering students statewide, but has heard that our low graduation rates may hurt us.
Capital Projects – Strategizing for our next big building on campus has been taking place, and combining several projects into one (Bldg. E project, Construction Management Building, and Civil Engineering Building) has been suggested to increase our chances. Szafran asked the Council to think about this concept of combining project and to give him feedback, as well as a list of space needs that could be put into that building.
FIRPA – Steve Hamrick announced that there will be a field in Banner that students can check that will allow information to be released to their parents. This field will be available in a variety of reports.
Graduate Assistants/Distance Learning Courses – A question has been raised about how to assess tuition waivers for graduate assistants taking distance learning courses only. Steve will see what we have been doing, cost out different options, and report back to the Council for discussion and consensus.
Violation of Policy – A local institution is under investigation for allowing students to attend classes who have not paid according to a recent newspaper article. This issue could impact our enrollment. Steve Hamrick will share this information with Ron Koger and keep the Council up-to-date on the outcome of the investigation.

Item 2. Phases of Registration

This topic was discussed again today. Hamrick stated that our Business Office is strongly in favor of three phases of registration as opposed to the Deans Council being in favor of two. It was asked if an economic impact study has ever been done. Hamrick responded that it has not been done but he could seek a Quality Assurance student to look at the process and will ask Tom Ball for a recommendation. We will stay with three phases for now.

Item 3. Increasing our Graduation Rates

The Council discussed our graduation rate and the results of student surveys. Many of the reasons students give for not graduating are beyond our control. Szafran stated that he recently submitted a grant proposal to the USG to hire someone to work with adult students to help increase graduation rates and also suggested we create a bachelor of technology studies and include life experience toward credit which all would help students succeed. The positive things we are doing to help student success, such as advisor training, personal librarians for all students, cohorts, better housing, food, etc., and extra-curricular activities were discussed. Areas of improvement included the need for more personal interaction with students, looking at the various mini-grant projects recently carried out regarding improving math grades, better advertising, the need to challenge and motivate students, and to provide encouragement and support for our faculty.

Item 4. New Business

Dawn Ramsey announced that an email will be going out soon announcing the faculty who were selected for next year’s TADL. The advising workshop for administrative assistants will be on November 3^rdand an email will be going out soon. The advising workshops for part-time faculty will be on November 30^th and December 1^st. Ramsey also stated that she needs mentors and volunteers for the upcoming Future Cities competition.
Authors Reception – was very successful this year with approximately 137 documents contributed by 98 authors.
“Ingress” will be turned on in a couple of weeks to allow students to register for e-Core classes.
BoR – has agreed to approve existing degree programs offering more than 50% online as long as SACS approves with only a letter of notification.

Meeting adjourned at 4:00 P.M.