Cabinet Minutes 9 September 2003

Present: Duane Elms, Donna Rees, Jerry Harmon, Tony Macias, Christie Miller, Rick Johnson, Chris Farren, Kathie Gilbert, Gwen Cassel, Cythia Bettison, Barbara James, Julie Morales, Carmen Maynes, John Counts, Faye Vowell

IT has a way to trap and track the "so big" virus.
Duane Elms has begun working on a draft of the IT vision statement for the President to review.
Enrollment is up on all the extended campuses. Tom Kruscz has done a wonderful job recruiting in the Gallup area especially with the MBA program.
Nov 21 will be the date of the first regional Indigenous Bilingual Education Conference in Gallup. Professional development and academic credit opportunities will be available.
BIA students have yet to enroll in Gallup; their classes have not started yet.
The NMSU interim president spoke in Deming last week.
Deming is interested in increased childcare possibilities. We will explore working with Luna County to meet this need. Terry Anderson and Donna will probably go to Deming on Thursday
NMSU will do a degree completion business program in Deming and is talking about some master's education program.
TorC needs bilingual education courses. We will look at adding Tor C courses to the ITV connections with Deming, SC, and Gallup.
Donna Rees will be meeting with Deming staff to discuss dealing with their growth and where they will go next.
Donna Rees gave out a history of the NM Virtual College. (If anyone is interested in seeing a copy, give Donna a call.)
The online registration and advising process will be examined to be sure we are serving our online students well.
TVI is doing a lot of job training online; we will need to look at what is appropriate for us.
Rick Johnson reported on the Faculty Haven. He is interested in working with faculty on getting the match for the Endowed Chair funds. We have had the first Senate meeting of the year. Changes to the evaluation process will be discussed this year as well as the MBO process.
A grievance is in progress.
The first General Assembly will be this Thursday.
The issue of rotation of custodians was surfaced at the Faculty Senate. Can we look for a solution that does not involve punishing the good people?
Rick Johnson asked that WNMU work to ensure that whenever administrators are gone, there is someone to sign or make decisions in their place. This should be true at the Presidential, VP, and even director level.
Cynthia Bettison discussed the removal of the gross receipts tax exemption for non-profits-which will tax non profits. If you have an interest in this topic, please contact Cynthia Bettison. This could have an impact on a variety of university activities. There is a very short time line; this will be voted on by a special committee at the end of the month.
NCATE preparations continue; the mock visit will be on October 23 and 24.
The Professional Standards Commission has been cancelled this month. This group is a subcommittee of the state board of education and is responsible for licensure and ethics. If the vote on Sept 23 to create a new cabinet level position is passed, the Professional Standards Commission will be dissolved. This could be problematic in a year we are going up for NCATE accreditation.
A public forum will be held on this issue in the GRC on September 17 at 7:00 to discuss the education issues to be voted on Sept. 23.
Jerry Harmon is concerned about the stretching of SC faculty to cover the explosion of students in Deming. We serve that market with no full time faculty. It may be time to address this issue. We have to be sure we do not stretch ourselves too thin and promise what we cannot deliver.
58 schools in New Mexico are on corrective action plans. WNMU is involved with 6 of them.
Renaissance Group--Western is participating in a preconference workshop to describe a model of staffing.
The Pro Card situation. We have a credit line for the whole university for a reporting period. Last week we exceeded our limit. We are working to increase our limit and to create a long term solution. It is very important to give your receipts to Business office as soon as possible to enable us to make interim payments so the situation will not recur.
Our budget analyst at CHE has left. CHE is short staffed. We are not sure of the impact on WNMU.
Rene may be out a few days due to her daughter’s pregnancy.
We are purchasing two new cars. Because of safety concerns, we are discouraging use of the 15 passenger vans.
Sheri Bays is improving nicely.
Watts Hall is experiencing parking problems. Mike Martinez is exploring solutions.
This Friday, Tony Macias will be in Tyrone working with laid off miners--between 50 and 83 people will be displaced. We are doing our assessments to enable them to pursue education. Admissions, Financial Aid and Academic Support will also participate. We may need to offer coursework for them for this semester in a condensed or customized fashion.
Tony Macias is exploring the demand for a diesel mechanics program for Applied Technology.
The Carl Perkins grant is being finalized. It will include $103,000 in equipment for CNET and Office Administration as well as certification for the other areas.
Christie Miller encourages people to register for homecoming activities.
Nov 15 is the date for the University Party at the Buffalo Bar.
Patsy Madrid and Christie Miller will meet with Chris Farren to talk about how to use alumni in recruiting.
There was a great turnout for the tailgate party in Las Cruces. WNMU has lots of loyalty from alums. We need to get out the positive press about WNMU to counter the negative press.
Our enrollment is up overall: 16.8% in headcount and 9.4% in credit hours. However in Silver City the credit hours are down.
Since the growth is off campus, we need to turn attention to retention efforts off campus as well as on campus.
The Admissions people have done a wonderful job in recruiting; thank you for a job well done.
Summer, fall, spring is the time frame for calculating the budget. For next year's budget, the calculation will be based on summer 2002, fall 2002, and spring 2003.
Student government met last night. On Sept 21 Chris Farren and Magdaleno Manzanares will do a workshop for student government.
We now have 11 cheerleaders and a wonderful coach. They did us proud at the game on Saturday.
The Student Affairs staff is discussing the importance of assessment in preparation for the Assessment Convocation.
Gil Gonzales has left us to go to Highlands. Admissions and the rest of the campus will miss him.
One recruiting emphasis this year will be on competitive scholarships especially with Arizona. We are considering how to go into certain areas of California. We will enhance recruiting in Gallup. Graduate recruiting is being emphasized. There is interest in a 3 summer master's degree in education.
The last of the graduating senior surveys went out last week.
Noel Levitz data has been sent out to AQIP teams.
Facilitator training for Assessment Convocation will be next week.
There is a great deal of misunderstanding about AQIP, QNM, and assessment. This was discussed at the Academic Council last week.
Leadership needs to send a consistent message that the Assessment Convocation is important. Laura Helminski is the key note speaker. The President asked all the Vice Presidents to ensure that their people attend and participate.
May 2004 is the date the AQIP systems portfolio is due.
Maria Rolfe is returning to work on September 16. Stop by and welcome her back.
The Measurement Systems PMT will be constituted soon and working.
Two big issues for SHSHP are recruitment for Social Work and faculty for Wellness and Movement Science.
A SHSHP viewbook is being put together to recruit for all the programs.
Gwen Cassel has been asked to be on the Life Quest Board and has accepted.
One of our staff members Lyn Lewis lost her daughter is an automobile accident. The funeral was held in the FACT.
On Sept 15, Staff Assembly with be held.
There will be a staff potluck on Thurs Oct 1 from 11 to 2:00 in Old James Stadium.
There will be a community relations meeting this week. Topics to be covered will include trash on campus, speeding on 12 St., Homecoming and the NAFTA institute.
The phone directory is available to be picked up in the Public Information office.
The WestWind should be out this week.
Julie Morales will be secretary for Prospectors.
Carmen Maynes is working on the NAFTA reception for Sept 23; the Homecoming Alumni Presidents reception, and the December 5 service awards banquet.
Jean Springler is now the acting University Activities coordinator. She will assist with events such as commencement.
The President shared the NCAA annual report on athlete graduation rate. Our athletes graduate at a rate higher than non athletes.
NMSU was a class act in hosting the Presidents and VPs at the game last Saturday.
The CNET certification pass rate for the current class is 96%.
Academic Council met last week for the first time this semester. Issues discussed included the equipment requests, furniture requests, the Assessment Convocation, the faculty and staff salary increases, changes to the travel policy, the tuition benefit for remote campuses.
Faye Vowell met with chairs to discuss faculty evaluation and promotion and tenure issues on Friday afternoon.
Faculty Senate met for the first time last week.
Salary and Benefits will meet today.
On Friday, an advisor training session entitled, “Advising and Annual Evaluation: what can I include in my MBO in the area of advising” will be offered from 2:00 to 3:30 in the SMB.
Faye Vowell is meeting with chairs and deans to discuss their MBOs as well as those of their faculty.
Faye Vowell is discussing the instructional load report with chairs and deans as well as the people who still do not have their syllabi available electronically on the shared drive.
The third session of the New Chair Orientation took place on Monday.
The updated program review schedule has been completed and will be distributed to departments this week.
The Math & Computer Sciences department is hosting the 12th annual conference Consortium of Computing Sciences in Colleges on October 17th and 18th in the Global Research Center.
The date of the next Cabinet will be announced since two weeks from today is the Assessment Convocation.