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: David Stone

Guests:

Item 1. Updates

Dr. Szafran updated the Council on the following:

Budget – There is a bill is pending to allow the Legislators to set tuition for the USG and some are arguing for zero increase for next year. A recent conference call to all the USG’s asked what the impact would be on the students and the institutions if there was a 9% budget cut, no formula funding, and no tuition increase. The following were among the institutions’ responses:

It would be necessary to cut sections.
Reduced enrollment
No impact
8-10% increase would allow them to break even
Szafran stated that we’ve lost thousands of dollars per student from State funding and it is imperative we get money to keep and attract faculty and support our students. He further stated that we should be prepared for a challenging year next year but that our budget is in good shape this year.

BoR Audit – the System Office is auditing institutions to see if students are paying tuition by the required deadlines. Per Steve Hamrick, SPSU has not been contacted yet but this is in progress.
M.S. ARCH – should be on the March BoR agenda but we are still receiving some questions from the System Office about the proposal.
Education Programs – four proposals have been edited and will go to the President for review soon.
Top Engineering/Engineering Technology Students – for the first time ever, SPSU has the top Engineering and Engineering Technology students.
VISTA – per David Stone the USG has selected 5 finalists to replace VISTA and is getting bids.
UITAC – is taking on a broader charge to look at long-term consequences of funding technology/software purchases.
DegreeWorks – training will be in April with roll out in June.
SPSU 1001 – the new academic advisors will be teaching sections of SPSU 1001 this semester.
Tech Fee – proposals are due soon.
Library – Joyce reported that the print problems have finally been fixed in the Library.
GIL – Szafran reported that he was able to access GIL and the American Chemical Society journals from off campus.
Professional Advisors – Jeff met with the advisors this morning and was asked if they may attend meetings on campus (faculty senate, general faculty, etc.). The Council responded that these meetings are open to anyone who wants to attend. Szafran asked the Council if faculty advisors’ names were being replaced with the professional advisors’ names in Banner. Faculty should continue to advise and that both faculty and professional advisors’ names should be listed as advisors for the first two years that students attend here. Juniors and seniors should have their faculty advisor’s name listed. There have been some issues raised from the professional advisors including that one has over 1,000 advisees where another has only 150.
Banner 8 – upgrade will start tonight.
Summer Financial Aid – beginning this summer, under Obama’s proposed budget, Federal financial aid would no longer be available for summer semesters.

Item 2. Evaluation of Part-time Faculty

It was brought to Dr. Szafran’s attention that the Policy and Procedure on the evaluation of part-time and temporary faculty was approved but the links to the forms are not correct. This will be deferred to the next ALC meeting. Jeff Ray brought up similar issues with the policy for full-time faculty stating that there is no link to the new workload policy. Szafran suggested this be added to the new faculty orientation guide as well as the P&P.

Item 3. Capital Items

It is time to prepare departmental requests for end-of-year expenditures (approximately $500,000 may be available) and asked the Council deans to notify their chairs. In summary, the process to follow this year will be:

Prepare departmental requests
Prioritize
Send to UITAC for review
Deans Council will review and make final decisions as in the past

Item 4. Space Allocations

Student organizations and others have requested space in Building G prompting a need to discuss space allocation needs for all of Academic Affairs. He further stated that the proposed mega building idea has been well received at the System Office and if approved will free up space in the future. The mega building is proposed to house CET, CE, and the sciences. The Council discussed individual needs for space and the approximate cost to renovate the buildings.

Item 5. Green Center Redraft

Bill Barnes sent out a new draft for the Green Center to address concerns expressed at the last meeting and briefly discussed the new draft. Tom Currin stated that #8 conflicts with existing research and activities on campus and suggested that the language needs to be changed to clarify that centers do not have first priority. It was agreed to delete this entry. Szafran stated that he wants all centers to work together and to know what each center’s interests are and to be coordinating efforts with the Development Office.

Meeting adjourned at 4:15.