Academic Council Meeting

October 9, 2003

Present: Jerry Harmon, Gwen Cassel, Gail Gruber, Lloyd Cowling, Junius Logan, Donna Rees, Faye Vowell, Marcia Bourdette, Michelle Behr, Ed Hall, Duane Elms, Ken Ladner, Tony Macias, Julie Miller, Bertha Benavidez, Michael Metcalf.

1. Strategic Plan—Faye Vowell—Attention was directed to the seven strategic goals on p. 11 of the Strategic Plan. The budget is driven by the seven strategic goals. Duane Elms stated that in Appendix A is an old IT Strategic Plan; a new plan has been drafted and was passed out. Julie Miller asked that the Strategic Plan be checked for spelling and grammatical errors. The Academic Council voted that the areas in all capital letters should be typed in lower case for ease of reading. Jerry Harmon would like to see the Academic Council prioritize the Strategic Goals and focus on them with administration. The strategies beneath the goals do not reflect the goals. Faye Vowell asked Jerry Harmon to write his ideaup and send them to her. The Academic Council was asked to submit their strategic goals to the VPAA before the next Academic Council meeting.

2. Academic Affairs Operational Plan—Faye Vowell—Academic Council was urged to look through the Operational Plan. Faye Vowell asked the Council to look at revamping the goals. Please get changes to VPAA by Tuesday and then they will be sent to the Webmaster for placement on WNMU’s website. VPAA asked departments to look at their own web pages this year and revamp their web pages and create a process to continuously update.

3. Fall Graduation—Faye Vowell—Graduation will take place at the same time and date but will be held in the FACT. Faculty will be seated on the stage. Plans are to have the band on stage also. Please let the VPAA know which faculty members will be attending this graduation.

4. Other—

· Michael Metcalf—Faculty show opening tomorrow evening from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. and Weekend at the Galleries is this weekend. On Saturday there is a dedication from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. for Cecil Howard’s work.

· Gail Gruber, NCATE coordinator, stated that they will have two people on campus on the 22nd and 23rd of this month, and they will need help from everyone that has been asked to assist. Jerry Harmon’s biggest concern is lack of attendance of the members of the Teacher Education Committee.

· Faye Vowell—The Capitalization Policy was discussed. The VPAA’s office will send all policies out for feedback.

· Gwen Cassel—Inquired about the travel policy issues. Faye Vowell stated that the policy committee has not met. The committee will meet, and this policy will be discussed. Gail Gruber inquired about the policy of ordering books through Purchasing. Purchasing requires that an attempt be made to go through the bookstore, and if you don’t order them from the bookstore, you must have a note from the bookstore. Lloyd Cowling asked for a written policy regarding the purchase of books. Julie Miller stated that she would request a copy of the Follet Book contract for reference. Quite a few people stated that the people making the policies are distrustful of our intentions with money. Faye Vowell wants the Academic Council to address the things that need to be changed with constructive suggestions about how to change them.

· Michael Metcalf wanted to know if there is a way to print out a budget sheet that is readable. Lloyd Cowling is in the process of creating a Crystal Report that will run a department budget that is readable and contains the information needed. Faye Vowell asked Duane Elms to take the idea back that more advanced financial training be created for faculty and staff.

Handouts:

Equipment Allocation—We will do bulk purchasing of computers, so if you are using equipment money to buy computers, get your specifications to April Matthews as soon as possible so bids can be obtained and equipment ordered. Tony Macias stated that Office Administration received computers w/towers last time, but they need desktop computers. Some items were not funded because the money could come from another resource. Regarding the multi-media mobile classroom, Julie Miller stated that she received $70,000 for this project. There is enough money to purchase seven of these units for on-campus use. They will be moved to where they are needed to maximize this resource. Julie Miller asked that this resource be thought of as a resource within a building rather than within a department. The Bootheel Lab is not on the list because we are hoping to fund this from student technology funds.

Duane Elms presented at student government last evening. IT has a number of plans and gave student government some ideas about what IT’s thinking is regarding implementing these plans. Funding will include student senate equipment, dorm lab computers, with the majority into the Bootheel lab and Besse-Forward computer labs. Lloyd Cowling would like to be included in the Bootheel lab discussion. Math & Computer Science wants to be able to schedule classes in this lab. Jerry Harmon stated that the Bootheel lab is open approximately 40 hours a week at this time. Nine credit hours a week are currently taught in this lab. Linda Baldwin stated that Business Administration needs a classroom with computers for the spring semester. Faye Vowell asked the Chairs to think about how to share these resources. Michael Metcalf suggested that April Matthews be included in this meeting to obtain the most current equipment available. The drafting and design lab may be useable by Expressive Arts.

Fall 2003 Census Data—preliminary—This is a preliminary CHE report because this document includes courses beginning at the start of the semester. Courses starting after the beginning of the semester will be included later. Faye Vowell stated that we have to figure out how to retain larger freshmen numbers through the sophomore, junior, and senior years. Gail Gruber stated that a 61% retention rate occurred for Title V—78 students. Gail Gruber asked for a report that shows intention of freshmen. Ed Hall stated that we have some two-year students who intend to attend another university at the end of two years, and we, in fact, have been successful with these students. Tony Macias asked if it is possible to complete the IPED for the two-year college. Betsy Miller is now doing the IPEDs, so contact her for this information.

Fall 03 Online Course Enrollment & Demographics—We are members of the New Mexico Virtual College Association and these courses are listed on-line. A PMT will be created to address issues of how to market on-line courses and provide support for students. Fully on-line can only have 3-5 face to face meetings. Everything else is on-line. With a mixed delivery course, an instructor can do any number of face to face meetings, Web CT, and on-line. An instructor must have Web CT presence to backup an ITV course to make it mixed delivery. When we raise our on-line course prices, we must make sure our course quality is commensurate. Gail Gruber stated that there is a course evaluation for on-line courses, so we can start gathering statistics. Donna Rees stated that there is a learning curve for Web CT students, and hopefully this will be addressed in the Student Success Seminars in Deming in the spring. The on-line courses for spring will be listed twice—once under the department and once in a special section.

Reporting Data for DFA Submission—The Chairs were asked to look at the completion measure for six years. Six years may not be realistic for our institution—a greater time frame might be more applicable. Currently the State of New Mexico is not basing funding on this data, but it is possible that this could happen.

Summary of Funding Formula Calculations—Although Western experienced a growth, the money will not be available from the state to fund the entire dollar growth. The Council of Presidents is meeting with the Governor with three priorities: (1) fully fund the formula; (2) 5% compensation; and (3) not to increase the tuition credit.

Furniture Requests Submitted to Student Senate—Junius Logan requested catalog pages for the items departments want ordered. Faye Vowell has placed items that did not fall under either the equipment or furniture request process into another fund, possibly the BR&R. If Academic Affairs receives discretionary money, the items less than $1,000 will be funded from this money.

Faculty Positions to be Filled for 2004-2005—The Chairs will be meeting in two weeks, and at that time we will have a discussion about filling faculty positions. Chairs will be asked to rank order these positions. Jerry Harmon suggested that a special meeting be held for this discussion. Thursday, October 30 was suggested as the next Chairs meeting. The October 23 meeting is cancelled and Chairs will meet on October 30. The VPAA will send out a reminder.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.