September 10, 2019

Attendees:  James Marquart,  Arne Almquist, Paul Bernazzani, Katrina Brent, Dan French, Derina Holtzhausen, Lynn Maurer, Brenda Nichols, Joe Nordgren, and Bob Spina.

I. Approval of Dean’s Council Minutes dated August 13, 2019

The minutes of the Academic Dean meeting, dated August 13, 2019, were approved as written.

II. GUEST: Jeremy Alm

RE:  Updates on QEP

Dr. Alm came to give an update on QEP. The new Math To A Degree program focuses on placing students in the appropriate level of math, which helps with core completion, increases student success rates, reduces remedial hours students have to take, etc.  Specific examples of how this has been working were given.  He will send out feedback and data from spring 2019.  

As a part of the whole QEP, and to insure that we have participation across campus, Dr. Alm would like to attend department chair meetings in each College to discuss the Math To A Degree program. He will then have each chair sign a document to show a paper trail of faculty participation.  He will start with the College of Fine Arts tomorrow, September 11th.   As a review, the 6 pathways are:

Fine Arts

Social Science

College Algebra

Calculus for Engineering

Elementary Education

Business Math

III. Endowed Chair/Professorships Evaluations – Brenda Nichols

Handouts were given listing endowed chair positions, professorship positions, and non-endowed fellowships, with names of who holds these positions. According to the procedure manual, evaluations for these are to be done every 3 years.  Brenda will send the policy/procedure on doing these evaluations.  There was discussion on these endowed positions, professorships and fellowships including how they can help with research documentation for state funding. 

ACTION : Deans were asked to 1) identify people in the positions by filling names in the blanks or listing any positions that are missing.  This information should be sent to Dr. Nichols by Friday, September 20, 2019. 2) Any evaluations that have not been reviewed in over 3 years need to be completed by December 2019.  

IV. Round Table Discussions

Jim Marquart

1) SACS –

a. The SACS report has been submitted to the offsite committee. Appreciation expressed to Joe Nordgren, Theresa Hefner-Babb, and others.  Feedback should be received by Dr. Taylor in December.  Copies of the submitted report will be shared with the deans and a meeting scheduled to look over in the next few weeks.

b. Committees need to be assembled to review core curriculum, do an assessment of the core and to look at core courses.

2.) Merit raises –

When completing the paperwork for merit raises, Dr. Marquart discussed the importance of good rationale.  He requested Deans send him documentation of how amounts were determined, the rationale, and/or what formula was used.  The faculty handbook says a letter must go out from the dean to each person explaining how raises were calculated. These letters cannot be sent out until raises are approved by Finance.   

Enrollment Update – Katrina Brent

As of today, the full enrollment numbers for all parts of term show us at 15,800 (1,500 students ahead), and for state funding we are up by 500 students.  Incoming graduate student numbers are up 32%.  

Joe Nordgren:

1.) The first look at the academic calendar for 2021-2022 has been completed.

2.) Deans were asked to send in a “cost plus summary” of their summer teaching for 2019, with a due date of September 20^th.

Paul Bernazzani:

1.) About half of the faculty have moved in to the new Science & Technology building and there are about 40 hours of classes being held in there at this point

2.) There were about 80 people who attended the recent Maker Space event.

Lynn Maurer:

1.) White Coat ceremony for Nursing is tonight.

2.) A Chair retreat for the COAS is being planned for mid October.

Derina Holtzhausen

1.) Six innovation awards have been awarded. There were a total of 21 submissions.

2.) Two major projects are being launched in the College of Fine Arts and Communication. One is the Faculty Council being charged with developing a college policy on attendance and the other is creating a Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Studies.

3.) Representatives from the COFAC will be the first Cardinal Conversation participants for the fall semester.

Bob Spina

1.) The next Academic Lecture series is scheduled on October 9^th. The speaker is Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, III, President of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Plans are to include a book signing for Dr. Hrabowski’s most recent book, Holding Fast to Dreams: Empowering Youth from the Civil Rights Crusade to STEM Achievement.

2.) Update given on BISD

Dan French

An agreement has been signed with Herman Wilson which will fund the Office for Student Success.

V. Adjourn: 4:00pm