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 Caudill, Alan Gabrielli, Jeff Ray, Han Reichgelt

Guests: Venu Dasigi for Han Reichgelt, David Stone for David Caudill, Bob Homer

Item 1. Updates

Dr. Szafran updated the Council on the following and asked for any start-up issues:

Jeff Orr has received 69 applications to date for the three academic advisor positions currently open and asked for someone to chair the search committee. Tom Currin volunteered to be chair.
CSE – no start up issues but they are looking for additional space. Szafran stated that the opening of the ETC and the Architecture annex will not net additional classroom space. Building G will be converted to lab space and eventually Building K will house classrooms but that will not be for a while.
Library – Joyce is excited about the new workstations and adding an additional Librarian. The Rotunda will be used for the used book sale.
Grants – Russ announced that we’ve received a $50,000 grant from NRC, Peter Sakaris received a $10,000 award, and many new grant proposals have come in recently. He also stated that faculty and students are working on a prototype of an oil-capping device. The sign for Continuing Education should be going up on Friday; their space is working out very well. Hunt is also working on new relationships with ASME and is looking for somewhere for them to teach their classes. ELS is out of space and has offered to pay for renovating the U building.
Online Enrollment – David Stone announced that online enrollment is up 10% and that they received positive feedback from the online orientation.
Assessment – Bob Homer reminded the Council to continue assessment for the 5^thyear report. Becky sent a draft of the last response to SACS regarding the WebBSIT issue.
Comprehensive Program Reviews – need to be in. Szafran reminded the Council that the schedule is posted and that each program must be assessed. The BoR is allowing professional accreditation reports to substitute as long as all questions are answered. Bob Homer will be posting the program reviews to the website.
New Programs – Bill Barnes announced that the M.S. in Architecture is in draft and that the new ETC and Architecture Annex may not be ready for occupancy by Christmas so those involved should have a contingency plan in place.
Enrollment – Steve announced that 5,500 students are enrolled which is a 7% increase over last fall. Hamrick will be attending a summer orientation meeting next week and asked that the Council send him any issues/concerns they may have and he will raise them there. Student and Enrollment Services will have a plan in place to handle the results of the student engagement reports. Venu Dasigi suggested moving orientation to when faculty are on campus.
DegreeWorks – contracts have been signed by both and representatives will be here next week. The target date for implementation is December 31.
Gabrielli asked if orientation could be delayed to allow for AP test results. Building J renovation is still missing some doors and the classroom is not ready for teaching in – needs AV equipment, etc. David Stone will follow up on this. Building H renovation is going well and the new labs will be used fall semester. There are some issues with the old BCP space renovation. Chairs will be replaced soon in H 200. Szafran announced that the architect is pricing out a potential three-way move involving the Office of Faculty Support, Advancement, and Student and Enrollment Services.
Graduate Studies – Nikki talked about the current numbers and stated that most programs had a significant increase in enrollment and new students. Enrollment is up – almost 700 students enrolled fall semester.
Faculty Advisor Training – so far only 18 have registered so far – all full-time faculty are encouraged to register soon; a pilot training for part-time faculty is scheduled for fall with rollout in the spring.
Regents Test Exemption – SPSU received the official exemption notification
Budget – no additional news on cuts; state revenues have been up for the last few months
ELI starting up again
Diversity Conference coming up soon
I-Strategy – new software program will enable departments to view budget reports
MAT Discussion – old business – received response from the Math Department offering flexibility with placement of student with high SAT scores.
E-Core – numbers are down slightly from earlier trend – additional fee to take E-core classes may be an issue.
Continuing problems with Banner and Vista communication with each other and only able to load into Vista not delete.
Benefits – full-time temporary faculty can get benefits over the summer if they are being rehired in the fall
Reappointment – Szafran went over the new P&P on reappointment of non-tenured faculty and stated that we need a consistent policy since the new P&P was not interpreted consistently among the departments. It was decided that those using the annual evaluation as a basis for reappointment should submit a cover sheet and a letter from the chair and/or dean and those submitting a full reappointment packet should keep them brief. Szafran and Koger are looking into a document management system for the campus that would alleviate overcrowded offices and reduce paper waste.

Item 2. CTE Advisory Committee

Dawn announced that faculty are registering for workshops and needs feedback and approval on the professional development proposal that the committee presented to the Deans Council in May. Concerns were raised on the scholarship aspect of the proposal and after discussion it was decided that an existing P&P already addresses scholarship and that scholarship should be removed from the proposal and a note added that Dawn’s office is available to help.

Item 3. Online Evaluation Form

David Stone distributed a proposed online evaluation form for distance learning courses. Their committee unanimously adopted the course evaluation and Stone brought it to the Council today for review. It was clarified that this is an instructor evaluation form not a course evaluation form. After discussion it was decided to implement the new form for distance learning courses and to consider a similar instrument to replace the currently used SIRs.

Item 4. Major Issues Timeline

Szafran asked for items for a major issues timeline. Suggestions:

TCSG articulation agreements
Biomedical technology/healthcare
Polytechnic Summit preparation
Budget disbursement – more control for the deans
Space allocation
Research foundation
Graduate programs
Credit for directed studies, etc.
New degree programs:

M.A. Architecture
Aeronautics/Systems Engineering
Transportation Logistics
Nuclear
CET – Masters in Geospacial; Environmental Technology, Structural
Education – proposal for BoR should be ready soon
BCP – ideas coming forth
B.A. Media Arts – Letter of intent drafted, working on full proposal
Healthcare Information Technology
Computational Science – graduate program
Biotechnology
MBA – Healthcare Management concentration – Nikki has contact at Wellstar
Engineering Physics – Phil is working on this

Marketing of new programs

Szafran stated that we need to move to closure quicker on new programs to keep SPSU growing and diverse.

Item 5. New Business

Bob Homer announced that a new student satisfaction survey will be sent out this fall.
The TADL schedule is going out this afternoon.

Meeting adjourned at 4:21 P.M.