Deans Council Meeting
Boardroom, BA 290
October 21, 2008

Attendance: Dr. Mary Hendrix, Dr. Sharon Johnson, Dr. Hal Langford, Dr. Allan Headley, Dr. David Crenshaw, Dr. Deborrah Hebert, Stephanie Holley. Dr. Sandy Weeks attended in the absence of Dr. Brent Mangus. Minutes taken and submitted by Cynthia Rhodes.

Freshman Success Seminar (FSS) – Dr. Ricky Dobbs asked Deans Council to consider extending the number of hours for FSS from 6 hours to 15 or 16 hours. Even if the number of hours were extended, the FSS course would still be counted as one credit hour. All agreed that the first 6 weeks are the most important for retention and success. FSS should include first time freshman, transfer and/or first year experience (FYE) students. Council members requested that Dr. Dobbs develop a proposal for them to review.

HEF – An announcement was made that this year’s HEF funds will cover all but $89,503 of Start-Up and Priority 1 requests. The decision was made that distributions for colleges/divisions will be reduced by a total of $89,503 based upon each college/division’s percent allocation for FY 2008 HEF funds.  The Provost asked that deans work directly with Instructional Technology in order that bulk order rates can be obtained for computer purchases. The purchase of AppWorx was requested by Enrollment Management; it is hoped that one-time funding can be used for its purchase. Deans plan to review their college/divisions requests as it was noted that some requests may not meet HEF criteria.

Enrollment Initiatives – The Provost encouraged everyone to come up with ideas that will increase enrollment and generate funding. After brainstorming, several ideas were discussed and will be presented to the Strategic Enrollment Management Committee. The Provost encouraged quick action so that identified initiatives can be implemented quickly and results seen in spring 2009. Some of the discussion topics included:

British Theatre Courses – The Department of Mass Media, Communication and Theatre presented a proposal for British Theatre Courses (THE 397 and THE 597) of which a portion of the courses would be taught in Great Britain. After review and discussion, Dean Council approved the proposal of the British Theatre Studies.

Faculty Handbook Committee – Dr. Johnson asked that Deans review the handout presented and notify her office of any changes that are needed. The Faculty Handbook Committee will be meeting today and are working to update the handbook. Once the revisions are made, the committee will forward their changes to Faculty Senate to review and approve.

Early Intervention – Dr. Johnson asked Deans if they had met with faculty regarding incomplete Early Intervention rosters concerning first-time freshmen. Deans have discussed this issue with department heads and faculty. Dr. Johnson said Wendy Gruver would run another report and forward to deans as a follow-up to determine how many rosters remain incomplete.  Dr. Crenshaw noted a computer problem exists as his college discovered a freshmen student who was registered to take an upper division course. Dr. Johnson said this issue would be discussed at the next meeting with Technology Services on October 27.   

Department Head Training – A training session is scheduled for October 28 for department heads. Dr. Randy McBroom and Registrar Paige Bussell will attend and present pertinent information for department heads to share with their faculty such as the importance of the 12th Class Day Report and its impact on funding.  Deans are invited to attend the session.

Procedure 13.99.99.RO.10 - Academic Honesty – Dr. Hebert proposed that the academic policy should address all students both undergraduate and graduate. Depending upon the student’s classification, appeals of the faculty and academic Deans’ decisions are made to either the University Discipline Committee (undergraduate) or the Graduate Committee (graduate students). If the issue involves academic sanctions (grades and/or the course), it is an academic issue. If the issue involves disciplinary sanctions (i.e. removal from the university, probation, etc.), it is a discipline issue. Dr. Hebert will obtain input from pertinent areas and will present the feedback and positive examples of issues and/or referrals at the next Deans Council meeting for further discussion.

Student Organization Accounts – Dr. Hebert recently attended a committee meeting with Bob Brown and Rex Giddens to discuss the issue of student organizations’ financial accounts being located off campus. The committee is considering a process whereby students and their advisors will be issued a Pro Card with monetary limits. Organizations could use $50 in petty cash for emergency need. Deans immediately expressed their concerns with this plan and did not feel it was a good practice to issue Pro Cards to students. Dr. Hebert will discuss the Deans concerns with the committee.

Procedure 11.04.99.RO.15 – Course Requirements for the Master’s Degree – Dr. Headley presented a proposal to change the course requirements for a master’s degree from 30 hours to 36 hours for non-thesis majors. Deans decided to table the topic until the next Deans Council in order to get direct input from Dr. Mangus, who was represented by Dr. Weeks at the meeting.

Enrollment – Dean Holley presented updated Enrollment Reports (Winter-Mini 2009 and Spring 2009) which reflected an increase in credit hours and head count.

Cotton Bowl – Cotton Bowl Saturday was a huge success. Over 300 potential students were seen. According to the feedback thus far, the comments have been very positive. Letters and emails have been received from potential students and their families. Several of the interested students and families had visited the campus the week before at Mane Event.