Deans Council/Directors Meeting
MSC Conference Room
February 5, 2008

Attendance: Dr. Mary Hendrix; Dr. Hal Langford; Dr. James Klein, Dr. Brent Mangus, Dr. Allan Headley; Dr. Sharon Chambers; Dr. Deborrah Hebert; Stephanie Holley; Omar Brown (representing Shanna Hoskison); Robert Dotson; Sharon Fulkerson; Stephen Garretson; Dr. Raymond Green; Wendy Gruver; Dr. Bill Humbert; John Mark Jones; E. Thayne King; Dr. Charlotte Larkin; Dolly Lasater; Dr. Randy McBroom; Rick Miller;  Darnisha Reed; Veronica Reed; Cynthia Rhodes; Nancy Ward; Pamela Webster; Tim Willett; and Hope Young. Minutes were taken and submitted by Cynthia Rhodes

Introduction of New Employees – The Provost began the meeting with the introductions of the following new employees: Dr. Brent Mangus, Dean of the College of Education and Human Services; Stephanie Holley, Dean of Enrollment Management and Retention; Hope Young, Director of Admissions; and John Mark Jones, Director of International Student Services. 

Crisis Management Plan – (PDF Document) - Shawntay Carrier, Human Resource Generalist, presented training regarding the University’s Crisis Management Plan. The plan provides guidance and procedures to enable the university to effectively respond to and recover from major incidents, natural disasters or other emergencies on campus. It will be imperative to coordinate activities in the event of a crisis. All employees should be aware of the plan and what to do in the case of an emergency situation. The question arose regarding the plan’s failure to address staff notification. Ms. Carrier acknowledged that the plan would need to be revised to include staff.  The CMP can be viewed at the following HR link: http://www.tamu-commerce.edu/vpba/docs/CrisisManagementPlan.pdf

Enrollment Management – University Day has been renamed “Mane Event Preview  Day”. The next Mane Event Preview Day will be March 1, 2008, and will be an opportunity for prospective students and their families to visit the campus. Over 20,000 notices have been mailed regarding Mane Event Day. While on high school campuses, recruiters are posting messages on area boards. There is currently an email blitz underway to contact approximately 10,000 potential students, as well as, a call campaign.   At this time, over 200 students have indicated they will be attending.

Enrollment Management was complimented for the online drop procedure recently implemented. The new procedure allows students to drop a class within a few minutes; whereby, the previous procedure took days. Electronic approval and signatures can be obtained without students’ waiting for the paperwork to be routed to various offices. 

Discussion was held regarding areas that impact university growth and possible initiatives to improve service. 

1. Responsiveness - Dean Holley stressed the importance of all university employees being responsive to students and their needs.
2. Customer Service – Dr. Hendrix indicated that several student focus group sessions had been held to determine how the university can improve retention. Many students indicated that they perceived staff to be rude. Dr. Hendrix indicated an initiative will be implemented this spring to allow students to provide feedback on customer service.
3. Accountability – Levels of accountability will be raised and if there are consistent patterns to perceived rudeness by staff, supervisors will be asked to address immediately.
4. Suggestion Boxes - The Enrollment Division plans to place suggestion boxes across campus soliciting ideas for improvement and to see what students like/dislike. Several initiatives are being developed to improve our responsiveness to students.
5. Online “Suggestion Boxes” - One of the plans is for an online site to be placed on the web which will allow off-campus students to provide feedback.
6 .Processes and Practices – Dr. Hendrix stressed that staff should feel empowered to assist students if current processes and practices are not logical. For example, a student who graduated with a doctorate was seeking a job and the transcript could not be sent until she paid a $20 parking fine that was received when she was an undergraduate in 1976 had not been paid  The student was allowed to register for classes for all these years. When the Banner conversion was made, the parking fine carried over to the new System.  Staff should consider each situation and if the practice/process does not make any sense and does not benefit the student, staff should discuss the practice/process with their supervisors.

Scholarships - The scholarship procedure has been revised and now requires that all scholarship applications be submitted centrally to the Scholarship Office. Utilization of the Scholarship Office as the central location will assist in fiscal monitoring of scholarship disbursements to ensure available funding is awarded and a surplus does not remain that could have been granted to eligible students. This item was tabled so that the Provost and deans could meet to review and discuss further.

Admissions Criteria – A review of our admissions criteria was conducted. The university adhered to the admission standards this past fall. Institutional Research will prepare a report summary and recommendations and this information will be disseminated to the university community for discussion this Spring..

Retention – Students who appear to be “struggling” with their studies can be identified early via the online Early Intervention process: https://leo.tamu-commerce.edu/login.aspx. The Retention Committee meets on a regular basis, and recently a four (4) week review of first-time full-time freshman (FTFTF) students was implemented. Students were identified who might need additional assistance.  The retention rate of FTFTF from fall to spring was 87%.

Student Affairs –When faculty and/or staff learn of a student losing a parent or sibling, they should notify the Office of the Assistant Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs at (903) 886-5086.  A brief note expressing sympathy and reminding the student about the Counseling Center will be sent to the student. The Counseling Center will also be notified so that their office will recognize the student's name. 

Dr. Hebert announced that Leigh Ann Powell has accepted the Disability Services Coordinator position, and Amber VanLue has accepted the Greek Life Coordinator position.

The Student Services Fee form will be mailed soon, and shortly thereafter, the committee will meet to review requests.   

Budget Schedule – The Provost informed the deans that budget packages will be sent to the Colleges by April 11th and will be due back to the VPBA Office by May 2nd. The Provost Office will provide assistance to the colleges this year by checking positions. It is our goal this year that merit increases be included in the budget and will be effective 9/1/2008

Online Catalog – Dr. Langford provided an update to let everyone know that the Catalog Committee is still meeting; however, their final recommendations will be submitted to the Provost on Monday, February 11.

College/Division Updates:

Midlothian – Midlothian’s first graduating class of approximately 39 students will graduate in May 2008. They have received 40 applications for fall 2008 internships.

Navarro – Although contact hours may be down this spring, enrollment is up at Navarro. Students do not appear to be taking as many courses this spring as in the past. Approximately 100 students are expected to graduate at Navarro in May 2008 .  

Institutional Effectiveness – Presentations on NSSE will be scheduled soon.

Registrar Office –  Approximately 1,044 applications were received for spring 2008 graduation (including off campus sites)  Deans requested the Registrar’s Office provide a detailed report with data to reflect the number of applications by categories: college; departments; undergraduates; and graduates.

The online drop course process is operational and has been a time saver for students and faculty. Positive comments have been received from both students and faculty.

The online 12th Class Day Faculty Roster feature went live on Thursday, January 31. The online Early Intervention mode will be activated on Monday, February 11 - which can identify FTFT freshman who have excessive absences, poor grades and who have failed to submit exams/assignments. The online rosters will provide us the ability to compile a report of students’ non-attendance and/or date of last attendance which will assist in tracking attendance which is required for Student Financial Aid Title IV funds.

Memorial Student Center – The construction of the new MSC is on schedule.

Morris Recreational Center – Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend a celebration of the Chinese New Year to be held on February 5th at 6 p.m. at the MRC gym and sponsored by the Chinese Student Association and campus recreation staff. 

Career Services – On February 20th there will be a Spring Business Job Fair with over fifty 950 employers registered. Several of the employers are first time attendees at our job fair. Everyone was encouraged to attend the fair and thank the employers for their participation.

Honors College –Honors College applications have been received and approximately 45 interviews have been scheduled. Twelve (12) applicants have received notification of their acceptance to the College, and plans are to offer approximately twenty (20) additional students admission within the next week.  A number of varsity athletes have been accepted, including 5 soccer players and one football player.  Although many applicants live in Texas applications are also arriving from distant locations (e.g., Australia and Hawaii). 

Student Assessment Services – Wendy Gruver expressed her appreciation for everyone’s effort regarding early intervention. Several early intervention steps were implemented fall 2007 and they have already made a difference in students’ success. She and the advisors meet in roundtable discussion on a regular basis. 

TRIO  Programs – Veronica Reed announced that there is a student support grant competition that will soon begin and will be due in October. The criteria are currently   unknown, however, there is a scheduled conference coming up at which time the criteria will be shared with everyone. 

Graduate Studies and Research – Dr. Headley reminded everyone that the 6th Annual Pathways Symposium will be held on our campus on November 7 & 8, 2008. It will be an opportunity to showcase our university. Faculty involvement is vital to its success.

College of Business and Technology – Our University will be hosting a faculty from China through the Fulbright Scholarship program.

Summer Camp Coordinator – Dr. Chambers announced that Sarah White is the Ad Interim Summer Conference/Camp Coordinator. Ms. White will be marketing, coordinating and facilitating conference/camp events on campus.