ACADEMIC COUNCIL MINUTES
August 25, 2005
Present: Green, Cass, Sciame-Giesecke, Pati, Roales, Ash, Calhoon, Stroman, Sehr, Dibie, Aniskiewicz, Hakes, Stachacz, Kintzele, Stroman
Guests: Yost, Hamilton
1. Classroom scheduling for the semester is done by Holly Hamilton, Registrar. In order to improve communications about the type of classrooms needed, faculty should check the rooms assigned to them on the schedule proofs a couple of weeks before classes start to be sure this room is what will really work for them. Holly passed out a list of classrooms and how many chairs were in each room. Some of the rooms have gotten new furniture put in that is larger than the previous furniture so there are fewer seats than there were previously. The scheduling officers in each department need to know if faculty want tables, chairs, high tech, etc. This should be put on the schedule proofs. Holly needs to know the point person on room scheduling in each department. It is important that Holly is informed of any change in enrollment that goes over the maximum number of students in a given room so the class can be put in a room that has enough seats. When faculty make a request for a specific type of room, they need to state if it is an ongoing utilization or if it will just be needed from time-to-time throughout the semester. We are working on a couple of computer classrooms in the Library that can be used from time-to-time for classes. We are hoping they will be ready for the spring semester. They will need to be booked early, and will probably only hold about 24 stations. Holly schedules rooms for the semester and Marcia Andersen schedules short-term classrooms after the second week of class. Christina Tanner schedules Kresge and non-classrooms, Jeff Gegner schedules Havens Auditorium, and John Stachacz schedules Library rooms. When Kresge Auditorium is booked, set-up times must also be included.
Only a small number of people should be able to give permission for overrides. To code with an A allows you to override enrollment limit. To code with a P will not allow the student to go over the enrollment limit. A is the default, so the A must be changed to P. If code is P, let Registrar know to change room limit. Manage permissions and put time limit on their use.
If you move chairs out of another room to use for your class, please ask your faculty to put the chairs back when class is over.
We will look into creating additional classrooms that will hold 50-90 students. In addition, we need to examine if the facilities we currently have meet the goals we are projecting? Look at CE building and Outreach building. Perhaps remodeling OY will meet our needs? Is it our strategic priority to move all classes to high tech rooms? If we make it our highest priority to remodel and upgrade facilities, we must understand that we are committing dollars that we will not have to do some of the other things we feel are important or necessary. Such a commitment would also involve creating a life-cycle for replacing the technology in these classrooms at one-third the cost of the replacement annually. Thus, a substantial expansion of classroom technology will have a long-term impact on the budget.
Notations on transcripts: The discussion of additional transcript notations has been sent back to Academic Leadership Council to take up issue.
2. Bill went over hospitality criteria. Cap has been removed, but we are expected to try to stay within the current expenditures for general fund hospitality. Tim and Bill will have oversight and sign-off approval for general fund hospitality events. Forms are provided that the dean, etc. will need to submit for approval. When you have a fee that covers the cost of an event, use object code 4026. Don’t pay more for hospitality than is covered by the income for planned events. Object code 4025 is what is audited. Use other object codes as noted in policy if possible and appropriate. The maximum number of faculty you can pay for to attend a recruitment lunch or dinner is two. If an activity is for students, the expectation is that 90% of the attendees will be students. Keep names of those attending and any receipts (for how long?) in case of audit. Recognition programs are run by Human Resources, not departments. The CTLA or HR can run training sessions with refreshments. Business meetings off-campus are now allowable. Luncheon meetings are not covered.
3. Oncourse CL is not working well. Most faculty have gone back to old Oncourse. To do so, you must opt out. You will have to reload all information from CL as it will be lost when you go back to original Oncourse, The developers are working on the problems. They hope to have improvements by spring. Maybe we should look for alternative programs. There is no guarantee that summer 1, 2006 we will have system we can use. We need to look at this much closer mid-spring. Do we need to switch over to something like Angel which will cost us (OnCourse does not). If new OnCourse is the only thing we can use, someone will have to move all we have to new OnCourse. Stuart and Sharon will look into SBC grants for faculty using OnCourse.
4. John Stachacz said the Library will now be open weekdays at 8am throughout the year. There has been a 60% increase in foot traffic since opening at 8am.
5. Other topics: Where are we going with respect to diversity? What are we doing in terms of curriculum, faculty, staff, and students? We need to come up with action plans and then develop and execute them. Bring ideas to table next meeting.
