April 24, 2018

Attendees: James Marquart, Paul Bernazzani, Katrina Brent, Derina Holtzhausen, Brenda Nichols, Joe Nordgren, Srinivas Palanki, Bob Spina, Sarah Tusa, and Henry Venta.

Guest Attendees:  Bill Harn, Hector Flores, Judy Mann, Amy Smith.

Dr. Marquart presided over the Academic Dean’s Council Meeting and called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.

Approval of Minutes from March 27, 2018

Minutes were not available for approval at this time.

Guest:  Dr. Bill Harn

1. Handout distributed comparing data on grad applicants, between summer and fall 04/24/17 to 04/24/18. Data reviewed and discussed.
2. Update given on international student recruitment activities.
3. Discussion on GRE scores and the importance of looking at those who may have been rejected because of one or two points. If rejected by one program, the student can apply for a different program. 
4. Graduate Recruiter search is being done by Admissions.

Guest:  Chief Hector Flores

Active Shooter Training or C.R.A.S.E courses have been offered for about three years now.  The course takes approximately 2 ½ hours and contains statistics and real life scenarios.  Everyone is encouraged to attend this training and to have it scheduled for their departments.  These can be scheduled by calling the LU Police Department or emailing Corporal Samford or Chief Flores.  The class can be held anywhere, but a projector and screen are necessary.

 Guest: Dr. Judy Mann

Handouts were given.  Dr. Mann reviewed the handouts, giving a brief update and discussing ongoing QEP activities, including the 4 components of the WINGS of Success program. WINGS of Success at LU is a plan to restructure and re-examine the way mathematics is integrated into the Lamar University Curriculum.

Dr. Mann stated there is new streamlined way to request degree plan changes.  Per Board requirements you do not have to go to the Board unless there is a radical change to the degree plan or changing the number of hours.  Memo form is now all that’s needed to streamline degree plan changes.

One of the handouts was an org chart - “Mathematics Co-Requisites & Remedial Course Placement Chart”.  Advisors are currently using this chart to put students in the correct classes.

Guest:  Dr. Amy Smith

Options for Department Chair training during the summer were discussed.  One possibility was an outside consultant firm coming in and doing a day and a half training.  This training would include program directors, deans, assistant deans, etc., not just chairs. It was suggested with this type of training to have three sessions with smaller groups.  Dean Palanki suggested if a list of topics was determined, that speakers could be recommended to do this training in-house.  This led to further discussion on whether an outside source was necessary or if in-house training could work.  Ann Hasselmo is coming to do a leadership conference in September and it was suggested to have her include how to you transition from faculty to chair and how to develop leadership skills.  It was suggested new department chairs could be sent to the leadership conference and let them come back to share information learned with others. Dr. Smith said to let her know what is needed and she will work on this for fall. 

Dr. Smith also addressed the National ACUE certification from Sam Houston State University.  She has been through this training and would like to see Lamar get this certification.

Budgets - Travel

Distribution of Budget worksheets will happen soon.  Dr. Marquart requested that 2018-19 budget proposals be sent to him by May 31^st.  He stated that recruiting/searches will be limited this summer.  The budget/travel will be tight next year. 

On travel requests, the deans need to tighten up for 2017-18.  Department chairs and deans should watch more closely where the traveler is going, and follow up if they are getting published.  It was suggested the Request to Travel form include a place to document how classes are to be covered. Dr. Marquart will look in to that possibility.

Enrollments

Handout given of the scheduled May mini class enrollments, with still two weeks to go. If not at least an enrollment of 15, the class will not make.  Dr. Marquart and others held a meeting with IRR, who is trying to get deans a dashboard by this summer so they can look at by department and college.

Searches – Applications

As stated earlier, searches will be limited during the summer.

Special Items

A two page proposal is needed for the 3 special items that were chosen to take to the Legislature for funding in January 2019.  They are 1) Aging in Place (Nursing), 2) Pipeline Activity Downstream (Engineering) and 3) Digital Content and How to Administer Programs K-12 (Education).  Note: the more interdisciplinary these proposals can be the better.

Execs

Dr. Marquart encouraged the deans when they attend the Exec. Committee to continue talking about enrollments, new programs and retention initiatives. 

Other/Comments from Members

J. Marquart

1. Reminder about the Scholarship dinner tonight in the Montagne Center.
2. Deans encouraged when it comes to faculty, staff, and/or student issues, to refer to and adhere to the Faculty handbook and LU policies and procedures.

 H. Venta

1. Approximately three years ago a student was supposedly expelled from LU and has recently been offered admission to our M.B.A. program. This issue is being investigated, but there was discussion on how these types of incidents need to be recorded in the student records. 
2. Dean Venta spoke about the Marketable Skills Conference he, Dean Holtzhausen, and Dr. Nordgren attended a couple of weeks ago. Dean Venta shared some of what he learned.  He also shared this 5 step process with the Institutional Effectiveness Committee.  The idea for Lamar would be to call these marketable skills “Cardinal Skills”.  A process must be in place by 2020.

 K. Brent

The Registrar’s Office does not have 4 year degree plans from all departments, they just have listings.  David Short will get with departments as they are building a web site to put them all on. Once that web site is built, a change will require going through the Registrar’s office.

 B. Nichols

1. A list of courses that have been repeated more than 3 times will soon be sent out to the deans.
2. LU has purchased Concourse and Brenda is working with the company and IT. It will come in stages but the plan is to pilot Concourse with the POT3 group.
3. Contract has been submitted to Dr. Fernando Gomez to go to the Board for renewal of Blackboard 2+1. We will have Analytics.

Adjourn

Meeting adjourned by Dr. Marquart at 3:15p.m.