Cabinet Minutes

Cabinet Minutes

October 11, 2005

Present: Julie Miller, Christy Miller, Tony Macias, T. J. Betenbough, Mary Hittle, Katherine Woodard, Faye Vowell, John Counts, Duane Elms, Donna Rees, Randy Jones, Cynthia Bettison, Kathie Gilbert, Carmen Maynes, Julie Morales, Marcia Bourdette, Sandra Griffin, Chris Farren, and Julie Miller.

Congratulations and Thank You to all those who contributed to the great success of Homecoming 2005.
Kathie Gilbert announced that the first Directors meeting was held last week on October 4 with Dr. Kathie Gilbert facilitating. Cynthia Bettison was elected the Chair for October. The Chair position will rotate each month. Permission was requested and given for the Chair of this committee to attend Cabinet. Cynthia Bettison thanked the VPs for their support of the Directors' Round Table and Dr. Kathie Gilbert for her contribution to the formation of this group. It was a great opportunity to get everyone together from the SC, Deming, and T or C campuses. Gallup will be included in future meetings. There are 32 people in this group. One goal will be to improve communication across campus and to support each other. Another goal of the group is to visit the extended campuses. The group wants to challenge the University to do everything better. This will be a positive and forward-looking group. The group decided on monthly meetings on the second Tuesday of each month from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. with the location to be announced. The next meeting will be held on November 8.
Sandra Griffin announced that the faculty agreed at the last General Assembly to work on the new faculty evaluation system. They hope to have this completed by the end of the Spring 2006 semester. Another vote will be taken when the process is completed to see if this is the system that will be used.
We have begun discussions about AQIP campus visit which may be in 2006. This will be different from past visits--at most three people and very specific issues will be addressed.
We are making progress on getting additional campus visits for the School of Education Dean. We have four candidates who will be brought to campus for the interview process.
We had 14 people who took the QNM Training and 13 who read applications. The general consensus this year is that the feedback reports on the applications were better this year.
AQIP Strategic Planning Group has been meeting and looking at a plan for the Convocation. We will be trying a different format this year. The Convocation will be held two one-half days to allow extended campus staff and faculty to attend. The dates for the Convocation are January 4 and 5, 2006.
The feedback from the AQIP survey has been received.
The Leadership Academy has met three times, and the feedback has been very positive. Kathie Gilbert encouraged all to attend for either credit, audit or just to attend. The last presentation in the series is "Making Complex Decisions" and hopefully Dr. Counts will be able to attend and be a part of the panel for this presentation.
Kathie Gilbert suggested that since we are trying to build community relationships, why not have a float in the Christmas Parade?
Kathie Gilbert has also been working with The Lifelong Learning Institute on a program that would be for people in the community who want to continue learning whether for college credit or not. We will meet with the Lifelong Learning Institute to see what WNMU can do to collaborate with this group.
Randy Jones announced that T. J. Robinson, Maintenance, had a health crisis this past Friday. He is doing very well and was released from the hospital on Sunday.
Randy Jones, Sherri Bayes, and President Counts will be going to Hobbs Junior College to make a presentation on the budget for 2006-2007 to the Secretary of HED, Dr. Beverlee McClure.
Randy Jones is organizing a "Lessons Learned" team that will be look at fall registration in order to implement changes for Spring 2006. He also suggested that we do a "Lessons Learned" for Homecoming.
Randy Jones believes that we do volunteer efforts very well but may not be capturing these as a University, so we can report these to the community.
Donna Rees stated that Extended University has a staff person with health issues--Serena Smith in Gallup.
Tony Macias and Donna Rees met with Hidalgo County school superintendents and economic development people to discuss $550,000 awarded to Hidalgo County through Lordsburg Schools for career technical project. The County determined that this is a county project and funding would go to both Lordsburg and Animas Schools. They have also received capital funds for a new building. There was also discussion on how to accommodate both adult and high school students. Hidalgo County is very pleased with WNMU's involvement in these projects.
Hidalgo County also wants to pay for a half-time coordinator for WNMU to start a learning center in Hidalgo County. Lloyd Payne has been suggested as a possible candidate for this position. Donna Rees will have a meeting on October 17 to begin finalization of this project.
WNMU is now in the last year of its BIA Contract. We have received $190,000 annually for three years from BIA for a project that included 3 BIA schools that were in corrective action. We have made great progress in having teachers go through Master's degrees. This funding will now probably go to the individual school districts to continue these services and courses for their teachers.
The Extended University started a PMT for on-line registration which has found that we don't have too many barriers left. On-line payment, etc. will be resolved by early November. The other barrier is the PIN and APIN situation. Dr. Farren has suggested that on-line students self-advise, and we track them after they have registered and advise and counsel them on-line. Faye Vowell observed that this would work as long as they were special students. If they are degree seeking, we need to discuss a different solution.
October 1 we had the first Southwest Sampler. Thanks to all those who participated--Jolane, Roland, Bill, Julie Morales. Thirteen members of the community participated and gave feedback on what courses they would like to see offered in the future.
Donna Rees will be meeting with Scott Vincent and Andy Hernandez regarding the next steps for the Mimbres Valley Learning Center. This year we have been asked to spec out two science labs, two classrooms, and two offices as new additions which will be built on the SE corner of the building which will be about 10,000 square feet. We will also be talking about program initiatives. They are interested in office administration, CNET, and with some interest in electrical and plumbing.
Duane Elms was congratulated on the new monthly IT Newsletter.
Duane Elms just returned from the NACADA conference where Steve Liebhart and Dean Foster picked up their advising technology award for Advising Space.
Duane Elms will be attending CHECS this afternoon and EduCause next week.
Watts Hall ITV is having problems. We are currently doing testing to isolate the problems and find a solution. Julie Miller suggested a "Lessons Learned" approach to this situation. Faye Vowell stated that we need to have a solution that will be sure the students are served while we try to find out the reason for the technical difficulties.
If anyone hasn't been to the museum to see the staff art show, you will notice that Rick O'Ryan won best of show.
Dennis Miller has won the Governor's Public Service Award for his work with animal rehabilitation. Dennis Miller was nominated by Duane Elms for this award.
IT will be thin toward the end of this week because of the CHECS conference in Albuquerque. Duane Elms will be President for the next year.
The Mimbres Regional Arts Council gives students discounts on tickets.
Chris Farren announced that Joy Luper has joined the Admissions Office as a new recruiter.
We are in the second week of the College Day Programs and advisors are out of the office.
Advisor training for Academic Support advisors occurs every Wednesday morning from 9:00 to 10:00.
The CAPP program was demonstrated last week in an advising training session.
Muir Heights renovation will be much cheaper if we do it all at once so will be notifying residents that they will have to make other accommodations for the spring. Students have been given information on HUD housing and others for rent and will be given 60 days notice before they have to relocate. Kathie Gilbert would like to see this as a positive community relations situation by our being sure we help students find accommodations and make their transition as easy as possible.
Chris Farren observed that we need a general graduate brochure for all graduate programs at WNMU. He would also like to have specifics for each degree on the web page. Donna Rees would like for Gallup to be included in this brochure. Dr. Farren agreed to do a separate brochure for the summer SOE master’s programs.
Dean Reed, former student body president, has volunteered to start an Alumni Chapter in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
Kirk Patrick was honored as outstanding graduate.
We had quite a few alumni from the 1980s in attendance at Homecoming.
Rita Horn will be retiring at the end of this semester.
HACU will be Saturday through Thursday. Ten faculty and staff members will attend. Every session will be covered by someone from WNMU.
We have been invited to have Rotary on campus to have lunch with us and have an opportunity to go to Academic Support or GRC and demonstrate the Discover program, COMPASS, and other student testing programs.
Christy Miller announced that homecoming was wonderful, and she had great help. We are having younger alumni from the 1970s and 1980s attend and hope they will continue to attend.
At the Alumni Board Meeting, active recruitment was discussed. One alumna stated that she had learned about WNMU through Life magazine in the 1950s. Julie Miller volunteered to locate this article.
Christy Miller will be concentrating on Chapter meetings. El Paso scheduled for November 18 before the UTEP/WNMU basketball game.
Christy Miller distributed a card announcing the alumni website.
Christy Miller received an e-mail from one of the founders of the Great Race. This will be the 40th anniversary of the Great Race in 2006. Dr. Farren will check on funds to purchase new cars.
November 12 will be the University Club party at the Buffalo Bar.
Julie Miller stated that the AQIP SoTL team is working on a work study improvement project. Over the summer they surveyed the work study students to find out what they learned through their work study experience. The group will be compiling the results of this survey which will be placed on the web site. They will be going to Dr. Vowell with some recommendations. There is a need for everyone to be aware of the Student Employment Handbooks which are available in Financial Aid. We also need to have some discussion about job skills and training but also about institutional values and arrive at a greater consistency about what our students learn through the work study experience.
In yesterday's newspaper, Miller Library appeared on the front page. During Ft. Bayard Days, we did a press release regarding the microfilm on the Ft. Bayard documents, and this article is about the Library's Ft. Bayard microfilm collection.
Next week Margaret Soucy and Judy Alfred will be going to Gallup to do library instruction. We have already made multiple trips to Deming and T or C for library instruction.
Over the summer, Julie Miller was contacted by Dr. John Hubbard, former head of NM Game and Wildlife, and has offered his personal collection of materials which contains a number of very valuable resources to the Library. Roland Shook has helped identify the materials that we would like to accept.
Tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. the Library will present to the School of Education with a photograph of Old Main possibly taken by Jess Bingaman in the 1950s. The presentation will be held in the new addition to Martinez and Phelps Dodge building.
Julie Miller met with Dr. Vowell and Donna Rees yesterday and presented a specific transition plan for the Library. Mary Billings will be the Acting Director of the Library and will continue her duties as Acting Director of the Virtual Campus. Margaret Soucy will be Acting Program Manager for the Extended University. Thanks to Dr. Counts and the Cabinet for allowing Julie Miller to participate in this group and working together so well with the Library.
Dr. Counts commended Julie Miller on her work in the Library. Dr. Vowell invited everyone to attend the farewell reception for Julie Miller and Junius Logan on the 3rd floor of the Student Memorial Building in the mall area at 3:00 p.m.
Tony Macias announced that the Ft. Bliss initiative is off the ground. Thanks to Jon Saari for helping with this initiative.
Tony Macias noted that the Homecoming Parade was one of the most productive and best he has seen. Kathie Gilbert commended the students on their participation in making Homecoming week an active and lively week and showing their pride in WNMU.
The digital media program will be offering a class this semester which will start the end of November. The full program will be presented in the spring semester. Donna Rees suggested having David Baker do an interview for the Mustang. Kathie Gilbert suggested advertising this program on Mustang Express.
T. J. Betenbough announced that she and Trini Tolar attended the NCATE Conference and the Renaissance Group Conference.
T. J. Betenbough expressed thanks to Kathie Gilbert for chairing the search for SOE Dean and thanks to Donna Rees for help with NeTL advisory group.
Mary Hittle announced that the Staff Senate elections were held.
The Staff Cookout was held last week. Turnout was very good and thanks to all of those who made potluck contributions.
Katherine Woodard announced that the Nursing program received a positive accreditation recommendation from the site visit team and is working on holding clinics in Mexico.
OT & Rehab has lost a faculty member and is working to cover classes.
Movement Science has just found out that incoming faculty member, Paul Brawdy, will not be coming to WNMU and will need to do some future planning.
Alice Jones is organizing students and faculty to aid Katrina victims. We will offer CEUs for local professionals and university personnel.
Julie Morales announced that the campus directories have been finished and distributed.
The West Wind has been finalized and is in the mail.
The Community Relations Committee meeting will be tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. in the Student Memorial Building.
The cover for Business Week is wrapped up.
The group discussed the issue of what items are appropriate to post on University bulletin boards. Dr. Counts would like for this issue to be discussed in SEAT (Senior Executive Action Team) and then the Policy Committee. Faye Vowell asked Duane Elms to post a site on Mustang Express to solicit input for these types of concerns.
The new campus map is in the final stages. One-half of the cost of these reprints will be covered by Student Affairs.
Faye Vowell announced that College Day was held on campus on Monday and that several academic departments participated. She shared a copy of the handouts developed by Irene Meares for her department.
The Aldo Leopold Charter High School has requested the use of several campus facilities. We may not be able to accommodate all of their requests; however, we have discussed this issue with all involved stakeholders and have been as responsive as possible. Kathie Gilbert suggested that the School of Education host an open forum regarding charter schools, and WNMU could present their side of this situation at the same time.
A Task Force created by Beverlee McClure to look at state-wide high school exit exams and college entrance exams is being formed. Faye Vowell will serve on this Task Force to represent four-year schools.
The Academic Vice Presidents from two and four year schools will meet with the Articulation Task Force on Thursday, October 20 in Albuquerque. The members will be asked to take back to their campuses the approval process and paperwork to approve classes to be included in the common core. Members of the Articulation Task Force will be presenting at the upcoming New Mexico Academic Advising Association (NMAAA) conference in Gall on the articulation process.
Faye Vowell, Chris Farren, Marcia Bourdette, John Bourdette, and others will be attending the NMAAA Conference in Gallup next week. Marcia Bourdette is the outgoing Secretary of the organization.
Carmen Maynes announced that she will not be attending the HACU Conference this year, but the university representative will be Faye Vowell. Jean Springler and Barbara Flores will be working WNMU’s table at the conference.
Future dates: the Awards Banquet will be held on December 2; the dedication of the gym to former Coach Drangmeister will be December 3; the Board of Regents meeting will be December 8; commencement will be held on December 9.
A reception for the SBDC will be held on the 9^th and 10^th.
Affirmative Action/EEO cases are ongoing.
Please direct all requests for documents to Carmen Maynes.
Dr. Counts updated the Cabinet on the status of the organized labor situation.
Meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.