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:

Guests:

Item 1. Updates

Dr. Szafran updated the Council on the following:

Stem Grant – our reapplication for the USG Stem Grant was not approved but SPSU will receive some transition money for next year. The outreach coordinator position, faculty mini grants, etc., will now have to be funded from other sources.
M.S. Architecture – was approved by the Board of Regents last week.
Joyce Mills announced that this year’s book sale in the Library Rotunda netted $740. Joyce has been invited to attend a Student Life Committee meeting to address extending the Library hours. She stated that any extension of their hours would require an additional full-time position and could not be filled by student workers.
Nuclear Regulatory Authority Grant – Russ Hunt reported that SPSU received a grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
Polytechnic Summit – Dr. Szafran encouraged the Council to encourage their faculty to sign up and submit papers for the upcoming Summit which will be held on our campus. Students are encouraged to submit papers as well.
Degree Programs – currently SPSU has five degree programs at the System Office for review and approval and four more almost ready to go.

Item 2. Green Building Center

Russ Hunt shared comments he received regarding the proposed Green Building Center (all positive) and brought a motion to approve the Center. It was approved by a majority vote and will go next to Dr. Rossbacher for approval.

Item 3. MAT Proposal

The results were shared of a study done by the Mathematics Departments on student success rates in response to being asked for more flexibility for engineering students to choose their own math courses rather than being required to take the course recommended by their MAT scores. It was suggested to change the Math Department’s proposal of requiring 630 on the SAT and a score of 28 on the MAT to requiring either the 630 SAT score or the 28 MAT score. After some discussion it was decided to accept the original proposal and ask the Math department to monitor the results and after a year revisit decoupling the SAT and MAT scores. The Math Department will send the proposal to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for approval.

Item 4. Evaluation of Part-time and Temporary Faculty

Alan Gabrielli shared the evaluation form he prepared. After some discussion and suggestions it was decided that the evaluation packet should include SIR (or alternative) evaluations, be done as soon as practical after the faculty member’s first semester, and then annually thereafter. Gabrielli will make minor modifications to the evaluation form. Dr. Szafran will attach a cover memo to the revised evaluation form and distribute it to the Council for one last review before submitting the form to the Faculty Senate for approval.

Item 5. Equipment Proposals

Each area discussed their prioritized equipment proposals. Dr. Szafran will consolidate the list in priority order and send it to the Council for review.

Item 6. New Business

Szafran shared a recent issue of a parent being unable to contact her child who was out of the country on an Honor’s program trip. He was eventually able to get in contact with the faculty member by email and have the student contact his parents. Because of this he stated that any faculty member traveling abroad with students should have a phone that will work abroad (and the University will pay for the SIM card). The deans should ensure that the faculty members will be reachable by telephone.

Meeting adjourned at 4:15 PM